Dublin Pub

Avoid this place!
A group of us had a reservation, at least 30 days in advance with group seating, upon arrival the group was split up and after and orders taken. The pub wasn’t very busy and some of the wait staff was visiting with their friends in plain sight of the customers. It was an hour and 45 minutes before the food was served and some of our group never received their food, in the mean time some finished eating while their spouse was just beginning and even the checks were wrong. We asked to speak to the owner/​manager and he refused, sending out the assistant manager with half hearted apologies and a refusal to compensate us for the poor service.
I would think that the people of Springfield wouldn’t put up with this sort of thing and then maybe that’s why the Pub wasn’t busy and the owner/​manager was cooking.
Mike D.

Nothing here is noteworthy. Bad drink menu, bad food, bad consistency, bad service, bad prices… this place is just BAD. I don’t know if people in Springfield just don’t have taste buds, but I can’t see how this place stays open.

My friends from work and I occasionally enjoy a happy hour after a long day… This past friday we organized a happy hour at The Pub at Vinegar Hill (formally Dublin Pub). We chose to sit outside and enjoy the weather and we tend to get loud so we did not want to disrupt other patrons eating. With us sitting outside we seemed to put out our server. Yes, Mind you there were 30 of us but I asked for a menu and waited for 10 min for her to take my order. Then she was very rude about someone not paying. The next happy hour we organize will def. not be at The Pub due to the lack of respect from the servers, which is terrible because it is in a great location and a neat place to eat.

A nice spot, with a comfortable patio. We had attentive service and good food, from a fairly typical menu. Although the name made us think there might be some Irish food on the menu, there were only two dishes – shepherd’s pie and fish and chips. We ordered both of them. The fish and chips which came with a choice of two sides, so the diner ordered slaw and mixed vegetables. When the order came, the plate had fish, two pieces of marbled rye bread, slaw and vegetables. When the server was asked where the chips were, she replied that chips hadn’t been ordered. We pointed out that the dish is called «fish and chips,» which every other place we have seen in the U.S., Ireland, and Britain means fish and French fries. Her response was «That’s not the way we fix it here.» After a bit more discussion, she brought an order of fries (and be sure to specify fries, because they do have homemade potato chips on the menu, and she was about to bring that) for no extra charge. Overall, the food was fine, if undistinguished, the service was good, and the prices are fine. They weren’t crowded, so they were fine with having us linger, and didn’t press us to buy more food or drinks.

Had to try a horseshoe here in Springfield and had no car so most of the «famous» horseshoe joints still standing were out of reach without the hassle of a cab. Staying downtown and on foot, I sought out the Dublin Pub on the strengthy of one of the other two reviews posted here at the time and was not disappointed. I went for the «traditional» Leland Hotel Yellow Cheese Sauce (they offer 3 or 4 varieties including white cheddar, pepper jack and I think one other that I don’t recall) and the hamburger patty. They had quite a few other house special varieties that I would try if I thought my heart could withstand multiple encounters — ham and buffalo chicken like at some other spots, but also walleye (fish for those of you not familiar), steak, veggie and several other options that sounded interesting.
The waitstaff was not at all slow in my experience, but expedient and friendly — however legislature isn’t in session now, so most places, including Dublin, were dead — only a few regulars, so maybe it’s a bit slower when they’re busy.
Atmosphere was cool. Aside from the fact that it’s a mall, it looked like an old historic market building — wonder if the building is significant in that respect. I washed down the horseshoe with a pint of a local beer — Lincoln Lager, that was tasty and crisp — only turn-​off was that it was in a Coors Light pint glass (ha!) I won’t hold beer snobbery against them — they serve what people want, and had a variety that suited me so no complaints. I finished it off (barely) and the last of my beer out on their patio, and they didn’t mind me hanging out there for a bit after paying my check, probably, because as mentioned, there was no wait.
All in all I would definitely recommend the spot to anyone interested in a comfortable pub vibe, friendly wait staff and good stout pub fare. I can’t comment on whether, as suggested, the cheese sauce might be better than D’Arcy’s, since I’ve never had the chance to go (1 hour walk from downtown) but no wait, fast service and what I can only assume is at least a comparable horseshoe made up (to me at least) for lack of an ‘iconic’ tourist trip to D’Arcy’s, plus the 20-​minute round trip walk probably helped stave off heart disease just a bit.
And by the way — as Wayne B mentioned, there are not a lot of places near downtown that serve food late enough to have dinner if you get in on a late flight and have no car. Most options either require a car, serve similar pub fare, or are generic chains like Bennigan’s (who also closes their kitchen kind of early if I recall), pizza delivery and sketchy sounding Chinese Food.
Dublin Pub joins Saputo’s (Italian) and Made-​Rite (loose ground beef burgers for lunch only) at the top of my list of affordable, worthwhile comfort food spots within walking distance of the capital.

We needed to find a restaurant that was open at night within walking distance from the state capitol and Dublin Pub was recommended to us by some local cops… Dublin Pub is located inside a large building that has some other shops and a pizza place. We arrived around 9:30 pm on a Tuesday night and we were the only diners here. A handful of patrons were seated at the bar, though. The bar maid was also our waitress.
They have a surprisingly extensive menu. In addition to sandwiches, burgers, pizza, steak and fish, the specialties of the house are «Horse Shoes». These are your choice of meat covered with fries and smothered in cheese sauce. To us those sounded like heart attacks on a plate, so we had more traditional Irish fare — Shepherd’s Pie! It came with two sides and we chose their green beans with bacon and onions and sweet potato fries. The food service was agonizingly slow. (It took about 30 minutes to get our food!) The greens beans were OK. The sweet potato fries were good. The Shepherd’s Pie was terrific! (If you’re unfamiliar with Shepherd’s Pie… It is ground meat and veggies covered with mashed potatoes and baked in the oven.) The Shepherd’s Pie here was topped with baked cheese which made it especially tasty!
The pub atmosphere was fun and the food was good, so the next time we’re in Springfield maybe we’ll try their Corned Beef and Cabbage!

I went to Dublin at Vinegar Hill for the second time this Saturday and was even more pleased than my first visit. I went there during the NCAA tournament with a friend and we easily found seating right at the bar with a good view of the tv. My friend had the philly steak pony shoe and I had the sliders. It was his first horseshoe and he was very pleased, his only complaint was he wished there was more meat and less fries. I tried it and I thought it was great, I think their cheese sauce might be better than D’Arcys! My sliders were delicious and I liked how you could get 2,4 or 6. The bbq sauce and grilled onions were a great choice. All in all I was very pleased with the food, service and atmosphere at Dublin. I’ll be back!