The Barrel Inn: An awful Irish pub in Howick

26th July
The Barrel Inn, Howick.

Not much is to be expected at an Irish pub. The meals will be huge and average...but they are designed to fill the stomach with meat and carbs, just in case you feel obliged to divert yourself away from numerous pints.

Kia Ora New Zealand!

The idea for this particular night was to wind down from a long week with my partner, since we aren't known to drink together too often.
Ryan, aiming to have a Summer body again, purchased the Teriyaki salad and I had a Steak sandwich, potato and onion rings meal.
When it was served I bet Ryan that they'll give me the salad and you the steak sandwich....I laughed rather loudly when my prediction was true.....talk about failed stereotypes.
The meal was....crap. Course it was, I kind of expected so.
Food preparation and taste: 3/10

The atmosphere wasn't seedy. It's Howick, so it's filled with rich Irish imposters that bring their kids in for a quick bite and that sneak a handle of beer that they just can't crack open at their own homes without feeling guilty.
The service was stupid. We asked for a Sav and as I was about to order my vodka and pineapple juice...we received 2 wines and a wonderful blank stare....Hopeless. I ordered the juice after I ordered our food.

I think there was only two things I enjoyed about that place. The fact that there is a wall of fame, filled with people that have accomplished 100 jugs of a certain type of alcohol. There were about ten or so different plaques on the wall for each type of beer on tap. Then to make it more hilarious, there were stars next to some of the names, which I believe meant they had done at least 300-500 jugs of beer. Unbelieveable.
The other thing I found interesting was the fact they had a clock on a stand in the middle of the bar. It reminded me of a town clock or an old retro bird cage stand with a clock face, instead of a small bird cage.
We spent a fair bit of dosh for such a hopeless night. But hey, at least Ryan and I were able to spend some time out together and that my friends is worth more than all the pints recorded on the wall of fame !

2/10 for the experience and awful stomach aches Ryan and I stared at home afterwards.

Xx
Tovah