Galway House

This was the first place my wife and I stopped to eat when we moved to Jamaica Plain from North Carolina.  Galway house is located on Centre st, which goes through the heart of Jamaica Plain and has a lot of neat places nearby.  We both split a fish platter which was more than enough food for the both of us.  Very generous portion size at this restaurant! We chose the clam chowder (awesome, very meaty). Mac and cheese (average) and broccoli.  The fried fish itself was delicious.  Our waitress was also really great, kept checking up on us.  The only downside is that the bread they served us before our meal was cold and was something similar to a hoagie roll, which was a bit strange.   We will definitely come back, especially if we're in the mood for a lot of bang for our buck. Very divey location!

I don't appreciate waitresses with a mean attitude.

When we visited this place my friend asked if the chicken sandwich was good. She said in a very ironic tone: "It's horrible, that's why we have it on the menu." That would have been hilarious if we had known this woman. But honestly, dear waitress, that was just plain rude.

And guess what, she was right. The chicken sandwich WAS  horrible.

Now that I think of it she was not being rude. She was being HONEST. Thank you, I should have heard you from the minute you said and walked out then!

I've been a frequent customer at the Galway House over the decades. I live in nearby Mission Hill, and the food and service have generally been good, the location convenient, the hours extensive, and the prices reasonable. This evening, however, all of my positive feelings about this place, which are echoed in the comments here at yelp, went right down the toilet.

After a long day at work I was looking forward to a fried seafood platter. I'd had a couple of them here before, and they were very good. When I arrived all of the tables along the right hand side of the wall were pretty much empty. I sat down and after a few minutes a young waitress came to the table and asked, "Would you like a menu?"

Duh, I'm in a restaurant. "Yes, please." Soon after another woman, who I believe has been working there for some time, took my order. While waiting I turned on my laptop, checked my facebook page quickly, and clicked on an article I saw on my newsfeed. My beer, salad and meal all arrived fairly quickly. I was really hungry, so I pretty much was scarfing down my food the whole time I was reading. I took perhaps five minutes to type responses to the news story.

The shrimp and scallops were great, the fish OK, the fried clams (which had been excellent last time) were doughy. Corn on the cob was good. The "rice pilaf" was basically plain white rice with some sort of herb or peppercorns sprinkled in.  

The mediocrity of the cooking was not, however, my main issue. Several times while I was eating the waitress would stop by, asking (as I chewed mouthfuls of food) "Are you doing OK?",  "Do you need anything else", "Is everything alright?", the usual platitudes, to which I responded with polite overstatement, "Everything's excellent". Then a few more drive-by remarks, half-aloud musings like, "OK, he's still eating", and finally, "Are you finished? Oh, and by the way, Eddie's here (who???), and we have quite a few people waiting, and he wants you to know this isn't an internet cafe or anything like that."

"Excuse me, I haven't stopped eating the whole time I've been here."

"Oh yes, I know that."

"Fine, just give me the check please."

Mind you, from stepping through the door to finishing my platter, I'd probably been there a grand total of about 45 minutes. I spent about $30 on food and beverage, including a 20% tip.  I would have ordered coffee and dessert, but I didn't want to inconvenience them any further. I was highly insulted, and will never set foot in this diner/wannabe fast food joint again. I also plan to post this review on other sites, including Galway's facebook page.Based on previous more positive experiences, I've decided to award these mamalukes two stars instead of one.