The Skellig

Poor Skellig. It was fun knowing you. I hope your replacement is even half as cool.

I could review this restaurant but it would do no good, they have announced they’re going out of business.

I would give it more stars but I had to wait 15 min before the bartender noticed me. Met with rudeness like I was a nuisance for wanting a beer. Ordered nachos that never came. But the layout and atmosphere is good. They should hire people that give a crap and maybe I’ll come back.

Food is good enough where I have been back a couple times. It can get loud in there like most bars but everyone’s there to have a good time. They frequently have live music in the back room to help draw a crowd. I would say its a fine place to get some decent comfort food and a beer for lunch or dinner. I have had brunch there before too, but it was absolutely dead and mediocre at best. We were the only people in there and the bartender who was hungover from the night before and looked like he just rolled out of bed was blaring country music and eating a plate of eggs benny while we waited for our own food to arrive. I didn’t really mind, but I think most people would. I got the impression that they don’t do much business for brunch!

Very serviceable bar located in a line of disappointing (lookin’ at you, Watch City) depressing (hay, Joco’s), and just plain obnoxious (Playmakers, wut wut) bars on Moody Street.
The food is not terribly exciting for sure, but it’s pretty decent really. Their fries are steak fries and that alone gives them an extra star. The chicken sango and the buff wings are also on point. I don’t know if I’d order a more complicated main than sandwiches and appetizers from here, though.
I never come here on the weekend, but on a weekday, it’s excellent for sitting at the bar or in a quiet corner, and having a conversation with a side of beer. Bonus points for comfy chairs at the bar for The Olds. When my favorite bar on Moody Street is at capacity (srsly G@ff, stop that mess! it’s a flipping Wednesday at 7 pm!), this is the runner-​up.

Disappointed. We went there for St. Patricks Day and was surprised that they charged a $ 10 cover at 6:00 just to have dinner. (And the place was empty). The prices were marked up $ 2 for the same dishes that are on their regular menu. My guinness beef stew was still congealed after their reheating process (probably the microwave) and my husband’s sheppards pie tasted over cooked (burnt flavor to the sauce).
However, servers were friendly and helpful and since the company I was with was great I had a great time.
The Irish American Police Officers Association Pipes & Drums were amazing.

This place is no frills, but that’s the way I like most bars. Big open layout, friendly bartenders. Didn’t get to try their actual dinner food, their apple pie was actually really good. Their drinks were as you’d expect in an Irish bar. Nothing super special about them.
One thing I am super anal about is chairs at the bars having backs since I have the posture of a slug, and they all have them here, so my chiropractor (I don’t have one) is thankful for that.
I will be back!

I am sorry to report that the Skellig has been bought out by another Irish Pub and it is just not the same. The Guinness is still terrific. The food, however, has taken a turn for the worse. I use to always get the salmon which was cooked to near perfection, now, the portions are smaller and the salmon is overdone.
The service is no longer what it was either. Granted we usually go on a slow night and get great service but even on busy nights the service use to be good. Recently we went there and the place was busy but we waited twenty minutes and didn’t even get acknowledged. We left.

Nice local Irish pub that’s fun after hours. The food is pretty good and they usually have an Irish band that plays on most nights. The bartenders here are friendly and they have a good choice of hard alcohol!
I came here again recently and what I find really neat about this place is the gathering of string and acoustic musicians that play as you dine. Love coming here for a casual night out.

Great place for some live music, a good bar, and some food that you might be hard-​pressed to find at other pubs. (Vegan-​friendly)

Large space with 2 bars and a dance floor in the back. Ambience doesn’t do much for me– something about an Irish pub with a dance floor that bumps Top 40 hits rubs me the wrong way. Decently fun when you’re drunk enough, but I can’t say I really ever get the urge to go there.

A fun and friendly Irish pub that looks like the home for the after work crowd and locals. It was very dead on a Tuesday night but the bartender was pretty cool taking care of us.
Decent taps and the place is very open and spaced out for some local bands.

Every Thursday u can see many ppl waiting outside to get in to the bar. I am not a bar or drink person so I never have a try walking inside. Went there for a friend’s birthday party for the first time, to my surprise, they have a live band inside and some space for dancing as a club thing.
It is more spacious then I expected. I only tried the wine there nothing special and worth trying again I think.
But for the band, maybe I will come back

A lot of people love the Skellig. I don’t see what the big deal is. The food is decent comfort food, not stellar, the service is so-​so and the ambiance is a little rustic. The bar can get a little loud and boisterous for my tastes. It’s not a bad lunch or dinner option but there are better on Moody Street. I prefer Bison County for food and the Gaff for a drink.
If there’s a live band playing then it’s more fun.

Wednesday night on Moody Street. Not too much going on so one can actually have a conversation. Service was friendly, attentive and unobtrusive. Food special, blackened chicken was fine, but nothing to get excited about. Free WiFi didn’t work for me; even after a router reset.

High marks for people watching and dancing to oldies. Many of us are college of the early 80s so the repertoire is well within what we rocked and danced to. The bands singing isnt lousy and missing tunes is rampant — but they are great musicians and enjoy what they are doing. All ages mix and match here, it’s super loud and the college crowd that hangs along with some of the older dogs looking for the young skin and reliving their glory days are pretty funny to watch. Fun with a group of friends, and bring ear plugs! :) cheap bad booze once you cross into the dance area. The soda is horrid, so expect a rum and coke to taste like garbage. But come for the fun and have the beer!

I can’t comment on the food, the cover charge (I arrived at about 7pm, well before the music started so I didn’t have to pay cover), what happens on a weeknight or anything about the neighborhood.
What I can say is that I had an absolutely fantastic time at The Skellig on a recent Friday night. After being trapped in a hotel conference room all week long, I was ready to let my hair down, get a little tipsy and rock out.
First, I haven’t heard of a better name for a bar than The Skellig. What’s a skellig? Who cares? It sounds tough and ridiculous and more than anything like a place I want to visit.
Second, the 80s cover band playing was ridiculously fun. Hell, I thought the lead singer was a combination of Hall & Oates and Toto revived and put on a tiny stage in a divey bar in the Boston suburbs through my Jameson haze. Isn’t that all that really matters? Great sing-​a-​long faves for everyone. Lots of dancing, too!
If you can’t have a good time at The Skellig when an 80’s cover band is playing, there’s something wrong with you. Just sayin’.
I’d go back. Immediately.

Came here with a bunch of friends and had a really good time. We spent hours here without even noticing.
They have a really good variety of beers. I had Guinness which is always good but I also tried their house beer which was Skellig Irish Ale. It was more on the sour side but still pretty good. Beer isn’t too pricey so that’s a plus. They also serve brunch, lunch, and dinner. My friends ordered buffalo wings and nachos and they looked pretty good.
Service is also excellent. The waitress kept asking us if we were doing okay very often.
Definitely coming back!

It really pains me to write this review, because the Skellig used to be our very favorite place to go for dinner, brunch, whenever. But we have had some pretty bad experiences here lately, so I feel obliged to update my review. When we first moved to Waltham six months ago we came here 2 or 3 times a week. We LOVED the food and the atmosphere.
We first noticed that the food had gone downhill at brunch on the weekends. Consistently the food was greasy, overcooked eggs, undercooked pancakes, poorly prepared. Every restaurant has a bad day, so we didn’t let it keep us away. But it happened again and again.
The last straw, however, was when I found a worm in my fish and chips. I pointed this out to the waiter, who took the plate back to the kitchen. He came back and told us «the chef says that worms in fish is perfectly normal.» Now, that may be true, but I don’t want them in MY fish and I don’t want to be told that I am being unreasonable that I find this disgusting and unacceptable. We have not been able to bring ourselves to go back… until tonight.
We ordered a steak, medium and a salad to start. The salad was limp and brown, like it had been sitting on the counter all day. We pointed this out to our waitress, who said OK, but nothing else.
When our steak arrived we were starving and hoping that it would be great. We cut it open and did a double take. It looked like pork… white. There was no pink, nor did it look like steak. Again, the waitress seemed irritated with us for pointing out what was clearly inferior food, not cooked as we had ordered it.
We have brought the decline in food to the attention of the manager, who seemed to care. But he never followed up with us, leading us to believe that he didn’t care in the least.
I am sorry to say that the Skellig has probably lost two of its best customers. And we really are heart broken about it.

Well, I’ll be. Some varmint done shoved The Burren in a Clone-​o-​Matic, then gave it a quick dustin’ with Dr. Whispapotamer’s Expanding Powder.
A trip to see Red Square marked my first venture in to the wild and woolly nightlife of Waltham, Massachusetts, and I must say, it was worth the drive. The front room, much like The Burren, isn’t always indicative of the rage-​cage actionfest going on in the back. Good thing, as there were three — THREE! — patrons seated at tables, conversing in hushed tones, making me feel like I stumbled in to a mob front.
But the back room, wow! Spacious dance floor, high ceilings and pleasantly packed on a Saturday night. Not shoulder squishing, stranger groping while digging for your wallet, hot mess packed, but shout to your friends, room to Charleston, booty bump a stranger and they bump you back hot mess packed. Two bartenders easily met the needs of the crowd, who, unlike Tufts undergrads at The Burren, weren’t screaming for shots and sexually-​named mixed drinks.
That said, people watching scored bonus points for the woman who took a Family Circus dotted-​line lap around the bar before returning to a stool and faux-​chugging an empty bottle of Bud Light, and the guy who sat on the dance floor and «rowed» himself over to the sound board gent.