The Irish Times Pub

Address: 1200 Government St.
Phone: (250) 383-7775
Website: http://www.irishtimespub.ca/
Price: $15+ entree
Notes: Expensive, but there's lots of great live music and (arguably) the best pour of Guiness in town.



I really love the Irish Times, despite all the factors that really should make me detest it.

It's such a weird decor... simulated pub-ness grates against me at times. Having spent a significant amount of time in British and Scottish (although admittedly not Irish!) pubs, it feels like a cheap copy of the Real Thing plus giant screens for sports (buh?). When I describe it to people visiting from the UK I always say "if you want a high street pub, go to the Irish Times but if you want a proper village pub go across the street to the Garrick's Head." Much like a traditional high street pub, the prices are pretty high - although it depends what you're ordering. I find the food extremely pricey, and a pint isn't the cheapest but if you're drinking the hard stuff you can do alright.

The extraordinarily cute servers in the extraordinarily short "kilts" also rubs me the wrong way. Really? Really? Is that really necessary to sell pints? The staff are pretty good in general, however, so you can't really find too much fault except with the management.

That being said, they have some pretty fantastic live of celtic music nightly. The fact that they are almost always has lead to some very interesting meetings while sharing tables with strangers, including visitors from out of town. Their drink/appy specials bring the prices into the reasonable range. The food quality is excellent, and in fact there's some really interesting dishes on the menu. Their giant nachos comes with a cumin salsa that is Fabulous! And, of course, where else would you go on St. Paddy's day?


Service:
April 3, 2011
Our server today was not the best I've had at the Times. She was very friendly, but a little bit of tunnel vision meant it was hard to catch her eye when we wanted something, like to order an appy or get the bill etc. Not bad, I'm just used to having impressive service here.


Food:
April 3, 2011

Toad in the Hole via foodspotting.com

I really have to start ordering things that are more visually appealing, but it's so hard to tell without having ordered it before. These were pretty little things in real life. The garlic mashed potatoes were very delicious, and the little sausage pieces in the yorkshires were lovely. Not quite sure about the short ribs... it didn't seem like there was much in there. Normally I detest green onions with a passion, but somehow these ones actually added to this. I was half having a work-related meeting while eating, so I didn't spend as much time exploring the texture of the yorkshires as I would have liked, but they were not too chewy or crunchy which isn't easy to do with yorkshires that tiny!