Doolin’s Irish Pub

Ordered takeout/​delivery via
, & was pleased with the portion sizes in comparison to the price. The corned beef was tender, thick cut, not without fat but also not a lot of it. The cabbage was a little underseasoned but some salt & pepper helped, a lot of decent mashed potatoes and I was quite happy with the flavour and the texture of the yummy corned beef. Looking forward to trying the Shepard’s Pie, Reuben and Guinness fish & chips, etc., etc.
Yum!
(from Boston area, comfort food for me is often delicious Celtic treats!)

Ok well disappointed only because of the food
The atmosphere is great, nice place. Great drinks great prices
However it is supposed to be Irish so I had high hopes for the fish and chips. Now my standard for this is high as the best is mommy’s fish & chips in Montréal
My gf corned beef was to die for
My fish was either old or just overcooked
But for drinks and atmosphere for a hangout
Is great

Great place to grab a drink at the end of the day. The staff are soo friendly and make you feel appreciated at their establishment. The burgers are awesome, and cooked however you want. Some of the burgers use a pretzel bun, which if you haven’t had before, is pretty awesome! The fish and chips are great!

One of our favorite casual hangout places in Durham. Very laid back and family-​friendly. Dave at the bar is a true Irish transplant. Space is small but combined with the pub décor, adds to the intimate charm. Check their website for drink specials, trivia nights and live music. Always have Guinness, Smithwicks and Magners on tap, along with other craft beers. We’re semi-​regulars now.

Went on a Sunday, decent crowd. Good atmosphere. The band was playing everything but Irish music, maybe I was expecting to much with this. The waitress said the computer did not take our order, and so food did a long time to get to the table. She did make it up with a round of beers.

This place was just off in so many ways. Looking at the website I was excited to go. The menu included a veggie boxty that I longed to try. We walked in and were confused about what to do. I was thinking pub with restaurant seating but by all accounts it was small with only a bar.
They don’t have a drink menu so the waitress rattled off the beers they have on draft. I didn’t recognize any so I asked for a sample of the Palm. It was good but then when I asked for a pint I got the remnants of the keg that tasted off.
Upon perusing the menu I noticed the item wasn’t on there that was listed on the website. I asked the waitress about it and she asked the kitchen and said they don’t carry that anymore and don’t have the ingredients. Frankly, nothing else sounded good enough and when I go Irish I want to have an Irish dish. I can get a sandwich from anywhere.
The service was slow. We ended up just having a drink and went elsewhere for dinner.
It’s just not a very comfortable or fun place to get your Irish on.

A regular spot for me and my roommate. Good beer and ok food. We come here more for the service than anything.
The place could stand to be a little darker and more pub like though. And the food has went downhill recently. Still one of my favorite spots around south durham though.

So I read all the reviews and thought why not and give this place a try? The atmosphere was nice and laid back. Seat yourself dining since they don’t have a host. The food was so bland though. I had the Shepard’s Pie and it was tasteless. The meat was finely chopped ground beef with huge pieces of carrots and a dried mash potato purée topping. I also had their «Irish Mojito» which is made with Bushmills Irish Whiskey. Sadly it came out tasting like a watered down mint & lemonade drink — I couldn’t even taste the Bushmills. For the price I thought an Irish Mojito would have been a bit more memorable.

Been here a few times now. They’ve got great drink specials and usually have a few excellent craft beers on tap. They also have the best bar food in town. I’ve had their boxty wedges, Reuben, and fish & chips, and each has been spot on. Nothing has ever been too salty, too greasy, etc.
Trivia on Tuesday nights is always fun, but they should really mic the guy up instead of having him pace around the place and yell questions at everyone.
I do wish they had better cocktails. For some reason, most of their specialty cocktails are fruity vodka martinis that don’t really make sense for an Irish bar. And their drinks can be inconsistent depending on the bartender. One bartender’s take on a dark and stormy is a delicious long drink with alcoholic ginger beer; another’s just has a lazy squirt of ginger ale.
But all in all, a great neighborhood bar to go to for some casual beers and awesome bar food.

This place was wonderful in food, drink, and service. We came in during a very emotional visit and it was impressively pouring rain and flooding everywhere. They could have given us pretty much nothing, and we would have still been grateful. Instead, they did so much more. The beer was cold and they had a great selection. The food was DELICIOUS. The service blew me away. What a perfect place!

I decided to check Doolin’s out for lunch after reading the positive Unilocal reviews. I work from home on Friday’s and Doolin’s is near my house, so that made it very convenient. The restaurant is at the bottom of an office building, and is accessible either through the office building or by a separate entrance. The décor is definitely nice and Irish influenced (Similar to Tir Na Nog in Raleigh only way smaller). I kind of liked the quaintness of the smaller sized layout. Think of Doolin’s as a mini Irish pub!
You can’t do yourself wrong with a corn beef Rueben, so that is what I ordered along with fries and iced tea for my lunch. I agree with other reviews that their corn beef is great. It definitely made for an awesome sandwich! Maybe a little bit more dressing would have been an improvement, but overall a primo choice. I enjoyed the fries as well (hot and crispy shoestring variety), but couldn’t quite finish them off. They give you quite a bit of fries!
I was impressed enough with my first visit to Doolin’s to be interested in a return visit. Perhaps in the evening when I can indulge in a pint (or 4) at the bar, and try the Irish bar staple, fish and chips.

I really like this place. It’s 5 minutes from me, and the last few times I went in the beer was very well priced. 2 dollar bud lights, 25% off wine bottles, and daily specials. I am actually more excited about the food that I had there.
A few things I’ve tried and loved.
The wings, which were huge, were actually, really savory. Sauces were mixed well and I had teriyaki on mine. I’ve also had the Boxty Wedges and Potato croquettes, which were perfectly cooked. A nice, different way to enjoy a potato appetizer, and one, I can’t remember which had this amazing sour cream dip.
Food is always amazing there and perfectly sized for the price. It’s a nice quiet, friendly, local place. It isn’t dumpy either! I always get this tall Irish bartender and he always goes out of his way to make sure you get what you need. Also he is attentive, I’ve been to other bars where if you look at a bartender they can’t multi-​task. He’s good at service.
You would think they were uppity and over priced but it was surprisingly not! It has a few t.v.s and these local bands on weekends. Even the other people that frequent the place are nice and friendly.
I don’t have many favorite spots, or favorite spots in Durham, but I like Doolin’s a lot. Food has always been piping hot, beer cold, and the atmosphere is cozy! I like it.

We’ve only been here once so far, but I was very happy with what I ordered (corned beef & cabbage). Their corned beef is cured in house and was absolutely delicious. The beer selection isn’t bad, with a few solid IPAs on tap along with Guinness, Smithwick’s, etc. They have an impressive selection of traditional Irish dishes, along with many non-​Irish items (burgers, nachos, etc).
We were hesitant to stop in due to the generic office building façade. Once you’re inside, though, the ambiance is more fitting of an Irish pub and seems pretty authentic (although I haven’t been to Ireland, so it’s just my American ideal of what an Irish pub should look like). A small complaint… when you head to the bathroom, you’re back in generic office land, and it sort of takes you out of the whole vibe. It’s nice that they have all the windows covered with quaint wooden planks, though, so you don’t have to look at the office building interior, etc. I prefer my pubs a tad bit darker, but overall the atmosphere was very cozy, relaxing, and Irish pubby. We went around 3pm on a Saturday afternoon, so not sure what it’s like later in the night.
Will definitely be stopping back when we’re in the area again. So many other things on the menu that I want to try…

The reuben sandwich is to die for! The corned beef is about the best I’ve ever had. Savory with the slightest hint of sweet that really works! Can’t wait to come back and try the corned beef and cabbage.
They’ve taken what could have been a blah interior of a strip mall restaurant and made it look like it’s an old Irish pub that’s been there for decades.
Looking forward to returning again soon!

Oh, Doolin’s. I was so happy to see this pub open up here. God knows it is a tough spot to have a bar but it is needed in the neighborhood to give us some options that aren’t Carolina Ale House.
Doolin’s is decorated in fairly normal Irish pub style except a bit brighter and roomier. It is an inviting place to hang out at the bar or have a meal.
There are several reasons why I like it outside of the convenience factor which is a big one for me. Pretty much every day they have a great drink special which makes it an ideal place for someone like me who doesn’t stop at one. They sport a variety of good microbrews on tap and on Tuesday these are $ 3 along with their trivia which sports a generous $ 75 prize for the winner and $ 25 prize for the runner up.
If you get hungry you are in luck. A tip I would give is always request the lunch menu even if it is dinner, they will be happy to give it to you and the lunch menu houses more affordable options that are always solid while the dinner menu is more hit and miss while being more expensive. The Kelly Greenburger is a must try, it is one of my favorite black bean burgers I’ve had and one by one our entire team, even the hardcore carnivores, have fallen in love with it. I’ve tried several of their sandwiches/​burgers and I have not been disappointed once. Also if you want a side salad it is NO additional cost unlike many bars and they give you a very generous salad with a wide variety of vegetables and topped off with blue cheese. No pathetic bagged iceberg salad, their fries are quite solid also if you want to go for those.
Doolins is a great addition to the neighborhood and really is the best place here to hang out with a group of people for some food and drinks. They are coming up on one year and still going strong so I wish them luck.

This place was completely enjoyable and I wanted to give it 4 stars, but there is room for improvement. I went for early lunch on a Thursday. It’s a seat yourself anywhere kinda place and we grabbed a hi-​top away from the door. The servers were very friendly and promptly came to the table for drink orders. When our food arrived it was the expected pub food. My fish and chips were very good. The fish was a little on the greasy side (oil not hot enough maybe?). That’s really my only «bad» comment, but overly greasy fried food isn’t great and the fish could’ve been great. Hello, it is dipped in a Guiness batter. The fries were seriously the best fries I have had in some time. They were perfectly cooked, thick cut fries that had been adequately seasoned.
The bottom line, I look forward to getting those fish and chips again. It’s a great little pub lunch spot.

We had a really nice Friday evening here. There was a musician singing with his guitar featuring a good variety of cover and some self-​written tunes. I had pretty low expectations for Irish pub food, and everything we had in our party was tasty and well presented. I had a braised pork dish that was very tender and flavorful. The sweet potato chips are something you’ll crave again when you try them. My wife had the flight of shepherd’s pies as an entrée.
The drink specials were nice, and the service was attentive, too. We will visit again!

Our new go-​to for trivia, with a decent whiskey & beer selection and very nice staff. Since people are still discovering Doolin’s it’s never too crowded, making it a nice place to unwind with good company at the end of a long day. I have yet to try the food. Though there is parking, I do have to say that the location is a bit weird.

We had lunch there; wouldn’t have gone normally but we had a Groupon. We’re both glad we did.
I haven’t been to any pubs in Ireland or to many US Irish pubs, so I can’t speak to authenticity in case that’s important to you. The room was woody and dark and more nearly upscale than down, the service friendly.
I had the shepherd’s pie, my wife the fish and chips (half order) with slaw. Someone’s pointed out the shepherd’s pie is made with beef, not lamb; it’s true; I couldn’t say if lamb would be better but the beef version was tasty. There’s a picture of it that’s accurate. I might have wanted more meat and veggies, less potato but it was a reasonable size. I had some of my wife’s fish (a half order was a little much for her; would have been right for me; a whole order would be a lot) was cooked right and had a nice flavor, as did the slaw. The fries were fries.
I wouldn’t hesitate to come back with another Groupon; I certainly might come back anyway if I wanted an Irish coffee or one of their deserts, neither of which we sampled.

They know how to pour a Guinness here, and that’s important.
They also know how to make you feel welcome. Okay, it was lunch time on graduation Saturday, clearly not their busy time. Nevertheless, Kris came out and greeted us, offered lots of friendly advice, and was never more than a head-​nod away.
They also know how to cook. Kris mentioned that the Shepherd’s Pie strayed from the authentic because the kitchen used beef instead of lamb, and added some garlic to the recipe. I am not a purist, and so really enjoyed every last morsel. My wife had the Bangers and Mash, and compared to similar dishes in other Irish restaurants around the Triangle, there was… no comparison. These were better by far! I think it had to do with the quality of the sausages and with the whiskey gravy. My Cuban mother (bless her) was in the mood for Corned Beef and Cabbage. Her only complaint was «In New York, they’d cut the corned beef thinner.» Yeah, okay — perhaps they do — but this corned beef was delicious and just fell apart with a fork — outstanding!
Their standard dessert menu looked pretty appealing, but — I just had to try their «Black and White Milkshake,» made with Bailey’s Irish Cream and whipped-​cream vodka. Mmmm…
I’m already looking forward to a return trip. Welcome to my favorites list!