Lonigan's

We went here the first night of the Highland Festival thinking it would be hopping, right? Wrong wrong wrong. We walked in "back door" which had a sign directing us to the front dining. So we walked through a large empty room to reach the front dining room - another large... mostly empty room. We took a seat next to the Bar. The Bartender was on the ending chatting with friends. We waited 10 minutes without seeing any wait staff on the floor and with no acknowledgement of the Bartender- we left out the front door.  I think you could hear the crickets chirping as we left.

I'll preface this by saying we were coming down from a hike and just wanted food before heading home.  While nothing was particularly bad, it wasn't "wow" in any way either.  2.5 stars if I could, but since I can't, it gets 2.  

They have a split plate charge and before the crowd comes in, service is fairly quick but the place feels a little dead.  And for an "Irish bar", they don't serve much "Irish beer".  Price range was also a little high, I thought, at $9-12 for most dishes.

My recommendation - burger and sweet potato fries.

I visited Lonigans after a long day of vending at the Scandinavian Festival in mid-June. I was served by none other than the owner, who was working his butt off at the tables. I ordered a Fat Tire, which got to my table faster than was humanly possible to tap a beer.

I had the buffalo burger: great! I was still a little hungry, having worked a long day at the festival, so I ordered the mozzarella sticks. On the menu it says '6 Mozzarella Cheese Sticks'. In a timely manner, 8 cheese sticks arrive at my table. When does that happen?

I checked out the other reviews on Yelp before posting this and they primarily address the service and the atmosphere. Service will always vary depending on who happens to be serving you on a particular day, how busy they are and what mood they are in. It's always a crap shoot.  My experience was unbeatable.

As to the atmosphere: Lonigans touts itself as an Irish Pub. I have visited dozens of Irish Pubs literally around the world. The point of an Irish Pub is to integrate some Irish culture with the local color. Lonigans conforms to the standard model of an Irish Pub; they have Guinness on tap, there's a lot of green and there's a bunch of old photographs on the walls. They are not expected to play U2 and Flogging Molly on a constant loop. Yes, they have a bit of a mainstream and, to some degree, country influence about the place. That does not take away from the fact that Lonigans is a great place to go have a beer, a good meal, and to embarrass yourself at karaoke. In addition, Irish pubs are supposed to be a bit divey. That's what gives them their character. Lonigans has that patented divey feel without being run-down; the perfect balance.

For a town that has, like, three watering holes, Lonigans is doing pretty damn good.