The Shamrock Irish Pub & Eatery — Restaurant in California

This was our first visit to The Shamrock Irish Pub and Eatery. The Shamrock Irish Pub and Eatery is located at the end of the Albertson's Shopping Center on Winchester Road. Since it is in a big shopping center area there is plenty of parking to be found. As we entered we were greeted with Irish music playing and the bartender letting us know we can sit anywhere we like. The furnishing is dominated by high top tables and barstools but they do have some regular tables with not so high chairs. Speaking of furnishing, we did observe that a lot of the tables are extremely worn and chairs, although sturdy, were as hard as a rock. Beyond that the atmosphere is that of an Irish Pub and we can tell that the plan was for a fun venue and not that of upscale or even Applebee's level. Our server for the day was Briana. Briana was very pleasant and did her best although she was responsible for 10 tables all by herself. Because she was left alone in the dining room, service was far from attentive and things like additional request for condiments were overlooked and did not show well as the food was dry. As for food: we ordered the crispy fried artichokes for $13.99 and we both opted for the Rueben that rang the register at $17.99 each. The crispy fried artichokes made it to the table in a short time. We were a bit underwhelmed because with only 9 small fried artichoke hearts it meant that each tiny nugget cost $1.55 each. In the famous words of Cheap Pete, "Good lord, that's a lot of money". The chokes were good but not worth the price of $13.99. The Rueben's were a different story. There was a bounty of corned beef and a pile of their special fries. The only problem with my Rueben is that it sat under the heat lamp while Briana was tending to 9 other tables and the bread became a bit soggy which resulted in a sandwich that would not stay together. My wife ordered hers without bread and the chef must have thought that also meant without Thousand Island dressing - she did not get any. Problem was Briana still alone with 10 tables did not get back to us until we were almost finished. I did ask for ranch dressing for my fries (I hate ketchup) and that never made it to our table. The Shamrock Irish Pub and Eatery could have easily earned 5 stars today. Because they were short on personnel I can't give them any more than 4 stars and that is being generous. We plan to come back and give them another shot. Hell, we might even go when they feature entertainment. Senior date...

It definitely doesn’t take a professional restaurant critic to write about the most disappointing dining experience. Upon entering this restaurant at noon, we were greeted warmly and seated. Our group of six was eager to have a delightful working lunch, especially at a restaurant with 4.5 stars. We let the waitress Keeley know that we were ready to order but wanted “separate checks” at the end. Apparently, this seemingly simple request turned out to be a "cause of disaster"! Keeley’s immediate response was negative to this request as it made it “too confusing for the computer system.” Keeley made a list of our orders, numbering each customer, so we assumed the orders were going to be successful. One group member, that joined in a few minutes later, was not asked if she wanted a drink. We then waited 50 minutes for our meals to arrive. Only two other tables in the entire restaurant were occupied, so the restaurant was NOT even busy at all. In fact, other tables were receiving their meals before ours even though we ordered before them. When our food finally arrived, two meal orders were completely missing! Unfortunately, at this point, being an hour of wait already, these two group members had to LEAVE back to the office for work without eating. Once again, Keeley blames the order not going through on the “confusion of doing so MANY separate orders!” A group member asked for a box three times before we actually received it. When the separate checks arrived, we were to our disbelief shocked that the orders were all mixed up! The group member who ordered a sandwich was also charged a lemonade even though they were never offered to order a drink. Every receipt had to be re-printed correctly! Yet again, Keeley blames the order not going through and receipts being inaccurate on the “confusion of doing so MANY separate orders!” Later, the group member who ordered the to-go lunch box, upon opening the box, realized their burger was RAW! This group member was able to get a refund, but this cannot make up for the repeatedly erroneous lunch. We were not offered sincere apologies, discounts or coupons for this disaster. We could not possibly find a reason to leave a tip...but we can leave a review! We’ve suffered enough and didn’t deserve this kind of service. It was a waste of our money and...

UPDATE:

Graham reached out personally to offer his apology for this incident described below AND invited me and a guest to come to the restaurant for a “re-do”. When I arrived, Graham was there and introduced himself and again apologized. Chris and Savannah were both there, Savannah offered a sincere apology and Chris was very kind about the entire situation. This was by far the best response from a small business owner and Graham has customers forever in myself and my friends and family! Thank you Shamrock fam!!!!

I’ve been here before on karaoke night and it was a great time. Well, tonight Savannah was our waitress and everything was great. We asked if we could order the Irish Nachos on a bed of chips instead of fries, Savannah said “Sure!” without hesitation. Well, unfortunately, the nachos came out rubbery. So we politely called Savannah over, let her know that the toppings were great but the chips were very unappetizing. Savannah’s entire demeanor changed and she snarls “Well that’s why people just leave it with the fries since the chips get rubbery in the oven.” She grabs our plate, rolls her eyes and goes back to the kitchen. We can see her using expressive hand gestures while explaining what happened to the chefs and then she storms off to enter the kitchen with the dish. After this, I was very uncomfortable with her handling our food. I located a manager (Chris) and asked if we could please close our tab- even offering to still pay for the nachos. Chris was very apologetic and extremely kind - stating he’d follow up with Savannah. I paid our bill and left the premises. As we are approaching our car, Savannah runs out of the establishment and accuses us of not paying our bill. I let her know that we closed out with Chris- she runs back into the restaurant, assuming to verify, and never exits.

This was such an uncomfortable experience and Chris’ kindness is the only part that made this salvageable. It’ll be a long time before I come back here- which is too bad, because they are one of the few places that have lots of events during the week in small...