I think we can all agree that St. Patrick’s Day is more about drinking than eating. But my days of looking for any excuse to imbibe heavily — I remember a particularly drunken Arbor Day — are well past me, so on this most Irish of holidays we turn our attention to food. (For you non-observers, St. Paddy’s Day is March 17th.)

In my experience with Irish pubs, they tend to excel more at pouring Guinness drafts than serving creative, high-quality Irish food (which may ultimately be an oxymoron). So I tweezed out a couple places with menus that had potential: Irish 31 in Tampa (which also has locations in Westchase and Seminole) and The Irish Pub on 4th (previously McArthur’s Irish Pub) in St. Pete.

I couldn’t establish a 1-on-1 matchup between dishes, so I tried a couple at each place. I’ll rank them at the end.

IRISH 31

Irish 31’s brick building cuts a nice figure at the corner of Swann and Rome avenues in Hyde Park.

It was hovering around 80 degrees and breezy when we arrived at 2 p.m. Monday, so it was a no-brainer to sit outside on the patio. Our server Suaaz — who was covering  the entire restaurant, including behind the bar — had an infectious energy (she gets her steps in during a shift).

We ordered a bowl of Mulligan Stew ($11) and a Shepherd’s Pie Boxty ($17). If you’re unfamiliar with the latter, as we were, it’s a traditional Irish potato pancake — in this case, three stuffed potato balls.

Appearance

Mulligan stew’s origins are most closely linked to the hobo camps (or Hoovervilles) of the Great Depression. So not Irish, per se, but why sweat such details. It’s an anything-goes dish, usually including some mixture of beef, potatoes and vegetables. Irish 31’s version resembles chili. The stew had large chunks of ground beef and tomato, no potato.

See boxty below.

Taste and Texture

This Mulligan stew was not chili. It’s most distinctive aspect was the tomato-based sauce, which is hard to pin down in words — sweet(ish), with a piquancy that pleased these tastebuds. The ragged chunks of ground beef worked well with the stewed tomatoes and cooked-down pieces of onion.

This might have been the first time in decades I’ve knowingly eaten lima beans, a bugbear since my childhood. But these were in a stew, and they were small, and they were okay.

The three boxties had a light crust made of panko bread crumbs, which gave way to mashed potatoes and shepherd’s pie. I would have preferred more filling, but perhaps that would have made the balls fall apart. Who knows. They were tasty. The boxties came with a small boat of succulent brown gravy, which I inhaled.

IRISH PUB ON 4TH

McArthur’s, which was ravaged by the 2024 hurricanes, reopened in March ’25 under the new name, and with a spruced-up interior. The pub occupies a nondescript building and could use a more conspicuous sign on 4th Street.

We arrived just before 1:30 Tuesday, the weather a carbon copy of the day before. I could see a table out back, but we chose to eat inside. With its color scheme of dark browns and deep green, and the shades drawn, the place was dark enough that my eyes had to adjust. We took a seat at a banquette in the corner next to a window and opened up the Venetian blinds to let in some light.

Alexis, the manager, served us in a breezy, efficient manner. We ordered lunch portions of Guinness Stew ($13.99) and Corned Beef & Cabbage ($12.99).

Appearance

The corned beef and cabbage (lead photo) included meat that was shredded (promising) and a clump of potatoes that was fried (not so much). I asked for an extra container of cabbage, and Alexis gladly obliged (at no charge). The Guinness stew looked rich and yummy.

Taste and Texture

Alexis said there’s plenty of Guinness ale in the stew, but I couldn’t taste it outright. which was probably for the better. The meat, vegetables and luscious gravy laid atop a bed of mashed potatoes, which I appreciated as change from the chunked potatoes in most beef stews. A few pieces of meat were on the dry side, although I’m told (by my wife) that I’m terribly picky in this regard. Other morsels were melt-in-mouth.

As for the corned beef & cabbage: I’m spoiled by my friend Dominic’s homemade version. Seeing as I’m not getting it this year, I figured I’d give The Irish Pub’s version a try. It was … okay. The corned beef was mostly dry, and while still flavorful, it proved chewy, even stringy in spots. I didn’t understand the potatoes. I’m no CB&C expert, but I know enough that the potatoes should be boiled. These were like overcooked home fries.

Now to the Rankings …

1 — Guinness Stew, Irish Pub on 4th.

2 — Mulligan Stew, Irish 31.

3 — Shepherd’s Pie Boxty, Irish 31.

4 — Corned Beef & Cabbage, Irish Pub on 4th.

This was my third time eating corned beef & cabbage in a restaurant — Irish Pub on 4th’s was the best of the three — and based on a this admittedly small sample size, I’ll go ahead and say that the fabled Irish-American dish is better left to home chefs.

A Final Note: Have a Happy St. Paddy’s Day! And if you attend one of the area’s many pub celebrations, take a rideshare. Then again, you already knew that. Consider it a reminder.