The Four Courts is a comfortable Irish American pub that provides the basics: forest green walls, Guinness posters and stained wood furniture; pints poured by staff with the melodious inflections of Derry, Cork or Dublin; a stone fireplace; a guy with a guitar singing tales of freedom and missing the old country.

Owner Fagan was a manager at the Dubliner downtown, and his experience shows. Pints are professionally poured, though the bartenders can seem a bit hurried. There's plenty of room to stand around and chat with your mates -- in addition to the bar, which is separated from the dining room by a high partition, there's a large area near the front window with barstools and counter space.

The pace is slower on weekends, when you'll see regulars sipping their drinks from pewter tankards, and the specials include "pie and a pint" Sundays, where the nicely cooked shepherd's pie and beef and Guinness pie are $4.95 with the purchase of a beer.

Two years ago, Four Courts expanded into a storefront next door to create the James Joyce Room -- a smoke-free space with its own bar (including flat-screen TVs) and dining area. It's closer to an authentic Dublin pub experience than most in Virginia -- after all, the Irish government instituted a comprehensive smoking ban in March 2004.

-- Fritz Hahn (March 2006)