Shamrock Pub & Eatery in Murrieta, California: Why We Will NEVER Return

It’s the month of the Irish!  But apparently not this weekend at Shamrock Pub & Eatery…

We plan our cuisine adventures out carefully. We try to give local businesses our money and what publicity we can with our little blog.  I’m going to do one of those two things today.

We chose Shamrock Pub and Eatery in Murrieta.  It is close to home, our neighbors had been there and had a great time, and the menu looked great.

“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”

We arrive close to 2pm, an off time for lunch.  It was not busy at all as we hoped. There were less than ten people seated around the bar, and three tables with customers already seated.  I make eye contact with the bartender and a few of the bar patrons as we look around.  The place looks great on the inside and I’m excited for the Potato Leek soup I saw advertised.  We sat ourselves as per the “seat yourself” sign and looked at the beer list on the table.  

Then we looked at the beer list again, and again.  We looked at the television, the bar, and to the two employees seated at separate tables. Both on their phones with their Starbucks drinks in hand. One of them, a female, also eating pudding.  I make eye contact with the male sitting with her. We first noticed him as we entered the building a few minutes earlier.

“I guess they’re on break” I say to Matt.

“I see that, but is there someone who isn’t?” he responds back.  We look around for someone, anyone.  There is someone in the kitchen because we see him peer out of the service window.

The female employee walks past us with her pudding and Starbucks cup to the bar. She eats more of her pudding behind the bar before disposing of it. She then returns to the table she was seated at before, walking right past us again.

Still Waiting…..

We are now here close to ten minutes.  No menus, no drinks in front of us, no acknowledgement at all.  There are only three tables with customers. There was our table and two tables each with one employee seated.   At this point, we see a family of six walk in. They go to push tables together near us, then turn and look towards the back and spot a larger table.

“Keep an eye on them, if they are waited on before anyone comes over to us, we’re walking out.”

At this point, I’m tempted to go up to the bar to ask for menus, or where I can locate one…or anyone who isn’t on break currently.

A male server finally walks out of a back room in our direction.  He comes to the table with the family of four seated behind Matt and talks to them for a minute. The server takes their menus and their food orders then walks away.  He goes back to where he emerged from, to place their order I’m assuming.  When he comes out, he goes directly to the table of six who came in ten minutes after we did.  At that point, I grabbed my purse, stood up, and we walked out.  A man in a red polo shirt seated at the bar, turned around and looked at us as we were leaving, as did the bartender.

No thanks Shamrock…

“This is fucking ridiculous,” I say as we are leaving.  I didn’t yell it, but I didn’t whisper it either.

We are all human, we aren’t perfect, but I also don’t give second chances, to people or businesses.  I’m sure they do a great business and my review isn’t going to change that.  However, logic dictates that if one wants to continue running a great business, they would need to keep customers coming and bring new ones in. Part of this involves acknowledging the people who enter your doors.

The first impression I get is everything to me, and Shamrock, you failed miserably.  I can’t even say the service was terrible, because there was none.

None.

Nothing.

Nada.

Zip.

No acknowledgement by any of the FIVE employees we saw.  In previous posts, I noted that we were welcomed or seated immediately.  I note that because it is important.  A business can look great, they can have great food. But if the service isn’t up to par, then I have no interest in giving them my money.  I will give credit where credit is due. I will also make sure others are aware of poor, or in this case negative, service.

Luckily there are three weekends left in Irish month to make up for this blunder.

Afterwards:

*Edit:  I posted on their facebook page as we walked out the door, hours ago.  I browsed their facebook page with other posts and reviews. It appears that positive reviews or questions about events have an average response time of 20 minutes.  Negative reviews or posts are barely responded to.*

*Second Edit: I did hear back the next morning.  Management was supposedly at an event and not on site.  They said it was unacceptable and would be looking into it. They hope I will give them another chance.*

Update 2020: Still haven’t gone back. Not intending to, and have refused invites to events at this establishment multiple times.

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