Kate O'Shea's

After I finished up some work in the area, I decided to stop for an early dinner at Kate O'Shea's Restaurant & Pub , which reopened this week after renovations. The place has a spacious pub area with hardwood floors, high top wood table seating and bar counter seating, flatscreen TVs, TouchTunes jukebox, and an old brick fireplace in an odd location, next to the bar counter, which offers a full line of mixed drinks, wine, and beer (tap and bottles).  Beyond the pub area,  there's also a bright casual dining room with table seating and plenty of windows bringing in natural light from outside.

The menu features mostly Irish American pub fare and comfort foods including Irish nachos, bacon wrapped scallops, French onion soup, steak tip salad, lobster ravioli, spaghetti & meatballs, meatloaf, bangers & mash, burgers, reubens, fried & baked seafood dishes, steaks, filets, bourbon turkey tips, and more. There's also a kids menu for "lil lads & lasses" too. See the menu offerings at <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fkateosheas.com%2Fmenu.html&s=f0c230b691bba48f563c3a59a7cfa16abe6b5f0d3b485bfc6d5f1b866c750b75" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://kateosheas.com/me…</a> (Note , the current menu offerings differ slightly from the menu on the website, as of 02/12/2011)

I arrived here around 3:30PM and decided to sit up at the bar since the place was not that busy, and everyone was up at the bar. After a short moment, I was greeted: "Just yourself" and waited on. I put in my order for an appetizer and an entree (to be brought out together, as requested). I helped myself to some complementary roasted peanuts, as I waited for my food and watched some PGA golf on the TV.

For an appetizer, the Irish Egg Rolls ($4.99) were two full sized egg rolls cut in halves which were stuffed with deli sliced corned beef, shredded cabbage, & cheese in a crispy deep fried wrapper and served with tangy Russian dressing for dipping.

For dinner, the Shepherd's Pie ($9.99) was served very hot in a casserole dish, which was layered with seasoned ground beef and niblet corn in a light beef/mushroom gravy and the top layer of chunky mashed potatoes and paprika sprinkled on top.

I did overhear some interesting conversations while I was enjoying my dinner including some of the challenges and advantages of living in the South (Tennessee), specifically about Southern deep fried and fatty foods (biscuits & gravy, fried chicken, fried catfish, etc) enjoyed there and less smoking bans in public places for smokers. Like all public places in NH, you have to smoke outside. From my experiences down South, most of the folks there are very friendly and when I leave a place, I'm told: "Y'all come back, ya hear!"

Anyways, the food here was solid good pub fare and very filling to eat. The service at the bar was pleasant and prompt. I would definitely return here again.