Fiddler’s Hearth

I give this restaurant a solid 5 stars it is great Irish food. It is very family friendly. The servers are very nice and generous. This is why I recommend this amazing restaurant.

This is one of the staples in South Bend. It has, in my opinion, the best atmosphere in the city once the live music starts.
The food is also really really good. It’s hard to go wrong with the eats and drinks here.
The only down side is, it’s very hard to get a table if you have 3+ people in your group. This place is so good, it’s always packed.
Go early/​Go often though.

Fiddler’s Hearth is my favorite place to go in South Bend! The service is fantastic and they’re always offering new specials.
If you’re looking for authentic Irish food, this is the best place to go in South Bend. They also always have a ton of great beers on tap. It has a great pub atmosphere. It’s quite small so it’s a little loud at times, but you can always sit outside if the weather is nice.

Traditional Irish atmosphere, food, and drink make this a must destination for any Fighting Irish fan. The live music always makes the night complete and sets the tone for a great time. Sometimes a little too loud for conversation but that comes with live music I suppose. And if you’re looking for a Sunday brunch, this place delivers the best I’ve had in town.

God forbid you ask for silverware with your food. You will get quite the attitude if you ask the bartender to perform a simple function, like supplying utensils.

Pretty good food and an extensive whiskey menu. It has a nice pub atmosphere. For the most part, staff have always been polite to me. There is a beer garden out back that, given the smallness of the place – they really ought to keep open. I mean, just turn the heaters on and close the doors going outside. I would gladly sit out there in the wintertime.
Live bands are cool but seriously, this place is cramped and small as it is. They just take up space and I’ve never heard one band that ever needed the giant speakers. They blow your eardrums out. I can’t hear people sitting right next to me. It’s obnoxious. I hate it when I’m there and then realize they’re about to bring out a live band because they rig up the enormous speakers. No band has ever needed them in such a small space.

Food is pretty good, but is too expensive.
Beer list can be good, often uninspired however. Very overpriced too.
Music is so bad, unless you’re really into that kind of thing.
No cussing allowed: conversations are strictly limited to the Hobbit, the Pope, and being Irish.

I’ve been here twice and each time I’ve always gotten the fish and chips. I don’t think I’ll ever get something different. You get two good sized fillet of fish (I’m guessing Cod) that’s been dipped in a beer batter, along with chips — fried golden brown; all wrapped up in newspaper. When it comes to the table, its like your unwrapping a present with a side of tarter sauce. They gracious have malt vinegar already at the table to sprinkle on top of your chips and fish.
Enjoy it was a pint of beer!

Fiddler’s is the place to go if you’re in town for a game. (Or not!)
Good selection of beer and drinks with plenty of bites to go along with it.
The food was good. Wasn’t drinking, so I ordered a ginger ale. It was more watered down than Canadian Dry.
The place fills up quickly so come early. You’ll have people lunging for your seats before you’re standing up.

Scotch eggs were fantastic! Smithwicks Irish Ale was very good for a medium amber ale!
Band was good but a little too loud, they turned down the volume later on…
Shepherds pie was the rally good as well.
Bread pudding is a must!

The food was really really good. I ate a Reuben sandwich which was all house made and you could tell. The meat had great flavor and so did the kraut. Wife got the salmon of knowledge and ate up every last bit. It was great. The cheesy bread appetizer was some of the best bread I have had and topped with cheesy mustardy goodness. A smoky tomato onion dip complimented the flavors just right.
The atmosphere was straight up Irish pub as you would expect. Big open room with public tables and old wood. Irish and Notre Dame kitsch line the walls. I felt like it was a good use of space. You could really pack people in here, but it wasn’t busy when we came.
Why 3 stars? I have to knock off points for the service. It was slow, and my order was incorrect. I asked for «chips» and received potato chips (which are called «crisps» not «chips»). I wasn’t trying to be annoyingly Irish either, this is what they are called on the menu. I asked for the potato chips to be replaced with real «chips» (fries) and they never arrived. We gave up after my sandwich was all gone. The server was struggling with other tables as well; I observed someone frustrated because he couldn’t get another beer. Empty beers are decidedly un-​Irish.
The food is worth another visit, and I hope to update my review with more stars.

We were passing through town on a Saturday night, and who can resist a true Celtic bar featuring traditional live music? The craft beer selection was good, the food was fantastic, and the band put a nice bow on the package.
We split a Scotch egg and a ploughman’s platter, and had no room left for the bread pudding that would normally cap off a meal like that. (Diet food, for sure…)
We were at a smaller table tucked away so we could still chat while the music was playing, but it wasn’t overwhelmingly loud anyway. Most of the tables are communal, and no one seemed to mind sharing their space. There was a pretty large birthday party taking up one whole side of the space, and the wait staff and management shuffled everything around very smoothly. It did fill up pretty quickly too; the place was almost empty when we got there about an hour before the band started, and by the time they were a song or two in, every table was populated. Definitely not a bad introduction to weekends in South Bend.

Had a wide range of beers to choose from and a unique dining experience you can’t get anywhere else in town.
Nothing better than fish and chips served in the local newspaper and a nice glass of guiness!

This is a great place for out-​of-​towners and locals alike to grab some classic dishes like fish and chips and Shepard’s Pie and catch some live (and authentic) Irish music. The pub has an inviting atmosphere with an eclectic selection of furniture and wall decorations throughout. If there’s live music going on you should definitely get a table where you can see the «stage».
The fries for whatever reason where especially delicious the night I was there. The fish and chips looked really good from a far, and my pub burger was really good as well. They have a nice selection of beers and whiskeys, especially those from Ireland.
If you’re visiting Notre Dame this is a great place to check out in downtown SB. This is NOT a student hang out. That’s not to say you won’t find some students here but you won’t mistake it for Finny’s or the Backer. I highly recommend making a pit stop here while you’re in town!

We were in town visiting Notre Dame and was looking for a casual dinner spot and Fiddler’s Hearth fit all our criteria. The staff was very friendly, they had toys for kids to play with while eating dinner and there were local musicians playing in the bar area.
The food was not the best part of our experience as I thought it was underwhelming but I’d come back again as the ambiance was great.

I was in town for a family wedding over the weekend. We had a little time in between the wedding and the reception. Fiddlers is in downtown south bend so it was the perfect place to stop.
Someone in our group called ahead to reserve a table. We walked in and our table was ready and the server took our drink order right away. We ordered a few appetizers for our group to share– the salmon dip was a must order!
It took awhile for our server to bring the drinks but it was a very busy Saturday afternoon– that’s going to happen at a bar/​restaurant.
Fiddlers is located in downtown South Bend but there is plenty of street parking and a parking lot next to the restaurant. I think the parking is only $ 4.
Overall– awesome food and drink! I will stop in again when I visit downtown South Bend!

Updated review.
We’ve gone here 6 of the last 8 Wednesday’s and in a row because a friend plays during open mic. The food is completely hit or miss. Sometimes it is great or others, like the insanely sour rhubarb crumble, are complete misses. That said, just the food alone I would give the place a 3.5.
The service on the other hand is particularly awful. I have refrained from writing this review to see if it was a fluke but on multiple occasions our waitress has been both rude, unhelpful and condescending. My favorite was when our whole party moved to a table that was closer to the stage and she gave us a lecture about how she could no longer split our bill because we moved tables. Her logic being someone from our party left, which want true we were all right there. After three conversations she finally separated the checks. Lastly, I feel sorry for you if you move a chair and are somewhat in the walk way because you’ll get the 5 minute Fire Marshall speech.

This is our favorite eatery in the South Bend area. We receive consistently great service and great food after several dozen visits.
Pros: community seating, warm and inviting atmosphere, great music venue, consistently friendly and efficient service, great food, interesting seating available (church pews, odd chairs and benches), good beverage selection.
Cons: can be drafty, lack of a dedicated waiting area.
We still have fun while waiting for a table. People are good about keeping the integrity of the queue. You can grab a drink and socialize with friends and neighbors waiting with you. A queue generally forms after 7pm during the winter season.
We highly recommend the bangers and mash. We also frequently order fish and chips (comes wrapped in newspaper). The homemade crisps with rarebit sauce is another enjoyable nibble. We haven’t found anything on the menu we wouldn’t order again.
We keep coming back for the food, music, lively atmosphere and good times.