Restaurant Review - Hagan O'Reilly's Irish Pub, 16112 Marsh Rd, Winter Garden, FL

I guess Winter Garden must be emerging as some sort of urban hotspot now. There is the new Winter Garden Village and now, Winter Garden's very own Irish Pub - Hagan O'Reilly's, at the intersection of 545 and Stoneybrook West Parkway/Hartwood Marsh Rd. The space is beautifully and fully decorated with an intricately carved indoor wood bar, a large outdoor patio with it's own bar, a main dining area with a large map of Ireland painted on the ceiling, small rooms with their own themes such as Cassidy's Cottage with stonework and a fireplace hearth, and then stained glass windows all along the front. We sat in the main dining room which is bright with small 4-person wood tables and an alcove for live Irish entertainment. Although it is a pub, kids are invited to come until 10 pm and they even have a kids menu.

There are lots of drink options on the menu (naturally since it is a pub) including many Irish and English draft beers and bottled beers, plus American beers as well as combinations such as Half & Half, Gold & Tan, plus wines and whiskeys, and full bar, too! I chose an Irish Harp on draft one time and then a glass of riesling the next time I went.

For an appetizer, we got the beef bits ($9.95) which was tender pieces of beef stewed in an ale gravy with carmelized onions and served with two pieces of bread to sop up the flavorful sauce. Not sure the portion was worth the $10 price but it was very tasty. Next time I tried the Boxty potato pancakes ($7.95)... yum! Three large potato pancakes mixed with bits of corned beef and topped with a savory, but not too spicy, horseradish cream sauce. It was definitely delicious and I've ordered it as my appetizer every time since then.

Speaking of bread, we received a bread basket with three types of bread - a pretzel bread, a sourdough dill, and a popover style that had a sweet outer crust. All were delish and were served with cold butter. When I just went again recently, though, they had changed to a brown bread loaf with honey butter instead of the rolls.

Kids menu was well done with picky eater options such as buttered pasta, chicken fingers, or grilled cheese (all $4.50), but also a Jr. Shephard's Pie ($5.95) and Jr. Fish & Chips ($4.95).

I got the Dingle Bay Salmon ($18.95) which was a wonderful dish with dill leaves and a light butter sauce on top of the perfectly cooked salmon and then Champ (mashed potatoes with green onions) and wilted spinach. Grandma got the Fish & Chips ($12.95), which was three large fish pieces and a generous portion of chips (fries). Grandpa got Hagan's Grilled Stuffed Pork Chop ($15.95) which was stuffed with a very strong bleu cheese filling and came with seasonal veggies and mashed potatoes. I thought it was too strong but he ate every bite - he loves bleu cheese. On another visit, I got Egan's Irish Stew ($11.95) consisting of a hearty beef stew with vegetables and topped with a bonus - a small lamb chop!

LB ordered the buttered pasta (his favorite) and we had to ask for shredded parmesan cheese on the side. He did pretty well but I don't think he was used to the thinner angel hair, preferring spaghetti or larger pastas. BB ordered the Junior Shepherd's Pie, which was served in a small ramekin and topped with an artful dollop of mashed potatoes. I tried some of his and it was good, lots of seasoned ground beef with carrots and peas. I might have to get the adult size on an upcoming visit.

For dessert, we had the Nutty Irishman coffee ($6) with Bailey's Irish Cream, Frangelica and chocolate sauce topped with freshly whipped cream. All of the Irish Coffees (and there are about 6 six of them) are $6 and come with various additives such as Irish Whiskey, or Bailey's Caramel, or Peppermint. On another visit, I got the Leprechaun's Coffee with Bushmill's whiskey and it was a little too much whiskey tasting for me. I'll stick with the Nutty Irishman. We got the Baily's Pot O'Cream dessert ($5.95)which said it was a custard with the "scent" of Bailey's Irish Cream. It must have been a very light scent because it just tasted like vanilla pudding and that's it. Kind of like a vanilla creme brulee but without the carmelized sugar on top. Better dessert choices, that I had on subsequent visits are Uncle Patrick's Bread Pudding ($5.95) with a whiskey caramel sauce -- can still taste the overall bread taste without the whole piece being a big mush, which I like. And Princess Ashleigh's chocolate cake ($5.95) is just incredible, especially if you are a chocoholic. In fact, the menu doesn't do it justice, calling it just a chocolate layer cake. It is not. It is more like a fudge-based hunk of pure rich chocolate served with fresh whipped cream. I'll definitely be getting that one again. I got the kids the scoop of ice cream ($1.95) which was a large scoop with, again, the fresh whipped cream. LB liked his vanilla but mostly ate the whipped cream while BB ate his chocolate ice cream.

There is live music every night except on Sundays and Mondays. There is a bar area inside and a separate bar outside that has live music on two nights of the week. The inside live music is Irish folk music, at least it was the four times I've been there. It was also a different musician each time -- I didn't know there were that many Irish singers in Central Florida!

When you finally step outside of Hagan O'Reilly's, you really don't feel like you are in Winter Garden anymore, but feel like you just travelled across an ocean and had a nice Irish meal and great entertainment.

Find out more here: Hagan O'Reilly's

Restaurant Review: Cookes of Dublin - Pleasure Island, Downtown Disney, Lake Buena Vista, FL

After a brief shopping stint at the newly refurbished World of Disney store, my two-year old son and I were ready to eat! With a visiting cousin in tow, we surveyed our options. We didn't want McDonald's and decided to head to Pleasure Island and see what restaurants were available. I had been wanting to try Raglan Road, the new Irish pub/restaurant, but didn't think the LB (little boy) could handle it. So, I was very surprised to see a new counter-service restaurant right next door to Raglan Road that served Great Britain specialties! The place is called Cookes of Dublin and I have to assume that it is affiliated in some way with Raglan Road. It is a small place, truly just a counter service eatery, with a few indoor tables and more outdoor tables to a patio on the left. The patio, conveniently, has a full bar including import beers from the UK. Entrees are mid-priced between $8-$14 and all include a serving of chips (that's fries to us Yankees). There was the old standby of Fish and Chips as well as battered chicken, sausages, and a selection of meat pies. There is also a Juniors menu that has smaller sizes of Fish and Chips, Battered Chicken skewer, or sausages. Since my LB is a big chicken fan, I went with the Battered Chicken for him, for about $5. Drinks are not included with the children's meals but since LB had a full sippy cup, I decided he could just share my drink. As a big fan of cottage and shepherd's pie, I went for one of the pies for my dinner. I tried the Chicken pie with mushrooms in a creamy wine sauce and my cousin went for the Fish and Chips. After paying, my cousin stayed to wait for our numbers to be called and I went to the outside patio to scope out a table with LB in tow. Luckily, we only had to wait a few minutes before several folks left and we secured a table. These are patio-style tables however, they did have a stash of high chairs in the corner. LB hates high chairs and booster seats and did fine with these regular chairs. It took about 5-10 minutes to get the food. My pie was deceptively small since I ended up being full having just eaten half of it and the chips. The crust was very flaky, more like a croissant than a pie crust. And the chicken and sauce were delicious! I'll definitely have to come back and try the beef and lamb pie. My cousin declared the Fish and Chips delicious and LB ate ALL of his chicken plus a good portion of his chips. The atmosphere was very festive, although since we were outside, there were some smokers here and there (for those of you who don't like smoke). Good food, nice atmosphere, LB ate and liked it... I'll be back for sure.