Spillane's Bar & Restaurant
Spillane's is at Fahamore, out on the Maharees, five kilometres beyond Castlegregory village and a destination in its own right rather than somewhere you pass. The dining room looks across Brandon Bay to Mount Brandon, with tables outside in fine weather, and the room seats about ninety.
The history is unusually well documented. The premises was built in 1875 by Tom Bawn Spillane, home after nine years in Australia, who is said to have threatened to shoot anyone who objected to a pub on the commonage. It came down through Minnie Moriarty, then John T, then his son Micheal, who returned from Canada with his wife Marilyn in 1975. The two of them started that year with toasted sandwiches and homemade burgers, added salads in 1980, and built it out from there. Micheal died in 2020 and his daughter Rose runs it now, with Shamila Pathirnage in the kitchen and Debbie Bambury front of house.
It is the pub of the Irish windsurfing scene, the Maharees being the best-known windsurfing water in the country, and it draws families who have been coming for generations. It calls itself a country pub that serves serious food rather than a fine dining room, which is fair.
On the menu
The kitchen changes with the season and the specials board carries Irish lamb stew, bacon and cabbage, beef and Guinness casserole, steamed mussels, and fish such as hake, monkfish and brill. Crab claws are landed at the pier at the Maharees. There are pizzas, a seafood platter, chargrilled steaks, a children's menu, and desserts made in house: chocolate cake, carrot cake, rhubarb or berry crumble, apple pie and a ninety-nine.
The only priced menu online dates from 2019 and should not be used to plan a budget. For scale, it then ran from a five euro fifty soup and a ten euro fifty burger up to a twenty five euro fifty seafood platter and a twenty six euro fifty sirloin. Everything will have moved considerably since.
The facts
- Where
- Fahamore, Castlegregory, V92 PX93, about 5km north of the village
- Telephone
- 066 713 9125
- Website
- spillanesbar.com
- Booking
- Online or by phone. Recommended in summer.
- Hours
- Wednesday to Sunday, 1pm to 9.30pm, lunch to 5pm and dinner after. Closed November to March.
- Payment
- Visa and Mastercard
- Access
- Wheelchair access and free off-street parking, with wifi
Good to know
Sources disagree on the days and hours, so ring rather than drive out on trust. The closure from November to March is well attested, and the pub announces its own reopening each spring.
Directions from Tralee: take the Dingle road, straight through at Camp for Castlegregory, right at the Grotto, then follow the signs for Fahamore about four miles further.
Takeaway is available, and the food comes in compostable and recyclable containers. They also let self-catering apartments.
How we checked. History, food and directions from the pub's own site. Hours from Georgina Campbell's guide, updated 17 June 2026, which is the most recent source and disagrees with others. Opening hours and prices on this coast change without notice, so ring before you travel. If anything here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it.