Donnelly's of Barna — Restaurant in County Galway

This used to be everything a great Irish pub should be — warm, welcoming, full of atmosphere and conversation. Now it’s been hijacked by screens in every corner, flashing at you from all directions. News, random sports no one cares about, and — most baffling of all — endless videos and pictures of the food. We’re in the pub. We can see the bloody food. We don’t need a slideshow of burgers to remind us what a burger looks like.

Irish pubs are meant to be about people, music, stories, the craic. One screen, tucked away, turned on when there’s actually something worth watching — fine. But this constant digital wallpaper has killed the magic.

Management, please: switch them off, strip most of them out, and give us back the pub we loved. Do that, and I’ll happily change this review. Until then, it’s an airport lounge...

All things considered it was more than I expected. In the shadow of the vastly overrated 12 in Barna, Donnelly's provides good wholesome well made fresh food which was tasty and enjoyable. The atmosphere is relaxed, unhurried and enjoyable. Staff were rushed off their feet amid the current restrictions and yet provided a solid service without any fuss. One man was apologetic because of a lack of staff, but there was no need for that. Even though that was appreciated, it provided a good contrast against the twelve which isn't providing near as good a service. Anyway the seafood linguine was very tasty and the mussels were excellent. Very clean surroundings with the fragrance of fresh flowers where social distancing...

Our server was very friendly but overworked. Management were extremely poor here, I understand that they are not opened long but the management of staff was extremely poor. Manay tables around us were left unhappy and waiting very long for food and drinks. We saw management multiple times only paying attention to 2 table's with only 2 people on each while tables of 6 were left with nothing on the table and no orders taken. One barman was extremely rude and told us he was working in sections. Apparently a section is one table while other staff were run off their feet. The food was decent overall but management should be gotten rid of and get people in who know how to manage staff and be...