Galway Bay Irish Restaurant and Pub — Restaurant in Annapolis

//Update 6/8/24

Just a quick update to dishes - mini crab cakes are tiny, but have a good bit of grab and a well-balanced flavor profile. The Summer Boxty is ok, but not my favorite - a little too heavy for me.

//Update 2/10/24

Still a consistently great place to come - I'd recommend the Cabbage Wraps, which are essentially rolls of cabbage stuffed with a fluffy mash with a creamy sauce and a kick of mustard. Shepherds Pie Mac and Cheese is still a hearty meal.

Don't let the quaint, modest exterior deceive you - Galway Bay is one of the most pleasant and affordable restaurants to have a meal out with family or friends in Downtown Annapolis.

Our first time here, we came with a large group, and ordered a bunch of appetizers and small dishes to share: the corned beef poppers, wexford potato cakes, baked brie, spinach & artichoke dip, Irish potato leek soup.

The older gentleman near the entrance was very kind and welcoming, and we were promptly seated. Our waitress was also very patient and accommodating, and gave great recommendations to my indecisive group.

As far as the appetizers go, the poppers were very flavorful and were paired with a good sauce. The potato cakes were almost identical to East Asian "aloo chop"; essentially, mashed potatoes mixed with other vegetables and fried - not my thing, but the taste was there. The baked brie was fantastic - the honey cut through the richness of the cheese, and solidified it as my favorite appetizer. As per my sister, the dip was alright - nothing outstanding, but it does the job. Finally, for the soup, we were surprised - rather than being thin, as though made with a stock base, it's consistency rather resembled a less viscous mash with small pieces of leek inside. Add some black pepper on top and it's pretty good.

As for our main courses, we ordered the lamb cheesesteak and a couple orders of the pot roast and fish & chips. If you're feeling something simpler, the cheesesteak is great; the lamb lends to a slightly gamier taste than beef would and was solid. The pot roast was fantastic, with the beef just falling apart and the veg being fork tender. The fish n chips were nice and crispy on the outside and just right on the inside.

The crab dip boule is also great if it's available.

We came here twice in January of 2023, on the 1st...

Only if you can't do better, which you probably can't, at least late night. Annapolis is all about entrenched interests, and Galway is one of only a couple of bars in the historic district with the legal grandfathered right to stay open until 2am, if they want to, and what they want is to keep their options open. Web says they close at 12pm tonight, but G.M. made our waitress close out our bill at 11:15. I guess we weren't spending enough to merit midnight, even though we're there every week. So much for loyalty. For the privilege of thrice-fried potatoe cakes and Tanqueray-and-tonics that had to be sent back to the bar for more Tanqueray, we have to close out our tab by 11:30pm, though Galway is supposed to close at 12pm and could stay open until 2am, if only we were worth it. Hell, even Cinderalla got til midnight, dude.

We tried to give our departing waitress a $20 tip at 11:15 to keep our tab open for another drink with another waitress, but no go with the G.M. So I say no go to Galway, unless you have no choice. The other grandfathered bar around the corner, Harry Brown's, closes even earlier than Galway, but I hear there's an Irish pub on Main St. that stays open past midnight.

But now there's parking to pay for at all hours. Parking meters downtown took a tyrannical turn this week, so I'm doubly miffed tonight (can you tell?). Parking interests have been outscourced by the City to a 3rd-party profiteer, an enforcer that has locked down every single street in the historic district: 24-hour hourly tow-away surveillance of Parking-Paid-by-App for 2 hours only. Historic Annapolis is now a parking police state. Well, I'm not interested in uploading my financial info to a 3rd-party cloud just to park my car for a night-cap. All the more reason to look for an alternative to Historic Annapolis bars. ...

Horrible and disappointing. I had high hopes of a delicious corned beef and cabbage meal at Galway Bay Trash Restaurant and Pub but it was not to be. The corned beef was dry not tender. I took three bites and sent it back. The cabbage was bland. I had the oysters Rockefeller. The spinach was hard and crusty. The lobster bisque and ice water were the best items that I had. The bisque was served lukewarm. Service was bad. I waited over twenty minutes for my appetizers. They must have had to go shopping for the lobster meat. I complained to the manager about the corned beef and he actually argued that it was juicy, he claims to have inspected it when i returned it. I was shocked that he would argue with a customer like that. The service here was unacceptable. I drove twenty eight miles to get there based on the glowing reviews of the corned beef. I left there and went to another restaurant and ordered corned beef and cabbage partially to neutralize the effect of this terrible experience. The corned beef and cabbage at Kelsey's in Catonsville was incredible. If you can travel, go there. I highly recommend Kelsey's. If you have the opportunity to travel farther, try McGee's in Los Angeles at The Grove. Their corned beef is as soft as the bread that it is served on and juicy to the core. It is phenomenal and the standard. The are great places in New York (like Katz's Delicatessen) and New England (like Dysart's in Bangor, Maine). Most are excellent. I do not recommend Galway Bay Trash Restaurant and Pub. You...