Brian Boru Restaurant and Pub — Restaurant in Maryland

Due to circumstances we decided this year to go out to a restaurant for Thanksgiving. We initially planned to go to Brewer’s Alley in Frederick as we had been there before for their Thanksgiving buffet. It had great food and great service. By chance we found out that Brian Boru’s was having a buffet. We had not been there in a while, but we had always enjoyed both the food and the service. We called and made reservations and were really looking forward to a great dinner. We also invited a friend of ours to join us and I raved how good the food was at Brian’s. The hostess seated us and our server introduced himself and took our drink orders. I thought I would have a glass of wine. I had forgotten my reading glasses and told him I would like a glass of the house shiraz. He was a little iffy about what wine they had and I said to just go ahead and choose as I could not read the wine list. I am not sure what it was, but it was not too bad. We went to the buffet. We had made reservations for 5:00 PM. I had not realized at the time that they were closing at 5:00, found this out later. The young man who had taken my reservation should have said something. I would have gladly come earlier. The reason I mention this is because there was not a whole lot to choose from on the buffet. I had started with some salad and fruit, but our guest had also taken a sampling of the fish, turkey, cauliflower, etc. My fiancée had some turkey, potatoes, etc. It started really going bad when our guest said the fish tasted like ammonia. When fish tastes like ammonia, it means it was not good before it was cooked. The rest of the meal went downhill from there. It was bland, not very good and the turkey was basically a turkey roll. The one good thing was the bread pudding. We also noticed the rest of the diners were not going to the buffet very much either. I was embarrassed because we had invited our friend to join us and it was a terrible experience. She was very sweet about it, but I was mortified. It is sad when a restaurant you used to like and enjoy cannot provide the quality it used to. Needless to say, we will never go back to Brian Boru’s again. I hope one day we can laugh about that year where we had the horrible Thanksgiving dinner, but I am not in a laughing mood right now. Right now we are hungry and very disappointed. We should have just gone to Wawa for the turkey bowl, which is a helluva lot better than what we...

Service from Emily our server was great, food was great, the rest is detailed below.

Visited on July 26th, service was good, food was good, but ran into an issue when trying to satisfy the check. I had a gift card that had been forgotten each time we had dined here, and even though we remembered to bring the gift card, that was a lost cause. The gift card clearly states on the backside, no fees, and no expiration, which was found not to be the case. The server tried running the gift card and advised that she was unsuccessful, as they had changed management systems and older gift cards did not work. She inquired the amount on the card and I showed the activation receipt showing the 50.00 on the card. She offered a dessert, or drink since the card was not working, which obviously does not come close to the stated value on the card of 50.00, she offered to try again, which was obviously a lost cause, as expected, it did not run. She then asked if I just wanted to pay the full amount on the card I had given to cover the difference, and I agreed, because I had no interest in spending the time arguing the fact of the matter, on a date night, without kids. She then dropped a dessert, and the processed check, before the manager offered to take 15.00 off the check. 15.00 =/= 50.00, but I accepted for the previously stated reason of no interest in arguing the fact. When the check was "corrected" and returned, the 15.00 discount was removal of my meal(16.00+tax), which somehow translated to a gratuity, keeping the check the same, which was equivalent of a 25% gratuity. When she returned we questioned, the server seemed as surprised as we did, and the manager claimed she had delivered the wrong check. We finalized, and tipped our server 20% of the original amount, as she was great and none of this was her fault. The manager I feel handled it poorly by leaving the situation in the hands of the server. Not sure of the managers name, but Emily was our server and...

GOOD FOOD, HELPFUL SERVERS, AND NICE AMBIANCE

I have been here couple of times mostly because I was planning my office christmas party here and we were to taste different menu items before deciding. The servers were very friendly in general and knew how to handle our large group on the party day. The manager was very accommodating to all our request. Since they have a live band in the evenings, the ambiance was a hoot. We reserved the whole big room for the party and the only issue I had was that the fireplace was not working. The food was in general large portioned and very fresh. They also accommodate changes to dish if required. We were also offered free samples of Irish spiced egg-nog which was very tasty I must admit. We ordered: Goat Cheese Popper: Loved those. Very crispy and flavorful Corned beef poppers: Again perfect crispy texture. -Crab Dip: perfect. -Fish & Chips: The fish was slightly over salted and the fries were soggy -Irish Vegetarian Boxty: This was by far my favorite dish. The potato pancake was soft textured filled with veggies and tomato sauce. The cheese was in access quantity but I took it out. -Blazing Cajun chicken: Perfectly seasoned tender chicken. -Vegetable Grits: This was little weird. maybe I am not a grits fan afterall -Irish Bread Pudding: It was okay. To me, the pudding was little dry but still on the creamy side. -Chocolate mousse: What a treat. Yummylicious!

Overall, the food was delicious mostly and I would recommend checking...