Culhanes Irish Pub /Restrnt

Great.

How awesome is this little gem? I am only sorry it took me too long to figure out what other Yelpers and the one and only Guy Fieri already knew.  Owned by four Irish sisters, don't let the "it's in a strip mall mentality" keep you from stopping on in. This place is the real Irish deal.

Headed out this past weekend with my very Irish boyfriend for a Saturday night treat.

Walked in, and immediately welcomed with smiling faces. The dining room to your left, and a huge bar area located just to the right. Since the weather was nice, we opted to sit outside. (This place is pup friendly, next time, we are bringing the wee one with...)

First of all, the music is completely contagious. Traditional Irish tunes that had us *attempting* to Riverdance all over the place. We just could not keep our feet still and it put a happy smile on our faces.  We were busted by our awesome and attentive server Dawn, who got a good laugh.

If a Scotch egg is on the menu, I am going to have it. So we started with that and Nana's sausage rolls and a few beers.

Scotch egg was on point! Great crispy breading, plenty of sausage surrounding the perfectly hard-boiled egg... YUM.  I normally go straight for the Coleman's, but the sauce provided was too damn good. A mix of sweet and spicy mustard on top of a bed of mashed tates, it did not stand a chance. The sausage rolls had just a small hint of onion and spice, wrapped in a delicate and light flaky pastry.

I knew without even looking at the menu, I was going for the corned beef and cabbage... but really wanted to try the famous Guinness stew as well.... then I saw the Lamb sliders....

The corned beef is marinated in Guinness and gave it a nice, rich flavor. I busted out the Coleman's for this one and wow. Un-real. I was advised to get the skinny portion, but was sad that I did. The corned beef disappeared rather quickly! The cabbage is sautéed with onion and bacon giving it a sweet flavor, added a dash of salt and watched that disappear as well.

I had a few bites of my boyfriend's Guinness Beef stew... rich and flavorful.... with the hints of beer and barley, very complex with tender bites of beef. A seriously thick bowl that will fill you up.

Well, it just wasn't enough for us. We placed an order for the lamb sliders to go with an order of bread pudding. And I am really glad we did.

I am not a huge bread pudding fan... but was offered a taste later that night. Thick, egg-y, and delicious, I ended up eating half the order before it was pried out of my little hands!

We got around to the sliders the next day. They came with fries... and to our surprise, even nuked, the fries were amazing. We both looked at each other, as if this was the true testament of fry-dom, or chip-dom I guess I should say, that if they were THIS good the next day...just imagine them fresh. Drool.

The Lamb sliders were deliciously seasoned and fantastic, even nuked... juicy and melt-n-your-mouth good. The only thing that would have made them better, is a bit of cheese... but noting that for our next order.

Oh we will back. And it will be soon.

Culhane's location in a strip mall might seem a bit strange at first. Until I moved to Florida, I assumed anything in a strip mall was probably not worth my time. Here you might be pleased to find quality local businesses in strip malls, and Culhane's is definitely one of them. Me and my guy basically live across the street, so for a little while this was one of our default "don't wanna cook tonight" spots. The owners/staff are SUPER nice and SO accommodating -- we brought in a big party (and I'm talking 50+ rowdy drunks) and they didn't even blink.

The atmosphere is probably just what you'd expect from an Irish pub. The dining area and pub area are separate, in case you want a little bit different ambience. There is plenty of beer and food. Both are kind of pricey but at least the food portions are big. I can see how this would excite Guy Fieri, and I blame his endorsement for drawing the ridiculous crowds you'll see on weekends. I've never been to Ireland so I won't pretend to know anything about the authenticity of the menu; however, I do frequent Irish pubs and have visited a few in several cities, so I'll just be honest and say the food at Culhane's hasn't been as exciting as other Irish pub grub I've had.

Here's a rundown of a few items I've sampled:
- Reuben egg rolls: On one hand I always order these; on the other hand I don't know if I've ever truly tasted them, because they seem to always be served hot enough to scorch off your tastebuds.
- Scotch egg: Delicious. But I'm not sure if there's any way to truly mess up a scotch egg.
- Irish nachos: Well, I found out that I dislike the shepherds pie here, so a mound of potato chips covered in it was less than thrilling. I've been informed that shepherds pie is supposed to be made with lamb (hence the name I suppose) and this is actually cottage pie (beef).
- Drunken cheesesteak: I did not even taste a hint of Guinness with this? Maybe my tongue was still enflamed from the egg rolls. The filling-to-bread ratio was a little off for me personally (too much bread).
- Guinness beef stew: Even the "skinny portion" is huge so I don't even wanna think about what the regular portion looks like. I like the idea in theory and the flavor harmony was okay overall (still no real Guinness flavor), but it has that same weird sweet taste as the shepherds pie.
- Fish & chips: Possibly the biggest disappointment because the entree is $15 and you get two pieces of fish, which are heavily battered, yet the batter just ends up falling off in clumps, leaving you with bland, sad fish.

And I suppose it goes without saying, but this is not a place you want to dine in if you're in any way trying to watch fat or carbs.

Conclusion: a good spot all-around, but low on my personal list of favorite Irish pubs.