Landsdowne Pub is located at 9 Landsdowne Street and on the outside, it looks like the typical Irish pub in Boston. But inside it is probably one of the nicest pubs I've been in - Boston or otherwise. Landsdowne Pub has tall ceilings with old pub-style chandeliers and sleek wood tables throughout the bar and restaurant area. After doing some research, I found out that the bar was actually built in Ireland and imported to the United States. There are various Gaelic inscriptions in the wood and Landsdowne Pub is successful in creating a pub environment in such a large space even though it seems to lack in the actual run-down coziness that most pubs provide.
We were greeted by a friendly hostess who was quick to seat us. Although the bar was full (though not packed), there were only a few diners in the restaurant when we arrived. She brought us to a table but told us that we could have any table we wanted since there were so many empty tables. We were fine with our table, which had a good view of the bar. Before we ordered, I peeked around the restaurant and checked out the two private event rooms along with the stage for their live entertainment.
There were only two servers on the floor and they started to get busy with more diners arriving. We put in our drink orders - a Magners for me and a Diet Coke for B. We were both impressed by their beer selection - both draft and bottle. Both of our drinks were served promptly.
To start, we split a single order of their chips (i.e. fries) with cheese and gravy. We waited awhile for our appetizer but it was worth the wait. The chips were thick cuts and perfectly golden fried. The mozzarella was perfectly distributed throughout the fries before being baked, which ensured that every chip had some cheese on it - even the ones at the very bottom of the plate. It is actually a huge pet peeve of mine when cheese on cheese fries or nachos is distributed so stingily and only on the top layer. But this was not the case here. The gravy was served in a small bowl on the side, which helped prevent any sogginess. The gravy was salty, but a perfect complement to the fries.
After our chip dish was cleared, we soon received our entrees. I ordered the chicken pot pie and it honestly gets a mixed review. The filling was delicious with chicken, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, potatoes, and peas. The chicken stock gravy was really spot on without being too creamy or rich. I found the filling to be seasoned liberally with cracked black pepper, which I enjoyed but the downfall to the filling was the lack of chicken. The ratio of vegetables to chicken was really off and although delicious, I found myself searching for more chicken in the pie. While the pie filling was hot from the oven, strangely the pie crust was room temperature. The pie crust was hard and not a puff pastry. When you ate the crust alone, it was a little bland but actually tasted great when I broke it into the filling (almost like croutons). The chicken pot pie was served with two thick slices of soda bread and Irish butter. I was so full from the heavy chicken pot pie, I only took a bite of the soda bread to taste. It was actually really good. It just seemed to be an odd side to the pot pie and perhaps a lighter side of mixed greens would be more appropriate. B was happy to indulge my soda bread though.
Speaking of B, for his meal, he ordered an appetizer of chicken bites served with celery and a blue cheese and hot sauce combination dipping sauce. The chicken bites were large nuggets of tender white meat. He said that the chicken bites were good with a nice breading and fry but that the sauce is what made the chicken really pop. The dipping sauce was both creamy and spicy. He really enjoyed it. He also ordered the simple mixed greens that had plenty of onions, tomatoes and cucumbers. Although B finished the salad, he only said that it was good but nothing to write home about.
All in all, the meal was solid at Landsdowne Pub. For one of the bars on Landsdowne Street, I think they do their food better than most. Although there were only two servers on the floor that were very busy, they were attentive, friendly and made our meal enjoyable. I'll definitely be going back to Landsdowne Pub soon for both the food (before a Sox game next year) and the live entertainment they regularly have on the weekends.
xoxo
SJ, T and I reading a note left behind in our "time capsule" the night of our all night long graduation party. We couldn't figure out who we were talking about it in half of it.
The lovely M (whose blog I've recently discovered), her wife and one of my oldest friends - S, the newly engaged T and I....
