I found Dublin Square just by searching for restaurant websites in the Lansing area. Good find. We pulled up to Dublin Square and almost drove by it. The building is beautiful. Too nice for a bar in that area. The building is 70 years old and started its days as the East Lansing Post Office. A few years ago, the new owners decided to do something different and brought in Irish carpenters to give the place an authentic Irish feel. The interior of the pub as well as the bar was built in Dublin out of mahogany then shipped to East Lansing. Everything was put together back here in the states by the same craftsmen who built it in Ireland.
We were met at the door by a hostess who showed us to a table in the main dining room next to where the stage is at night. A waiter came over and brought us water as we were looking over the menu. It’s not necissarily the sign of a great restaurant, but it is the sign of a restaurant going the extra mile when the include a lemon slice with the water.
The menu is interesting. I couldn’t decide as there were so many things I wanted to try. I settled on the Irish Bacon BBQ burger. The 1/2 lb. Angus burger came with two slices of “Irish Bacon” (strips of ham grilled on the flat top) and cheddar cheese then it was drenched in a green apple bbq sauce. Lettuce, tomato, onion, and a pickle spear served on the side next to a cup of green apple cole slaw. Fries were a dollar more. The burger was delicious. It took up half the platter it was served on. There was a lot of bbq sauce. Somehow, I managed to let enough drip off then set the burger in it, so everytime I picked up the burger, I was grabbing the sauce. It was pretty messy, but it was really good. The green apple bbq sauce was different and the Irish bacon was much better than traditional bacon. The fries were not very good. They were steak fries that were not very crispy and actually kind of soggy. The burger was delicious though and very much worth the price.
My girlfriend got the Smoked Turkey Rueben. Two slices of pumpernickel were stacked with smoked turkey, swiss cheese and the green apple slaw. Sauerkraut could have been added for no extra cost, but she’s not a fan, so it was left off. The smoked turkey was incredible. She was expecting the sandwich to be mostly slaw with a few slices of turkey, but it turned out to be just the opposite. There was quite a bit of turkey on there. So much she took a few slices off and tossed them on my plate. It really tasted like something I would make at home on the grill. It was really good. Her meal also came with a side of the green apple slaw which she devoured. She didn’t like the soggy fries at all and only ate a couple. The sandwich was more than enough to fill her up though as neither of us left hungry.
Dublin Square is a beautiful bar and a great dinner spot. There’s also a huge patio outside and if it hadn’t been so windy, would have been a beautiful spot for dinner. They have a great menu that goes beyond bar food and beyond traditional Irish food (yes, they do have Bangers and Mash). The space looks and feels great. I don’t know if they allow smoking or not, but I know where we were at seemed to be free of smoke. The atmosphere is great and the food matches the atmosphere.
sorta flavorless. It was a good concept for a burger, but overdone a little. I asked for the burger medium and it came out more well done.
I picked my girlfriend up at work and we took a quick dinner break at the PAD. We walked in and waited for a waitress at the front counter. The waitress came out and asked smoking or non-smoking. We chose non-smoking which is a pretty small dining room in the front of the restaurant. There’s a wall that seperates that space from the smoking section, but windows still allow the smoke to sneak through. The non-smoking side of the dining room is actually pretty big. I headed back that way to the restrooms and there were quite a few people back there enjoying their meals in the thick, smoky air. Most of the patrons back there seemed to know each other as converstions extended beyond their own tables.
The Penn Ave. Diner passed the test as a greasy spoon diner. They didn’t really do anything that made them standout, but most people don’t go to a place like this for something super special. The bill seemed to be a little high to me coming in at $15 before tip. I’m sure it was the extra we had to pay for a fry cook to open a bag of fries and drop them in the oil. It was a quick meal though as we were in and out in about 20 minutes. The PAD has a unique design and food that satisfies, but doesn’t wow.
We took a seat near the bar and the waitress came over with paper menus to take our drink order. Since it was early, we both went with Pepsi’s. The menu is pretty interesting with salads, sandwiches, and personal french bread pizzas. I went fairly safe and got the Beefeater sandwich. The kaiser roll was filled with sliced roast beef, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, and bistro sauce. I left the lettuce and tomato off and went straight for the meat. The meat itself was nothing special. It actually kind of tasted like they went to the deli and got some roast beef. The bistro sauce was interesting and I couldn’t really place what it actually was, but it was good and added some flavor to a sandwich that really wasn’t much more than cold meat sandwich. The sandwich came with chips and a pickle spear.
The place was gorgeaus, but how would the food stack up? Our waiter came over for drinks. My girlfriend went with one of their many cocktails. I had a Pepsi. The drink menu is just about the same size as the dinner menu. I’m not sure I’ve ever been handed a menu so thick. Meals range from burgers to steaks and everything in between. I went with my new favorite, the Black and Bleu burger. The half pound burger with Cajun seasoning comes on a Ciabatta roll with blue cheese crumbles and hardwood smoked sugar cured bacon strips. The waiter said it was a good choice as Clara’s is known for that burger. The sandwich came with the standard out-of-the bag fries which were crispy and salty, so no complaint there. The sandwich was delicious…except I didn’t realize it was going to have mayo on it. The menu doesn’t say anything about mayo and I was really surprised when I took a bite to find that there. The first few bites it was overpowering and took away from the taste of the cheese, but the more I ate, the more the bleu cheese flavor came out.
Mid-Michigan Dining 
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