The Irish Lion Restaurant & Pub

Visitors to this city, and first time in this restaurant. It was a busy Saturday night, the kind when the restaurant manager should have called in more wait staff. Our waitress was the only one working our section of several booths and tables. Everything took a long long time. I ordered the half duck with a special apple infused stuffing and a baked apple with syrup on the side. The latter was in a tiny dish, and although it looked nice standing in it uncut, it was not easy cutting bite size pieces. The duck also was not cut up, and the plate was too small to make the task of cutting it up comfortable. Also, I had to ask for a steak knife, but kitchen scissors would’ve worked better on that small plate. I am a small person but I felt squished in the booth, too tight in the restroom, so I can’t imagine how much more for a customer who is taller and wears a larger dress size than me. Undoubtedly the food was delicious; desserts, too. Still, only three stars from this experience.

I think I go there at least twice a year — for St. Patrick’s day and my birthday. I love the lamb burger and the fish and chips. I love the atmosphere during St. Patricks day. I love the bread and butter they serve. It’s a nice place to dine with friends.

This place is a Bloomington must-​go-​to! The atmosphere is really neat. It’s like stepping back in time. The food is a constant quality. When you order the chicken Kiev for example, every time you go back, (and you will) it is the same creamy, buttery punch of awesomeness to your pie hole. If you don’t mind a bit of a crowd at the bar on Friday/​Saturday, this is the place to get a pint!

This not my first time here and I do like the food. But the service is really bad. And when I said it is bad, I mean it. I was to be told to have to wait for 20 mints right after we get here. But actually we waited way longer than that. The thing that made us more angry is that when we went into the restaurant we saw many empty tables there. There was no reason to let us wait for that long. Their severs have no idea how to keep customers.

A good choice in downtown Bloomington. A number of good beers on tap. Service was great. I enjoyed a few local brews and the fish and chips. The fish and chips were nicely done — crispy without being greasy. The place is nicely decorated, comfortable place. I’d stop by again if in Bloomington.

Good grub, bigger food selection than we expected, surprisingly extensive scotch and bourbon list, great service, good value for the dollar, and interesting history. What’s not to love? Fresh mixed greens house salad, dressing had chunks of good blue cheese in it, served with an authentic delicious soda bread. Fish and chips were tasty, though I’d prefer a steak fry more like what is served in UK fish and chip shops. Dinner companion liked the prime rib special and the garlic/​rosemary roasted potatoes were addictive.
Enjoyed exploring the architecture and artifacts there, and hostess enthusiastically filled us in on the history as well as pointing out some of the architecture details I’d missed. Would return if in the area.

The fish and chips were good, as I would expect from such a place. Nice and crispy and delicious. The atmosphere was awesome, really low lighting and a beautiful bar. I wouldn’t really call it speedy, as our food took a really long time even for a mildly busy night. We tried the blarney puffballs based on other Unilocal reviews and they were absolutely heavenly. Totally worth another trip back.

Ordered the Shepard’s Pie, a shot of Jameson and a Black and Tan. the food was great and the drinks what was expected. the service was a bit slow and felt understaffed.
Great food and drinks. When not in a rush great authentic Irish.

The Irish Lion, Ahhh, the good old college days. This place was hella swanky for a poor college kid (or at least it seemed that way to me), but now it seems so reasonably priced. :) I still LOOOOOVE their cheese puffs and tried their Irish stew and it was so warm and filling in a bread bowl. Perfect treat on a cool fall day. We stopped for lunch on the way back home from IN and it was dead in there on a early Sunday afternoon. I guess college kids do like to sleep in. They were blasting Irish music that got annoying after a while, but since it was just us upstairs we were able to turn it down without any protest. all in all I would recommend this great staple of B-​town!

Ya know… I REALLY wanted to love this place! I had received so much input from friends and people I know that travel to Btown just to eat here but unfortunately I can’t agree with their positive input on the food, or the service for that matter. And the hostess… well…sorry we bothered you and asked you to seat us!
I chose to eat here knowing we were traveling through town and had to eat something before heading home so it was somewhat awkward timing when it comes to the between lunch and dinner crowd. Needless to say the servers were more concerned about talking among themselves and preparing for the night rush more than they were giving us good service. Our server was nice and polite… a little too much so, but he was just off when it came to receiving timely service… a little too non-​nonchalant for me and there was no «professional» about him. Nice guy though… if we were drinking together on a Friday night at 2am.
And the food… I won’t go into any details but it was just mediocre at best. Nothing to write home about. We went with the typical Irish fare and though it would be impressive but it was just eh.
I will give it 5 stars for décor, pub atmosphere (minus the server stuff mentioned) ! But for now I will just have to settle for a 3. Not to say I won’t give you a second chance; I would love to. But you know what they say about first impressions!

First time here after a long day touring IU. Wasn’t really sure what to expect but overall it was a good experience. Great location in Bloomington and great atmosphere in the bar area. We had a large party so sat upstairs which doesn’t have the same charm as the lower section.
For starters I had a cup of the Coddle. Wish I had ordered a bowl of this stuff. This is about as good as it gets. I had the Fish and Chips as my main course and it was good but nothing special. Everyone else in our party seemed to enjoy their meal so this will be a place I would come back to when back in town.

I traveled all the way from California just to eat at this place. And it was worth it.
Ok ok, I flew in for a wedding, but back in college this was my favorite place to stuff my face and I knew that I had to go back while I was in town. And I did. Twice. In two days. And it was just as I remembered. AMAZING.
The Oysters Rockefeller are insane. Best I’ve ever had. I mean, you can’t really go wrong when you smother any food in hollandaise and bacon, but these are freakin’ magical. Same with the escargot. The recipe is simple and uncomplicated perfection.
For as many times as I have eaten here over the last 10+ years, the service has always been excellent. The staff is super polite and the regulars at the bar happily include you in their conversations, if you want to chat it up.
Side note: Usually, I am completely put off by stuffed animals (taxidermied animals that is — only a monster would hate a teddy bear), but for some reason the ones that are sprinkled throughout Irish Lion don’t bother me. Again, this place is magical.

Stopped on for a mid-​day meal after a summer IU concert. Started with the Puffs — a slightly cheesy yummier cousin of the tater tot. The fish and chips were crisp and ample with none of able to finish our plates. My father in law had the corned beef lunch plate and was declared it to be very good. The menu is bigger than expected. I recommend.

I can only imagine how poppin’ this Irish pub is when school is in session. Luckily we beat the crowd during summer break. Still, service was a little slow; for some reason the waitress that was covering our area did everything she could to avoid us. The bartender noticed what was going on and took it upon himself to be our waiter.
To start our friend Marcia ordered puffballs. How do I explain these delicious little balls of fried yumminess? Seasoned mashed (or whipped. they were so puffy) potatoes deep fried to perfection. A little sour cream makes them even better.
The fiancé and I ordered the Reuben sandwich. absolutely one of the best Reuben’s I’ve ever had. Tons of sauerkraut, corned beef, house thousand island dressing on rye. Heaven in mah mouf. So good I forgot to memorialize the moment with a photo.
I wish ordered a Guiness, it would have gone perfectly with my sandwich. There’s always next time!

The soup is awesome but a little bit salty. We tried the Sunday brunch and I ordered steak$ eggs, the steak is too old, and I said middle well lol However, the home-​fried chips are good and we also got fresh fruit cup.
Will try their other signature food next time

amazing! I ordered Sunday brunch: salmon Benedict, they come with cube potatoes and fruit cups, the plate looks beautiful and taste really well, salmon didn’t taste very salty and fried potatoes are great and fruits are really fresh, very satisfied with my experience with the reasonable price!

The historic Irish Lion came highly recommended by friends when we inquired where we should go for a late-​night bite. I kept it really simple and Irish on my visit here. I ordered the Celtic Stew, while my boyfriend had the Coddle. My stew transported me back to an equally-​cold night in Dublin when I tried this thick, hearty bowl of lamb, carrots, and potatoes for the first time. There was a great deal of tasty nostalgia in my meal, and dipping it in my soda bread only made it better. The coddle, the house stew with potatoes, sausage, bacon, and onion, was also very good, but if I had to choose between the two, my Celtic Stew was the better dish. I bet the Irish would agree!

Came in here yesterday on our road trip to Bloomington for the UMich — IU basketball game. Despite wearing our maize and blue into this establishment, everyone was really friendly.
We didn’t eat, but the menu seemed to have a lot of great options. I was tempted to try the oysters, but thought better of it in the pre-​noon hours. The building has a lot of history and you can tell that the place has been around a while.
The drinks were very reasonably priced, the staff was quite friendly, and I would definitely come back on another trip through town. The only issue I had was that the waitress seemed to take a lot longer than we normally would expect. It happened multiple times as well. It didn’t seem THAT busy in there, but I don’t think it was for lack of trying. I’ll cut someone slack when they’re nice every single time.

A friend of mine wanted to take me to Serendipity the martini bar, but sadly they were closed! So, I looked up Irish lion on Unilocal and decided to give this place a shot.
At Irish lions, they have open seating so grab a booth or sit at the bar!
They even have a staircase leading to the upstairs dining area. *Restrooms are located upstairs. It’s a little creepy walking upstairs at night with the dark hallway.
Our waiter was nice and friendly. He did his best to inform us about the daily special. My friend and I ate dinner befote hand so we opted for dessert and drinks instead!
Chocolate cake (⁵⁄₅): OH MY. This cake was so soft, fluffy, and it literally melted in my mouth! Order the chocolate cake! You can thank me later. This was just one delicious cake with a heavenly chocolate frosting! So good that we wanted to order another slice! But of course, my friend and I were stuffed with this one big slice of cake.
Mai tai (⁴⁄₅): This drink was good but it wasn’t mixed well. I didn’t taste the alcohol until I got to the bottom of my drink. So mix your drink with your straw before drinking your Mai Tai!
Kolada (³⁄₅): It tasted a lot like the Mai Tai but with a hint of coconut. This drink is a blended drink with ice.
Overall, I enjoyed my experience at Irish lions and definitely would recommend others to check this place out!

The Irish Lion is one of our go to places in Bloomington. We enjoy it quite a lot, but, it’s not perfect.
The food? I’d give it a solid 3. The fish and chips are good, but not outstanding. Burgers? The same. Matter of fact, everything I’ve got there has been good, but not a whole lot more.
The service? Always a solid 4, usually a solid 5! We’ve never had an issue here, and the servers are always well versed on the menu and bar. They’re friendly and professional.
The bar is well stocked with stuff you can’t find anywhere else. It’s always a fun atmosphere, and we keep returning.