Dublin Square — Restaurant in East Lansing

Food is typically amazing. The wait staff, especially our waiter leaves something to be desired... This is not the first time I have had an issue with the wait staff. In the past the wait staff was either terrible, or incompetent or both, but never rude. This visit the waiter was incompetent and rude. (I've never complained about the wait staff) We went on this past Wednesday evening, Sept 20th. Wednesdays are great, since all the food is half off, plus it was my birthday (my dinner companions let the waiter know that it was my birthday). I ordered The Irish Plate, it came with a choice of sides, either; potato leek soup, soup of the day, or a side house salad. The Irish Plate is pulled pork over a delicious, home style thick gravy covering a heaping mess of Redskin Garlic Mashers, all topped with haystack onions and on plate side of seasoned green beans. For my side I chose the house salad. Companions ordered The Corned Beef sandwich with au jus sauce, and Ahi Tuna Steak Salad with dressing on the side. We got our main dishes at the same time (this has been an issue in the past) all the food looked fabulous. My companion noticed her salad dressing was missing, and that's when I realized that I didn't get my side salad. -Side note- This type of thing has happened to us here before, for example, we would get our main dish before we got our appetizers, or one of us would get our food before anyone else, and politely waits for everyone to be served before eating, causing their food to get cold. I am not sure why this happens, since it hasn't happened to me anywhere else.- We informed our waiter of the missing dressing and side salad, he seemed properly horrified, in a way only those familiar with customer service can quite understand, yelped "oh no" and was gone, and was back in a flash. I had waited so I could eat my salad first. Now, maybe I'm a salad snob, maybe I'm not, but I will not eat a salad until I've checked for wilted, brown, black/green, squishy, slimy, stringy, nasty, yucky, and outright disgusting lettuce and things. And there's the boarder-line lettuce, which I will not eat either, you know the lettuce I'm talking about, the lettuce in the salad you made for work, and then forgot... for 5 days!! For all appearances the lettuce looks just fine, then try to you stab it with your fork. That's when you realize something isn't right, the crunch and snap of freshness is gone, and the lettuce just kind of dangles there, looking like it gave up, resembling a woebegone teenager, you can almost hear it sigh, as it slumps across your fork, you almost feel bad for the pitiful vegetable. Suffice it to say, I was very disappointed that my salad had at least one of all of the qualifications for a bad salad listed previously. I tried valiantly to move the good and decent lettuce to one side of my plate, added a bit of dressing and cringed when I speared the lettuce with my fork and the vegetable sagged across the tines of my fork, I could almost hear that sigh... I gave up on the salad, and ate my Irish Plate, it was divine... My dinner mates both said that their meals were delicious and were happy with their choices! The waiter came to drop off the bill and asked how everything was. Although it's not proper, since I wasn't paying for the meal, and it's up to the but no one was going to speak up, I felt that it really needed to be addressed and I knew that no one else would speak up. I asked for the box and then I said one last thing "Um, obviously it's too late to do anything about it, but I just wanted to bring this to your attention, this salad is disgusting", I held the plate up for him to see, "do you see the brown slimy bits", "you see that there", I held up a piece of lettuce and demonstrated how floppy it was. He informed me that he would let the cook know... He was back forthwith and had a box for me, he wasn't even looking at our table, but talking to someone else as he attempted to hand me the box, and due to this I almost dropped it, and he didn't even check to see if I had received his clumsy...

I was born and raised in East Lansing my whole life so I've gotten to know a lot about the local bars and restaurants in the area.

I've been a regular at Dublin Square since it first opened its doors. The reasons I've come to respect this place so much are manifold:

I believe East Lansing has the largest concentration of masterful bartenders in the area. These tenders are Dublin's beating heart, and generously pass on their years of experience to the transient students looking to become the next master bartender.

Another reason I love Dublin is because of its setup: It has a large back bar with a dance floor that always has a DJ playing throughout the evening and night. If you like to dance, the back bar is for you.

The front bar has a lot of tables with seating for those of you who want to have more room to spread your legs, and is generally very comfortable. In the front they typically play sattilite radio or have the DJ's music played. In both cases they keep it at a reasonable volume so you can hear it while still maintaining a conversation. If that weren't cool enough, every Friday a live band comes and plays in the front bar, which I find very entertaining and refreshing. On these nights you can choose to rock out with the band in the front, dance to hip hop, rap, and other dance music in the back, or you could meander around and appreciate both. There is also a bonus: They have a large patio area that is open when it's warm and stays open at midnight.

The only other thing worth mentioning is that Dublin Square has a very eclectic group of patrons. It is normal to see various groups of college kids mixing with 30+ adults. It's a great crowd, staff and patrons alike. If you haven't been there, do your self a favor and check it out. If you want dinner check out their specials online, and if you want a good night out, Wednesdays and the weekend are the most fun.

Maybe I'll...

I'm almost 30 and haven't been drunk in years. Never been kicked out of a bar before. Paid the cover charge last night and then told to leave by security for being too drunk. I had been standing next to a bar alone, at 1am, nursing my 2nd beer of the night, listening to the cover band, and not talking to anyone. I tried asking for a manager, recieved abrasive sarcastic responses, then overheard another security guy at the door telling his buddy about how they're kicking people out at random so they can go home on time because "everyone is drunk anyway." Honestly, he was probably right, but that's not a good way to treat patrons. Looking at the other reviews, I see that I'm not the first person to go out for a relaxed evening of music, and then get harassed by security for no reason. DUBLIN MANAGEMENT: If you actually care, check cameras. 1:15am, northeast corner, main room. I'm wearing a brown jacket, texting someone on my cell phone. I'm approached at random by a "security manager" as he called himself and ordered to leave for being drunk. I initially mistook him as a homeless person since he was ungroomed, smelled awful, and talks like his mouth is full of marbles. He tried putting his hands on me but i quickly warned him not to assault me or I would call police. I left moments later because why would I WANT to be there at that point? Contact me with an apology if you want this...