Brian Boru Irish Pub

At first I thought I pulled up the wrong place on Unilocal when I saw a 5 star review until I hit the Unilocal sort tab for newest first reviews which were all 1 star reviews, and all pretty much had the same bad experiences as us. I’m sure that 5 star review had to be placed by the place itself.
Since we live in the area some of my family, and I stopped in this place for some drinks, and food. We use to go to Molly Malones before they sold it, and it became Brian Boru. The beer selection was terrible, and the service even worse. When we went to this place they acted like we were a big bother. I give them an F– in customer service, very uncaring. We had fish and chips, and hambugers. How can you screw that up? But they did. Everything had like a freezer burn old taste, dry, and disgusting. I even logged some time in the washroom after eating that stuff.
I was going to complain about how long it took to be served with the drinks, and food, but looking back on it, Waiting was much better than drinking warm beer, and eating bad food. The worst part besides the bad food, and bad service, is, they just don’t care, and they make that attitude clear to the customers. I can see why the place was empty the whole time we were in there. 0 stars, and F– …

If you like Ed debevic’s — you’ll love this place. It’s just not a joke, the waitress/​bartender just genuinely hates you.
I can only describe my experience at this place as though you’re watching a car crash happen in slow motion.
After 10 minutes of sitting at the bar and watching how the waitress/​bartender interacted with not only myself, but her staff and other costumers-​I honestly thought someone was going to pop out of the corner with a camera and say we’re on a reality TV show. She was so bluntly insulting and passive aggressive to costumes that it was almost assuming just to witness. This included yelling at costumers to come closer to the bar if they expected to order anything and tossing menus at costumers after asking her for one (the nerve!).
While drinking my flat soda vodka, I got to see about 15 costumers enter and immediately leave after dealing with her — at one point a man told her to calm down (after he asked her for a beer and her response was more or less a patronizing «I’m busy, you can’t expect me to get your drink before I get the drink of the person who ordered before you»). It was literally as though she didn’t want people’s money.
As for the Irish Menu– Mozzarella sticks, fries, burgers, nachos, jalapeño poppers, Wisconsin fried cheese curds, chicken wings, Mac and cheese, fish tenders, chicken burger, steak, and salmon is on the list! It’s more like a fast food American menu that features an Irish shepherds pie and fish and chips than anything else. I ordered buffalo wings– that came out with no «buffalo» but just plain deep fried wings.
*****I went back here a couple weeks later. The bartender behind the bar was lovely and place was more cleaned up since last time I visited.

I am not a picky person when it comes to service. All I ask is for a server or bartender to be somewhat pleasant… this bartender was NOT! She was irritated when just asked simple questions and acted like her job was not to serve us drinks… This bartender acted annoyed the whole time like we had just showed up to her door drunk at 2am wanting to play RISK. We were with a large group and I’m not going to lie, we can be a little obnoxious at times but we are always respectful. We used to go here all the time when it was Molly Malone’s and the service and the bar area were great! Unfortunately, it looks like they wont be getting our business anymore.

This place is terrible! As a former server I know it can be challenging to serve a big group of people, but the bartender we had was extremely rude to the point other servers and bartenders were apologizing for her actions. They were out of tequila, scotch and some common vodkas… not sure if they were actually out or the bartender was just too hungover to grab more from the back. Regardless she made it clear she was making ZERO effort to provide good service. It was slow/​dead in there the entire night, which is so unfortunate because this place has so much potential.

Can I give it any less stars. To be fair, the atmosphere was nice after work on a Friday. That’s where my good thoughts end. Most of my reviews stem from the worst bartender ever. She let us know right away she was hung over and not prepared for the shift. I asked for scotch. They were almost out so she mixed my scotches hoping I wouldn’t notice. They barely had anything, especially Irish scotch. Who would’ve thought they’d be short of that on a Friday night. I can’t say enough bad about the bartender though. She was rude. I mean more rude than I’ve ever seen in bar. She was too rude to work at Dick’s last resort. I would never come back here and be subjected to her. I don’t want to be treated like royalty, but a normal human being would nice.

A friend and I had this pub on our list of restaurants to try out. What a major disappointment. I ordered a salmon Salad. the smallest salad I have ever had, and certainty not cheap either. I ended up ordering a pizza from Jimmy’s two hours later because I was still hungry. Please don’t waste your money here,

Again, Not a very bad place. Yet the Poutine was rather good. The gravy tasted more authentic.
The fish & chips were OK, The fish looked as if it was a bit silvery in texture, When the batter was removed.

Came here to watch the Iowa/​ISU game. Amazing bartender Beri who attended to all our needs. Amazing service, great drinks, excellent beer selection, wonderful bar. They do the Irish tradition proud, so many Irish Pubs in U.S. are poseurs, not here. Please pay it a visit, you will love it, slainte!

My family ate there tonight. We waited 2 hours for our food to arrive after we ordered it. The corned beef dinner was salty and almost ¹⁄₃ fat. The fish and chips came out soggy and the fish had tiny bones in it. Yuk! The Irish stew looked like reheated leftovers. We ordered 2 Reuben sandwiches, almost no corned beef in them. One was burnt and the other was almost completely untoasted. The only redeeming item was the burger. Unfortunately, it was missing ½ of the extras I ordered on it. When we asked to see the owner or manager, neither were available. Because of the shortage of cook and wait staff are total dinning experience was very unenjoyable. What a waste of time and money. I will never go back and they had better make some serious changes if they are going to stay in business

Went there to watch USA women’s World Cup match. Tv’s are not big and sound isn’t connected to their sound system. Food was average.

This place has great potential BUT the service is terrible! We came in in a Friday night with two kids ages 4 and 7. We got there at roughly 7:15 it was 7:30 before we even saw a waitress. The only reason this place is even getting one star is because of her she was great. We did not get our food till 8:30 WHAT THE HELL! We voiced our complaints to the manager and got exactly ZERO. She was less than helpful. Spoke to the waitress who gave us coupons WTF! Food was good but I can for sure say NEVER AGAIN! Needs a complete management and front house over haul. We will not return. The review that says bar rescue above is spot on.

My wife and I tried this place on Saturday night about 7.00pm. We were semi regular at the old Molly’s but hadn’t been since the change over in ownership. As previous reviews found — the hostess desk is unmanned — so after standing a few moments I grabbed a couple of menus and we sat at a table. The place had about 20 adults in it and a bunch of kids running around literally running around.

It took about 10 minutes before a waitress approached us –a pleasant girl– We ordered a Smithwick’s and an Angry Orchard Cider. alas it was about another 15 minutes before the barman had to come from behind the bar to bring them to our table. Eventually the waitress appeared and we ordered cups of soup (the leek was good) — and also Fish and Chips with Curry sauce for me and a corned beef sandwich for my wife. It took quite a while for the main course to appear.
The large piece of cod was fine although the beer batter was fairly bland. The unpeeled fries were terrible. all little scrappy bits and any larger bits had black ‘rot marks’ on them — They appeared to be a cheap bag of frozen fries that had been used — Any decent place peeling their own would have removed the rot bits of potato. As for the curry sauce — I advised the waitress to take the ‘chef’ out to Irish Times at Brookfield to see what curry sauce should be like. My wife had poured some over her fries and couldn’t eat them. I took one taste and pushed it away.
She said that her Corned Beef appeared to be sliced from a deli. Not what we expected from an Irish type pub… (NOTE: Real Irish pubs in Ireland don’t tend to serve that type of corned beef — being from that part of the world –I know)
Finally as a fairly newly opened place — you’d expect the owners to come by and say «Hello», «Welcome», «How was it?» — There were 2 walking around that night but barely looked in our direction– It you are in the Hospitality industry — then that is part of the job!!!
There seems to be «friends’ reviews» on here but mine is totally neutral. We eat out a lot in the area — but these folk need to pull up their socks if they expect to get more than 20 folk in on a Saturday night.

Much better than Molly Malone’s! The menu is very new and much improved. Sunday they have a bloody Mary bar with, I kid you not, 4 different types of pork, not including bacon! Another thing that gets me in the door is Kilkenny on (nitro)draft. I love that they promote black and tans and all kinds of mix and match beer cocktails for NO extra charge.
Their fish and chips includes a massive Alaskan Cod (bigger than the plate). Their English/​Irish breakfast comes complete with heavily seasoned blood sausage! Some of the entrees are a bit overpriced in the $ 15 – 18 range. I will be coming here a ton. And with Exit Strategy Brewing now open 20 yards away, I’ll be stumbling home often.

We have been twice. Once in February to check out the makeover from molly Malones. Not much changed aesthetically. We sat at the bar and at first had a great time with the bartender who let us taste several beers and gave us some menu suggestions. Once we ordered food, the bartender disappeared. We sat for a long time with empty glasses, even after flagging down a server. Our food took quite a while to come out. My shepherds pie was flavorful and comforting, but a small portion for the price. I usually take home more than half of my entrée, but I had no problem finishing this entire plate.
My second time there was yesterday, St. Pats weekend. We returned because they had advertised corned beef and cabbage dinner. On arrival, even though it was still up on the specials board, we were informed that they only have corned beef sandwiches. You can get a damn Reuben at any restaurant any time of the year. Disappointing. We stayed because we were meeting friends. It took 40 minutes for them to make lunch for my table of 4, and the place was nearly empty. My salmon salad finally came: a big pile of romaine lettuce with a bland hunk of salmon on top. There were no other fixings. Just lettuce and salmon. For $ 10. The house dressing was supposed to be a dill vinaigrette. It was a cup of oil with zero dill flavor, or any other flavor for that matter. The server saw how disappointed I was and seemed embarrassed at her offering, so she ended up bringing me some tomatoes, peppers, and croutons to add to my plate of lettuce. Still, I had to add some mustard and malt vinegar to make the salad taste like anything.
I guess this place might be fun to hang out and drink, if your bartender doesn’t disappear, but don’t expect much from the food.

I generally don’t like to leave a negative review, but if Brian Boru wants to be considered a great traditional Irish Pub and they need some work to get it up to par. This is Forest Park. Chicago’s Irish. Many of us in the area are from Ireland or at least family from there. If you are going to compete in this neighborhood and market as a traditional Irish pub, a new name and fresh coat of paints not gonna cut it.
One of the great things noticed right away was the friendliness of the new staff. The genuinely seemed to care and brought the warmth. But the service after that fell short. Not only did it take a while to get (and no appetizer ever made it out first) but almost every thing we ordered in our group was wrong.
Details about the food. Corn beef sandwich= just two slices folded over on burnt toast rye (swiss cheese was extra and came still cold and un melted) very sad looking. Fish and chips= soggy, wet batter, mis matched fries looked and tasted like old fries and new. The Pub burger with special sauce= build as you like, asked for irish bacon, mushrooms and irish cheddar, came with shredded luke warm american cheddar and nothing else. Chicken Cheese soup= diced chicken breast chunks plopped in a cup of milky water. Bangers = MIA completely.
I’ve been coming to the old establishment this place took over, Molly Malone’s, since it first opened in the late 90’s /​early 2000’s. It was pretty authentic. The menu was real Irish foods and recipes. The brews on tap fresh. The staff, from the old country, and really cool people. The music and events they put on were equally as entertaining. This new version of that traditional Irish pub was not even close.
The new owners should have just made a few changes. Sadly, they did too much. They even painted over the detailing on the old walls that made it look like an old pub outside Dublin. Stage gone, celtic symbols down or replaced with cheep imitations. But the worst was the menu. Gone were many of the classics and dishes made unique to the area. I mean, no bangers and mash? The staff acted like they’d never even heard of it. Irish bacon coming out as cheap american bacon slices, nope.
Believe me, we welcome and relish an establishment like this, but don’t just take over a previously established Irish pub and think your going to make it. You’ll just dilute that brand and turn off the already built fan base.
I hope the new owners see this and make the changes needed. You have a great building and location. Don’t burn it out or water it down. If they do make some improvements, you’ll see my rating reflect it. Lets go Brian Boru Irish Pub! I know you’re fairly new, but you should have your sea legs by now.

Back in December, we needed a place with a private room for our company Xmas party and after a few dead-​ends, we wound up going to Brian Boru. It turned out to be an excellent choice. The new owners (Greg and Dennis) were very accommodating, which is more than I can say for the few other places that we contacted (some didn’t even bother to reply). Although we had one bartender/​server for all of us (about 40), no one complained or was without a drink… and my co-​workers are big drinkers. I just felt bad because we had an open bar and the bar wasn’t set up in the rooms so the poor guy (Shane) was up and down the stairs constantly all night long. But he did an excellent job! For food, my boss wanted pizza (don’t ask) and even tho it wasn’t on the menu, they made it and it was excellent! We had the other food buffet-​style (wings skins, fish, etc.) and I would say that the only flaw was that the food was running out fast so people would be lined up and then having to wait longer. However, this was NOT the fault of Brian Boru. They were just not prepared for the way a lot of the people at my job eat (like they haven’t eaten in a year so they pile their plates high… think vultures). The food was all very good but the big winner was the fish. The next day, the office was saying how the place was and that they had a great time. A few of said that after the holidays and our schedules cleared up, we would go back for sure!
Fast forward to last weekend. A friend of mine passed away and I was getting some people together to have a dinner in his honor. I emailed Greg and told him how many, etc and he made sure that we had a nice table waiting for us. Unfortunately, they had a few servers call off that night plus there was a big party upstairs so they were short staffed and one of the line cooks had to come out and help on the floor. However despite these bumps, we didn’t have any issues. I have worked in bars and restaurants so I am very forgiving and know how things can happen. And a good sign of a well-​run place is when they can work through things like that and Brian Boru definitely proved to be well-​run! Everyone in my party had a great time and said that they would go back.
Now the food: spectacular!!! If you have been to London or Ireland, you know how good the fish n’ chips are. This made me very fussy about having it in the US. I have had some good servings of it at a few places and it was pretty decent. However, it knocked my socks off here! The dinner gives you a huge piece of fish and pile of chips (fries) which I gladly drowned with malt vinegar. 2 of my friends had the Shepherd’s Pie and said that it was outstanding. A few other friends had the sliders (which were on special for $ 1 –how can you beat that??) and said that they were really tasty. I want to try the other foods but to me, it’s almost a sin not to have the fish and chips!
I won’t talk about the drinks. It’s an Irish bar. We Irish people know how to drink. That is all you need to know.
Oh and did I mention that they have a little selection of British crisps and chocolates? Yes they do! That alone gives them 5 stars in my book. Yeah I know I can get imported things at World Market or Winstons, but Brian Boru has stuff that they don’t have there (my addiction: Whispa Bars! Almost impossible to find in the US anymore. I was tempted to go back and buy the entire box…)
Out of everything, I would say that the only negative is the parking situation, which is NOT their fault. Now they do have a small lot but as locals know, that fills up fast, along with anything on Madison. Last weekend, I drove around literally 20 minutes to find a spot and wound up just parking on a residential street which has a 2 hour parking limit and figured oh well if I get a ticket, it wouldn’t be the first time in Forest Park lol (I didn’t get one tho whoohoo!). In the warmer months it’s no big deal to walk a block or two but when it’s the cold winter evenings that’s another story. But like I said, that’s not the fault of the bar, it’s Forest Park and if you frequent Madison Street, you are used to dealing with it. I am just putting this out there for those who may not know the area. Just make sure that if you park on a side street, you read the signs. (some are residential only and some are 2 hour limit).
Brian Boru is a great Irish bar with a nice atmosphere whether you are having a night out with the girls, a family dinner or a date night. And get the fish ‘n chips!

Good Irish breakfast
Fish and chips must not be missed.
Wings are excellent.

Liquor good. What you would expect from an Irish bar for choice of alcohol.
Food ok. Fries, wings, sliders good.
Corned beef too fatty to eat in a sandwich form, so had to take a part.
Service very slow. Waited at least 40 minutes for appetizers/​sliders, then the main entrées came 2 minutes afterwards. No exaggeration.
Ambiance was nice. Allowed for small children to Irish dance in front of the musical entertainment. And not too loud.

I was shocked to find out this was under new ownership and a new name. A year ago everyone was raving about the new chef and how wonderful the food was. We were killing time after a wedding, before the reception.
Appetizers were ordered, and a number of our group said they were good, but I didn’t try the food. We stayed on the bar side. There were servers on the restaurant side, but serve yourself on the bar side. Not appetizing when your glass arrives with someone else’s lipstick on it ~ gross. Even the water had a strange taste to it and water is pretty tasteless. Needs improvement.
I will say, they did open early just for us so that we did have a place to spend 3 hours.

New owners took over the old Molly Malone’s spot on Madison. Their goal is to have the most authentic Irish food and brews in Chicago, although they’re not above having «Irish» versions of poutine, wings, and nachos (and our waiter said the Irish nachos are one of his favorite things on the menu).
We stuck with the Irish side of the menu. They’re particularly proud of their fish and chips so we started there. They have reason to be proud. It’s a huge piece of beer-​battered cod, with a very light batter and firm sweet fish as fresh as any I’ve found anywhere in Chicago. Nice fries, some with the skin on, and off course malt vinegar on the table. Even the cole slaw was great. Not too sweet or gloppy, but not vinegary either. I would probably order it as a side even if I weren’t getting the fish and chips.
I also had the «Irish BLT» which might be more properly labeled as a bacon, ham and cheese on toast. What brought it out of the ordinary was the excellent (and generous) Irish meats and cheese.
The draft beer list currently includes four from Ireland, one from Great Britain, plus selections from Bells, Goose Island, and Revolution.
There’s lots more to try, but I wanted to get the Unilocal discussion started.