James Joyce Irish Pub & Restaurant

This place is pricey for what you get. Some things are quality, and some things are not. The Ruben sandwich is very good. It is corned beef carved from the roast. It is a fairly substantial sandwich. The muscles were very good and perfectly cooked, not overdone. They were meaty. The sauce was outstanding and i enjoyed sopping it up with the bread. The fish and chips are not high quality, and they are very pricey. At $29, I expected much better food. This is not actually fish and chips (which are 2 or 3 thick, meaty planks of batter dipped fish). This is a fried fish platter. I asked if it was hand-battered. The waitress was a bit confused, but later came back and said yes. I have my doubts.

The fried fish had vertical and horizontal indentation marks on it from, probably from putting it in a fry basket, with another fry basket on top of the other to weigh it down. You can not do this with freshly battered fish as it would rip off the batter. But the explanation that I received was that AFTER it was fried, it was placed on a metal grid rack to drain any excess oil, and that is where the indentations came from. So you are telling me, that AFTER frying, when the batter has already formed a crispy shell, that it was placed on a metal rack, and that the fish was heavy enough to weight itself down sufficiently to cause pressure indentations on the fish? I've worked in too many restaurants. I'm not buying it. The icing on the cake was the manager at my tableside, insisting that the fish was flown in fresh and filleted daily, then hand battered. They use cheap whitefish called Hake. Overall, I am not impressed with the quality of the food or the knowledge of the staff. I also do not believe the managers explanation that the fish was freshly hand-battered but somehow had indentations on it. I can only speculate, but it my opinion, I think it was a frozen fish fillet. Who knows? All I know is that the quality and service did not match the price point and I will not be back.

Still had the same great atmosphere thanks to the previous owners, the server was fantastic, but the menus is extremely limited and not the breadth of offerings shown on the online menu, and outlandish prices…$28 for cabbage…seriously?!?!? I grew up with this food and regularly frequent good Irish pubs and this is a far cry from the establishment it used to be. The Guinness was good and the server impeccable!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 2

Service: 5

We're staying at a hotel across the street and wished I just at stayed and ate at the hotel. The service was horrible, we seemed to be a bother to the bartender.
Sat at the bar(2 of us) and I couldn't tell you how long we waited for many staff to get out of their personal conversations to ask us if we would like something to drink(maybe 15-20 minutes) this happened multiple times.
I enjoy trying new beers so of course I ordered the flight which all the beers seemed to taste more like water then anything else.
I never can even drink Guinness but for some reason I could here and that's because I believe it to be water down.
We order wings, and then pretzels with cheese dip LOL
awful.
I would have to say there were a few good employees but unfortunately they were not working behind the bar.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 1

Service: 1

Corporatized facade of an irish bar

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 5

Solid place (Feb2025). Fish and chips were good. Properly poured Guiness. Would return.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Fish & Chips

Absolutely the worst Irish bar I’ve been to in 50 years. Had 4 entrees and 3-4 appetizers and all of it was shite. This over the course of one week while I’m here on restaurants and market reviews. Bartenders were clueless as well. Better off spending your money at seafood place across the way.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 1

Service: 1

Worst bartender I have ever been served by. We sat at the bar she proceeded to set up the bar mat service station right in front of me. Really? Where are we going to put our food? She rudely told me we could move if we wanted. She also ignored us for the first 5 mins we were there. Very rude and she acting like we were bothering her.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 2

Service: 1

I’m not sure if it’s it’s because I went after hours but why would I have burnt chips and like half frozen fish for my fish n chips that costs $30 and the bartender don’t really care about the second half of the bar $50 later I’m not even sure why

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 2

Service: 2

Recommended dishes: Fish & Chips, Chips

Seemingly decent Irish pub, but bad bartending service and overpriced. I ordered a Guinness pint and the bartender did not let it settle, but rather poured it all the way to the top and overflowed the glass.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 1

fun time!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4

Did not stay or eat... cozy Irish pub vibe

The food was very good - a great burger & an excellent reuben. The service was not great. Nice waitress but wasn’t attentive or checking back with us at all. Atmosphere was horrible because FOX News was on two TVs. It’s unpleasant to have lies & conspiracies on TV while you eat. I asked the waitress if the channel could be changed. I’m sure the answer she got was “no” and she then avoided our table. I do not blame the waitress. I won’t be visiting another Atlas restaurant because I’m fairly certain they approve of FOX news on their TVs. It’s a shame.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 4

Service: 3

Late night menu. There were not many options, but it was ok. Fries were great!!! Not the nacho fries.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 4

Quick beer and soup for lunch. French Onion was on point for an Irish pub ! Service was great at the bar ! Highly recommend !

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: French Onion Soup

Noise level was not "energetic," sound wasn't very audible. We primarily went to hear music, and acoustics aren't great The acoustics certainly were not good enough to overcome an All-American and boorish party next to us. By the way, the Irish are never boors, just possibly over exuberant sometimes. The boors were clearly uninterested in a mixed pub atmosphere. There are things restaurants can do about boors. There were OpenTables both opposite and closer to the band. Unfortunately, one of our party didn't want to create a "fuss" with a request. Since we had let the greeters know of our interest, they surely might have invited us to change to another available table. Otherwise, service was excellent. We travelled from Bethesda, and currently view Mondays at Glenn Echo Irish Inn superior to James Joyce. Of course, James Joyce has music every night, and we have only one visit to work off.