By Tom Collins, Correspondent
Dublin Pub’s motto is “Come for the Blarney, Stay for the Food.” I’m not so sure about the blarney – we had a good lunch conversation and our server was talkative but not overly so. However, I’m more confident about the food, which is reason enough to keep us coming back to Dublin.
Nestled in Town & County Shopping Center on MacArthur, Dublin is deceptively large. There are plenty of tables and the layout can easily accommodate larger groups of diners – something that’s lacking at many restaurants in Springfield. There are also banquet rooms in the rear. Dublin’s walls are decorated with the usual assortment of pub accoutrements, with a particular emphasis on Guinness posters. It being a pub, there’s also a large wooden bar that runs the length of the main seating area. We observed several solo diners enjoying lunch while seated at the bar.
My dining companions and I were pleasantly greeted at the door. We arrived at the crux of the lunch hour to find Dublin just over half full. Our menus quickly appeared as did our server, who immediately took our drink orders. We sensed that Dublin knew how to move a lunch crowd.
Our fellow diners appeared to be primarily the west-side business crowd interspersed with others who appeared less concerned with the clock. We didn’t feel out of place with our suits, but would have fit in just as well had we worn shorts. We didn’t feel as if our conversation could be overheard, but we each commented that if Dublin had been filled with a more boisterous crowd that we might have had to strain to hear conversation.
Dublin’s menu is quite comprehensive and runs the gamut, with some pleasant surprises, of what one would expect from this genre. It’s broken into appetizers, soups and salad, and burgers/sandwiches. It being Springfield, there are also a large variety of horseshoes. Dinner options are listed on the back of the menu.
Notable menu items included the Dublin Nachos (waffle fries topped with the usual suspects - $6.95 – large enough for an entrée); the buffalo chicken wrap ($6.50), the Black & Bleu Burger (1/2 pound burger topped with bleu cheese and bacon - $6.95), and the fish and chips (walleye, on rye, with tartar sauce - $7.25). All sandwiches and burgers are served with home-made chips, but fries are available for an additional $.99. A variety of salads is available which range in price from $5.75 to $7.50. Dublin also offers the traditional horseshoe options, but also boasts some nice additions – Italian sausage, club, reuben, buffalo chicken, and philly steak shoes. Prices range from $6.50 to $8.75. Diners can choose either white or yellow sauces. Finally, Vic’s pizza (served until 1 am for the late night crowd) is also available and starts out at $8.99 for a nine inch cheese pizza.
We opted for the buffalo chicken horseshoe ($8.75), the club sandwich ($6.50, with chips), and the cheeseburger (1/2 pound - $6.25) with fries. The buffalo chicken horseshoe knocked the proverbial socks off my one companion. It was generously sized and the buffalo sauce played off nicely against the cheese sauce. Dublin’s got a winner on its hands with this dish and should be punished if it’s ever taken off the menu. The burger was above-average. My only issue, common to Dublin’s competitors as well, is that it was cooked medium despite my request for medium-rare. The chips were freshly cooked and well seasoned. The club was also well-sized for the price and pleased my other companion’s finicky palate. His fries, however, paled in comparison to the chips. None of us was able to finish our plates – perhaps because we had started with an enormous platter of onions rings ($4.50 – 2/3 pound and served with ranch dressing). Not overly battered and well cooked, the onion rings were a definite crowd pleaser.
Our service was attentive, friendly and obviously attuned to the needs of business diners. We particularly appreciated that our drinks were well monitored and that our various special requests were quickly satisfied.
My dining companions and I had all been to Dublin on numerous previous occasions. We each commented that our lunch visit was reflective of our collective experiences at Dublin, and that it would continue to be in our respective dining rotations.
Address: 2413 S. MacArthur, Springfield, IL
Phone: (217) 793-6871
Hours: Monday – Sunday starting at 11 am
Wheelchair Access: Yes
Credit Cards: Yes
Atmosphere: ***
Service: ****
Food: *****
Price: ***
Suitability for Business Lunch: ****
OVERALL: ****
Tom Collins is a freelance writer from Springfield.
