Lonigans — Restaurant in Estes Park

To say I was disappointed by my experience at Lonigan’s would be an understatement.

The name and the front of the restaurant lead to the assumption that this restaurant is an Irish pub, but every hint of “Irish pub” leaves as soon as you pass the hostess station and glass shelves of branded merchandise. The remainder of the restaurant is dimly lit with plastic “copper” panels on the walls, uneven tables, and torn booth seats. You can find a little “flair” in their “spread eagle tavern” sign or their “HMS Britannia” sign.

For a place touting itself as an “Irish Pub” they had a seemingly short list of Irish whiskey’s and/or drinks available. What was available and served was less than favorable. We ordered the Irish flight that included the Jameson 18yr, Tyrconnel, and Connemara. Ending an Irish flight with a peated single malt was a bold and unwelcome addition to the otherwise good lineup.

The food… the food was terrible, and quite frankly where I lost all faith in the establishment. I ordered the fish and chips. I was served 2 pieces of frozen fish that were slightly larger than an average fish stick. It came with shoestring fries, which were cold. The dipping sauce, tartar sauce, was a mass produced mess. I could have bought the ingredients to make fish and chips from scratch for what they charged me for a plate that was essentially a TV dinner.

As far as the staff, I have no complaints or positives. They didn’t really interact with us at all aside from taking and dropping off our order.

One other random fact - the door to the managers office was propped open the entire time we were there. This door opens to the main dining room and allows a clear view inside. Seems like a poor decision as a former restaurant manager.

At the end of our experience at Lonigans I walked out of the building saying “if John Tafford were still filming bar rescue he would hate this place, and I’m not even sure he could save it.”

Edit to add: I find it highly suspicious that there are several well written and lengthy poor reviews from people with well established review histories followed by strings of 5 star reviews for this restaurant often written on the same day by multiple accounts with only...

A group of friends & I were in estes park over the weekend for a mini staycation we are all Colorado natives. Sunday, December 10 we decided to go into town and walk around and do a bit of Christmas shopping. Around noon we got a bit hungry and saw this restaurant and decided to go in. The hostess was wearing a red long sleeve shirt and was incredibly rude. Sat us down at our table for four people (it was six of us and I let her know in the entrance that it was six of us as well). I let her know again that it was six of us not four. She proceeded to combine another table that was besides us moving everything around in a rude manner. Not once did she apologize or speak to us at all. Once we sat down she proceeded to stare at us and give us disgusting glares, we felt extremely uncomfortable but decided that instead of leaving we should just ride it out and give it a shot. The server was nice, which made up a bit for the rude entrance. The only issue with the food was there was a hair in my friends Mac n cheese. She took out the macaroni with hair and took it to go since we didn’t feel comfortable complaining. Once we paid and left the hostess with the red shirt gave us all individually nasty looks. I’m not sure what we did to her as we were friendly, we thought maybe she was having a bad day as some of us have worked in customer service jobs. But we noticed that when she was sitting other customers coming in she was smiling and being talkative. If we would’ve gotten the same treatment as everyone else my review definitely would not be one star. Some of us are Hispanic and brown and we felt a bit racially profiled. Being a Colorado native and knowing a good amount of people we definitely won’t recommend this place to anyone. We won’t be coming back as the experience here was not pleasant, and we did not feel welcomed at all. A hostess is the first person you see coming into a restaurant, and truthfully they sum up the entire experience you have in a restaurant,and...

Where does one begin? The lack of acceptable service, the most interesting take on an Irish coffee or the microwavable (yet chilly) food?

I'll start with the service since that was probably the most shocking. Well, the service pairs with the un-drinkable Irish coffee so let's put those together. After a lengthy wait we received what was to be an Irish coffee. For the wait, you'd think they were brewing a fresh pot - nope, it tasted as if it had been sitting since the morning.

We respectfully took them back to the bar to ask for an exchange and were shocked when the bartender shrugged her shoulders and asked 'do you even know what Jameson tastes like...if you want another drink you're going to have to pay for it'. 🤔. We sheepishly took them back, shocked at the response to a simple request.

But wait!! There's more! We continued to wait another 20 minutes for the food. Our Shepherds pie came out with a stale piece of pastry, crusty edges (kind of how a 1990's microwave produces) yet somehow still a bit frigid. It was 30 degrees out, but I'd imagine the kitchen has a heater...so no excuse. I took a picture to remember it by just in case my taste buds failed me.

The same bartender (her name starts with an L and ends with an A) came by after a fellow table-mate had to return his cold fish tacos. I informed her again of the Irish coffee issue as well as the food issue. She again shrugged her shoulders and gave a nice smirk to boot. All of our jaws dropped. If she is the manager, it's time for new management and may be the cause of what seems to be a string of similar reviews.

Part of me believes the wait is built in to make you so hungry that you succumb to your hunger and eating it without incident.

They did finally take the Irish coffee off the bill, but clearly not without a fight. Maybe it's because it's primarily a tourist town that they know they can likely get away with it, without having to see a familiar face in the streets? We...