Raglan Road Irish Pub Hosting the 11th Annual Great Irish Hooley 2023 This Weekend (Photos)

Hi everyone!

The Great Irish Hooley is in full swing at Raglan Road Irish Pub & Restaurant in Disney Springs! The event runs through Labor Day weekend (September 4th, 2023) and we were invited to a preview. Leading Irish bands including Strings & Things and One for the Foxes take the stage as does the Raglan Road Irish Dancers. We also had the opportunity to try some food items that are coming to both the Raglan Road menu and to the neighboring Cookes of Dublin soon.

Here is our experience from yesterday.

The Great Irish Hooley is an annual event at Raglan Road. It is extremely popular! I do recommend reservations. There was a line out the door as we were leaving.

 

The Raglan Road Irish Dancers is part of the regular entertainment of the restaurant.

If this is your first visit to Raglan Road, take a look around. Raglan Road was built in Dublin, Ireland before being shipped here and rebuilt. The furnishings, art and antiques are from Ireland. So is the entertainment and many of those who work there. This is an authentic Irish experience.

One for the Foxes took the stage, in a full restaurant even before the dinnertime rush.

Jeff ordered the De Fesht beer, which is a Raglan Road brew. I’ve read that De Fesht would pair best with pork and smoked flavors.

The first item that we tried was the Crispy Cream Goats Cheese Salad. This features Crispy fried goat cheese with pickled carrot, squash and argula salad, pear and shallot relish, blackberries, candied pecans and a quinoa crunch. It is served with a honey mustard dressing. This is one of the items coming to Raglan Road.

We received sample sized portions of the food, but we were able to photograph the full dish of each. Jeff enjoyed the crispy fried goat cheese quite a lot.

The next item brought out was a Seafood Sharing Board. I don’t eat seafood so Jeff tried everything. He leaned in more to the shrimp and salmon, which has a really nice flavor of whiskey & brown sugar cured BBQ.

Raglan Road makes wonderful cocktails. While you can order a Guinness or other Irish beer (or whiskey), there is a pretty decent sized cocktail list here. For the event, you can find the Heart of the Hooley with Keepers Heart Irish Bourbon, blackberry & mint puree & sour, topped with ginger beer. I had one (and a half). I recommend it!

There is also a Sooth my Achy Heart Flight with Keepers Heart Irish Bourbon, Keepers Heart Irish American, Keepers Heart Irish Bourbon Cask Strength. I didn’t try the flight, I prefer bourbon in a cocktail but Keeper’s Heart is a well regarded whiskey and would make a great flight.

Next is the Dalkey Dog with battered Irish pork sausage and  Dalkey mustard mayonnaise with buffalo apple sauce, pickles, and crunchy fried onions. This will be a Cookes of Dublin item and comes with their chips.

Sina Theil sang a couple of songs for us. She is a German born, Irish based singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. There is so much talent on the stages during the Great Irish Hooley (as well as year round).

Next is another Cookes of Dublin item coming soon – Loaded Bang Bang Chicken. This comes with crispy chicken, onions, peppers, and spicy bang bang mayonnaise. I would ask for just a little less of the mayo, but the chicken is delicious. We sometimes go to Cookes of Dublin for their Battered Chicken (which is so good).

The Hog in the Box at Cookes of Dublin is a favorite of Jeff’s. I am not sure if this is too different than what is already sold there.

I was really surprised to see this dessert on a Cookes of Dublin wrapper. This Strawberry Cheesecake does not taste like a counter service dessert. It features creamy cheesecake on a waffle cookie crust, served with fresh strawberries, strawberry whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles. It is a fantastic dessert, something I would expect at Raglan Road instead.

As we were leaving, one of the Raglan Road Irish Dancers was entertaining guests.

The Great Irish Hooley at Raglan Road is a wonderful and lively annual event that draws guests looking for great entertainment, food and drink. And Raglan Road has it all. If you are wanting brunch, the Raglan Road Rollicking Brunch is served Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 10 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

We were invited to Raglan Road to preview The Great Irish Hooley, but we do visit Raglan Road on our own as well. It has been one of my favorite restaurants at Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney) since it opened in 2005. The pub and restaurant is nearing 20 years at Walt Disney World.

Raglan Road is located in the Landing section of Disney Springs.