OLD ORCHARD BEACH EATS: ICONIC FLAVORS, UNINSPIRED SERVICE

Two of the oldest businesses in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, are BILL’S PIZZA at 75 years old and established in 1949, and THE ORIGINAL PIER FRIES at 92 years old and established in 1932. 

Both are conveniently located next door to each other on Old Orchard Street, a stone’s throw away from the beach and attractions. 

We decided to make a meal of it by visiting them both (FRI AUG 2, 2024), sampling their signature products:

🍕 Bill’s Pizza: Cheese slice x 2 =$9.00

🍟 Pier French Fries: Poutine = $11.00

Pizza and poutine in the sunshine. What could be better? 

The pizza was flavorsome but had the quality of what you would expect from a seaside outlet. It had a thin base and was easier to eat when folded in half (New York style).

The poutine fascinated us: the crinkle cut fries had been freshly made and were lathered in a lovely gravy, alongside copious amounts of cold cheese curds. This was an unusual dish and would be great after a few beers! The portion size was good for sharing, which we did. 

Both businesses took cash only. 

The young man who served us at Pier Fries was miserable and disinterested in any conversation beyond the transaction. Next door, at Bill’s Pizza, the young lady who served us our slices was friendly but more interested in carrying on chatting to her young colleagues. 

These were some of the first people we met at Old Orchard Beach and it was a sign of things yet to come….

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📌 BILL’S PIZZA / ORIGINAL PIER FRIES

Old Orchard St., Old Orchard Beach, ME 04064

🌐 oldorchardbeachmaine.com

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MURPHY’S PUB: WHERE AUTHENTIC IRISH CHARM MEETS PROVIDENCE

We’ve been in one or two (okay, many more) Irish bars in the U.S. over the years, and it is rare you see any Irish people working in them, so we were pleasantly surprised when we took seats at the bar in MURPHY’S PUB in Downtown Providence and were served by a friendly bartender called Patrick, who was of course Irish!

Black and Tan and Shocktop in Murphy’s Pub.

Patrick gave us good service all night (Thurs Aug 1 2024): always making sure our next drinks were on the way before we’d finished the previous ones, talking to us and cracking jokes, and cleaning up our plates swiftly.  We didn’t get to ask him if it was his pub, but either way he was an asset to the place, which was established in a different building by a Joseph Murphy in 1929.  This was definitely authentically Irish!

Murphy’s Pub, Providence, RI.

Murphy’s bar was atmospheric, traditionally decorated but with a good mix of TVs where we could watch Team USA in the Olympics.  Better still, the pub a large and varied range of drinks to choose from – and as we discovered, they didn’t hold back on the liquor when we sipped the vanilla vodka we ordered.

Pickles - and lots of them!

 

Patrick dished out some complimentary bar snacks for us, too – thickly sliced pickles.  We tried a few but knew we wanted something a bit more substantial to eat, as the smells wafting from the nearby kitchen made us hungry.

Poutine with an Irish twist!

 

Despite the drinks, we still had our sensible heads on and ordered the Irish Poutine to share - yes, to share!  Described as fries, which were really ‘chunky chips’, white banger gravy, mozz cheese, Irish bacon and scallions, it was a good sized portion, with enough toppings for the amount of fries.  True comfort food!

We ate the lot!

 

Our check was as follows:

🍺 Black & Tan x 3 = $24.00

🍺 Shocktop x 2 = $17.00

🥃 Stoli vanilla vodka (tall) = $10.50

🍟 Irish Poutine = $13.00

😢 Tax = $5.16

💰 Total = $69.66

Murphy’s Pub, Providence, RI. 

We left an appropriate gratuity to reflect the very good service we received at the bar from Patrick and the team in the kitchen.  

A Black & Tan in Murphy’s Pub.

 

As we walked back to our hotel nearby, we could smell the food on our clothes and it only made us want to try the Irish poutine all over again!

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📌 MURPHY'S BAR

100 Fountain St., Providence, RI 02903

🌐 murphysprovidence.com

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