The Crafty Irishman — Restaurant in Dallas

It was after 11PM on a Sunday night. Read that again. We were clearly in the hour of fast food and waffle house, but The Crafty Irishman said open and why wouldn't you at least try? Parking: we got lucky and found a spot on the street, just one light past the restaurant. Otherwise, it might be a challenge. As always, do your own map recon, or roll the dice and hope you get a close spot. Yes, there are homeless folks hanging around the area at this time of night, but we were not approached by anyone. We were greeted at the door by a friendly employee. He confirmed they were still cooking for some time longer and eating was encouraged. Plenty of seats available, so we took a nice booth. The chairs are tall, so if you have trouble with that or come in pre-sauced, just an fyi. The atmosphere was cool, and just what you'd expect. The jukebox was fantastic, and it took me right back to college. Matt, you'd have loved it, brother! Our waitress was quick and friendly, made suggestions and answered our questions. Brought our drinks right away, and then our appetizer. Side note: the spicy cheese curds are.....tasty, but spicy!! I almost forgot why I picked the place when I saw bangers and mash on the menu. Mrs Bear flipped it over and reminded me of the mission: the Monte Cristo!!! Now, I'm an old Garfield's and later Bennigans kinda guy, so that's my frame of reference. For those who turn up their noses at that, I fkn loved Garfield's in Quail Springs Mall, and there is no shame in me for it! At any rate, this Monte Cristo was outstanding! I've had a lot of half-a@@ed MC's since the early 90's, but this one was a keeper!!! Their brown gravy (for the mashed potatoes, of course), was easily the best I can recall having. Even better than when I do homemade brown gravy, which I am obsessed with. Mrs Bear had the triple grilled cheese and tomato soup, both of which she gave very positive reviews. They also serve Coke products, which is for us, a sign of civilization. I had a Belgian fruit beer, and it did not disappoint at all (sorry, dont recall the name, I quit brewing and mostly quit drinking alcohol several years back). To close this out: when ya roll out of a show, after seeing your favorite band at the House of Blues in Dallas, and you see it's late, much later than you expect to find good food, take yourself to the Crafty Irishman, and have a great meal!! Everything about the place was enjoyable, I'll be back!

(It appears they are part of several other Irish pubs in the area, two of which I have also been to and...

Torn on how to rate this one. We had a pretty negative experience at the start, but I feel they made up for enough to give 4 stars.

The BAD (starting here because that’s how it started). Came here with my book club after calling TWICE to make sure our larger group would be okay as they don’t take reservations. The girl I spoke with on the phone was great and super helpful. Upon arriving, we did what she told us to which was head toward the patio or see if we got lucky inside. But the guy that was on when we got there acted like we were a nuisance. We had a group of 13. A couple of the first arrivers got drinks at the bar while we waited to see where we’d sit. We ended up on the patio which was fine. But when I went to ask if we could get a server out there, I was told no because we had tabs at the bar. Um. Okay. That’s not how it works. As a former hostess myself, I’d have said “sure, we’d love to serve you out there. Would you mind settling any bar tabs first?” See the difference. One is welcoming and helpful. One is just rude. The problem is we were told the rude response not once but FOUR times. Once to my friend. Then to me. Then to me two more times by the same guy and a new guy. This tells me this is a training issue.

The GOOD: All this to say that once we finally got all that worked out and (settled the two bar tabs, the horror!) our service was pretty good. He was very friendly. We only had the one guy (Justin I believe) for both tables totally 13 people. He was helpful and kept up with our drinks and food orders. Had separate checks ready to go for us and was overall very good.

The food was good too. We had one friend with us actually from Northern Ireland. She said the fish and chips were the best she’d had here in Texas. We really enjoyed the leprechaun fries and the scotch eggs also. The mussels were great. Skip the bangers and mash. Those were not great. But the monte cristo was good. As were the corned beef roll up apps.

Favorite cocktail of the table: get smashed. Hands down winner even if you’re not a whiskey person.

Overall, it ended well. I’d be happy to change my review and rating if I went back and had a...

I’ve enjoyed coming to this restaurant many times with large groups of coworkers and friends. The atmosphere has always been lively, the food enjoyable, and the service dependable. Unfortunately, after my most recent visit, I can no longer say I’ll be returning.

Yesterday, I met a friend for lunch and we chose to sit outside. We were celebrating a business venture, and my friend gifted me an envelope with my name on it. Because the table was small and the envelope didn’t fit in my pocket, I tucked it under my leg on the chair during lunch. After we finished, we said our goodbyes and left.

It wasn’t until I returned to my office that I realized I had forgotten the envelope. I immediately called the restaurant, but was told it wasn’t there. I even walked back and spoke directly to our waitress. I asked if the cameras could be checked to see if anyone had picked it up, but was told only management could approve that — and that the outside camera angle likely didn’t cover our table anyway.

Still, I know for a fact I left it behind. What was most disappointing wasn’t just the loss itself, but how the situation was handled. When I called again the following day to ask for the general manager, I have strong reason to believe the same waitress I’d spoken with answered and told me she was the manager “for now” and that the GM wasn’t available. When I asked for the GM’s name, she hung up on me. I called back immediately, but no one answered.

I’ve been a loyal customer here and have enjoyed many positive experiences in the past, but when it comes to integrity, accountability, and simply doing the right thing, this restaurant has let me down. At the very least, I expected them to take my concern seriously and check the cameras to give me peace of mind. Unfortunately, that...