Annie Bailey's Irish Public House — Restaurant in Lancaster

My wife and I traveled from Texas to the Lancaster area for a wedding, and we (my wife especially) were excited to eat some authentic Irish fare.

We chose this establishment because it was rated the highest and we traveled downtown for what we thought was going to be a pleasant, New England Irish dinner at an upscale restaurant. Instead, we traveled back to in time to a third rate Bennigans.

First - Parking is atrocious, and one is lucky if they can find nearby, paid city street parking.

Second, upon entering, we were greeted by hosts who looked more unprofessional than those at a Red Lobster in their street clothes.

Third - My wife and I were sat in the very back of a long, narrow establishment, right next to a swinging patio door which let dust and bugs in EVERY time the serving staff walked frequently through.

Fourth - The table service was okay, but seemed to preoccupied for a restaurant which had at that time more servers than clients. Whatever. The food and drinks came at a reasonable time, but again, refills were slow in a restaurant before evening rush.

Fifth - My wife loves fish and chips, and one of the experiences I said we would have is great fish and chips because they have good Irish restaurants in the PA. Instead, we received one step above Long John Silver's. Sure, the chopped salad was okay and the lettuce was crispy, but the ingredients overall were not impressive. Further, the salad came with too much dressing and would have caused soggy lettuce if not consumed in a short amount of time. The fish, however, was so poor in quality my wife remarked in disgust, "This tastes like it came frozen from a box." The chips, like the salad, was only okay, and not any better than sweet potato fries we had prior at a local brewery.

By the end, my wife had given up and I struggled through to finish a meal which in total was nearly sixty dollars WITHOUT TIP.

Finally - as a perfect dessert, in keeping with the meal - a fly flew into my Guinness from one of the many times the outside was blasted into our faces and meal whenever the door opened.

I was in a state of bewilderment trying to process what we had experienced and wanted to at least finish my Guinness to have a good experience and I spotted the fly. At first, I shrugged my shoulders and settled upon removing the errant fly, and finish the beer, and then I stopped myself,

"Why should I have to finish this beer after a meal which set us up in almost every way to fail? "

So, no, I took the beer to the red t-shirt wearing manager (who somehow was dressed WORSE than the hosts. What happened to the manager of a supposed high-end restaurant dressing at least ONE level more than the servers to distinguish them from the wait staff?) and informed him. The manager said he would buy us a new one. We declined. The manager then pressed upon us a $50 gift card for "brunch."

No, sir, my wife and I will NOT return for brunch.

Keep our hard-earned money.

I left this establishment feeling something I had not felt for quite sometime: anger.

Anger at the arrogance of presenting as a fine restaurant when really it is WORSE than the "other" Bennigans in the mall, in Shreveport, I went to sometimes when I was in the military in the early 2000s.

In fact, I became incensed writing this review a few weeks thereafter as I recalled our unfortunate experience.

Response to management: I find it interesting that instead of acknowledging our issues, management chooses to whine about my review, and imply some sort of legal peril.

Well, I reviewed the photos in question, and maybe the glare from your bald head interfered with your vision, but there are NO people in my posted photos.

Although I am not surprised your vision is comparable to your judgement as it is REFLECTED in your poor restaurant (do you see how I drew an analogy from your bald head, shine, glare and "reflected?")

Regardless, I am sure the Garda will get right on the monumental crime of me hurting your widdle feelings.

No wonder you people have been unable to eject the British from Ireland...

Our group of 6 (4 adults/2kids) arrived at 7:50PM for our 8:00PM reservation. Hostess asked if a high top table was okay, but I told her we would prefer a low table as a high top is difficult for small kids. She looked at her computer and told us there was only a high top table available and there would be a wait for a low table. We decided to take the table since we were all hungry and didn’t want to have the kids waiting around. The table she sat us at was directly next to the bar across from the hostess stand. We could see there were plenty of tables available in the front of the room, but fine, we sat there.

After looking over the menu and making our decisions, our server came over and introduced herself (Jennifer) and informed us that the restaurant was out of wings, burgers, steak, and salmon. We were annoyed, but decided to stay and order other items, again because we were hungry. We placed our order: Appetizers - cheesesteak egg rolls, Bavarian pretzels and crispy potatoes..Dinner - fish and chips, shepherd’s pie, 2 orders of Mac and cheese with chicken tenders, and butter noodles.

Jennifer quickly brought out drinks to the table. Then we waited….and waited…and waited.

Finally at 8:50 I asked Jennifer what the problem was as we had not received any food. I asked her if they could at least send the butter noodles so the kids could eat. She apologized and went to check with the kitchen. A few minutes later she returned to inform us that the kitchen ran out of the egg rolls so she added another pretzels (on the house) to our order and that the appetizers should be coming right out. Finally at 9:05 only our appetizers arrived. The crispy potatoes were not crispy, they were cold, unseasoned, and no sauce. The Bavarian pretzels were also cold. They were covered all over in everything bagel seasoning and the cheese sauce was congealed.

Again, we waited… At 9:30 (1.5 hours after we arrived) we finally decided we had enough and told Jennifer we were leaving. We paid for the 2 items we received as well as the 3 sodas we ordered.

In 1.5 hours they couldn’t even make buttered noodles?

I’d like to add that Jennifer was wonderful. She was very kind and nice. Jennifer also told us “I’ve been here for a week. It’s been like this all week. Not as bad as tonight though.” I told her “Do yourself a favor and find someplace else to work because this is not fair to you.”

Also, in the entire 1.5 hours we were there all of the low tables...

First time here. I really, really liked the atmosphere and decor. Very spacious bar and restaurant. The drinks were very good. I had Jameson & Ginger Ale, my wife had Tanqueray & Club. The challenge was that our server took so long to get us the things we asked for, each and every time: lime that was initially requested in our drinks but were overlooked, salt/pepper (why aren't these on the tables?), ketchup for the fries (fries were cold by the time she brought the ketchup as we had to ask twice), containers for leftovers, even the check. Plus, it was early on a Friday. Half of the tables and bar were empty! So what was she doing? Maybe the waitresses have too many tables? IDK

For an appetizer, we shared an Irish Bread Basket. The bread was very good as was the sweetened whipped butter. But I can't understand why the soda bread is served colder than the butter. Straight out of the fridge, no heat applied at all. We also shared bone-in wings with a dry-rub BBQ seasoning. These were very hot (temperature), very tasty, and very meaty. Possibly in the top 5 placed where I've had wings.

For our entrees, my wife had Waterford Fish & Chips. The fish was a fairly large piece of fish and had a great flakiness to it, and the aioli was very good. The fries were cold by the time the ketchup arrived. I had the Shepherd's Pie. While it was very good, the ratio of champ (mashed potatoes) to stew was way too heavy on champ, way too light on stew. This was served in an iron skillet and stayed hot for a long time. Good thing, because it took a while to get the salt and pepper to the table.

Overall... I would gladly go back for a drink at the bar. Really strong Irish bar setting, very good drinks (not light on the alcohol). But I'm not rushing back to eat there. The food was very good for the most part, but the attentiveness/service was lacking. The waitresses don't have to deliver the food, the restaurant has "runners" for that. So one would think that having a major part of their tasks removed would allow them to be more attentive and timely. But one...