East End Eats: A Friendly Neighborhood Pub
M.J. Dowling’s
3360 Noyac Road, Noyac
725-4444
Monday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to midnight. Friday through Sunday, noon to midnight
M.J. Dowling’s Steakhouse and Tavern, which calls itself “a friendly neighborhood pub,” is just that. It has a friendly atmosphere and very reasonably priced food, especially on its specials nights. For sports bar fans there are four flat screen TVs above the long bar by the entrance. For game fans there is a back room with two pool tables, Ms. Pacman, and Hoops. Feel like shooting something? Try the Big Buck Safari video game!
The menu is fairly simple as befits a pub grub joint. You ain’t gonna find a kale salad or any dish with a Wellness Foundation-approved symbol. The dining area is composed of comfortable booths and banquettes all around and lots of license plates and photos and local directional signs adorning the walls. The bar area is pretty action-packed early in the evening. There is also a spacious patio in front, with picnic tables and screening that almost helps you forget you are smack dab on Noyac Road.
We began our meal with chicken wings, calamari, and an appetizer special of spicy beef spring rolls.
The wings were excellent although not as spicy hot as we had hoped and had ordered. It was a generous helping with carrots, celery sticks, and blue cheese dressing. The wings were very crisp and the vinegary hot sauce nice and salty. The calamari was also very good, with a crunchy coating, some lemon slices, and a dish of mild marinara sauce for dipping.
The spicy beef spring rolls appetizer special was, unfortunately, an epic fail. They were large, kind of greasy egg roll wrappers filled with a ground beef mixture. “Shepherd’s pie in an egg roll” is how my witty foodie offspring described it. The dipping sauce appeared to be high-sodium soy sauce with a few flakes of crushed red pepper in it. No Asian flavors involved as far as we could tell.
For entrees we ordered a burger, ribs, bratwurst, and ribeye steak. The burger was made of high quality meat but was underseasoned and undercooked. It was ordered medium rare but was very rare. The bun and garnish of lettuce, tomato, and red onion slice were good. The ribs were excellent, nicely charred and tender. They were served on top of a huge pile of hand-cut, skin-on French fries, which were delicious. I was the “when in Rome” guest who ordered the bratwurst with sauteed onions. Ever since reading the comedian Jim Gaffigan’s book “Food: A Love Story,” I have been wanting to try a nice grilled brat, one of his favorite meals. It was tasty, but I couldn’t finish it. It was also served with the excellent fries, coleslaw, and a pickle.
The ribeye steak was cooked as ordered and was tasty and reasonably priced. The mashed potatoes were delicious but lukewarm, which always makes me sad. The vegetable side was a few florets of broccoli and baby carrots, steamed. Snore. I reckon this is not a place for vegetable lovers.
The service on the night of our visit was good, and our waiter was personable and knowledgeable.
Prices are $5 to $20 for soups, appetizers, and salads, $11 to $17 for burgers, pizza, sandwiches, and quesadillas, $18 to $39 for steaks and other entrees. Sides are $4 to $7 and desserts are $7 and $8.
Some, but not all of the desserts are made in house. We tried the pear bread pudding, profiteroles, and brownie sundae. All of them were pretty good, or as my aforementioned son said, “they don’t taste not homemade.” They tasted fresh and the chocolate sauce on the brownie sundae was a good bittersweet version.
You probably wouldn’t choose this place for your vegetarian friends and family or someone on a diet. But for those who love beer and burgers and Buffalo wings at reasonable prices, M.J. Dowling’s is a nice neighborhood place to go.