Okay, I guess I need to be a little more specific about our search for Irish Pubs around the world.. We are not writing about Irish pubs in the US
or the UK. We’re beginning to find that
this is harder than it sounds; when you are in a city for only a day or two it
could be easy to miss a gem so; if we’ve missed one that you know about please
let us know or send us your own review.
Next up: old town San Juan, Puerto Rico. Well, this was a total failure. While we really loved the old town there
wasn’t an Irish pub to be found. Even
the locals couldn’t point out any. San
Juan is a big city though so I’m sure there may be one or two but on our visit
in April we stayed exclusively in the old town.
We’ll explore the rest of the city on another visit.
After San Juan we visited St. Thomas and St. Maarten. Guess what?
No Irish pubs to be found in the half day we had in each of these
places. Six full days at sea followed by
a quick stop in Tenerife (you guessed it; we found no Irish pubs) we finally
arrived in Lanzarote (Canary Islands) and after passing an Irish themed
nightclub (not open while we were there) called The Dubliner; we settled in at
O’Reilleys.
O’Reilleys is located on the boardwalk across the road from
the black sand beaches in Puerta del Carmen right on the tourist route. It is a large place with both indoor and
outdoor seating. We noticed a man; we
assumed was a drunk, sleeping on an out of the way bench inside this pub. As it turned out, this was the owner and I’m
going to give the place a point for ambiance because of this.
The wait staff was wonderful and provided great, friendly
service but they were all Spanish, not Irish.
The bar had Guinness and Magners on tap, but no Irish beers or
ales. We enjoyed a delicious bacon
sandwich from the menu which also included a breakfast fry-up but we did not
see a shepherd’s pie. Entertainment
consisted of people watching (not to be underrated) and well, the owner. If we’d had more time, or been there for an
evening it might have become interesting.
O’Reilleys ranking: 2
out of 3 for ambience. There was
definitely an Irish pub atmosphere with wood floors, paneling and name. This pub receives 0 of 3 points for their
lack of Irish bartenders but qualifies for 2 of 3 possible points for having
Guinness and Magners on tap. The kitchen
gets 3 of 4 points for the breakfast fry-up, the bacon sandwich and the quality
of the food which was excellent.
Finally, we award 2 of 3 points for entertainment because there was
futbol and other sports on the several televisions scattered around the bar and
well, the owner looked like he might be fun in the evenings. All told; 9 points out of 16 possible for a
second place showing.
Rankings thus far:
Hannigans,
Granada, Spain 16
O’Reilleys,
Lanzarote, Canary Islands 9
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