EVERETT – Longtime Everett residents will remember Shawn O’Donnell from his previous restaurant on 41st Street, which he closed about four years ago. We lost track of him until a few weeks ago when word of his new restaurant, open just a couple of months, wafted our way.

The new Shawn O’Donnell’s American Grill and Irish Pub, complete with a banquet room downstairs, seems larger than the old place. The new restaurant has a dining area for families that is separate from the bar and it’s all open, adding to the spacious feeling.

The Thursday night my friend and I arrived for dinner, most of the booths and tables in the dining area were filled, and there were a few customers at the horseshoe-shaped bar.

Because this is an Irish pub, I had to have a Guinness, which is on tap, and my friend ordered an iced tea. Some of the beverages and other menu items are old-time favorites like a Creamsicle, which is made with an orange Fanta soda and two scoops of vanilla ice cream ($3.25), or a Monte Cristo sandwich ($7.99), which is a club sandwich that’s dipped in egg batter and grilled.

One sandwich on the menu that my friend and I didn’t recognize but was also described as “an old favorite,” is Jacob’s Ladder ($8.99), which is made with a grilled chicken breast, sauteed mushrooms and onions, Swiss cheese, lettuce and tomato. It sounded yummy.

There’s an extensive burger section ($7.99 to $8.99), four additional chicken sandwiches ($6.99 to $8.99), soups and salads that can be combined in any way with half a sandwich, and breakfast any time.

The Irish touch is added to almost every menu category. There’s Dublin cheese on a burger or burger melt plus Dublin cheese and soda bread for an appetizer, a Blarney burger, Killarney salmon, Irish Whiskey sirloin steak, Irish scramble breakfast, shepherd’s pie, Irish cream liqueur in a white chocolate mousse cake and, of course, corned beef as a dinner meal or in sandwiches.

My friend ordered a Reuben sandwich ($7.99) and I chose the fish and chips ($8.49), which the menu says is the restaurant’s most popular dish. I added a fourth piece of cod for $1.49, and swapped it for some of my friend’s Reuben. Both of our dinners included a side of all-you-can-eat fries. The skin-on fries were hot and crispy.

According to the menu, the corned beef is made from a secret recipe. If I could make corned beef that tastes this good, I’d keep it a secret too. Not only is this corned beef better than most, it’s a hunk instead of mere slices, and, for the Reuben, it’s topped with a secret sauce, plenty of Swiss cheese, then slipped between thick slices of swirled dark and light rye bread. My cod fillets were steaming hot from the fryer, lightly battered and just as delicious as the sandwich. No wonder it’s a best seller.

Later, we split an Irish cream white chocolate mousse cake that was beautifully served in a drizzle of chocolate and puffs of whipped cream. When you visit, consider ordering this first because it’s too tasty to put off to the end.

Herald restaurant reviewers accept no invitations to review, but readers’ suggestions are always welcome. Reviewers arrive unannounced, and The Herald pays their tabs.

Contact Anna Poole at features@heraldnet.com.