We pulled into Ouray late and stumbled downtown starving from a bone-crushingly long 12 hour drive.
First, it took about 15 minutes at 8:30 p.m. on a weeknight with not that many patrons, to be waited on. Â I had to walk up to the bar to get beers.
My friend, being vegetarian, had the only vegetarian item on the menu: an eggplant sammie.
Eggplant is a fairly tasteless vegetable, so it really needs ramping up with a spicy sauce or a snappy amount of seasonings, none of which were done, so it was bland, deep-fat fried, rubbery and entirely forgettable.
I had something that sounded very promising: "Irish" themed eggrolls, stuffed with corned beef and cabbage. Â Cabbage, much like eggplant, is rather bland, and there weren't enough seasonings in the cabbage rolls, though the spicy mustard sauce was nice.
The entrees were over $10 a piece, so for fried pub food, way over-priced.
But, sadly, compared to the other restaurants we tried in Ouray, it was among the best, which isn't saying much for Ouray. Â Cute, hospitable town but it is not a foodie paradise, and its expensive for what you get.
We left hungry and annoyed. Â Next time, we'll bring all the food we need from home and cook around the campfire instead. Â It was that blah and expensive to be simply not worth it.
I was appalled. We walked in, got seated, ordered our drinks, and then got ignored the rest of the time. We had to flag someone down to put our order in after waiting altogether too long considering there were three other waitresses just talking at the bar. Our ketchup bottle was glass and fragmented. We had to wave someone down to get that replaced as well. Lastly, my water glass had a bug in it but because I was sick of waving down people, I stopped drinking it. Twelve dollars for frozen fish and four fifty for a bottled Easy Street. Never again.
Review Source:My daughter and I both became ill after eating there last night.  We are pretty sure the waitress had someone in the kitchen add some 'extra flavor' to our food after she took a joke the wrong way.  She made snide remarks to the hostess after asking us how we liked  our dinners and didn't make eye context the rest of the night. The restaurant  overall maybe great, but at least some of the staff shouldn't be there.  I guess this happens in small resort towns.  We paid the price.
Review Source:I go to Ouray once a year in January-February to ice climb. So the first compliment I need to pay to O'Brien's Pub is that they actually stay open year round (a lot of businesses close for winter in Ouray).
I the second compliment is that they actually stay open late--you know, like a normal bar. Other venues, like Ouray Brewery, close at 10:00 PM or so. So if you want to make a later night of it, and let's face it, if you're out drinking beer you probably do, this is the place.
The food is typical American-Irish Pub grub. Guiness stew. Fish and chips. Burgers and fries. Try the Leprechaun Balls, which are actual testicles harvested from Ireland's little green people, battered and friend in a Buffalo hot sauce. Ha! I'm kidding! They're actually tiny potato balls in hot sauce, fashioned to 'look' like the balls of Leprecuans!
Anyway, the food is decent--not outstanding but not bad. It's what you'd expect of pub grub.
The beer selection isn't so great in my view. Of course I'm an Imperial IPA fueled beer snob from Portland, Oregon, so you might not be so sensitive. But you can certainly get by just fine. There is certainly a number of taps, and naturally Guiness is in the mix. Full bar too. Why not get a few Irish Car Bombs while you're there?
It was cold and dark outside and O'Brien's provided a warm solution: Guinness Beef Stew. Â It tasted exactly how a beef stew should taste: hearty, without inventive flavors, comfortably homey. Â The meat was very tender and not fatty. Â I ordered a bowl of it, which was very large and came with two slices of bread.
We also got some Irish Egg Rolls stuffed with corned beef and cabbage. Â I wasn't sure how these were supposed to taste, but after sinking my teeth into the pleasing textures of an initial crunch and then soft chewiness, I became a fan. Â You get 4 half-pieces, and each of these are sizeable, maybe 2.5" in diameter and 3" long.
My honey toddy wasn't memorable. Â It's not the worst I've had, but definitely not the best. Â The glass wasn't even filled to where I'd say it was full, and it was only lukewarm. Â Not strong at all.
Service was fine.  Our guy didn't say much but he was efficient and got our stuff right.  Cool  pub atmosphere, and I can see this place being a rockin' good time during the popular summer months.
This was definitely a bustling pub! Despite the overflow of patrons, I have to hand it to the staff - they seated people quickly and checked in with us frequently. We even watched them graciously step in when someone tried to grab a table near the bar without having been on the wait list.
That said, the food got mixed reviews from our table. Our starter of fried pickles was okay. The pickles were sliced awfully thick, so we picked out the thinnest ones and didn't finish the rest. Â I got the soup and sandwich combo - wholeheartedly loved the Guinness Beef Stew, but my Corned Beef Sandwich was just okay. Too much slaw in my opinion, wrong mustard choice (it was almost like a Chinese spicy), and they let the bottom piece of bread get all soggy. Could mean the slaw was too wet, or could mean the dish was sitting for a bit before it got to me. My dinnermate had bangers and mash and said it was good. Sausage was very peppery, though.
So, A+ for hostess and service, B+ for food, and B for atmosphere. We did leave just before the band set up, though... don't know if that would have changed the review.
Fun spot for a happy hour crowd apres ice climbing. Good beer and appetizer specials. The tap list is small, but above average featuring local/Colorado breweries. Hate to keep bursting your bubble, but Colorado just is NOT as good as Washington, Oregon, or Montana in the beer market, but sampling new and local was nice. =) The food was pretty average bar food. Orders of fries were a bit on the small side--I think we ended up with 6 to barely feed 8 people who were also sharing wings and other apps. Â Service was pretty fast on the nights that we went. I'd continue to come for happy hour with a big group of friends, but I would head elsewhere if looking for a full meal
Review Source:This is a nice little pub. Basically went there for an afternoon drink and it was good. The service was VERY good! Â Looks like they have a bunch of good options on the menu but again, we did not eat there.
We wanted to play darts since they have a few dart boards up but their darts are in sad shape with the flights not even staying on. I'm not sure I even found more than two of the same darts. Basically we didn't end up playing darts. If you go for darts - take your own.
My husband and I recently stayed in Ouray for a week. We went to O'Brien's Pub one night for dinner. Â The service was EXTREMELY slow. Every table was filled in the entire restaurant and we only saw 2 waiters working. Â It took us about 2 hours to eat at a 'bar food' type of establishment. Â Also, the flies inside were HORRIBLE. Â My husband ordered the roast beef sandwich and I ordered the sliders. Â He said the roast beef sandwich was average and the sliders were average, also. Â It seems like it would be a fun atmosphere to go with friends, but it isn't somewhere I plan on visiting again.
Review Source:I came here several times in my one week stay in Ouray. It's a great place to come for drinks. The crowd is fun and their back patio is awesome. The food here is just okay for the most party... except for one thing.... their jalepeno variation soups are absolutely phenomenal. The cheddar jalepeno soup and the sweet potato jalepeno soup were sooooo amazing. I wish they served them everyday, but unfortunately they only have one soup of the day and it changes everyday.
Review Source:happy hour 1/2 draft beer. friendly server. Came here during Ouray Ice Fest and alwas had a ball. The vibe is relaxed, servers friendly. The chef was able to meet the bar by making a special "obscenely spicy wings" and had my friends in tears, which was impressive. Really like their soup and salad special, the guiness beef stew, and salad with tuna.
Review Source:Definitely a solid stop in Ouray. Fun staff, good atmosphere and decent food. The menu is reasonably large, and they've got lots of stuff to choose from. They've also got plenty of local and craft brews in the bar, so that's a great spot.
What gives them a 4th star up from the 3rd is that I was hanging out during the Stanley Cup Finals (wearing my Bruins sweater) and they immediately turned the game on without me even asking. They even turned the sound on for Game 7 in the bar -- which most places won't do these days.
Prices are what you'd expect for a mountain town. Portions are large, and the food is (as I said) decent. it's a pub -- make sure your expectations are sized accordingly.
This place is much better now than when it opened. It's set up a a traditional bar now and less of a restaurant. The fish and chips were very good, and the sliders looked and smelled fantastic. There are only four beers on tap and one was a really lame Corona knock off from Ska, but they're planning on putting more taps in soon. They have great HDTVs that they send anything to, including EuroSport via LiveSchoreHunter! How cool is that sports fans? You can watch really obscure sports here if you're into really obscure sports.
Review Source:It's a pub, what can you expect...
Good beer selection and a cool Irish-ambiance. Â Food was solid but nothing to go crazy over. Â It was fairly typical bar food.
Service was OK but our server got weird with us after she told me my ID was a fake and had me pull out 3 other forms to check it (it wasn't). Â THEN after that we asked her to split the check four ways and that just seemed to rattle her even more. Â I was not the only one who noticed this at our table.
Environment: Lots of TVs for sporting events and to keep me entertained.
Besides that though, it was alright for Ouray, Colorado. Â Nicely priced compared to the other restaurants in the town when we weren't looking to pay $12+ for a burger.
Sucked for us. We showed up on a Friday around noon, got a table on the patio (after we weren't even noticed for 3 minutes), and then waited about 5 minutes before somebody would even take our drink order. It then took 15 minutes to get our drinks (2 beers, 2 waters). 5 minutes later, he came back for our lunch order. As it started to rain, other tables that seated long after us were offered tables inside the pub by another waitress, but never for our table of 4.
So then we waited 45 minutes for our food. We never saw our waiter after he took our order. Needless to say, we walked through the restaurant and right out the door. On our way out, the wait staff was surprised we were leaving. I'd say they should have been surprised that they'd never seen us sitting there, too. They made sure to snidely tell us to have a great vacation on our way out.
I've heard of "not being in a hurry" when eating some places, but I'd prefer to get my meal sometime in the 21st century.
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