Grace O’Malley’s

Grace’s must be surviving by the Grace of God alone because on my four or five visits over several years I’ve not seen much in the way of patrons there. I’ve been to Grace’s on the weekend and during the week, and there is always plenty of space available. I can only assume they pack them in on Bears’ game day.
Fare wise, I have only had their sliders, which are okay. They seem to have a tinge of sweetness that may be from the bun which is a bit interesting. The thin cut fries we got at the latest visit were like those shoestring potatoes you get in the tin at the store — dry and crunchy. No, tanks for nuh-​tin.
I have to give Grace’s kudos for having Two Brothers Domaine Dupage on tap. I highly recommend you try a pint of this brew. You’ll be buying six packs of it at the store afterward without a doubt. You’re welcome in advance.
Grace’s is okay for a quick bite or a pint or two.
Three stars.

The good:
Decent beer selection
Specials
Above average pub food (hence a little more expensive)
The bartender has always been great.
The bad:
Sometimes it’s ridiculously loud (just in the bar area, so who’s REALLY complaining).
There’s no dedicated/​noticeable host, so if you want to sit in the more secluded dining area in a back, it can be a confusing, «where should I go» moment.
WHY DID THEY TAKE THE GUINNESS CHEDDAR SOUP OFF THE MENU???
We definitely enjoy this place as a go to, close to home, neighborhood pub.

Cute little Pub, with steet lights along the bar, interesting, and really cool faucets in the women’s room.
They seem to have some good specials during the week, unfortunately we came on a Saturday, though luckily for us they have monthly specials $ 3.50 for an Oberon, not bad !
I had the Guinness Burger, it was 100% AMAZING, thick juicy patty smothered in melted cheese and sweet Guinness bbq sauce, with sweet sauteed onions, lots of bacon, honestly there was more bacon than I have seen in some $ 4 sides of bacon at breakfast joints, probably 4 pieces. Oh I almost forgot the best part, pretzel bun, mmmm. The bun totally made the burger, soft and lots of pretzelie flavor. I fell like I shouldn’t admit this to strangers but legit at the whole thing it was soooooo good ! Unfortunately the skinny potato frites that came with it were nothing to write home about, crispy but boring. Luckily after the pickle and pretzel bun bacony goodness I didn’t have room for the crappy fries anyway !
Good service, the bus boys were definitely on their game, and the waitress ran out the door after us to tell us we had left our leftovers !
My biggest complaint would be that they only have tall tables, no booths, boooo, but maybe there was a backroom I didn’t see.
Not a place I would travel all the way to the south loop for, but good food at decent prices if you need quick snack while your headed to a bears game, museum, or for some other reason find your self wandering the south loop famished.

Pros:
–food was pretty good
–fair prices
Cons:
–Waitress rarely checks on you, (even tho it was empty and mid day)
–Long wait for food, Incorrect Orders brought
–Skimpy Portions (on the Sheppards Pie at least)
–billing errors

Perhaps it was a poor choice to go as the Sharks-​Hawks game was getting started, perhaps we took a bit too long to order, but the appetizer flat bread came out after the two tables next to ours got their main courses. And we had come in first. Those two tables left as we were getting our main courses, and they were just burgers.
That being said, the burgers were decent, the fries were droopy. The beer selection was great, and this is a nice change to the lack of pubs in the SL.

This place is so much nicer than the average Irish pub & Restaurant.
The food is very decent, again, above my expectations… nothing against the Irish, but you know they are not popular because of their fine gastronomy. Décor and ambiance, very nice, clean and comfortable place to sit and watch a game, while drinking and even eating a good sandwich or salad. Staff has been consistently friendly. Great location!

Way overpriced for the quality of food. Let’s go item by item…
Drink specials– not special, still expensive.
Burgers — $ 10, they are decent, but not worth $ 10. They are $ 7 on Monday, so worth it on Monday only.
Mac n’ cheese — $ 12, I assume because it had truffles in it. But it was disgustingly filled with white truffle and tasteless cheese. So the mac n’ cheese just tasted like noodles with white truffle… kinda nasty and I like truffles.
Potato skins, pretty good, but overpriced like everything else on their menu.
Service, not so great either. We had Robert who seemed pissed off at us from the start. Not sure why, maybe cuz one of our friends asked if he could just start with a water, but that was before he ordered an app and the $ 12 mac n cheese! He also was slow as hell, he seemed to be busy gossiping at the other end of the bar and not waiting on us.
I don’t mind this bar on a weekend night for strictly drinks or on Monday for an expensive burger that is a little less expensive, but I will not go here for an actual dinner ever again.

Went to Grace O’Malley’s for dinner and a few beers.
Unlike most comments, the service was good but the kitchen was not. The food was pretty poor compared to most Irish pubs in the city. The Shepard’s pie tasted like a sloppy joe. I ordered a soup with my dinner which never came so I asked to have it removed from the bill.
Beer was good and atmosphere was fun. Just don’t go to eat!

Grace O’Malley’s is to the South Loop what water is to the desert… much needed!
I’m not sure if it’s Grace O’Malleys, or just the existence of any upscale bar in the South Loop that makes for a pleasant experience, but when I am in Solo (South Loop, of course) it is always my go-​to place.
It doesn’t feel Irish to me… sorry! The menu seems standard, not exactly Irish pub fare but more traditional upscale bar food. It’s always crowded but never packed. People are nice, it’s a great place to mingle, and service is adequate.
I don’t think Grace O’Malley’s has a ton of personality, but it is a great place to go if you are looking to drink/​grab a bite in the South Loop.

Our evening at Grace O’Malley’s was off to a rocky start. Two of the four in our party attempted to order beers they were out of (thus having to opt for the closest beers to them which were a buck more expensive) and while our server was nice and fairly attentive, misheard a few orders and we wound up with an errant Cosmo on our table. Off night I suspect and even he joked about it.
We didn’t eat but the menu looked pretty good if not a bit overpriced (most entrees are around $ 10). The beer list is good (Belgians, micro brews, local favorites) but again, just a bit on the high side. Even the cheaper beers hover around $ 4.
Grace will be an expensive date for you, so know that going in. It’s pretty but in keeping with their attempt at the «Irish Pub» atmosphere, I would have preferred less B96 coming from the speakers.

Hey you! Yeah, you! You see my review sitting here waiting for you to read it. Put the arrow over these words and click, damn it.
There.
Now see, was that so hard? Good.
So here you are looking at my review waiting to see what the hell I’m going to say. You want the truth. Well YOU CANT HANDLE THE TRUTH! (Sorry, been looking for a way to work that into one of my reviews for a while.)
So Grace O’Malleys is your more upscale Irish pub where folks go to have a little dranky drank drank or grab some grub. I didnt like the either/​or rule that day, so I did both. Sue me.
When you walk into Grace O’Malley’s there are probably about 30 high stools where you can sit (probably half at the bar, the other half at tables that seat 4). My luck being what it usually is, all the seats were taken on this Saturday afternoon, so we got seated in the dining room in the back. This dining room is pretty formal with white table cloth, dim lighting and a single candle on the table. Not bad.
Only a few other tables were occupied back there, which made service not too tough of a task for the waitress.
I ordered the salmon salad, and was a bit disappointed that it was made with head lettuce. Restaurants with white table clothes and dim lighting should always have a dope, high quality salad made with fresh GREENS – if nothing else. Your mom should have told you that head lettuce has zero nutritional value. What the hell?
Hey, at least the salmon in it was pretty good, and the environment was pleasurable and costs reasonable. The crowd in here was about 35 – but I can’t comment on their attitudes because I was in the back dining room and didnt really get too long to people watch. (See, this is how you report on the truth… not quick glances and gross assumptions on those 2 seconds worth of people watching).
So here’s what you do… if you read this review… do your boy a favor and let me know by clicking on one of those buttons right under these words that say «Useful», «Funny», «Cool.» Sorry, Unilocal doesnt have any buttons that say «Sucked», «Dumb» or «Waste of Time» so you dont have those to choose from for the time being.
Until next time America… take care of yourself, and each other.
Good talk.

My lovely person took me here for my birthday celebration this year along with a bunch of close friends. We had a reservation and were seated right away after we all arrived.
The mac ‘n cheese was WONDERFUL — my only disappointment was that they never got around to asking me if I wanted to take it home, so I had to leave ¾ of it on the table which made me sad. I so would have had it again for lunch! The addition of the tomatoes was what made it great — and the fact that it didn’t have too many breadcrumbs.
The service was fine — nothing spectacular, and the dining room never got too loud so we could always hear each other. It may be a bit pricey, but I’m definitely going back again for the mac ‘n cheese!
And this time I’m taking it with me… no matter what.

So I’ve been going to this place on and off (mostly off lately) since mid 2005. When I first started going the menu was solid AND had Irish (ish) food like their take on bangers and mash, traditional irish breakfast served all day, fish n’ chips, chips with curry sauce… and charming Irish bartenders to boot. Fast forward to 2009 and this place is a sad shell of it’s former self.
FOOD: The menu consists of the same shit food you can get at any shitty bar in any shitty suburb in America. Nothing special, nothing Irish that’s for sure. They really decided to appeal to the average corn fed American idiot who craves fried tasteless crap and thinks it’s special because it’s from a place that’s not TGIF. Chicken fingers? Generic overpriced burgers? Ceaser wraps? Oh yes, we got that all day.
DRINKS: Pricey and continuing to get pricier. Don’t invest in gold, invest in alcohol from TGIF, I mean Grace O’malley’s. Apparently some sort of scarcity in the 1500 block of the south loop is causing prices of the usual shit like Guinness, Blue Moon, Ketel One, Makers Mark… to go waaay up. The owners must be under the impression that demand for booze is quite inelastic in chicago… what they don’t realize is I can and will (always) go somewhere else.
SERVICE: Previously — charming, friendly, competent, and occasionally Irish, staff ready to serve and shoot the shit with you on a slow night. Now — rude, incompetent, uninterested wait staff that probably wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire, much less serve you in a timely manner.
It saddens me that this place now sucks so hard, because of the maybe three pathetic bars we have south of roosevelt, I now will be permanently crossing this one off of my list.
Goodbye Grace, you’re just taking up space, hopefully soon you’ll be taken over by a better place.

I had lunch here with my wife this weekend. The food is usual pub fare, but they did it very well. The buffalo chicken salad my wife had was very spicy, which is good, and I liked the reuben, which had more meat than usual and less sauerkraut.
The fries are excellent, cut slightly thinner (though not toothpick) and crisper than most and heavy on the seasoning, which makes for some great fries. The service was quick, the dark wood look of the place was nice, and the music was surprisingly contemporary considering the overall feel of the place.

Four stars only because I live next door basically. Wouldnt make a special trip really, but not bad if you are close. Pretty good burgers with a good amount of choices. The fish and chips is a bit overpriced and does not come with much fish. fries are decent.
They have some pretty good daily drink/​food specials, a karaōke night too on tuesdays. I will be coming back since its so close thats for sure haha. Also the wait staff is very nice.

Visited here on St. Patrick’s Day no less! First time visited. Seemed a little strange to have this type of pub so far down Michigan Avenue. Never really travel down this way, but for a free meal, why not. :)
Overall it was a good experience. We did however get seated right next to the kitchen, all the way in back, but luckily, nothing unpleasant came out of it (if you know what I mean…). Food choices are standard fair for the pub and prices seemed appropriate for what we ordered.
Would I come back? Probably not… why, you might ask? Just too darn far to go! But pleased overall.

Wow, really?! Really Grace O’Malley’s? You’re going to watch us walk in, make eye contact with us twice and not help us find a seat? Really.
Then, we’re going to navigate some brohans who look at me like I’m speaking Farsi to finally get a seat (move your GD coat, asswipe) and then sit. For mmmm.. . 15 minutes before you LITERALLY throw menus at us and ask if we’re ready to order? REALLY?!
We just got the menus. And no we’re not and by the way, we’re leaving.
Yes, friends, we walked out. Adrenaline pumping.. . and went to eat a burrito at Zapatista. Grace O’Malley’s. I haven’t walked out of a place in years. It felt good.
Really.

This place is really a 3 and a half star place. We used to come here for dinner a lot. The food is good — better than average bar food. And the Irish entrees are especially good. But it’s pretty pricey for what you’re getting. And the drinks aren’t cheap either (tho they sometimes have decent specials).
My biggest complaint, though, is the setup in the bar area. It can be impossible to walk through the bar to get back to the restaurant area on weekend evenings. And getting the attention of a bartender is impossible. It’s just a poor set-​up.

And I still love this place!
Today I went for brunch before the Bears game and I was not disappointed. In fact– the hostess said «I’ve been waiting for you!» Not really me, but she had a two top ready for us and we were ready to eat!
The Bloody Mary’s were great and the Eggs Benedict hit the spot. Couple that with some roasted potatoes and some fresh fruit and I was a Happy Camper!
If you don’t want to wait– there is also a breakfast buffet served upstairs that has a wide range of items from traditional breakfast fare to sandwiches. I personally am not a big buffet fan but if I was in a pinch it would certainly suffice.
Gotta love a place that takes good care of me and my friends be it for brunch or dinner!

I went after the sox playoff game (WIN!!!) and it wasn’t crowded, thank goodness, because we were STARVING. We sat at the bar because we waned to watch the red sox/​angels game on the tvs.
The Flatbread was really good, but the nachos were sitting in grease and really soggy.
I had just a caesar salad as a meal and it was fine (they give you a lot of croutons if you are into that sort of thing), my dad got the stew which was not too salty, had well cooked noodles, and great veggies in it – not too thick at all. He ate all the meat so I can’t comment on that.
The staff was friendly, they ambiance was nice, but after a bears game and a sox game, the bathroom was less than stellar.