If you ask the owners of A Terrible Beauty Irish Pub about its name, they’ll say in Ireland it’s an utmost compliment.

However, to get Jenna Shannon Garvey O’Brien to tell the full story, you’ll have to learn about her past and a little Irish history.

As downtown restaurants are closing every month, the pub’s success is as bright as a pot of gold.

Owners Jenna and husband Pat O’Brien have tripled business and had to add about 40 seats to accommodate family dining since opening this summer.

“I always thought it never lived up to its potential,” Jenna said.

She was the head bartender at the building’s former restaurant, Finnegan’s, when the owners announced that they were closing.

With the economy, she knew the workers, many single parents, couldn’t afford to lose their jobs. She also has a debilitating disease, multiple sclerosis, and feared not being employable much longer.

She announced her intent to buy the former bank building.

“They said, ‘Yeh, right,’ and I said, ‘Watch me,’” she said.

Three weeks later, a deal was struck.

Pat had a career as a salesman for a food distributor and had been hoping to open a restaurant for a few years.

It’s the fourth restaurant to open in that spot, but this is the first kid-friendly one.

“It (the building) never had an identity,” Pat said. “I never liked the place.”

In Ireland, pubs are a place people go to celebrate, but they’re also a place for families. She worked hard to get a license from the state to allow children in the pub.

“When you walk into an Irish pub, you should feel like you walked into a part of Ireland,” Jenna said. “It’s part of our heritage.”

The couple created nooks and crannies in the large space and brought in oversized leather sofas for people to cozy up in.

The bar, a memento from former restaurants, was made with pieces from the famous Crown Pub in Belfast. The wood is as dark as their beers.

Pat’s red beard runs up to his tweed cap. The two are both Irish.

Jenna lived in Ireland until she was 10. Her green sneakers match a four-leaf clover tattooed to her wrist. Celtic knots make up most her jewelry.

Antique Guinness posters are framed alongside photographs of Ireland. They all came from Jenna’s home.

Most of the menu is made of family recipes, including Jenna’s mac and cheese, a favorite among regulars.

Most Irish food is comfort food, but theirs is upscale. Sandwiches are about $9 and dinner plates about $12.

Experienced with distributors, Pat secures only the best.

Most of the breads are baked inhouse. The corned beef, so soft it falls apart, is made in the kitchen.

Try the Reuben, served with house-fried salt and vinegar chips. Big enough for two, the sauce and cheese melt into the beef.

Instead of cheese sticks, they serve crispy fried Camembert cheese wedges with cucumber sauce.

Expect to find all the usual Irish favorites with the bonus of a weekend brunch of Eggs Benny’s and omelets. Irish bacon, called hashers, and sausage, called bangers, are smoked locally for the restaurant.

The bar has 17 beers on tap, from a variety of brewers. They’re kept in the building’s former vault, which made a convenient cooler.

What beer they don’t import from Ireland, they buy local. Seattle’s Big Al Brewing makes Terrible an Irish Red.

As a girl, Jenna’s father gave her a book of Irish photos called “Ireland, a Terrible Beauty.” He then told her that Ireland will only live up to its potential by taking from its history.

Working at the former restaurant, Jenna knew the community and the building’s history. Much of the design came from former restaurants. As they draw from the building’s past, they hope to fulfill the pub’s potential.

The book’s title comes from a poem about the Irish insurrection against the English, called Easter, 1916, by William Butler Yeats.

Although the revolt was unsuccessful, it was a major event leading to the Irish War of Independence.

The last four lines are centered on the pub’s menu cover.

“Now and in time to be,

Wherever green is worn,

Are changed, changed utterly:

A terrible beauty is born.”