Kelly’s Tavern

Been in here twice in four months and was disgusted by how gross it is. Smells like an old ashtray and is generally filthy. It’s a shame as in the late ‘90s it was a good burger joint. Times change.

Went there on a Wednesday night with my family on a whim at around 630. We were greeted by an empty hostess stand and the smell of old cigarettes. The dining room from what I could see was completely empty but the bar seemed rather busy. It gave the impression that nobody eats here anymore. After a few minutes of standing at the door we were greeted and taken to a table. The menus and tables felt like they have been wiping them down with soda. We ordered a few sandwiches and fries. The food came out pretty fast and my burger was cooked perfectly. Normally whenever I order a burger somewhere they cook it well done no matter what I say so to have a burger that was actually cooked medium that I didn’t have to cook myself was great. I also thought the girl who waited on us did a fantastic job. She was very polite and checked in on us often. In closing Kelly’s gives the impression of a place that is treading water off of alcohol sales and the fact that people can smoke in there to their hearts content. It is doubtful that I will be returning for dinner

Very poor establishment .
At about 6 PM my wife and my elderly mother of 96 came for a decent meal.
1. We were escorted to a table about in the middle. Menus were given but we simply could not read them! The table’s light was burned out! We requested another table, she suggested a different table also with the light out.
2. The linguine was not fully cooked and looked as though it was left out for the 25 min it took to cook hamburgers.
3. Fries were soggy. Yes soggy !
4. All of this while we were exposed to THICK smoke residue from the 1000 previous customers.

My girl and I visited this place for the first time in a while and I wish we hadn’t. It was eight o’clock at night and the restaurant was empty except the shitty bar full of middle aged people dressed like teens. I had to walk around to find someone to seat us who just so happens to be the same server that was outside smoking when we pulled in only to sit at a table with no light. Not little to no light but literally no light! It was unplugged. Our server was more interested in hanging with his friends then attending to us which is no surprise because four or five employees still in uniform were pounding shots at the bar with the manager. After waiting thirty minutes for dry shitty burgers with no water, tastless bloody mary and a warm beer we decided to leave, I asked for the manager, that’s when he was pointed out to be the guy in the bar drinking so I approached him and he put the responsibility on the server to handle the problem who had no idea what to do. Left without paying and will never return. What a joke! I’ve been in the service industry for eighteen years and can be critical but this by far was just piss poor management. I would fire everyone and start over or close the doors for good.

I use to come here literally every night, like every other 20 – 30 year old person and drink cheap shitty beers and play pool. This is the place you go when you don’t want to go to the block at the oceanfront, and you’ll see a lot of the same people.
If you don’t like smoke, don’t come here. Period.
Every time I’ve tried to come here to eat with some friends it ALWAYS has this lingering smell of vomit. Maybe it’s on the carpet? Bathroom? Bar? I don’t know, but you can smell it.
The 2 main bartenders don’t really pay attention to you. But whatever, I don’t need them to.
Food is crap to mediocre. My friend got the soup of the day once and it was luke warp and looked horrendous. Side salads are large. The only thing I get here is the Firecracker wrap, which is just a buffalo chicken wrap.
You win some, you loose some.

Every time I go here, I expect a better experience than I get. Food is sub-​par and the waitress I have had every time I have gone acted like she hated her job; and she probably did… but I would have appreciated a little more courtesy. Pool room is also disgustingly smokey. The drinks are alright, but I wouldn’t recommend this place.

Ordered the Tuna Rockefeller and it was absolutely gross. The tuna was over-​cooked (though I asked for medium), dry, and bland. The broccoli that came as a side was equally dry and without a hint of seasoning. I sent the food back and got the Ground Round instead and that was even worse. Think public school cafeteria food. I might come back to try this place for JUST drinks, but otherwise you’re better off going to McDonalds…

I’ve passed this location frequently while going to the bank, decided to try it.
We’ll never go back again.
Our server was friendly and seated us quickly, brought drinks and order timely, but what we ordered was bland food that you tolerate at your grandmothers house because there is nothing else to eat. I had the walnut and cranberry chicken salad wrap– which had sparce of those on the side: my companion ordered the philly cheese steak, it was dry, and then he got the white bean soup — which was bland and had a hair in it.
Nothing outstanding about this place. Only giving 2 stars because our server was nice. Wish I remembered her name.

The crab dip is amazing! The quesadilla was good too.
The pool room was sooo smokey that after about 2 hrs in there I Ifelt nauseas. They need better ventilation or something. There wasn’t even that many people in there.
But all that being said I did have fun. The juke box was another cool part pf the bar part of this restraunt. It just wasn’t loud enough.
If it wasn’t for the crab dip this place would be 2 stars.

Good food, lots of beer, and malted vinegar for your fries! However don’t go on game day unless you get there early enough to stake out your table or don’t mind standing. It gets hoppin’ up in this joint.

I have been to Kelly’s for drinks at night before with friends and it was pretty fun. But today I went for lunch. It was disgusting! The She Crab Soup was just a can of Cream of Mushroom soup with chunks of frozen crabmeat thrown in, and Old Bay sprinkled on top. The Caesar wrap was very plain and tasteless. I believe the chicken was also frozen because it was so dry. I do not recommend going to eat food here. If you want to go to the bar and have some drinks it can be fun but that is about all.

I had a mushroom swiss burger cooked to perfection and also a bar i can enjoy a drink and smoke at the same time without being shunned outside.

My first time at a Kelly’s. I pass by it all the time. The Bartender’s name was Don and she was an absolute sweet-​heart. We got our drinks in a timely manner and my burger was cooked to perfection. I ordered it Medium Rare and it was freaking amazing! Besides to the drunk guys that would occasionally hit on me and a friend, i had a blast.

Kelly’s is visually unappealing outside and in, but a smiling face and quick bite make it worth at least visiting once. Especially if you don’t want to go grocery shopping at Food Lion on an empty stomach! Helpful and friendly service without bordering insincerity made this quick visit surprisingly pleasant.
Kelly’s is the type of place you look at and wonder why Gordon Ramsay hasn’t barged in attempting to shed light upon a Kitchen Nightmare. Slightly outdated and dismal, driving by on Laskin provides little proof on whether they are open or not since no windows face the road. For pub food, Kelly’s checks out appropriately. Their fries are hand cut and also offered in sweet potato. A veggie burger on the menu makes me a happy camper.
Unfortunately, for an «irish tavern,» the beer selection was not only minimal, but alarming. Upon asking what the Sam Adams Seasonal was, I was not just shocked to find out it was not Alpine Spring in early March, but disgusted to find out it was still Octoberfest. Sam Adams buys unused beer back, so I’m not sure what bar manager would argue this is a pro move.
I’d still recommend Kelly’s for a quick, no frills lunch since Just George’s isn’t open until later.

Nothing really outstanding about Kelly’s either good or bad. Just a different option to go to on a Saturday night.

Ugh. I grew up going to the Chesapeake Square Kelly’s & the food there was always so good. Granted I was still in high school & didn’t venture out too often for gourmet meals, I still remember enjoying it.
I had never been to this location before & my boyfriend was craving burgers. They apparently have «award winning» burgers.
The only award I would give them would be «most overpriced for something I could make at home» or «most cooked from the opposite of what I asked for». I asked for medium & received extra well done. My bf asked for medium & received a bloody piece of meat. Both of our lettuce pieces were wilted and my pickle had some weird discoloration. Not to mention the stale, crumbly sesame seed bun. We both ordered a side of garlic mashers. I’m sure the microwave did an excellent job of warming them up for us, but by the time it reached our table the only warm part was the dish it was served in. Am I making your mouth water yet?
Our poor waitress was friendly as can be, but I would rather have a mean server & delicious food. It made me sick to my stomach knowing what we paid to eat that blah meal. Or then again it could have just been the food.

It’s a good place to have a couple drinks, but wouldn’t suggest the menu. It’s to be expected par-​level bar food. It can get pretty smokey around the bar and pool tables.

Service ok. Burger I ordered was delicious. The drink I ordered wasn’t the greatest. Had a good time there.

I was recommended to go here for the ‘best burger’ in town. It smelled bad walking up to the restaurant, so that should’ve been the main red flag to walk away and find somewhere else. But we’re brave people who enjoy writing reviews.
When we entered, there was nobody to seat us for a while, so we finally walked around looking for a seat until someone walked us back up to the front, THEN walked us to our table while telling us there were only ‘two people working tonight’ [awkward].
It took about 15 minutes to get our drinks, then we finally ordered. The food was mediocre, borderline bad. The blue cheese burger didn’t have any blue cheese on it. My friend ordered cheese fries, which were basically shoestrings with plastic. It looked awful. She couldn’t pull any of them apart. Instead of giving us a bottle of ketchup, we got a dish? of ketchup? Weird. Halfway into eating, this is where it got bad.
GNATS. fruit flies. Whatever you wanna call them. Just out of nowhere, I ended up having to bat away a constant swarm of fruit flies. Where were they coming from? Your guess is as good as mine. I’ve eaten in the woods before and never had this many want a piece of what I’m eating.
Eventually, my friend was offered a refill of her tea. About 15 minutes later, the server came back and remembered that they forgot to bring the tea back [whoops], but we asked for our check and they offered a to-​go cup. I know it’s not the server’s fault for shitty service, if indeed there were only two people there working the whole place. I feel that’s management’s fault. But still, it took an additional 20 minutes alone to receive our checks, while we joked that everyone had just quit.
We went in for a quick dinner, and came out almost two hours later. Cool service, bro.
I feel kind of gross for eating the food. The place left me feeling really shitty, so here’s your review.
**If the owner is reading this, just some solid advice– your business NEEDS an overhaul, or you’re not going to make it much longer.

My wife and I usually go to the Kellys in Ghent or Granby in Norfolk. Those Kellys have fresh cut fries.
We recently moved to the Lynnhaven area so decided to try this Kellys rather than driving all the way out to Norfolk. The burger was very good but the fries were below average. They tasted like frozen shoestring fries. We’re more accustomed to the fries served at the two Kelly’s Taverns in Norfolk.
The staff was great, the restaurant was clean. Other than the disappointing expectations on the fries, everything was A-​OK!