The Great Irish Hooley Returns to Raglan Road Irish Pub & Restaurant at Walt Disney World (Photos)

Hi everyone!

The Great Irish Hooley is back at Raglan Road Irish Pub & Restaurant in Disney Springs this weekend, lasting through Labor Day (September 2nd, 2019). This is the 8th year that Raglan Road has offered up the Hooley. Raglan Road says of The Great Irish Hooley that it celebrates “Irish song, dance, food and drink over the long Labor Day weekend”. Raglan Road already is a great place to enjoy all of that, but the festival elevates the entertainment and the fun. There is no cover charge, and the remaining entertainment runs Saturday, Sunday and Monday August 31st – September 2nd, 2019 from noon until 1:00 a.m.

We were invited to the event, but I have been to Raglan Road many times on my own and I enjoy the experience. The restaurant can get busy – it started out fairly empty when we arrived at 4:00 p.m. yesterday but by the time we left, most tables were full. I recommend reservations.

Raglan Road is located in The Landing section of Disney Springs, it has been in this location for almost 15 years now!

Our room was reserved for a Mad Irish Party.

Raglan Road has a variety of its own signature beers, but a few photos below we’ll show one that is just brewed for the festival this year.

The Samhain Sangria is a nice drink for a fall day (even if it doesn’t feel like fall yet!) – with autumn flavors that include apple cider, fresh cranberries, apple and orange along with Jameson Black Barrel, Wither Hills Sauvignon Blanc, seltzer and homemade cinnamon syrup. The cinnamon is very noticeable, which is a plus for me. It is very different than any sangria I have had before.

The Shepherd’s to die for Pie was a big hit at our table. I don’t eat lamb, and this does come with braised and pulled beef & lamb. I enjoyed the smoked mashed potato on top of it.

The Let there be no Rush Pork was delicious, it includes a 12 hour braised pork shoulder, creamed sage cabbage, pickled mustard seeds, red wine jus, and carmelized apple puree. The food at Raglan Road often has a twist to it, like this is not just pork – it has a lot going on.

The Devils Foot Blackberry Golden Ale is brewed special for The Great Irish Hooley by Crooked Can Brewery, a local brewer in Winter Garden.

Jeff’s favorite item we sampled was Foley’s Finest Trout, which is pan seared Foleys North Atlantic sea trout, parmesan & dill gnocchi, sea greens zucchini ribbons, cherry tomato and crisp caper dressing.

He paired it with a Guinness.

I am more about the beef here, and this is called Worth the Wait Beef Sandwich. It includes 12 hour braised beef, sauteed mushrooms, crispy onions, garlic aioli and smoked cheddar on a really nice ciabatta roll. The meat was extremely tender and I took off the cheese (I don’t eat cheddar) and had two sliders – our items were sample size, as opposed to full sized portions. This was my favorite of what we ate.

The OMG Burger is very good as well and includes dry-aged ground prime burger, Irish bacon, Dubliner Irish cheddar, crispy potato straws with Jameson Irish whiskey BBQ sauce.

We tried two desserts, this one is called Your Ration of Passion. It includes Passion fruit Eton mess, fresh mango, dried coconut shards, lemon crisp meringue and candied mint. This is a unique dessert and lighter than what has been my favorite dessert since day 1 at Raglan Road, Ger’s Bread & Butter Pudding. That is one of my favorite desserts at Walt Disney World and when I go to Raglan Road, that is what I order. But this is nice for those who want something lighter.

We also tried the Rocky Road to Dublin, which has chocolate ice cream, smoked almond brownie squares, toffee crunch and marshmallow. This was good as well, I really like the ice cream in it.

Excecutive chef Mark O’Neill has been putting his own touches on the menu in the 7 months he’s been at Raglan Road.

We also enjoyed some music, including Maċa, a traditional & folk music duo. There is a nice variety of Irish musical acts for The Great Irish Hooley.

The Raglan Road Irish Dancers are here year round, but not all of the musical acts are. You can check out the entertainment schedule for this weekend here.

I always recommend Raglan Road as a unique, authentic Irish pub and restaurant at Disney Springs. If you can make it out to The Great Irish Hooley, it is a great time! If you can’t, then you will find all of the food items I have shown on either the regular lunch or dinner menu and the website also includes entertainment schedules.

Thank you to Raglan Road for having us out!