Ganly's Irish Pub & Restaurant — Restaurant in Lower Heidelberg Township

We arrived around 5:45 on Sunday 8/31. When seated there was only 1 table seated, and they left a few minutes later. When seated we were told our server would be right with us, 10 minutes later, our server Giovanna greeted us and took drink orders.

We placed our order. I was served a Crock of French Onion Soup, which looked delicious. The cheese was melted over the top. However, the soup wasn’t hot. It was warm. The soup itself was on the very salty side, and the onions in the soup lacked any real flavor especially of onion. Side note too many croutons.

Out came our salads, one house and one Caesar salad (which there was an up charge). The house salad was fresh, grape tomatoes cut, which is so appreciated. The Caesar salad had a great taste, however, the lettuce was a little soggy, again too many of the plain no flavor croutons. I’m not sure if it’s made up ahead of time, this did not taste freshly tossed.

Our entrees came out, the Shepherds pie was steaming hot! It had a wonderful taste, with lots of meat, veggies and beautiful brown gravy. It was hot to the last bite. The second entree was 1 crabcake with risotto, and onion rings. The onion rings were cooked to perfection, beer battered and fresh. Hot and crispy. The risotto was wonderful, creamy, cheesy and garlicky. The crabcake left a lot to be desired. It was broiled, the inside of the crabcake was extremely wet, and without flavor. Not sure they used old bay or anything when seasoning it. I only ate part of it. It was suppose to be “lump” that being said the texture was a combination of claw and maybe some special meat. I didn’t see any lump in mine. It truly was a disappointment. The garlic old bay aoli had a good taste.

Giovanna checked on 1 time while eating our salad and 5 minutes after we got our meals. She came back when we were finished asked if there would be anything else (no suggestions of dessert), we asked for a box. At that time I mentioned she might let the executive chef know the crabcake was subpar and why. She apologized and did say she would let him know. She brought us a box and the check. She said she took something off of the crabcake and would let the chef know. She said I know you didn’t ask for anything, but I’m sorry it didn’t meet your expectations. Giovanna wasn’t in the area during our dinner service, we were unable to get any refills on our drinks. She wasn’t serving any of the tables around us.

I would like to make a suggestion that a dinner roll, or piece of bread would have been nice with the meal, especially with the Shepherds pie.

When we left, the area we were sitting in was full, again Giovanna wasn’t in this section.

Lastly, we saw no member of management during our meal to bring it to their attention.

The atmosphere at Ganly’s is warm and inviting. Overall, I wish I could give 5 stars, but today’s visit...

Went on a Friday evening, not crowded, easy to get a table and no wait. Server came right over to get our drinks, brought those out- a miller draft for my hubby and a sugar cookie martini for me. The martini was fabulous! 10/10 great. Ordered bruschetta for an app which came out pretty quickly, probably the best bruschetta I’ve ever had, ever! Ordered shepherd’s pie for hubby and fish and chips for me, low wait time for food to come to table, which was brought out by the kitchen server. Here’s where it went down hill. No one came to ask if we needed any condiments, other drinks, nothing. I asked the kitchen server if I could have a soda (did not specify what kind) and she said sure I’ll get you one, and whisked away before I could tell her what kind. I guess she felt she could make the choice for me and brought me a coke. Okay. Never had that happen before. Then my husband asked the kitchen server for a side of bread, was told they told our waitress, whom we haven’t seen at all since we placed our order, to bring some bread to the table. She quickly dropped it off and scurried off again. No butter for bread, just dry bread on a plate. I would have loved some ketchup for my fries but we didn’t see our waitress at all. She zoomed by the table taking my empty martini glass, not saying anything mind you, and not asking if I would like another (which I did) just took the glass and zoomed away. When almost finished eating, that’s when she comes over and asks, is everything still ok over here? Still ok? You never asked if it was ok at all to begin with. I did hear her though be VERY friendly to the table behind us, asking ‘would you like a refill, how about some ketchup for the fries, oh sure I can get you some more ranch’. Seriously? I saw the girl that worked in the kitchen more than my own waitress! Even though the food was good I can’t say I will return because of the service. Definitely not what I expected. Very...

Every time we dine at Ganly's we are highly impressed with the new menu selections and the quality of the food. We had Chicken Cordon Bleu and a Summer Salad Bowl which was also a chicken dish.

I started with a bowl of Lobster Bisque with a generous amount of shredded lobster topping. The Bleu was a combo pecan and coffee ground crust. It was cooked to perfection and the presentation was second to none. Sides of mashed potatoes and green beans were plentiful with amazing taste.

The salad bowl presentation was quite unique as the bowl was plated at an angle making it much easier to tie on the old feed bag!

Sitting at the bar is not usually our preference, but wait times of up to one hour are common if you arrive after 5 pm. We recommend arriving as early as is practical because at 5 pm we got the last parking spot and had to wait for it. Not sure of their minimum party size for reservations, but if your party is four or more I highly recommend it. DO NOT PARK ACROSS THE STEET IN THE FIRE CO LOT OR YOU WILL GET TOWED!

Chris at the "big" bar (they have two) was exceptional. He got my sarcastic sense of humor and played a great second fiddle. A new friend Kathy sat to my wife's right and trust me, she was a HOOT! I never saw anyone b!tch as much as she did about the price of a drink like she did, and Chris handled it perfectly. A young gentleman named Diego sat to my left and we struck up a conversation about sports, which led to the Phillies and our common dislike of Rhys Hoskins. He and his partner are newly expecting their first child in September so congrats and best wishes to them.

Ganly's is one of our top choices for dining in all of Berks County. If you're visiting - GET THERE! If you live in the Reading area - WHAT ARE YOU...