St James’s Gate Publick House

I came here a couple of years ago and remembered how delicious their shepherd’s pie was so when I came back recently I had high expectations and I was not disappointed! I ordered the buster burger, which pretty much has anything you can imagine on it (onion ring, avocado, the works) and it comes with an order of shoestring french fries. Everything was delicious and I cannot wait to revisit sometime soon.

I love this place. Warm, cozy atmosphere. Food always good, favorites are the French onion soup, burgers, and fish and chips. Menu offers authentic Irish fare. Guinness and Boddingtons on tap.

Fantastic food, true pub atmosphere. Skirt steak entrée (which is hard to do) was perfect! Dark and friendly… what more could you want in the cutest town.

I live in Maplewood. I went back to the Gate after quite a long absence. Enough said on that.
Place is the same. Quaint pub, family-​friendly (ugh) with a cozy gas fireplace. As the menu changes a bit seasonally, my party was informed that crab cakes, the lobster roll and ribs were no longer available. Fair enough.
My buddies and I came specifically for the Oktoberfest menu. Two of us had the wurst platter (3 wursts, warm German potato salad, and red cabbage). Very good. I took half home. I should have asked how much the special was however. $ 27!!! I don’t remember it being that expensive, nor did I expect it from a pub that sells 10 dollar burgers. Lesson learned and advice to future diners. Chicken goulash was $ 23. Also pretty steep for a noodle dish at a pub. My friend enjoyed it though. Burgers and shepherds pie were very good as always.
If you drink, know that cocktails aren’t cheap, but beer is reasonably priced. You couldn’t ask for a broader on-​tap assortment. On this measure, St. James delivers.
My advice? Go later when families clear out, try a new beer or two and stick to basics on the menu. If you are tempted by a dinner special, be certain to ask the price.

No question that this has the feel of an Irish Pub, warm, Cosy and dark. Very family friendly and yet good enough for «date night». Service is attentive.
Food selection is adequate as is the food, nothing extraordinary here, prices are above average.
The real ticket here is a Guinness, everything else is ancillary

This place is exactly what it claims to be: a good Irish pub. It’s a fairly large spot with a wood burning fire place which is perfect for the fall/​winter months. Food is what you would expect and portions are LARGE. I have made a meal out of the boneless wing appetizer AND had plenty to take home for the next day. My BF ordered a BLT one evening and received– no joke– two HUGE HUNKS of bread with the typical BLT filling in between. Just to paint a picture, we are talking about ¼ loaf per slice of bread. SO MUCH BREAD. But, our waitress did warn us that the bread was «thick». She wasn’t lying.
Overall, a solid Irish pub. I’d give it an extra ½ star for the fireplace if I could.

Stopped in last friday for happy hour. I had a few vodka tonics and some blue points from the raw bar. They were fresh and extremely clean. Whoever was opening those oysters knew what he was doing. The bartender was perfect — Just enough to make us comfortable and have a couple good laughs. This place is starting to feel more comfortable, I’m becoming a fan.

It’s a fun Irish pub that has a nice Irish menu. The very first thing on the appetizers is a pint of Guiness! This gave us a good laugh to start our meal. It’s a nice mix between pub and restaurant and the eating area is a step above your regular dive bar which makes the ambiance nice to eat at. Very casual spot to take the family to.
The French onion soup was one of the best we ever had and it’s presentation was very nice as it came in a black bucket (like those ones a leprechaun would put gold in).
My gf got the shepherds pie which unfortunately was a little bland, not many sauces or seasonings, but she still finished the whole thing. I got the ribs. The ribs are very, very saucy. Not fall off the bone but still tasty enough, they were very tender however. I took them home and still had a full meal the next day for lunch. Both are good portions and not too expensive.
The menu is fun as many meal options have a «hint of Jameson.» I was close to getting the Irish breakfast which I think I will get next time. They do not take reservations but we got there at 730 on a Friday and were seated within 5 minutes. Place was pretty crowded too. If you want Irish, fun, and bar with food this is certainly a place to check out.

Really great restaurant. In downtown maplewood. Love this plate. Really great customer service and overall nice employees.

Drink the beer, skip the food! & Don’t get the St Martha’s bacon wrapped deep fried burger! My son ate one, and the bacon was raw. He was sick all night.

Excellent pub. Very good food. Very good beer. Food and beer *extremely* reasonably priced. Family-​friendly. Our go-​to family dining place. A tremendous resource for our town.
For those unaware, the string of negative reviews from 2013 are part of a blacklisting campaign by local gay activists over an incident involving the son of the owner. The reviews are dishonest.

Going for the bar is the way to go. Friendly service and good selection. Sitting at a table — well — I’ve been going w/​my family since it opened and the service is the slowest around. Friendly, but friendly doesn’t go very far when you’re hungry and thirsty! Having said all this it’s definitely a go-​to place on a Thursday night when you want a beer and a burg. At other times of day/​not lots of tykes so if they bug you definitely don’t go day time. Overall fine but nothing to write home about.

Went once for lunch take out… and never went back.
Wings are over cooked, drenched in hot sauce. Didn’t even finish half the order.
I ordered a salad they offered as a special… which turned out to be awful.
Man who served me was beyond grumpy.
Avoid.

Cool little Irish pub in Maplewood. Personally I think they need to get some better beers in here if they want to keep up with what’s good and the beer world. One and done not enough for me to stay.

LOVE this place. Went too see a show at the local cultural center (an old church a spit shot from here) atmosphere was great, food was AMAZING. HAVE THE GAELIC FRIES!!! The mushroom sauce is divine. It has left me dreaming of it, all the time. The Reuben sandwich was a home run. My husband had the deep fried burger, looked crazy; tasted great!!! The town was super cute. Get here immediately!

Usually a crowded bar, but the bartender is very good and swift! Next time I go, I plan to have dinner! Great menu.

This joint deserves a better rating than it has. Why all the hate, Unilocalers? Some of y’all only have one review and you’re hating on St. James? Suspicious. Anyway…
This is one of our go-​to joints in the Wood of Maple. Never had a bad meal here. You can go at 5:30 for dinner with the little ones or 9:00 for a romantic date and have a great dinner. Service is perfectly average and pretty much what you expect for a pub — friendly, accurate, occasionally spotty but overall pretty good. The food, if you know what to order, is great. Fish & chips are awesome, buffalo wings (especially the boneless) are perfect and hit the spot, burgers are solid, French onion soup is good, and you MUST try the potato leek soup with truffle oil, served in a sweet little cast iron cauldron. My toddler loves it. I am also, randomly, a huge fan of the wedge salad.
As you’d expect from an Irish pub, they know how to serve a beer. I’ve had several different pints at St. James’ and they’re always cold, fresh, and delish. Never skunky or flat like you get at bars sometimes. The ambiance is warm, inviting, romantic, and very Irish. I love sitting by the stone fireplace with my family and snuggling up with some beer & wings. It’s just the best.
Whenever I review an establishment, I try to judge them by what they are trying to achieve. St. James’ Gate is succeeding beautifully at what they are trying to be: A warm, inviting, Irish pub with good comfort pub-​grub and a few upmarket menu items that you just don’t expect from a neighborhood pub. My only suggestion to them, if they want to earn that fifth star, is to work on the basics of service and just step up their training a notch. The service could be warmer, more anticipatory, and a little bit more professional at times. But they’ve got a fan in me!

One of the best places in town… great food and great vibe. love getting a table by the fireplace on a chilly fall saturday and enjoying a pint of boddington and some wings. Real hometown feel at this place… love it here!

If you are in the middle of maplewood nj and you want to have fun and sit in a pub type place, what’s not to like? I think it’s a great local spot. Sometimes they have sports on tv, they have beer on tap and they really try to do good food. It is super popular so it hits more than it misses.
I was with a party of four walk in. Told it would be 20 minutes. Sat in bar got talking to regulars time went by so quickly we were almost disappointed to leave our new friends. Food was tasty, specials were with Irish type theme — cabbage and beef, a fish, we ordered burgers and laughed while live music played. Does someone want more out of a night? Cute place. recommend and right across from the train so no driving!

The ambiance of this place is great straight pub feel with the old dark wood, brick and metal.
Probably should have re-​thought about coming here on a Friday night with Stanley Cup Finals and the World Cup going on but it was great because of the huge tv’s airing the games! We were a little worried because the bar was full of people watching the soccer game. The hostess told us that we would prob be waiting 30 – 45 minutes however, we sat about after 20.
After my boyfriend and myself ordered some traditional Irish beverages we decided to go right into dinner cause we both were hungry. I went with the traditional fish and chips. Which was mighty tasty with two huge Guinness battered strips of fish and a side of fries! (ask for malt vinegar with fries) My boyfriend went away from the typical Irish and pub food and ordered the salmon on top of quinoa spinach risotto which was delicious!!! The salmon was cooked to perfection, had great flavor and paired well with the quinoa spinach risotto. I actually stole a few pieces of his salmon it was that good!
We were lucky enough to enjoy the first period of the hockey game. Our waitress was courteous however, it may have been the busy restaurant or she was taking care of other customers but we felt she could have been a little more attentive and checked in on us a little more. Towards the end of our dinner we kept finding ourselves asking each other if we had see. Our waitress of not.
All in all we will absolutely be back! The prices seemed reasonable too.