Ringo's Pub
5865 Kincaid, Plano
469-229-9103
After awhile, all local British and Irish style pubs start to look the same, even when they call themselves "European" (as in The Old Monk) or "American," as some publicity about this new Legacy installation has it. There's always dreary wood, Guinness kitsch and a spot of football--meaning soccer--on the telly.
What's cool about Ringo's is what you don't see from the neon strip along Bishop: Ringo's.
That's right--it's around the corner and out of sight of Legacy's glitzier spots, away from Jasper's and Sambuca 360.
Sure, some people consider Plano's development contrived. Of course, just about every destination area in the DFW area is manufactured to some extent. And since Ringo's set up in the dark (so to speak), invisible to foot traffic, it counts as a real neighborhood haunt.
Potentially, anyway.
Those who live in Legacy may or may not
have discovered the place--I wouldn't really know. But they do worry
about beer and the near perfect pint more than food service...although
my waitress did swear by the fish and chips.
Ringo's potato
skins are either disappointing or somewhat pleasing. They are rather
diminutive, in an Ethiopian famine kind of sense. When potato skins
came on the market, restaurants piled bacon and cheddar and other stuff
into the shells. In this case, however, the brown skin towers over its
filling.
Sad--except that the skin has a crisp edge and the potato flesh is fluffy to the point of being ethereal.
The
$5 Pretzel (yes, like the $5 shake) may be worth a buck or two. You
used to be able to buy microwave pretzels of this quality. It is, on
the other hand, a better accompaniment to beer than the usual American
bar food staples.
So the upshot is this: I wouldn't go for the
food. Legacy offers much better, even at the lower end. If, however,
cool means finding spots that are just off the well trodden path and
hanging there just out of sight, then Ringo's is very, very cool.