Cleary’s Pub brings familiar flavors to Fairhaven

The logo may say Established 1918 — and there’s a good reason for it — but Cleary’s Pub in Fairhaven is one of the town’s newer dining establishments, having opened in January.

Formerly EJ’s Restaurant, Cleary’s, an Irish Pub in name only, was opened by Drew Tillett, former owner of the Ice Chest Bar and Grille, who named it after his stepfather, Paul G. Cleary, who was born in 1918 and at some point in the ensuing years built a basement bar that was soon christened Cleary’s Pub.

Along with culinary leader Jason Besse, formerly of Not Your Average Joe’s and Brew Fish Bar and Eatery, Tillett opened Cleary’s Pub about six months ago, offering up a clean, modern bar-and-grille experience that felt to me like a localized version of a Ruby Tuesday’s (sans Garden Bar) or 110 Grille.

Located on Huttleston Avenue next to Emma Jean’s cupcake shop, Cleary’s features tall ceilings from the moment you walk into the large entry area. A mix of chairs and red banquets fill the open, airy dining room. In the back is a large square-shaped bar lined with flatscreens, and to the left is an event space dubbed the Barrel Room.

There are a few new tweaks from when the same space was EJ’s Restaurant, but for the most part it looks very similar. The menu is closer to pub offerings than the steakhouse and butchery that EJ’s aspired to be.

My wife, son and I had been once during the spring, and we returned on a recent sweltering Saturday afternoon, along with my parents, when it was simply too hot to consider turning on the stove.

The dining room was mostly empty, although a few tables and barstools were occupied at 1:30, and continued to be as a Portugal World Cup game started at 2 p.m.

The five us were quickly seated in one of those half-booth, half-chair amalgams, and our gracious and friendly, but slightly overworked, waitress Darcy came by to take our drink orders — three ice waters and my signature Diet Coke ($2.50).

While we were a table of teetotallers, Cleary’s does offer an extensive list of Irish whiskies, scotches and bourbons if you’re in the mood for a Lagavulin; as well as 23 beers on tap and a house-made red sangria.

We quickly dove into the appetizer menu, which featured bone-in wings or chicken tenders in seven flavors (ranging from $9 to $15 depending on your order), a scallop stuffie ($6) and one of my usual go-to selections fried pickles ($8 with a chipotle mayo).

We chose the Cleary’s Eggroll, since it was one of the few Irish-influenced menu items we could find — I knew it wasn’t a real Irish pub when there was no Shepard’s Pie on the menu and nothing was described as Guinness-braised.

We also decided to try the buffalo chicken dip ($9).

The eggroll was a near-unanimous pick as the highlight of the meal, filled with salty, tender corned beef, tangy sauerkraut, stringy, salty mozzarella and housed in a crispy, chewy fried wrapper. A dip in the Thousand Island dressing offered on the side made it taste like a deep-fried Reuben.

The buffalo chicken dip got a more mixed response. The dip itself was perfectly tasty, small chunks of chicken in an orange gooey cheese mixture that offered just a bit of spice. But the chips were obviously not homemade, were a little stale and we had to ask for a second helping to come close to finishing the dip (we still didn’t).

Next we turned to our entrees. The menu features a standard selection of salads, burgers, sandwiches, pizzas and dinner entrees, and on this day they offered a half-dozen specials, most of which would fall in the dinner entree category.

There’s also a late-night menu featuring all the pizza options, plus a large selection of $5 appetizers, from chicken tenders to mozzarella sticks to a scallop stuffie and a quarter-pound cheeseburger with fries.

My dad ordered off the specials menu, opting for the avocado chimichurri pork chops ($15). Two large, five-inch wide, inch-thick pork chops were served over a bed of rice pilaf and topped with the cold avocado chimichurri, which was a lot like a very chunky guacamole. The chops were well-seasoned and cooked maybe a touch over. The rice was a little crunchy and not particularly hot, but the avocado was a tactile delight that blended well as a textural and temperature contrast with the chops. I didn’t notice it until he pointed it out after we left, but the menu said it came with vegetables, but they weren’t on the plate.

My mom ordered the apple craisin salad ($11). It arrived as a fresh, crispy bed of mixed greens topped with large chunks of red onion, craisins, apple slices and feta cheese. She asked for it without the candied walnuts and declined to add chicken for $4 or shrimp or steak for $8. On the side came a sweet, tart apple cider vinaigrette that perfectly brought the salad together.

My wife went for the honey baked scallops ($18), topped with bread crumbs and doused in honey and served with mashed potatoes and vegetables. The veggies were a nicely seasoned combo of zucchini and yellow squash, the potatoes were garlicky and smooth and the scallops were incredibly tender and not too sweet, despite the honey and them being, well, scallops. My wife would have liked them to be a little crisper on the edges, but I liked how they almost melted in your mouth.

On my first visit I had the house roast beef sandwich, topped with horseradish aioli on a garlic roll for $11, it was pretty good, but the roll was a little too bready and overtook things; it also could have used a crunchy element, like fried onion straw.

On this day I decided to try the pizza, and read through a few $12 specialties, including a Reuben and a Ragin’ Cajun, before selecting the barbecue chicken.

The pizza was about the size of a standard medium, with a thin, buttery, crispy crust. Topped with mozzarella cheese, red onions, grilled chicken and a healthy drizzle of barbecue sauce, it was solid, although not spectacular, and would definitely hit the spot as a late-night option.

We were too full for dessert, as I took half of my pizza home, my dad saved a whole pork chop and Becca got a second meal out of her scallops.

Our bill came to $81.88 including tax and before tip. Cleary’s Pub offers a competent and casual meal in a clean, friendly environment, but don’t go in expecting exotic food or challenging flavors.

Check out previous Dine Out reviews below