I had lunch at the Auld Dubliner Pub today. According to their web site they appear to be a small California based chain with 6 pubs there, 2 in Arizona, 1 in Nevada, and 1 in Illinois.
The waiter stressed that they were an Irish Pub that was faithful to the foods and drinks of Ireland. If they were then I guess I probably should not visit Ireland.
I had the potato soup, homemade in the Irish traditional style. I thought it was extremely bland. I also had to send it back because it was served cool. They microwaved it, which did not improve the flavor, but it was now hot.
The menu offered something called a boxty. It described a boxty as: “a traditional Irish potato pancake stuffed with an assortment of fillings”. I wanted the Irish bacon and cheese, but they were out of Irish bacon. So I tried the salmon one.
It was not what I expected, which may be due to my own ignorance. The serving was a pancake with chunks of salmon in a sauce and then just folded over like a taco. The menu on their web site described it: “Atlantic salmon sautéed with shallots & tarragon in a Dijon mustard cream sauce”. I am not sure what I expected, but their menu’s use of the word stuffed caused me to expect something else. The salmon was not very good, it tasted like it came out of a can. The sauce was not impressive. I would have preferred a thinner pancake too.
Service was very slow. There was a decent crowd and only one waiter, doing serving and clearing. They had outside tables too, which slowed him down even more.
D.
Auld Dubliner Pub
641 East Boughton Road
Bolingbrook