Eatery - Auld Irisher (CA)
1547 Katella Ave, Ste 102, Orange, CA 92867
Pricing - $$/$$$ | Dining - Casual | Cuisine - Irish, Pub
http://www.auldirisher.com/
I caught up with an old friend here having chosen one of the two places he suggested. It's located in a plaza area with various other food places and a theater. The decor inside was nice and followed with the Irish theme that the pub totes. It was a pretty clean place as well, and the clientele seemed to be a mellower, older crowd instead of rowdy young adults at a bar. I liked the setting. We glanced at the menu briefly before ordering (well, my friend was there earlier than me so I guess he had looked over it plenty) and were able to catch the Happy Hour menu too, hoorah. When the food was all brought out, it was quite the spread!
The first to come out was the order of Bushmills Chicken Boxty, a dish that my friend had been eager to try. The menu describes it as a "potato pancake filled with sauteed chicken breast, garlic, fresh thyme & mushrooms with seasonal vegetables in an Irish Whiskey cream sauce" aka deliciousness. Actually, it wasn't in a cream sauce as much as it was smothered in it. For $15, I was not as impressed with the chicken as I had hoped to be; it was a little dry and bland. However, the shell to the boxty was very good and the sauce made it all quite tasty. It seems like they had mashed the potatoes finely enough to create a crepe-like shell but it still had the texture of potatoes which I liked. The mushrooms were amazing too!
To pick at were bacon and cheddar tater tots and honey mustard wings. The tots were pretty good in terms of how they were fried and the amount of potato inside but they went a little too generous on the salt. I think that they had put salt in the tots prior to covering it with bacon and probably didn't account for how salty the bacon would be in itself. We didn't finish the plate but I did take it back home for my brother. The wings were, I'd say, a 6.5/10. They may have been better had we not eaten them after the other items. I thought the chicken and accompanying vegetable sticks were dry for my taste. The sauce was great though.
The last to come out (but first eaten) were the corned beef sliders. $2 each during Happy Hour, they were bite-sized glorious treats. I love corned beef so having these with grilled onion, horseradish mayo, pickle, and cheddar was great. I wish there were more slices of meat but alas, it was over quickly. I liked the chips they came with as well. While eating, we each had a glass of Guinness on tap (so good) and Pyramid Hefeweizen. I'd definitely come back for a drink or two with friends here - probably even try out some Irish-y appetizers.
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