Mel Flanagan’s Irish Pub & Cafe

Love this place!!! Mel and Walter treat you like family. She also makes the best Ruben sandwich I have ever had, hands down. The meat melts in your mouth.

One of our favorite places! The Ruben sandwich is the best I’ve had anywhere. Mel slow cooks her own corned beef (she doesn’t use that pre-​cooked sliced corned beef that some restaurants use), and the meat is nice and tender and melts in your mouth. The Seafood platter has enough seafood on there to feed an army. Her lamb stew and Guinness beef stew are delicious. They hand cut and lightly bread their onion rings. Mel’s homemade Irish brown bread is delicious. It’s made with imported Irish flour, and has no preservatives. I like to slice it up, put some butter on it and fry it up in a pan and then put some jelly on it for breakfast. Yuumm…
They have live open music sessions every Friday night. When we were there last week, there were some very talented kids playing, and it was wonderful! Every month, they host a Writer’s Night, where we’ve heard some very talented writers of all ages recite their original works, and it’s great to see the students from the Grimes-​McDonough Irish Dance School show off what they’ve learned. Mel and Walter are great supporters of the arts, and like to encourage young talent. It is a great family atmosphere. Their motto is «Come in as strangers, leave as friends, and return as family», and that us truly the vibe you get there.

Overall great service, it was a slow evening with few customers, but enjoyable. The menu has some excellent options but not too many, and I recommend the Bangers & Mash! The décor is fitting and welcoming. I definitely plan on returning!

Mel and Walter took such great care of us tonight! Live music Friday, and second and fourth Wednesdays of the night. Onion rings lightly battered. Food is your standard pub fare, beer and whiskey selections are better than most, company was above par. Good vibes, easy on the wallet, and can’t wait to go back.

Lunch in this quiet place was better than I expected. Seafood Chowdah was best I’ve had (no clams-​yay), a bit on salty side, but still delicious. The Brown bread & imported Irish butter that accompanied the dish were very tasty. My companions enjoyed Guinness Beef Stew and a reuben. Would definitely eat here again.

I feel bad for picking on Mel’s, but I made the mistake of stopping in here on St. Patrick’s Day evening 2011. Earlier in the evening they were charging a cover. My friends and I went for dinner elsewhere and returned when they were no longer asking for money. Glad we did not have to pay.
I’m going to preface my following observations with the statement that I dig old folks. Old folks are fine by me. Old folks deserve our love and respect. Having said that, it would appear that the nursing home bus dropped a gaggle of these old folks off at Mel’s for St. Paddy’s day. Fine. The vibe was very, well, tired.
There were some Irish session musicians sitting around a table, which is cool, but they seemed very tired as well. I’m betting that Mel brought in the C-​list session musicians because the real Irish joints on the Seacoast had already booked the A and B quads. I could barely hear these blokes. It was as if they were singing to the floor. Bashful, unconfident. Fine, but 5 bucks? Nope.
I ordered a Smithwicks and a Bushmills. Waitress brought me a bottle of Smithwicks. I looked at it, confirmed it, verified it – yes it was a bottle. I had mistakenly assumed that they had it on draft.
«Oh,» I say. «No draft?»
«No,» the waitress replies. «I’m told that it’s actually preferred this way.»
«By whom?»
«The Irish.»
I called bullshit on that, to which my saucy waitress replied:
«The Draught Pick across the street has it on draft if you want,» and then she walked away.
Really? You’re going to suggest that I LEAVE your establishment?
I switch to Guinness, which my waitress pours like she’s pouring Coors Light. No adherence to the grand tradition of Guinness pouring, instead she presents me with Guinness after Guinness of seething, frothing liquid.
So here’s the thing. I am not an expert of all things Irish. I’ve been to Ireland a few times, yes, but that’s all. I have visited enough Irish Pubs across the United States with sufficient regularity to consider myself an aficionado. I am well-​versed in the trappings, food and traditions that make an American Irish Pub at least somewhat credible.
Mel’s lacks all of these. It is Irish in name only. It is going through the motions. It is a half-​ass attempt.
The people are nice though, and it is an independent local bar/​restaurant, which puts it heads above Applebys. Please support it, but demand a little more authenticity.