The Public House - Fresno
With St. Patrick's Day around the corner, we decided to try the latest pub to try to survive in Fresno: The Public House in Granite Park (on Cedar between Dakota and Ashlan). As it turned out, we had occasion to visit The Public House twice in one week, which gave us a good opportunity to confirm or modify our initial impression.
The first aspect of The Public House to make an impression is its appearance. With most of the furnishings and the entire bar having been imported from Ireland, one would guess that The Public House would feel authentically Irish. However, that authenticity is diminished in the dining area, which is painted to look somewhat like a cave (or, perhaps, the Newgrange mound) that's decorated with Celtic symbols. Even the bar area and its assorted bric-a-brac seems to be more calculated than authentic. We eventually came to the conclusion that if Walt Disney would've built an Irish pub, he'd have built The Public House.
The true test of any Irish pub is if they can pour a good pint of Guinness. When it comes to the Guinness, The Public House falls short. The beer is bitter, like it is in most American bars where Guinness is served. They don't even pour the shamrock into the foam. At $5.95 a pint, the Guinness is a real disappointment (further proof that the only good Guinness is in Ireland).
This board isn't an interior decorating or a beer lovers forum...you want to know about the food. Here again, there's room for serious improvement. First off, there are plenty of options on the menu: sandwiches/burgers, appetizers, small plate dishes, and full meals. Prices range from $6.95 to $15.95. Under the heading of "Pub Food", The Public House lists a Corned Beef Sandwich, Fish & Chips, and Bangers & Mash. But, there is no Shepherd's Pie...what self-respecting pub doesn't have Shepherd's Pie?! The first time we were there, we had Chef Kevin's Steak Sandwich ($9.95) and the Blue Burger ($9.45). The steak sandwich was advertised as "tender steak with cheese and onions on a baguette." While the steak was tender and well prepared, but the cheese was barely present and the onions were no where to be found. The burger, which was decorated with blue cheese and bacon, was solid but unspectactular. On the other occasion, we had the Cheddar Chicken sandwich ($6.95). It's advertised as "shredded chicken with cheddar." That sounds better than "pieces of chicken embedded in a ball of cheese between two pieces of bread." We also had the Bangers & Mash ($11.95), which consisted of two pieces of sausage on a bed of mashed potatoes and garnished with fried onion strips. As was the case with the burger, it was solid, but unspectacular. Finally, we had the cheese plate, which contained several different cheeses from California and Ireland. It wasn't bad; but, it wasn't worth the $13.95 we paid.
So, if the decoration is Disney-like, the food is mediocre, and there isn't a good pint of Guinness anywhere on the premises, is there anything worth merit at The Public House? The answer to that question is an unequivocal yes. The service is nothing short of superb. On both occasions, we were treated to extremely attentive, extremely helpful service. We'd even go so far as to say that it's some of the best service we've had at any restaurant in Fresno.
We realize that the main business of The Public House is to overcharge Fresno residents for alcohol. But, if they want to cover their massive overhead once the "newness" factor wears off, they need to make sure that all elements of the establishment are top-notch. They've succeded in making the service top-notch...now, they need to focus on improving the food.
Lunch Critics
Mar 13, 2008 05:25PM
Thanks for the great report LC. I'm afraid you'll have to put me in the "substance over style" category, I appreciate the efforts any waitstaff puts forth, but give me a soup nazi any day if the quality is there. BTW, I see from your profile that your go to party dish is 3 Cheese Bread, would you mind sharing? What piqued my interest is that years ago our go to was a split garlic buttered sour dough loaf topped with sour cream, fresh dill, romano, and various melted cheese broiled brown. The mods might frown on this and say post on the Home Cooking board, I'm pretty sure if you did so they wouldn't mind you posting a link to that here. If that's too much trouble, you can email me at dlw38 AT sbcglobal DOT net and I'll be eternally grateful, and also post to the HC board with your permission, giving appropriate credit of course.
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BF and I traveled to The Public House a couple weeks ago to see if the rave reviews we had heard from friends and collegues were true or not. I have to say that we quite enjoyed ourselves compared to the OP. We weren't raving, but overall thought the food/decor/pints were pretty darn good and merits another visit.
I have to say that it is ridiculous to order Guiness in Fresno anywhere, point blank. You have to look beyond the usual beer staples that plague most pubs - and The Public House does offer MANY selections. I ordered a Boddington's, which was delicious. BF did go for a Guiness, trying to keep in fashion of the atmosphere, and his did come with a foamy shamrock. I suppose it depends on the bartender. Ours was extremely helpful and courteous.
Along with our pints we ordered a couple appetizers. The shortrib sliders caught our attention as did the clams served with chorizo (I love chorizo in all shape and forms). The sliders (the new trend in every restaurant nowadays it seems) were tasty, not wowable, but the shortribs were juicy and flavorful. There are served as a trio with carmelized onions on them as well. I practically dove into the clams and chorizo!! Perfectly seasoned, not too oily, and served with toasty crostinis to mop up the bowl with. My only complaint was that there wasn't enough!! I can't recall prices, but I remember them to be pretty reasonable for the apps. The pints are a different story (the least costly was over $4.50).
I'm looking forward to another trek to TPH.
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Oh yeah...I did give my BF a bit of grief for ordering a Guiness (the ridiculous factor) - but he made up for it by ordering a wonderful flight of aged scotch for us to share.
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"We eventually came to the conclusion that if Walt Disney would've built an Irish pub, he'd have built The Public House."
LOL! That's the exact phrase I used to describe the decor and ambiance. If you've ever been to a Las Vegas theme hotel like Excalibur, with all the medieval feelings of authenticity of an inflatable Merlin's wand, you've got the feeling of TPH. Ostensibly, TPH is an Irish pub, but the floor tiles, faux finished walls, and bathroom mirrors seemed Tuscan-themed, not Irish. It's as though TPH started out as a large trattoria and then was abruptly yanked over to Ireland with no time to alter what had already been installed. I don't know if the owners/designers had ever been to a real Irish pub, for some reason the design and decor make me think they haven't. Maybe they were working from magazine pictures? To be fair, I've never been to a pub in Ireland either, perhaps Irish pubs *do* look like trattorias. In which case, I withdraw my comments.
I really wanted to like this place because I think Fresno needs a well-run themed restaurant that's not part of a chain and that serves authentic, honestly prepared regional food, not Freeze-n-Pac portion controlled glop from Sysco.
I ate dinner there last week for the first time and in "The Cave," a row of high-backed booths with requisite annoyingly dim lighting. It felt like a perfect place for cloaked figures to arrange an assassination, assuming the cloaked figures brought their reading glasses and flashlights. Rather not "the done thing" in The Big Little Book of Villains. Ruins the image.
Our server was a friendly, pleasant young blonde woman. She gave adequate service.
I ordered the corned beef sandwich, which came on a swirled brown-and-blonde rye bread, and I upgraded the normal fries to the TPH's home-made potato chips. My friend had the fish and chips and sweet potato fries. The other diners with us ordered the Celtic Salad and the Sliders, which I didn't taste, but the others did enjoy their sliders.
The fish and chips were a large portion of crispy, batter-fried white fish. The battered coating was tasty and crispy, and the fish was well cooked. The sweet potato fries were served with chopped, sprinkled parsley leaves and were fine for a few minutes, but as they cooled they slowly became gummy and unappealing. Fish and chips: B. Sweet Potato Fries: C.
My corned beef sandwich had a reasonable amount of meat, a slice of swiss cheese, and some tastless sauerkraut. It was very dry, even though there was a whole grain mustard on it, so I ordered some extra whole grain mustard, but that didn't help much. The sandwich tasted bland overall, no pickled bite from the 'kraut, no briney corned beef taste from the meat, and the bread had almost no rye taste at all. (I took 1/2 of it home to eat for breakfast the next day, and slathered it with yellow mustard and mayo, which made the sandwich moist and more palatable.) The potato chips were nicely browned and seasoned with salt, and tasted like every other premium store-bought potato chip I've had. Sandwich: D. Potato Chips: C.
I also ordered a Gin Bramble, gin with sparkling water, lime and blackberry liquor. No taste of gin and only the faintest hint of some kind of fruit. It tasted like sparkling fitness water. Grade: F.
If I enjoyed the taste of scotch or beer, I could see going to TPH just to drink, but for food? Nope. TPH gets a thumbs-down from me, I'm unhappy to say.
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I thought it was just me, I was dissapointed.
I felt the atmosphere was very good, The service was very good. The food was mediocre. I had the puff pastery with beef stew. The puff pastery was so light it turned to mush. The stew was good but needed a good bisquet.
My partner had the "Bangers and Mash", and loved them. Along with an Irish beer, which was very good.
For desert we had the "Strawberries, with cream on a bisquet", which was
devine.
I rate this resturant a B. I will give the place one more try.
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I have gone back and enjoyed this time much better. The sweetpotatoe fries are addicting along with the Strawberry shortcake. The Steak bites are a great snack, along with the vetable pasta dish. On Tuesday they have live music, they were great. The atmosphere is great. I will be back. 3 thumbs up....
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