O’Brian’s Pub

dont bother. go downstairs to the seafood place. I had a corned beef sandwich. the worst I ever had. tough meat slced thick from a processed block. yuk. I hate logan.

While waiting for our flight, we stopped by O’Brian’s Pub for drinks and a bite. The corned beef Rueben was very good and the Buffalo wings were falling off the bone.
The atmosphere was very «waiting for a flight, ready for vacation». Food’s good.

Absolute shit. No vegetarian options whatsoever (not even a side or an appetizer). Not one thing on that dirty, stained menu that wasn’t relying on overcooked meat. Hostess was completely unsympathetic and seemed to take her sweet time seating other patrons.

The key to having an enjoyable time at O’Brian’s seems to lie in three crucial factors:
1) Have a sassy blonde server that oozes Bostonian charm (read: no-​nonsense, a bit gruff, but friendly in a business-​like manner)
2) Consume excessive amounts of Blue Moon
3) Order only food that has a low risk of being horribly mangled in execution
Yes, you will be overcharged for your posh domestic (yet delicious) beer produced by the second-​largest beer brand in the country. Sure, that salmon Caesar salad might not be a stand-​out, but at least you can pretty much count on the dressing tasting like Caesar (not something you should take for granted outside the US).
But at least you know what you’re getting yourself into. Because, lest you forget (as a function of the Blue Moons you’re imbibing), you’re dining at an airport restaurant. And there’s only so much awesome you can squeeze out of that…

Terrible the worst place ever… saw an employee eat a fry off a plate tat was being served to a guest…35 min for chicken fingers… awful awful place

Bleurgh. As this is one of only two places where one can drink alcohol in Logan’s E terminal, and it’s the pub closest to my departure gate (flights to the UK always seem to leave from Gates 7 and 8), I find myself snacking on the chicken fingers platter and swigging a glass of Malbec.
First problem — the greeter’s lackadaisical attitude when seating us. Even though there were plenty of lovely tables out front, where we could see our departure gate and relax, she led us to the deep dark depths of the restaurant. When we asked to sit at the table outside, she went mute and we seated ourselves instead.
Then, our (very friendly) waiter (who is the only reason this place gets a star at all) informed me it was «against the rules» to serve me food from the kids’ menu. I had wanted the mac and cheese. They don’t have mac and cheese on the rest of the menu, and it’s not like there are significant differences between what an adult and a kid might want from the dish, I didn’t think there would be an issue. Alas, it really was «against the rules». When I asked for «an adult version instead», I was informed that that was also impossible as he would have to combine two kids’ versions and charge me for both. Aha — so an adult is allowed to order from the kids’ menu if s/​he is willing to eat multiple dishes, but not if s/​he wants just one?
Errm, no, was the answer. That was just a hypothetical solution to my problem.
So…my two traveling companions and I settled on the chicken finger platter and some drinks.
A good thirty minutes later, the food arrived (thankfully the drinks arrived twenty minutes earlier). Eight miserable-​looking fingers and some sad little fries. With four different condiments.
The chicken had clearly been improperly thawed before being fried — while the fingers were cooked all the way through, they had a distinctly spongy texture. As if the defrosted water hadn’t had a chance to escape before they battered and fried the meat.
As the platter wasn’t going to be sufficient food, and we were scared of waiting three days for the next dish to arrive, we quickly ordered their nachos (sans spongy chicken).
This time, we were served within seconds, and no wonder: it was clearly a home economics project. A handful of nachos, cheap cheese and a MILLION jalapenos, nuked for approximately forty seconds. It looked sad, tasted meh, and rapidly lost its appeal as our compensation for the fingers.
And that, readers, is where the story ends, for I am indeed Still. At. O’Brians. Pub. Staring forlornly at our half-​eaten nachos. Realizing I don’t even have, the inclination to get rip-​roaringly drunk on their faux Malbec. Desperately hoping our flight isn’t delayed any further because there’s nothing else I want to consume here.
Oh, my traveling companion asked me to give a shout out to the root beer. Apparently, «it’s not bad.»

It is restaurants like this that will ultimately force me to dine in «C» terminal and then hike over to «E» to catch my weekly flight. It was not an overly busy night, yet it took me (traveling alone) 20 min to be seated in an area where there were at least four empty tables. My server appeared 15 min after I was seated, my iced tea arrived 10 min after that. The chicken nachos, while cheesy, were definitely not worth the wait. Getting the check required flagging down a manager and paying in cash, as there was no telling when my server would return. Only rate 2 stars because they are one of only two sit-​down options inside security.

Its an airport restaurant, so expect to pay exorbitantly for the privilege of sitting down by your gate to eat overcooked cheeseburgers, soggy fries and sip cold beer. That said, how can a restaurant run out of French Fries!?!
We waited for almost an hour for a table for 2 (admittedly it was snowy in Europe resulting in massive flight delays), and after we’d placed our order for burgers — the waitress came and harshly dropped the news that there were no more fries.
Alas, there aren’t many options past security in Terminal E, but for the price of this place it should be a better dining experience…

Surprising!
For an airport bar, this was surprisingly good!
Sat at the bar, surprisingly good service!
Ordered drinks, surprisingly not exorbitantly priced!
Ordered food (chicken wrap & burger), guess what? Surprisingly good!
I’m not going to go as far as to say I will switch all my travel plans and only fly with Airlines that depart from terminal E, but the next time I find myself hungry and thirsty at terminal E in Logan Airport, I’ll stop by this place. You should too, you might be surprised :)

This is the new restaurant that has taken the place of Houlihan’s. However, the fine folks at Terminal E have not yet changed the signs pointing you to Houlihan’s, so let this be a warning that it no longer exists! Or you can do what I did the first time and follow the signs to Houlihan’s, not see one, figure you got lost, walk through the terminals, and then follow the signs again only to lead you to… O’Brian’s Pub.
O’Brian’s is definitely interesting. It is right in the international flights terminal, so your material for people watching is going to go through the roof. If you love spying on foreigners and what they wear and how they interact like I do, you’re already set. Add to that the prospect of watching folks who are either about to get on a long, long flight, those who just got off of one, and all sorts of amazing, fun announcements to be heard over the loudspeakers… you’ve already stopped reading this and have already head over to the airport, haven’t you?!
(Some very chipper lady just announced that Mr. Dougherty has just been off-​loaded from his Heathrow flight! Oh, Mr. Dougherty! How sad!)
The menu is very basic, not much to it. French Onion soup, salads, chicken sandwich, burger, those sorts of things. I made the mistake of ordering the soup and a chicken finger entrée. The mistake was ordering the entrée portion and the soup together — the entrée was so huge that even the normally subdued stranger at the table next to me had to speak up and announce that my meal could feed many hungry families. That’s right, families. Not just one hungry family. Kate plus 8 plus all the reporters and Jon and all his girlfriends and their respective families would have been able to have a good amount of food each from my chicken finger entrée, and still have leftovers. The soup was actually delicious, as were the one and a half chicken fingers I was able to eat. The only disappointment was the lemonade I ordered, which tasted like cleanser.
Wine and beer selection is good and trust me, people are partaking in that quite a bit. (That might explain what happened to Mr. Dougherty!) Definitely worth the stop if you happen to be over that way. Just order small and avoid the lemonade.