Readers' Choice for St. Pat's: Billy's

If staying home in Barrington for St. Patrick’s Day is your gig, Billy’s restaurant on Maple Avenue is the Patch readers’ choice for best place to celebrate being Irish.

But if you prefer your wearin’ o’ the green out of town, then Aidan’s Pub in Bristol is almost as popular with Barrington readers for the best place to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

Aidan’s led almost from the start before Billy’s made a late rush to edge out the Irish pub for best St. Patrick’s Day place in this week’s Patch Readers’ Choice poll. It was posted Monday morning and ran through Friday at 9 am.

Also Barrington’s best place for fries in a recent poll, Billy's, now a two-time winner, garnered 33 percent of the votes cast. Aidan’s finished 1 percentage point behind Billy’s.

"I love getting customer feedback," said Bill Dessel, the owner. "And I think this is great."

Dessel is only two generations removed from Ireland. His grandmother O'Dowd was born in Ireland.

"I still have strong Irish connections," he said.

The restaurant always has Guinness on tap. It will be serving corn beef and cabbage this weekend, said Dessel from Florida, where his is on vacation.

"I'll have a Guinness for everyone in Rhode Island," he said.

Finishing in the third spot with 12 percent of the vote was in Warren, another Irish pub that reopened recently after a fire shut down the bar.

Other St. Patrick’s Day hot spots receiving votes were on County Road, not far away on County Road, on Tyler Point, and in Bristol.

Be sure to watch Patch over the weekend when we tally up the top votes and announce the places that got the most rave reviews across all of our Rhode Island sites.