We got there around 7pm and the place was packed. There were only a handful of tables open and all of the waitstaff was visibly flustered (overwhelmed?) with the turnout. My initial impression was that the decor was nice, but it lacks the coziness of the Royal Mile. On the other hand, the bar (toally packed when we were there) certainly has a nice amount of space for both sitting at the bar and standing around behind it. The flat screen TVs were all tuned to 'footie' and there wasn't any music playing, which made the place seem strangely quiet, considering how many people were in there. Still, a band was in the process of slooooowly setting up when we got there. Even when we finished dinner and left, there was no sign of them starting anytime soon, though.
Now, on to our meal! Mr. WC and I decided to have our usual Royal Mile dishes to compare to those at Limerick - a burger with swiss cheese and mushrooms for me and fish and chips for Mr. WC. My burger was respectable - the burger had a nice 'charbroiled' taste to it and the bun was toasted. However, I give Royal Mile the win on this one - their burger is thicker, juicier, and just more tasty in general. Still, this was a decent burger, especially for their second night open. We both had some issues with the fries that came with our meals, though. They were so dark that they almost looked burned, yet we found them soggy without any crispness at all when we started eating them. They did seem to be fresh cut, so that's good, but the sogginess made these a no-go for me. The fish and chips came out with a mountain of large, battered chunks of fish. Mr. WC deemed these the equal of the Royal Mile - the fish was very fresh tasting, and the pieces held together well once you started eating them while the RM version kind of falls to pieces after the first bite. The sogginess of a few pieces is probably the only thing that prevented Limerick's version of the dish to not surpass the Royal Mile's.
In general, the service was very friendly, even though there were issues caused by how understaffed they were. That's totally forgiveable, though, on their second night of business. The list of beers on tap was decent, and they also had a good selection of bottled beer (maybe a few less than Royal Mile) plus all sorts of specialty Irish options like half and half. The entree prices were maybe a little higher than Royal Mile, but not by much. Royal Mile will be our first choice for pub food in the future, but Limerick Pub is a good backup option and it's worth considering if all you want to do is stand or sit at the bar with a beer. Just for comparison, we walked by the Royal Mile after dinner and it looked like there was only one table with 2 people seated in the whole place (yikes!).
So, by all means, check out and patronize Limerick, but keep on supporting the Royal Mile too.
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