Trali Irish Pub & Restaurant — Restaurant in Raleigh

My experience is based on a take-out order, so I'm sure eating there would have made the experience better, or at least I would have hoped so. But it's obvious they have work to do on the take-out order presentation and quality.

I placed our order at 8:09 p.m. for an 8:45 p.m. pickup - I only ordered the large fish and chips meal. I arrived inside at 8:43 p.m. and received my order within a minute, so that was nice. They use the same type of box Bojanges/KFC uses for takeout, or at least that's what the fish and chips was in. This type of take-out container wouldn't be an issue normally at those other restaurants, BUT Trali apparently put the hot-out-of-the-fryer food inside the box, then sealed it inside a closed plastic bag. So when we got to the car, we realized the box was essentially falling apart due to the insane amount of moisture on the box and any amount of weight on the box (like a hand) just made it start to flatten. So we had to be extra careful in traveling with the box to prevent it from completely falling apart on us. Even the outside had parts already peeling away from the moisture.

The food also wasn't fresh when we picked it up and we ended up throwing it in an air fryer to crisp it all back up. I'm pretty sure my order was sitting there for a good 10-15 mins before our pick-up time. There's no way that amount of condensation would have been on the box had it not been sitting there for an extended period of time. There was a specific reason why we picked a pick-up time 30+ mins after the order was placed. We didn't want our food sitting there for too long before we arrived after running another errand in Brier Creek. So it was disappointing to spend that much on food, only to end up putting it the air fryer to make it edible and not mushy. And since their kitchen closes at 9, it's not like we could just take it back in and have them remake it. So we sucked it up and just decided to reheat instead, but that should never be something a customer is made to do when picking up directly from a restaurant (ordering through other services, I get).

That being said, the fish has potential and I'm sure it would be great tasting if we had ate it there. The batter wasn't covering one side of two pieces of fish (see pics), and that's what makes beer battered fish taste so great given cod is a pretty bland white fish by itself. The tartar sauce was very good though, so that helped give the fish some flavor with the missing batter.

So my advice is to maybe avoid doing take-out from Trali since it seems they've lost the early-pandemic quality service everyone raved about. But I'm sure you'd have a better experience eating at the restaurant. We may give this place another try in the spring when we can safely eat outdoors and not freeze.

The inside is very cozy and Irish pub-like, so I have to give it 5 stars for atmosphere. It alone made me want to return...

This was our first visit here. The decor is very, very nice. Our server was super friendly, and she explained everything to us and recommended the traditional/specials which are typical Irish dishes. We order potatoes skins and they were good except they were tiny potatoes, not the traditional bake potatoes size, more like twice the size of a baby potato, so I was kind of disappointed, but the flavors were there, so it makes up for the size. Moving onto the main courses, we had the Salmon Panini, which was very salty, even though we took all the capers out, it was still salty, I would encourage them to add some tomatoes or avoid the capers, smoke Salmon is already salty, you don't need to add more salt in this case the capers to the sandwich. Next was the traditional fish and chips, I really don't know what to make of it because it was either over fried or an old dry the fish, it crumbled every time you wanted to dig into it even with the batter, I have never had such a disappointment with fish and chips, the fish was definitely hard and dry. We also tried the shepherds pie and it was good, it had just enough sauce and it was really hot! That's a first because most places can't get the temperature right, but this one was great! And our last dish was the Lamb Burger, it was ok, nothing special but kind of dry as well, it needed some sauce or tomatoes or something, because the meat wasn't juicy at all. Flavorwise, it was okay. I might go back and try something different the next time. Overall, nice place great service, food... Hmmm Neither good neither bad, I'll have to try it again, maybe there weren't having a good day in...

I reached out to Trali a few weeks ago to start planning for a surprise 40th anniversary party for my mom and dad. Their catering and event coordinator (Stephanie) reached out very quickly and gave me all the information I needed.

From the very beginning, Stephanie was attentive, responsive and capable of filling our needs. She sent us menus, prices, made recommendations and was in constant contact with me and my sister who took on a bulk of the planning.

When the day finally came, everything was ready. The food was prepared timely and served fresh, the room was arranged in a way that was very suited to the event. The manager (a young lady whos name has escaped me, SORRY!) was in constant contact with me throughout the night ensuring everything went smoothly. Our server (Walker) was very friendly and made sure everyone had everything they needed.

The event was flawless. My parents were incredibly surprised, all attendees had a great time and it could not have gone better. My sister and I got to show our appreciation to our mom and dad in way they will always cherish, and this could not have been possible without the help of the Trali staff. I want to personally thank all of them for help making this possible. If you need an event hosted, please make this your first choice. Great food, beverage choices are amazing, helpful staff and...