Eating and drinking in Ballina: where the locals actually go

For a town its size, Ballina eats well. It is the biggest town in Mayo, it has a steady flow of anglers and visitors through the season, and it has held on to a good mix of family-run places alongside a few that would not be out of place in a city. What follows is a working list of places that are open and worth your time. Hours and menus change, so check ahead, especially out of season and on quieter weekdays, and book at weekends and during festival week in July when the town fills up.

On the river

The natural place to eat in Ballina is by the water. Crockets on the Quay sits on the banks of the Moy and is the town's best-known spot, a pub and restaurant that ranges from honest bar food to fuller dinners, with live music at weekends; it is the standard recommendation for a night out or a special occasion. Also on the Quay, Quay West runs a varied menu from pub grub to more ambitious plates, again right on the river, and likewise does music at the weekend.

Sit-down restaurants

Dillon's Bar & Restaurant is a town-centre favourite, known for a pretty courtyard that comes into its own in summer and a menu that leans on seafood: chowder, smoked salmon and crab among the starters, with burgers and battered fish for mains. For something more refined, The Poacher on Market Square is a small, well-reviewed restaurant under chef Yvonne Kathrein, with a menu that runs to slow-roasted beef, mussels, cod and venison. The restaurant at The Ice House, the riverside hotel on the edge of town, is the place for a smarter meal in a striking building, with an outdoor area for a rare warm evening.

Ballina also has a solid run of casual and international options. The Junction Restaurant is a family-run eatery and takeaway doing homemade dishes and good value, including boxty. Jalan Jalan brings Asian street food to the town, an offshoot of the Sligo and Galway venues. Love Lee's covers Chinese, sit-in or takeaway. The Merry Monk is worth a mention for sourcing much of its own veg and lamb from a family farm at Lacken.

Cafés and a feed

For coffee, soup and something quick, the town centre has you covered. Mocha Beans on Pearse Street is a reliable town-centre café with a good name for its soup. The Post House is a coffee shop known locally for its seafood chowder and brown bread, the kind of place to land into after a morning on the river or in the woods. These are everyday spots, not destinations, and that is exactly what you want for a mid-walk break.

A note on smoked salmon

Ballina is the Salmon Capital, and the town has smoked salmon to match. Clarke's, on O'Rahilly Street, has been smoking salmon in the town since 1945, oak-smoked in the traditional way. If you want to take a genuine piece of Ballina home, this is it: a fishmonger and smokehouse that is part of the town's identity rather than a souvenir invented for visitors.

The pubs

Ballina keeps live music going year-round, which is not nothing in a town this size. For traditional music and a proper pub atmosphere, Paddy Mac's and An Sean Sibín are reliable names locally, the sort of back-bar-and-a-fire places that come into their own on a wet North Mayo evening. The Cot and Cobble is the spot for live sport on the big screens and a casual feed with a group, with food, a dance floor and regular music and DJs. The riverside venues, Crockets and Quay West, double as good drinking spots with music at weekends.

Practical bits

The town centre is compact, so you can walk between most of these in a few minutes. Kitchens in pubs often stop serving earlier than you expect, so do not leave dinner too late. Outside of festival week most places will fit you in without much notice midweek, but a quick call ahead saves disappointment at the riverside restaurants on a Friday or Saturday. And if you have had a good day on the Moy, the obvious move is dinner on the Quay with the river going past the window, which is about as Ballina as it gets.