The James Joyce Irish Pub & Restaurant

Great décor and authentic music, but food was lacking. The Steak and Guinness pie tasted like tepid Campbell’s stew with a puff pastry dropped on top.
I would back for a drink, maybe

The service was phenomenal. From the hostess to my waitress, the staff was excellent. (Thanks Edel!) I was greeted and settled into a nice table right away. My waitress came promptly and took my drink order. The bar got backed up and my drink took a few minutes to come, but Edel came by to let me know that my drink was only going to be another minute before I even had a chance to wonder where my drink was. The waitress knew the menu really well and helped me make my decision.
I had the bacon wrapped dates and the guiness and steak pie. Instant food coma! The food was prepared so quickly and came to the table pipen hot! (fresh from the oven hot… not warming lamp hot). And the food was so so so good.
Not only did my waitress come to ask me how I was doing, but so did the hostess. I felt so well taken care of.
This place is perfect. Good food, good drinks, great menu, AMAZING staff and a warm and friendly atmosphere.

Lovely, lovely lunch. Best, absolute best Mushroom Soup ever… Secret: Jameson’s! Wonderful atmosphere, great food and service fast and cheerful. Beer and drinks all good.

Great place to hang out for a few drinks in the evening after work.
Cannot comment too much on the food here as it was a special occasion organized by a conference.
Atmosphere is good without being fairly loud or rowdy.

Went here last night I will start off by saying the atmosphere is nice. The beer was very good. My friend had a bud light pint and I had a Kilkenny, both pints rang in at $ 9.10 each. I thought $ 9.10 for bud is a tad expensive. Pretty average for the Kilkenny.
Food wise I ordered the fish and chips based on another review I read about this place. The fish came out of a package was probably placed in the oven and reheated. It was not battered. All in all a forgettable meal that was over priced. I won’t come here again as there are plenty of better establishments to give your business to so give this one a miss.

I have to agree with a previous reviewer: this is a business man’s Irish pub. It’s a great place to go after work (or with work colleagues) where you can get good beer and it’s not too pretentious.
As far as prices go, this place is kind of expensive for an Irish pub. However, for Stephen Ave I think the prices are reasonable if not on par with everything else around. That being said, I have judged a couple of places harshly because of their prices so I guess I mostly just mean that they are what you would expect (but there are some appetizers and things below $ 10).
The beer selection is pretty good and they have your standard cocktails as well as some seasonal varieties. I had the warm port and a friend of mine had some tasty martini concoction. My husband didn’t get a drink but got their shepherds pie with kale salad which was delicious. A couple of other people I was with just got wine and beer but everyone was happy with the selection.
The décor is also much fancier than a typical Irish pub. However I still found the atmosphere to be fairly casual. There is plenty of seating either in booths or at tables and there is amble bar space. The service is pretty good and even on a busy night the waitress came around quite a bit to check on us.
All-​in-​all, I really like this place for an after dinner and drink. If it wasn’t in the core, I’d probably give it 3 stars for the price, but considering its location I am very happy with what you get for the money. I will definitely be back.

The food here is awesome, there is no doubt about that.
But every time I go, the service is something less to be desired.
Every time I’ve been there is never anyone to seat us. So we go and look for a table ourselves.
The last time I went I went with a friend and we ordered the warm goat cheese of the «appi hour» menu along with the ballycastle bacon bites on the regular menu.
The food came and soon enough I realized that they had brought us the bacon wrapped dates of the «appi hour» menu instead.
I couldn’t find our waitress so I instead told the hostess that we hadn’t gotten what we ordered.
Instead of apologizing and trying to help us fix the problem.
She questioned me and gave me so much attitude, when I had done nothing wrong.
She took our food and the waitress came back with the bacon bites a few moments later.
After we had finished eating, it took way too long for us to get the bill.
In most cases we have to walk around the restaurant to try and find our waitress.
Even when the restaurant is completely empty.
Food is good, but if you are looking for good service you won’t find it here.

This is my go to place. Whenever I have a lunch or dinner meeting this is where I suggest and go. Whenever I am incredibly homesick for Ireland this helps me to feel better.
Ann and Gerard concern themselves immensely with the standards of quality in the food, drink and service and it shows.
I have been a patron here since they opened and I love this place more each time I go; not once in all the years have I ever received bad service or bad quality food.
The pour of the Guinness is the best outside of Ireland.
Unlike other «pubs» in this city that have merely jumped on the Irish bandwagon, the Joyce understands the meaning behind the words Offig An Phost and that they are not just Irish words to be displayed to give off the air of authenticity. The knickknacks and artifacts decorating the pub are truly Irish and special.
My Irish family and friends all leave the Joyce agreeing that if you want a bit of Ireland in the Heart of the West the only place is the Joyce.

It’s a decent Irish pub.
I stopped in twice, once for lunch and once for dinner. First time I was walking by looking for a place to eat and walked out of the saj because of the lack of ventilation. I cannot stand smelling like food when I’m at business. Walked out and over here. I thought I would try the shepard’s pie but was told the bangers and mash, another Irish food I hadn’t tried before, was popular so I went with that. Bangers and mash must mean sausages and mashed potatoes covered in gravy and onions, because that’s what it was. The meal was good, and the sausages were perfectly cooked, though it’s not my style of comfort food. The next time I stopped in I came with a work colleague and ordered the Irish beer sampler ($ 11.50÷4 samples) and the «Traditional» Irish stew that came with lamb. Honestly, it was one step above Dinty Moore Beef Stew. I couldn’t believe it at first, but there it was. Not too bad, but I wouldn’t get it again since it was so close to the cheap canned version.
Decent service both times.
P. S. Maybe I’m being too harsh. Maybe Dinty had it right as a cheap version and I should laude this Irish pub for it’s authenticity…

I didn’t expect much and I was not disappointed.
A tasty lamb burger and salad had a pleasant sauce and filled the bill for an inexpensive lunch outdoors. Nothing special by any means, but nothing to complain about. It was odd that the lunch menu is the same as the dinner menu, but I suppose that the limited pub food selection had to fill both sides of the menu card.

Great place to have a beer after work. Definitely a step up from most «Irish bars». Bartenders are attentive and friendly, prices are reasonable and the food is great, best burger on Stephen Avenue Mall.
Live music from time to time is nice, it’s a favorite place to go.

James Joyce is the business class of Irish pubs.
Given the typical Irish pub that you find throughout the city, James Joyce takes a little bit of a different approach. With non-​traditional food for a pub (higher class) and generally better service, this pub likes to treat you better. The wait staff provides a great level of service as well. My only problem with this pub is that the cost does not match the quality. I had a bowl of soup to start and then the steak salad. They were both quite good but not worth the steep price I later paid for them. Overall it’s an alright place, but not worth the price in my opinion.
Overpriced food and service but it’s still good.

I don’t normally like to give bad reviews, especially based on service. I’ve worked in retail for six years, blah blah blah everybody has bad days but for pretty much every waitress who waited on our table it seemed like it was a bad day.
First, we order our beers and a round of waters. The alcoholic beverages came rather quickly so that was nice for me. But the waters, well never came.
We waited a while our server passed us a few times and never stopped at our table, never brought us water or asked if we wanted food so we improvised and asked someone else.
We order our food, I got the bacon wrapped hot dogs (I’m sure they had a nicer name but I don’t remember). Yes oh yes they had me at bacon. Unfortunately one of the girls at our table ordered the special Dublin Dates (they sounded AMAZING) and they must have been cause they where sold out. So I guess that’s something you should try if you go there.
Our food finally arrived, it all looked so good. Except for the side order of rice and gravy the one guy at our table apparently order, no wonder we got strange looks when we order but the waitress must have miss heard him because he most definitely order FRIES and GRAVY. This was quite comical actually so no hard feelings. But on that note the food was kind of cold.
I was getting antsy and needed another beer so I decided to go to the bar as it was faster and more reliable to just get my drink myself. I was floored at the price of one Shocktop pint it was like $ 10. It was a good beer but not that good.
On the plus side it was one of the nicer Irish Pubs I’ve been to. And they had plenty of bacon related items so, I will be back because I have friends who adore bacon as much as I do.

Sunny day, so had lunch on the patio with a former colleague. Service was prompt, helpful, and excellent despite the noon hour rush. My salmon burger was delicious, the fish was not overcooked, and the yam fries were crisp and flavourful even without the tangy cream dipping sauce. Great place for a business lunch, but take note, the ambient noise level is lively.

Forgot my honey, brought the wrong tea bag, asked for cheese on my sandwich and it came dairy free… Hmmmm, I am thinking that it might be better to just stick to Guinness when at James Joyce.
The location is awesome, I love that they have a patio where you can watch all the shenanigans happening on the Ave. The servers were quite friendly and the food did come at a quick pace. I just wished that my waitress would have come back to ask if I needed anything or if it was okay. Instead she was on to the next table and did not return until it was time to get the bill. With some attention to detail I think this quaint pub could easily go from 2 to 4 stars, for me at least.

Remembering this place from one of our guided Calgary Ghost tours, a friend and I decided to grab a quick lunch here. It’s built in the old Molson TD bank — most of the original décor (like the mosaic floor) are still present and the Victorian feel gives this place a cozy feel.
Since there was a conference going on, a lot of the restaurants down Stephen Ave were pretty busy — including James Joyce. Luckily we were able to snag a seat, unfortunately it was on the corner of the bar inside.
I understand that it was busy, but it was about 15 mins before our drink orders were taken. I scanned the menu, nothing really caught my eye and we both settled on the Halibut and chips (you can’t go wrong with fried food right?).
Our food actually came out fairly quickly and it looked tasty. The coleslaw was pretty awesome (house made sauce) and the cabbage was still crisp. The halibut was nice and flaky and really, you can’t screw up fries.
I wouldn’t mind coming back and sitting on the patio on a sunny afternoon, I don’t think the busy conference gave them a fair chance to shine.

The appetizers were great… We had the Brie cheese with strawberries and it was really good… The service was a little slow, even when the place was not full of people. The main courses were Ok… I had the salmon salad, and it was a little spicy for my taste, but not too bad… I am not going to say this is a place you must go in calgary, but if you end up there for some reason, there are things to enjoy, like my appetizer…

I had been on their patio in the summer, and it is quite decent. Had their calamari salad, and it was alright. I would order it again.
I was there again a few weeks ago and I made the mistake of ordering a burger. I had burger on my mind all day and when I was invited to James Joyce, I figured I’d order a burger! I did not even want to look at anything else on the menu.
Anyway, the burger was a sad disappointment. It was quite generous in size, but the patty was overcooked, dense and dry. It was so dry, that even the sauce on top of it could not salvage anything. I can’t remember what type of burger it was — it did have jalapenos on it — but it really does not matter because it was that unmemorable.
The pub itself is okay. It is ‘cleaner’ or ‘brighter’ than other Irish pubs, which I appreciate. It was fairly packed too, and the crowd seemed like mostly professionals.

I had two completely different experiences at this establishment. The first time I came here was during the start of summer and I would have given it one star. The second time was for a work function and it was considerably better…
Now, why a pending one star you ask? Let me share with you my night, months ago…
After meeting up with friends downtown we decided to go for dinner. There was a sign out signifying a great deal «A choice of two different pre-​set menus for a 4 course meal, plus a drink» we accepted this deal and went in!
We order the specials (And let me make a note: the two main choices were cream of mushroom ravioli that’s stuffed with more mushrooms — my nemesis, or a cream of tomato rotini.) I chose the tomato. After we all finish our starter salads that come with the deal, we are told …“We are all out of tomato sauce so you’ll be having the mushroom main ok?” Yeaaaah… We are told, not asked.
We tell her no, sorry if I knew of this before I wouldn’t have chosen this deal, can we substitute for anything else? She goes to ask and comes back and points out another mushroom dish stating this is the only other option.
Getting a bit frustrated we say ok, then nevermind, I guess we’ll just pay for the salads/​wine and go… Then they say «no you have to pay for the whole meals, even though you’re not going to be eating them and even though you’re leaving. What? Why?
So we say no, but we have no problem paying for what we did have. The manager then says «well then ill have to make the server pay for all four of your four course meals! Seriously? We only ate 4 tiny starter salads and had a glass of wine each! But she wouldn’t budge and well we left very unhappy.
Second time around for the business event was completely different. The private space was snug but filled with cheeses/​meats/​fruits and veggies, all quite good and I was surprised how nice and fast the service was too and have to say it was an enjoyable visit.
So there you have it! The good and the bad, all wrapped up in a 2 star review.

The James Joyce is one of those pubs that I could never really figure from just looking at the outside and heard mixed reviews of so never really went out of my way to check out the inside. And yet, on a rainy day last month, I found myself in want of some comfort food. And who does comfort food better than an Irish pub?
It’s a bit fancier than what I’m used to in Irish pub land in Calgary. There was no seating of ourselves happening. Oh no, proper server, proper seating. And plenty of adornments on the walls. Most Guinness related. Go figure!
In proper comfort food style, I ordered the Irish stew (where there is lamb on the menu, I will surely always order it). The best way to describe the rest of the menu? Hearty.
Anyway, mid-​week, rainy, comfort food and some good company made for a much more pleasant eve out than what most cold days could offer me.
If you’re there, make sure you take a trip to the washroom! The ladies’ room is pretty fancy… and you’ve got to make it through a mini museum before you get there.