Bunratty Tavern

Returned for dinner with friends last night. Atmosphere was especially cozy as it was rainy. We were told to sit anywhere, which in this case was nice, as we sat in the front window seats. Really nice. My friends had wine (generous pours) and I had a Guinness (again, a perfect pour). So far so good. Host checked on us (very nice) and our server brought us menus. This place has a good selection of gluten free items. We all chose steak tips of different sorts (Guinness and regular; both perfect according to my friends). Here’s where things went downhill. I ordered the Irish sampler. The Good: steak tips were perfect as were the fries. The Bad: ham was very dry; bangers were small and tasteless. Baked beans (which were initially missing so had to bring to server’s attention) were obviously canned vegetarian ones. So disappointed as homemade ones are so hard to come by, and this was a big reason why I chose this dish (wont make that mistake again!). The Ugly: Poor presentation. Everything just carelessly piled on the plate. Verdict? Down a star (could have gone down two, but this place is trying! (Unlike Biltmore). I’ll be back Bunrattys. I’ll just be a little more careful on my next selection.

Been there quite a few times. Food is delicious and the staff is great! Love the atmosphere! The bands are fun to watch! Should be a much busier place!

Decent atmosphere. Food was kind of your average Irish pub fare. Nothing bad about the food, but nothing great either. Service was a bit unorganized the last time we were in. If you like Irish pub food, you will likely enjoy it here

Heard good things so decided to check it out. Nice place. Friendly attentive bartender. Love the dark wood décor. Many options to choose from. Highly recommend the Bunratty’s Spring rolls made with corned beef… to die for. The steak tips were cooked to perfection with the side of nicely sauteed vegetables. Great beer selection too. The only thing I would have done differently is made the bar more of a U-​shape than a straight line. The bartender has to do a lot of walking back and forth and it’s hard to get her attention wayyyy down the other end (although she checked in often). Plan on checking out the entertainment next time.

Wonderful food (I had the corned beef dinner), comfy interior and a broad drinks menu. Irish music played and live entertainment a few days per week. What’s not to like about that! A welcome addition to Reading!

Me and my husband went here for my birthday. Food was delicious. Wine was really good. Everyone was really friendly.

Good, local place to drop in and enjoy a couple drinks and an appetizer. I’ve been there a few times now, most recently on a Thursday night. There was a decent size crowd but we were able to get 2 seats at the bar. Excellent selection of draft beers. We started with the rustic flatbread… by far the best item I’ve had! This item alone is with going back for. The steak tips were cooked as requested and a good size portion. We will definitely go back again and can’t wait to sit outside on their patio for drinks this Spring.

This is my second time here and the food has been consistently delicious, the service was fast and friendly. Relaxed atmosphere

My wife and I went last night.
It’s your typical American (Irish) pub.
They have Switchback on tap which is fantastic, as well as Smithwicks … So good show there!
We got spinach and artichoke dip and Irish spring rolls (which were phenomenal) as an appetizer.
Bangers and Mash were disappointing, more like well done hot dogs and bland mash potatoes w/​little gravy.
Also their «traditional» Shepard’s Pie is made with ground beef, which is pretty far from traditional.
All in all, it’s okay. I’d go back for beer and the spring rolls.
On a side note … It’s a step up from Grumpy Doyle’s.

I would have liked to give the breakfast a 4.5. The omelette was light and fluffy and a good size with lots of options to add to it. The French Toast was thick and moist with just enough cinnamon and the Maple Syrup was real maple. I would strongly recommend coming her for breakfast in Reading. The service was vey good and friendly.

I have been here a few times. It’s just simple comfort food. The good items are the stews, shepherds pies, burgers and Irish breakfast, you can’t go wrong ordering those. The fried items however need some work. We’ve ordered the fish and chips and a fried cabbage roll appetizers and other fried items on occasion. Each time the fried food came out soggy and greasy as if were cooked in old oil. The fish and chips were the most disappointing, especially if you’ve had the real version that should be hot and crispy.
Despite that, the comfort food items are great. I do not recommend the appetizer sampler as it’s basically a big plate of soggy fries w a couple of the feature items on top.

Went for dinner on a Saturday night. Great service, bouncer was very nice also. Delicious steak tips but the fries were terrible.

Like so many others living in the Reading area I was looking forward to this place. I mean, it took them almost over 2 years to put this place together. So I guess when I walked through the front door last Friday I expected to be absolutely blown away. That didn’t happen.
The place has very little character. Think of the now closed Grumpy Doyles and you get the picture. This is no more an Irish Pub than my neighbor’s rec room. A Guinness sign and some other UK beer signage does not make a bar an Irish pub. In addition, the high ceilings make the noise level a little much.
We stayed inside and then after 15 minutes of waiting to be seated we asked for a table on the patio. That’s when things really started to go downhill. Once seated, I saw another customer leap from his table and ask a server «We’ve been sitting here for half an hour, is anyone going to take our order?»
We didn’t have to wait that long, but by the end of our stay, we had been served by 4 different servers. Who is our server became a running joke. We had some mediocre nachos and a bread/​brie plate. It was fine but the 99 would have seemed a huge step up as far as quality.
We were here for about 90 minutes and called it a night. I will be very curious to see if this place stands the test of time.

After the looong anticipation to see what this was all about… I was somewhat underwhelmed (possibly had very high expectations because Reading desperately needs a great bar and was excited to see the new spot)
I had the specialty nachos and they were extremely spicy and we hadn’t been warned that they were not like traditional nachos. The steak tips were good.
Beer selection was not what I look for at a local bar — need more micro brew /​craft beer. There are a ton of people I know that would fly to a spot with a great selection of craft beer.
A lot of open space.

Love it here. Great atmosphere, good food, and great prices. Just what I was hoping for.
This is my third time here and the first with one of my kids. I appreciate that I can bring her here early and there are a lot of other parents with kids here. But, I also really appreciate that it is adults only later. It is nice to go out on a date and not be surrounded by children for a bit.
Only two wishes so far:
1) more vegetarian options. They have a great veggie Shepard’s Pie at St. James’ Gate in Jamaica Plain that I would love to eat here.
2) some ½ plates for the apps. I love the curry fries, but it is a HUGE portion. Sometimes it is a bit too much.
So far, I have had the fish and chips all 3 times. So delicious — the fish is excellent and the batter isn’t dripping with oil.
The veggie burger is nice and spicy, the Mac and cheese was delicious, and the curry fries are soooo good!
Sláinte!

I mean, it wasn’t *awful* but it could have been SO much better.
The atmosphere sucks. Too much empty space around the restaurant and there was this seriously weird smell in the back. The bar is alright but there are only two TVs, one of each in the corners, so if you’re in the middle of the bar, you’re screwed. There were a few other TVs around the rest of the restaurant but none were turned on. Definitely NOT a good place to watch a game. Bare walls with hardly any personality. NOT a good place to bring a date either.
The staff was alright. Our Irish bartender was a peach and the other one was your typical chatty, forgetful bartender. Another bartender was making drinks for the servers, so there were three all together, plus a manager who was kind of just walking around aimlessly behind the bar. We sat with two empty drinks in front of us for a pretty long time until someone finally came over to us to see if we wanted a refill, but by that time we had the credit card in front of us, ready to pay the bill and leave.
The food. It wasn’t good. My husband had the lobster roll special and he said it was good, but it was a ridiculously small portion. He finished it in about 3 bites and was picking at my meal after. I had the Shepard’s pie, thinking it would be hard to screw it up at an Irish restaurant. It wasn’t bad, but I’ve had better at pretty much any other Irish restaurant I’ve ever been to. I make a better one in my tiny kitchen at home. It was soupy, way too much meat gravy, with barely any vegetables. Presentation was atrocious. Think ground beef and gravy with a thin layer of stale mashed potatoes on top, all sloppily put together by someone who has never cooked in a kitchen before (picture attached).
Solid chance I won’t return anytime soon. Like I said, it wasn’t bad, but there are so many other better places to have dinner at.
PS – I agree with another poster that the dress code is very strange. There is a flimsy, print-​out flyer right before you enter the restaurant that says something like «Men’s shirts must have sleeves» or something… weird! Why is this sign necessary?

Went there at 8:00 and they said i could not enter because i was wearing a tank top with khaki shorts. Females in there had sleeveless shirts. Sounds biased to me. Please you are an Irish pub in reading… You’re not worth it.

Mediocre experience. Why haven’t you put the dinner and drink menu on your website yet? Waited several years for this place to open, and I can’t say that I’m going to rush back. Guys — use your beautiful patio! A Friday night in the summer is the perfect excuse — why wasn’t it open?
Overall, the staff were busting their asses, but service from the kitchen was dreadfully slow. Speaking of the kitchen, the Tavern Nachos were a great appetizer choice, but I could have done without the gristly corned beef sandwich and watery coleslaw. Burgers seemed okay, you won’t go hungry, but don’t expect to take home any leftovers either.
By 9pm on Friday, the place was emptying out, which was fine because the volume of noise bouncing off the bare walls and ceilings when it was busy made it hard to converse with those next to you.
My take: Come here for a beer or two before going elsewhere for the evening.

Very disappointed. With so few options in downtown Reading, I had been mildly excited for Bunratty’s to open… ignoring the fact that it took years to do so.
We went on the Friday opening night, and it felt clear they were still rushed and not ready. The décor was bland… from limp lighting to the plain painted drywall liquor shelf behind the bar, it felt a bit like someone’s finished basement (and less like a cozy pub).
They were fairly busy, which was a good sign. We were seated promptly at a high-​top right by a sunny window… which was also good. Our server (and another server in training) came over and took some drink orders for us… weirdly, the beer menu was on a little photocopied sheet of paper, with some beers specific and others just a brand name.
After a long wait (maybe 15 minutes), one of two beers came back… they were out of my beer, so I ordered another, and some just-​arrived friends orders drinks as well. Twenty minutes then pass… and a few more drinks arrive, but they are also out of my newly-​ordered beer… so I order again. Another 15-​minutes pass and I receive the beer I ordered previously (which I thought they had been out of). Beer was kind of warm, kind of flat.
Then our server disappeared. Never saw her again. After finishing our (singular) drinks after over an hour, we had to flag down the server-​in-​training for our check… which was given to us very unceremoniously (no «would you like another drink» or «is everything ok» — just a hurried drop-​on-​the-​table-​and-​turn-​away-​quickly).
So we paid and left, hungry (and went to Grumpy’s Ale House down the street… which we then found out was shutting down the next morning.
Two stars only because it was opening night, but after years of delayed opening, it still felt really rushed and not-​yet-​ready-​to-​be-​open. Pretty disappointing.

I was here on opening night and tonight (6÷20÷15) and they are having a very good turnout in terms of the crowd. Reaction (from speaking to others and overhearing) seems mostly favorable.
The food menu is large (60 items) and entrees are 10 – 16. They also have gluten free items like corned beef lettuce wraps.
For beer they have 16 drafts and a dozen whiskeys highlight their drink selection. Will post their drink menu as a photo later.
My Experience:
I had a bowl of clam chowder and Irish Curry Chips both were good in taste, portion, heat. My friend has the Bangers and Mash and it came out not hot with the gravy being cold to the touch. NOTE: That item was removed from his bill.
The GOOD:
Bar and restaurant are a single rectangular space with searing and standing room for 100+. The setup is very open and has a layout similar to a studio art gallery. They also have a patio with 12 tables although they were not open yet at my visit. I am adding in the fact that they only have 2 TVs as a positive, I think a place like this works well for conversation without TV.
The BAD:
Can be very loud due to one large space. A lot of wait staff (not the bartenders) hanging around bar and not with customers — maybe they were shy due to launch and no regulars yet. Limited social media outreach or presence at launch. No wifi. Town of Reading limited their license to 12am, so last call is 11:30pm on any night. The small street facing storefront limits parking options.
OVERALL:
Review is 5 star, due to being the only bar and restaurant of this caliber open past 10pm in Reading or Wakefield. This area is really lacking in anything exciting. I hope that longterm this place fits the bill.
They have a lot of work cut out ahead of them given a relaunch of another Irish pub in Reading this month. I am rooting for this bar to succeed. I’d like it to be the bar and restaurant I go to after getting off the daily weekday train from Boston.
I think their biggest challenge will be bringing in Millennial /​Gen Y people. Will need more social media presence and activities. I think they may have something with limiting the Tvs to 2. Perhaps they can add a game night, discussion night, owner hosted Trivia (not the regional franchise trivia company that only does politically correct /​safe trivia), more than live music will be needed.
I may edit or change this review should something change.