Blarney Stone Pub - West Fargo — Restaurant in West Fargo

Tldr: don't bother with the mug club. They will take your $25 and say "aw shucks!" when the app is down which is CONSTANTLY.

My review is confusing, but let me explain:

I love Blarney and have been a loyal customer here for years. Service is always pretty good. Food and drinks are great.. What I am frustrated with is their "mug club" rewards system. My husband got a mug club card years ago, and despite having to give them all of his information to sign up and pay $25 (most rewards programs are free, so this seems odd) if you ever forgot your card at home (because who keeps a card like that on them at all times?) the servers would apparently have to "go against policy" to look up a person's reward details. Again - no other places have an issue just searching with your number, ESPECIALLY places that have CHARGED you money to have the rewards program. However, the program was decent since as advertised on the card you can get 10% off all food...

At some point, they switched to a phone app. It 👏🏼 Never 👏🏼 Works 👏🏼...or I guess it did one single time when my husband put his rewards info on it. But every time since that, it has failed to load. When we ate dinner there the other day, I was at a table with 3 other people, all of whom could not get it to work. The restaurant doesn't have a contingency for this. All of the advertised rewards need to be selected on the app beforehand, so we could not get a birthday reward that was due. When we got our bill, there was no 10% discount on the food. Confused, we talked to our server and the manager and apparently they have discontinued this 10% off deal and switched to a points system in the app. I have no clue what that means or what the value of that is, since again, THE APP DOESN'T WORK. We did still get $1 off each $8+ beer, so we got a whooping $4 off a TWO HUNDRED DOLLAR TAB. 😡 For the record: we didn't stiff our server on the tip at all - still gave him a $40 tip and lots of thanks for putting up with these issues and trying to help us resolve them.

I don't know if the pressure to not be at all accommodating or generous to customers is coming from upper management or the owners, but this is a successful establishment with several locations. You can afford to treat your good customers well, especially ones that paid for...

Tonight was my first time at The Blarney Stone and it did not disappoint. Upon walking in you are transported to another place. The architecture and design are wonderful. Everything gives it that authentic pub look and feel. The bar itself looks great, with all the brick and wood. Not to mention the generous tap selection. The menu also has a lot to offer, although be sure to pack a magnifying glass because the font size was pretty small. But the menu had some great things to choose from along with some Irish classics. The prices are what you would expect from a pub, a little higher but not terribly outrageous. But the food itself spoke volumes. Delicious and full of flavor. Savory and well seasoned. A couple of the burgers that were ordered were undercooked, which was disappointing, but the restaurant made sure to remedy the issue. And they did discount the tab because of it, which was appreciated. One member of the party didn't even care that it was undercooked and just ate the whole thing because she thought it tasted that good. The one issue with evening was the service. We originally had two servers that didn't seem to have the best attitude or attentiveness, but I think that was due to them being cut and going home soon as they transferred our table to a different server who delivered better service. Not an excuse, but it's what I imagine the case to be. Other than that a great place, it was a little quite in the bar, but the patio was lively and looked like a fun, exciting atmosphere to be in. The bar didn't seem to follow any of the CDC guidelines for social distancing or anything else, but they might have been using one time use menus. But, as I mentioned, fun place, great food....

My recent visit to Blarney Stone Pub left me with mixed feelings. The food was undeniably delicious, but unfortunately, the service was far from satisfactory.

Let's start with the positives—the food was outstanding! Each dish we ordered was prepared to perfection, and the flavors were simply delightful. It's evident that the kitchen staff takes pride in their culinary creations, and I genuinely enjoyed the dining experience on that front.

However, I must address the issue that marred our overall impression—the waitress's demeanor and attitude. Upon our arrival, we greeted her warmly, only to receive a disinterested response. As we were settling into our seats, she hastily wiped the crumbs from the table, and some ended up in our laps, which was rather off-putting.

When we sought her guidance on the menu, she appeared uninterested and lacked any enthusiasm in providing suggestions or insights into the restaurant's specialties. A smile and a welcoming attitude can go a long way in enhancing the dining experience, but unfortunately, it was missing throughout our interaction.

The lackluster service significantly detracted from an otherwise enjoyable evening. As a customer, I value attentive and courteous service just as much as I appreciate great food, and in this aspect, Blarney Stone Pub fell short.

I sincerely hope that the management takes this feedback constructively, as there's immense potential for this establishment to shine if they address the issues with their service. If the staff can match the exceptional quality of the food with genuine hospitality, Blarney Stone Pub would undoubtedly become a go-to spot for...