Celtic Cavern — Restaurant in Middletown

On Sat July 19th 9 of us went to the Celtic Tavern in Middletown for a late supper. We arrived at 9:30 and were told that after 10 PM you had to be over 21 to be downstairs. 2 of our group did not have IDs. The male host, who was very nice an accommodating proceeded to seat us. Everyone was carded and we proceeded to place a drink order with the 2 people who didn't have IDs ordering soda. At 9:40 we placed our food order. At 9:44 a waitress came by and reiterated that after 10 anyone under 21 would have to leave. As that left us 16 minutes to receive our food and eat it we asked to speak to the manager. He came over and rudely reminded us of the policy. I am 65+ and I asked him if we placed a food order at 940 and if we received our food at 9:50 and were still finishing our meals at 10:05 would the 2 people, who are over 21, but didn't have IDs, would have to leave. He continued to engage another member of our party. and ignore me. The 2 people who didn't have IDs were perfectly happy to leave but as the staff were aware that the 2 people didn't have IDs and accepted their food order I repeatedly asked the manager, who continued to ignore me. As I raised my voice to talk over him he told me he answered my question. I disagreed and said it was a simple question and only required a yes or no answer. Would you have 2 people who were finishing a meal leave the restaurant. He said we were taking our chances ordering food when we did. He then said I was being combative and we had to leave or he was calling the police. I asked him to please call the police so we could get and answer. I also said we would pay for the drinks and the food, that we had not gotten so it would be clear we were not going to skip out on the tab. He then changed his mind, decided not to call the police, he would eat the cost of drinks and food but we were to leave and we were now banned from the restaurant. The member of our party that he was engaged with apparently did talk to him one on one and admits to insulting the manager. My son and his friends rave about the food at the Celtic Tavern. Interestingly last week we had another large party and while everyone was over 21 and had IDs apparently one of the IDs had a cut in it and they wouldn't accept if, so we quietly left and went elsewhere, My son and some of his friends ate there on Tuesday, as they had done multiple times, without incident. We came in good faith, before 10 PM, understood the ID policy, the staff was aware of the ID situation but they accepted our drink and food order. By accepting the orders the implication was that we would be allowed to enjoy our meal and leave when finished. To have a manager tell us we were taking our chances in ordering the food without a heads up that people might not be allowed to finish their meals or they would have to rush is wrong. I have multiple members of my family who are servers at restaurants and their policy is if we close at 11 PM and a group of 10 people come in at 10:50 they get served. We were quiet, respectful just looking to enjoy a meal, Understanding that the manager should not have been insulted, he also should have recognized that as a 65+ year old male in the company of a group of 20 year olds that if I was asking a respectful question in a respectful manner he should have responded with a yes or no which would have avoided the entire situation, Understand there was no need to ban us from the restaurant as after experiencing his attitude we will no longer go their. I feel bad for the servers as they would have walked away with a $100 + tip, through no fault of their own did...

My wife and I stopped at the Celtic Cave on our way to the airport. As we followed the entrance signage down a flight of stairs we were met by a pleasant gentleman who turned out to be our waiter. I'm disappointed that I don't remember his name because he is absolutely worthy of a mention in this review. He was the only staff member that we saw during our visit and he did a great job handling his outside and inside responsibilities. We never felt unattended and he brought us menus with glasses of water for each of us. After a few minutes with the menus, he came back and asked us about drinks. I was pleasantly pleased because he brought a pitcher with him and topped off my now empty water glass. I bring this up because he was in and out taking care of the other patrons and still noticed that I drained my water glass in the first two minutes of having it. That level of attention is what separates the rock stars from the rest of the wait staff.

My wife ordered a strawberry lemonade with tequila. The lemonade was a perfect balance of sweet and tart with muddled strawberries. They did not skimp on the tequila.

A short time after ordering, our food came out piping hot. So often restaurants bring out food that doesn't stay hot for the entire meal. This was not a problem for us at the Celtic Cave. The sausage lentil soup was out of this world. The flavors of everything were so complex...layers upon layers of flavors that sneak up on you and leave you wondering what your taste buds will experience next. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a meal so much. My wife had the shrimp and grits. Having some spent years in the South, we were a little disappointed to find out that the grits were actually polenta. This was listed plainly in the description , but we missed it. The flavors were on point, and it's minor, but grits are grits and polenta is polenta. It's almost like using American cheese to make lasagna No matter how good it tastes, there shouldn't be American cheese in lasagna. My chicken salad wrap, like everything else, was fantastic. I didn't get to enjoy it until a few hours later because the side dish of soup was actually a full bowl of soup and it was just too good to not finish. Initially I had a little sticker shock at the prices listed in the menu. Once the food came out, I was no longer concerned. These were not lunch sized meals. Both my wife and I were stuffed, and we each had enough leftovers for second meals. Going back to our server...in conversation, we mentioned that my wife was about to go out of town for a few days. The waiter suggested freezing her leftovers and gave some guidance on best practices to reheat it. Again, he completely exceeded our expectations just as our food did.

I cannot praise the Celtic Cave enough. Go there expecting to pay dinner prices (and here I am managing expectations rather than complaining) and you will NOT be disappointed. It's well worth the ride from...

I went here for the first time tonight and had one of the worst experiences! I never bother leaving reviews, and think this might be my first ever but this service really bothered me. After moving farther away from my friends and family months ago, Middletown is sort of centrally located for us to meet. We chose Celtic because the menu looked appetizing, but as soon as we get there and get seated, the staff is already warning us we only have 90 minutes. This was at 4:45! Early for a Saturday night! Once we were seated, within the first 10 minutes we had 5 different waiters/waitresses come to our table asking if we are ready to order, have we ordered yet, has anyone come over yet? After saying yes multiple times, having one waiter bring one drink, to another waiter bringing another drink, to a third waiter taking our food order, it was very confusing. Every time my friends and I were in the middle of catching up, someone else kept coming over pestering us with more questions we just were asked by someone else, clearly rushing us to order. The food was good, but as we are still eating, another waiter comes to see if we are all set and needed anything else. They swiftly took our plates and once they knew we weren’t ordering anything else, brought us the check. No sooner did we pay and just finishing up our beers when a waitress comes and tells us that we only have 10 minutes left before they need our table. Due to the pandemic they need people to be out within 90 minutes. There were 4 other tables that were empty! We finish our drinks and another waiter comes over saying he needs our table, they have a wait of over an hour and due to the pandemic they need us to leave! Again, still 3 tables open at this point! We left and there was only one group of 3 waiting and no one outside at all! Not for nothing, but whether we spend 90 minutes or 3 hours really doesn’t make a difference during this pandemic. The risk is no less being inside for 90 minutes. If you’re that concerned, then stay closed. I will never go back to this place nor will I ever recommend it to anyone. People go out to have a good time, see friends and family they don’t get to see often, and don’t want to be rushed out the door! We spent good money here! Terrible way to run a restaurant! Clearly others feel the same since there were plenty of tables left and certainly NO one...