Tara Mor | NYC — Restaurant in New York

A very pleasant surprise to cap off the workweek. My Skipper and I stopped by around 5:30pm last night (a Friday) for an impulsive nip; I don't recall how this even got on my radar, but I knew it had a good cocktail reputation and we were willing to risk lingering in this neighborhood to give it a shot. (In defense of the area, there ARE some random decent spots, but you have to weed through a lot of tourists and riffraff to get to them and it's almost never worth it. More often than not, I'd recommend walking five or 10 blocks south or just full-on waving the white flag and jumping on the PATH for greener pastures.)

Right away, I liked that Tara Mor was busy but not overwhelmingly so; it's somehow pretty chill despite the chaos. The Skipper had gotten us a side table away from the bar, which still felt like it was in the thick of things but still set apart so we could easily hear each other. Like most Irish bars I've been to, it's pretty dark - good for resting the eyes, not so good for photo quality. So it goes.

Tara Mor has a legitimately good Happy Hour for the city - a handful of cocktails for $12, and two apps for $24. That would play in the suburbs as well, for what it's worth. We took advantage of both. On the booze front, I was intrigued by the Fox's Revenge, which was not on the HH menu, but I thought the bourbon/berry vibes there were worth the few extra dollars. Honestly the weakest point of the experience, and it wasn't that bad. It had something on the bottom of the drink that almost made it mulled - I never confirmed what it was, but I'm assuming seeds from the shrubs? Unclear, but I like drinking my drinks and not eating them, so that's one I'm probably not getting again. Well mixed/made, but a little too fruity for my palate. The second drink I had was the Midtown Mule, which WAS on the HH menu. Excellent. It had an extra nip to it, which we spent a little too much time brainstorming about before deciding it was probably just a heavy ginger beer pour that I'm not upset about it. One of the better mules I've had in recent memory.

What really sets this place apart for me is the food. I had a decent lunch so I wasn't even thinking about munching on anything (beyond the surprise seeds or whatever from the Fox drink) but the Skipper wanted to take advantage of the apps deal. I'm glad we did because I would 100% come back to have everything we sampled and I don't care if a nip is involved or not. We chose the Irish Curry Fries and Chicken Tenders, both of which were phenomenal items. The Skipper was initially more enthusiastic about the idea of the Curry Fries than I was, but that changed as soon as I dipped the fries - I don't think it's ever occurred to me before to mix curry and fries, but it's really not all that different from an edgy poutine. Truly awesome. And despite being one of the most pro forma, mainstream apps you can get, the Chicken Tenders were impressive - not a dish you expect to get an elevated version of, but they were cooked perfectly and their special dipping sauce (I think it was some kind of chipotle mayo maybe mixed with jalapeno?) was also really good.

The service was fantastic as well, and it involved a changing of the guard in the middle, which is always potentially fraught with peril. Completely seamless and the Skipper was especially taken by the Irish accent of one of them (a huge point in NYC's favor - not unusual at all to be in an Irish bar with Irish accents. We should talk about it more.). I do think they're risking some real drama with the bathroom situation, which involves having to navigate down a flight of stairs to access. I would be stunned if drunken nutters aren't stumbling up and down those on a regular basis, but fingers crossed on that one.

Neither of us ever recommends establishments in this neighborhood. That...

My fiancée and I came here to celebrate Mother’s Day—he wanted to make it special since I’m currently pregnant. He prepaid for the brunch special, which included two entrées and bottomless mimosas (which I opted out of, of course).

The food was very good, and service started off well, but unfortunately, we were quickly forgotten about. After finishing our meal, we were hoping to walk around before my fiancée had to head to work nearby. Instead, we ended up waiting over 45 minutes—20 minutes for our plates to be cleared, and another 20–25 minutes just to get our check (we had ordered additional food that required a bill adjustment).

Sadly, the delay caused my fiancée to be late for work—even though he works just 5 minutes away. We were excited about the experience at first and had even talked about returning for dinner, but the long wait and lack of follow-up really took away from what should have been a...

We went to Tara Mor after seeing it on Tik Tok when looking for places to go on our trip to NY. It absolutely did not disappoint! From the minute we walked in the staff, especially Jennifer our waitress and Caelán behind the bar, were exceptional. They gave us top notch service and a lovely chat along the way. The bar has a lovely modern Irish feel to it which we definitely loved. They had only released their new food menu the day we visited and we never would have guessed based on the quality of the food. It was genuinely amazing. The integration of the recognisable Irish foods and flavours without going over the top is a credit to the creators of the menu and the chefs. The nostalgia in the drinks and their menus is so lovely to see in New York for young Irish people. I would 100% recommend this to anyone looking for great food and drinks and a...