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Pub Crawl: Get your Irish up at Molly Malone’s
Posted: November 1, 2006
 MULTIMEDIA
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The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Although Mint, the remodeled downstairs restaurant at Molly Malone’s, is billed as the city’s newest “ultra lounge” with “an Asian fusion twist,” the upstairs pub is still the good old reliable Irish publick house patrons have come to know and love since it first opened some 15 odd years ago.
While downstairs dabbles with pairing Kobe beef and Cosmopolitans, the regulars still saunter up the narrow staircase with an easy smile for one of the best pints of Guinness in town. There’s a host of great beers on tap, including a Molly Wild Irish Red Ale made especially for Molly’s by the folks at the Shipyard Brewing Company up Portland, Maine way. All tapped beers go for $5 a pop, while domestic bottles are $3.50. There’s a also a good selection of Irish whiskeys and a few select single malt scotches you’ll be hard pressed to find anywhere else around these parts.
Molly’s has a really great pub menu, one of the best on the Seacoast in fact. Whether it’s the house-ground burgers starting at $8, the nice Baked Shepard’s Pie ($14.95) made with spiced ground lamb and beef with Irish Champs (mashed potatoes with leeks), as well as the traditional Bangers (Irish sausages) and Champ ($11.95), you’ll find good, honest fare here on State Street. But by far my favorite Molly’s meal is the wicked hearty Guinness Lamb Shank ($21.95), a huge portion that falls off the bone at the touch of the fork, complete with a nice assortment of fresh vegetables.
Molly’s always has a nice mixed pub crowd, mostly working class heroes looking for a friendly, mellow spot, with a dash of urban professionals who probably aren’t quite comfortable yet downstairs at Mint, as well as a sprinkling of college kids from UNH (the smart ones, not the dunces), and the requisite eccentrics.
There’s live entertainment every Wednesday through Friday, with an open Irish seisuin organized by Dave Hallowell on Thursdays beginning at 9 p.m. Bartender Thom Ray steps out from behind the casks on Wednesdays and picks up his guitar to strum the some fine British pop rock, as well as his own originals. And on Fridays, Ralph Allen contemporary performs pop rock. You can also bring some friends (or meet some there) and try your hand at trivia on Sunday nights beginning at 8.
Molly Malone’s
177 State St.
Portsmouth, NH
433-7233
www.mollymalonesnh.com
Michael Keating is managing editor/ features at Seacoast Media Group. He can be reached by e-mail at mkeating@seacoastonline.com.
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