Cleary’s Pub

I have tried to like Cleary’s as it’s right in town. The food is decent, the table service is decent, however I have NOT had good service sitting at the bar. The main bartender three times I’ve been there has been an older woman. Two times I’ve sat with with a girlfriend, once with my husband, all three times we’ve been ignored for long periods of time My friend and I stopped on on Ladies Night to get a glass of wine (house merlot), it tasted like it had been open for a while and took about 10 minutes for her to bring the bill (for two glasses of wine). Meanwhile, she is chatty with the male customers. Please note this is not the first time this has happened, otherwise I wouldn’t be reviewing.
I really, really wanted Cleary’s to be a place to go. But I’ve enjoyed 2Fogs far more, better service and the bartender has always been friendly no matter who I’ve been there with.

We love Cleary’s. It isn’t the best food or anything, but it’s decent food. This is just a GREAT neighborhood bar. The drinks are strong, we love the staff (sit at the bar), and the building itself has a ton of character. If you want a 5 star meal-​go somewhere else, but come to Cleary’s after for a nightcap :)

Went in, ordered a beer with 2 other people and asked for a menu. Was told thr kitchen was closed, which is fine. About 40 minutes later a table of 6 walks in and about 20 minutes after that they have food! So when I asked the waitress why they had food and I was told the kitchen was closed she told me that they offered to buy the cook a beer if he would cook for them!!! Ummm ok, but if you open the kitchen for 1 table dont you think that you should offer the table that asked for menus food as well? When speaking with the owner regarding the situation we were met with finger pointing and excuses and told had WE offered to buy the cook a beer he would have cooked for us as well. No way to run a business!

They either need a new Chef or need to update the menu. I wanted a Shepherd’s Pie. The menu offers it but the «chef» decided to make it with Beef instead of Lamb. Therefore, he made me a Cottage Pie. The employee said its the same thing. It is not! That’s like saying a Lamb Meat Burger is the same as a beef Hamburger. I’m sure that ones palate would notice the difference. And every Chef knows the difference in these meat pies. They also allow a Caesar Salad to be added on for a great price. However, the price is only fair because it is not a true Caesar Salad. It’s just Romaine Lettuce, Caesar Dressing and Parmesan Cheese. They leave out the lemon juice, olive oil, egg, Worcestershire sauce and garlic that a TRUE Caesar Salad has. I’m not sure about the other items on the menu but it would be safe for one to assume that they will not serve what they named it. The cook here has gone rogue to say the least.

Love going there to watch a red wings or tigers game. The food is great especially the garlic and goat cheese bread appetizer and their boneless wings are better and cheaper than Buffalo Wild Wings.

I came back here last night again to show my gf how good this place was because I loved the fish & chips here. Of course, as luck (or bad luck) would have it… she ordered a stuffed chicken dish and it came out looking very nice and yummy… however, the first bite was disasterous. She had me try a piece to see if it was just her or if the chicken really was as bad as she made she thought it was and yes, it was pretty bad. I would say it tasted like chicken you re-​warm after it laid a couple days in the fridge… just not fresh tasting but kind of old. We flagged down the waitress and she promptly replaced the dish with something else. The second dish we ordered was fried shrimp (6 good size pieces) and they were pretty good but, considering you had to taste gross food and then had to wait additional time to get it… the least a business could do is give you even a $ 2 credit for the inconvenience. I’m not looking for free food… just good food and sometimes that’s a lot to ask for.

Excellent food, great service, friendly staff!
Was a Monday night pizza special in summers & fall for years. Great sports bar. And the owner is a real gem. Sorry I waited so long to try the sandwiches and other menu items, but the pizza with its always fresh ingedients and tasty crusts was my favorite! Excellent bar with great choice of beers and liquor. Have been awy a month and miss Clery’s a lot. My favorite Michigan pub!

If you’re looking for a place with excellent burgers & fries, this is it! French fries are like a double fried batter & extra crunchy! Burgers taste like frozen beef patties, which I normally would hate, but they seem to be able to transform them into something amazing, with toasted buttered buns, a charbroiled tasting patty, fresh crispy lettuce and onions, along with thick cut dill pickles. Wash it down with a nice pilsner & you have the perfect meal!

We ordered a Cleary’s burger, fish and chips and Reuben. Everything was so incredibly, phenomenally good.

The service is not as good as the food.
We’ve been here countless times since moving to Howell.
The first time, we went on a Sunday night. The dining room was empty. We were 2 of the maybe 10 customers there. Despite being slow, our waitress was constantly disappearing. Luckily, there was nothing wrong with our food, but it was a hunt to try to get our drinks refilled.
The second time: I met a girlfriend on a Tuesday night for appetizers and drinks. We walked in the front door, and a staff member yelled at us to go to the back to be seated. Our mistake, but it isn’t particularly clear where the hostess stand is or which door is preferable. Service was hit-​or-​miss again. When we asked the waitress for a beer/​wine list, she told us no, they didn’t have one. What? 10 minutes later, she came back and — miracle! — a beer/​wine list magically materialized. I ordered the Griz that night, and would not recommend. It was not flavorful, and very greasy — I became very ill later that night.
Most recently: We ordered two Deli Reubens for takeout. They were fast, hot, and still our favorite.
Also — we met our friends here last week, and while the service was admittedly better than before (even on a busy Friday night with a live music performance), it still wasn’t stellar. The food was just as good and the wait for our table was only about 15 minutes.
Would recommend to others, but with a grain of salt.

It’s a sports bars with decent food and cheap beer. The breadsticks are delicious and their pizzas are great! It’s a 4 star place compared to the other choices in the area.

The only Irish draft beer on tap is Guinness, which for many is enough. But this bar is just that a bar that happens to have an Irish name. Luckily there is an Irish bottled beer offered. They had a band playing and that was nice.

Not what we expected! We were looking for something close to the Howell Theatre and were in quite a bit of a rush. Both my husband and I had Delmonico steaks and were blown away by the flavor. The service was fantastic and ambience was great. We’ll be back. I’m excited to try other items on the menu, but can’t stop thinking about that yummy steak. Whoda thunk it?

New menu new food. Have not had a bad meal there since the change. Service is still a little slow but I am never in a hurry to leave.
They now have deep-​fried pickles which are the best around.
Excellent place to eat

Cleary’s is one of about a dozen restaurants/​bars in downtown Howell. We were looking for decent place and came across Cleary’s Pub. The main entrance is actually in the back, with parking, not from Grand River, but we weaved our to the hostess.
Its a long and some what narrow place. With 6 – 8 outdoor tables on Grand River and another 40 tables and a bar spots seats too. It was busy, bustling is probably a better word. Noisey with many little groups having a good time.
Its sort of an Irish place, with an Irish style menu, which has a number of options, a step up from the standard bar food offerings. I went with the shepard’s pie, one of my favorites and the wife had a california chicken sandwich. They both hit the mark.
Services was solid, Its a popular place and they do a decent job, its worth trying.

Based only on our first Cleary’s experience, we absolutely love this place. I will update after additional visits, but I’m really hoping it wasn’t just a fluke.
Service was great. Waitress was polite, fast, attentive, checked in on us, got the bill quickly, etc etc.
The food was delicious. I can only comment on the smoked-​chicken salad and it was spectacular.
Prices were fair and the location is great. The décor was interesting (it was nice to see the vintage Howell photos). We’ll definitely return.

Where to start? Lobster Mac was good. I ordered wings in a bar. I expected at least a decent meal. The wings were straight out of the cooler and tossed in a warm sauce. The chicken was cold to the bone, back to the kitchen they went. The replacement Reuben was good. Ordered two Bloody Mary, first came in a small old fashion glass no garnish, the second came in a tall drinking glass with three olives, a pickle, and celery all floating in the glass. Since it is unlikely we will ever return as we were passing through, If we were local, we might give it another chance based on the Lobster Mac. $ 50 tab and food sent back, there must be better place in town to eat.

We live a few blocks from here and decided to go there for my wife’s birthday dinner since we eat here occasionally on Mondays for their great pizza special that is actually really good! Unfortunately the food was was really bad bar food (yes I know this place is a bar/​restaurant). The burger looked like a nice round frozen patty and the chicken Alfredo was horrible. I am not sure what happened to the food here since it used to be really good a few years ago and has gone down hill. I am very disappointed since we live so close to here and really enjoy the pizza.
We will not be visiting here again for anything but pizza and breadsticks. Hopefully they don’t screw that up and they can get their act together and improve the food!
Decided to bump them up to three stars since two was not fair.

When I walk into a restaurant, I want to smell food. We ate here like 3 times while visiting my sister and never smelled food cooking. I think everything is frozen and microwaved.
My sis loves this place, but I can’t find anything positive except they have Oberon on draft.
Burgers — eh
Shepherds pie — eh
Pizza was okay.
There are so many better choices to eat. Come here for the beer.

A typical Irish pub with TVs and a lot of local knick knacks and photos filling the restaurant.
There was a leak in the ceiling right when you walked in, and the bucket was full of just yellow, dirty water. Not exactly a great first impression.
The furniture is a bit outdated, and when I sat in the booth, the entire seat cushion slid back.
I had the fish sandwich, which is apparently a new item. It’s one big, beer-​battered piece of fish, perfectly crisp and fried. The fries were pretty good.
This probably wouldn’t be my first stop when I’m visiting, but I could see how I’d be a regular if I lived there because of their happy hour specials, and I’m intrigued by their weekend live entertainment.