Mixed Feelings
When I first arrived, I didn't know what to expect. The host seemed unsure of his surroundings and left me feeling unsure of mine, too. My friends and I decided to sit in the bar area (non-smoking, due to city ordinance) so we could watch the game. The flat-screens are a nice touch. Our server came by well after 3 minutes had passed to greet us, but I don't know if you could call it a greeting. All she said was, "What can I get you guys to drink?" Normally I'm offended by being called a guy when the three of us were girls, but I'll chalk it up to the relaxed atmosphere. I had a flavored iced tea, which made me wonder what happened to the flavor. I later found out they make the "flavored iced tea" by hand with syrup. They must not measure. We tried the sweet-potato fries out of sheer curiousity and they were pretty good - definitely a change from the usual salty appetizers on the local restaurants' menus. My friend ordered a full dinner, which included a soup or salad. After choosing the chopped salad, the server recommended the house dressing. The salad came out promptly but the combination of the salad's ingredients and dressing didn't sit too well with my friend. But, she didn't really have time to think about that because our entrées came out about 6 minutes later. We hadn't even finished our appetizer yet, and my friend had barely touched her salad. Someone else dropped off the meals so we didn't get a chance to tell our server we'd like a different salad. We also were left waiting 4 more minutes without any silverware to eat our food. When our server did come back, she didn't seem to notice our annoyance and got our silverware after asking for it, then disappeared again. I had the Carribbean Tomato Mozzarella Salad and was delightfully surprised. Every one of the ingredients complemented the others nicely and the dressing was excellent. After we had finished our meals and were waiting to see the dessert menu, the server comes up with check in hand. We ask her for a box to take home our food but are too insulted by the dropping of the check to stay for dessert.

All in all, the food is worth a trip and is all reasonably priced. The service... well... let's just hope they're still working out the kinks. The atmosphere was warm, dark, and inviting, but we were wondering where the crowd was. We were one of 4 tables in the bar area on a Thursday evening. I suppose people don't know about McCarthy's yet - they opened in November. I'm going to wait a month before returning there to make my final decision. Hopefully by then they'll get their act together.    [28 Jan 2007 00:21:28]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Carribbean Tomato Mozzarella Salad

     ­Anonymous   

Original review and a follow-up
12/9/2006

Well, we have a new "Irish" restaurant in town called McCarthy's Irish Pub and Restaurant. Wolfspouse and I love to eat Irish and since we're taking a trip back in May we thought we'd check the place out as kind of a prequel.

Ok, first off, if you're going to name a restaurant "McCarthy's" there should actually be a "McCarthy" associated with it in some way, shape, or form. The restaurant is actually owned and operated by a nice Polish family. Unfortunately in talking to the owner it came out that he's never been to Ireland, has no idea what Irish cooking actually entails, and apparently never bought an Irish cookbook or spent a few minutes on the internet looking for Irish recipes. A Polish restaurant would be interesting...

The menu had plenty of options, just nothing I'm used to seeing in Irish restaurants, either in Ireland or in the Chicago area. No stew, no shepard's pie, no soda bread. The closest they come was Fish & Chips (more on that later).

In a near-repeat of a review of a restaurant we went to over the summer, giving a place an Irish name, painting shamrocks on the floor, and hanging Guinness signs on the wall does not an Irish restaurant make.

On to the food.

I ended up having the pot roast. The portion was a little small. We’ve got several Italian restaurants and a Greek one within walking distance that will be competing directly with this place and they pile it on. The roast itself was pretty bland. I don’t like a lot of strong seasoning on my food but even I thought it was bland. The potatoes, let’s just say that it *is* possible to make potatoes that came out of a box not *taste* like they came out of the box. They apparently haven’t managed that yet. The rest of the vegetables were under-cooked. Oh, the soup-of-the-day was Boston Clam Chowder. Mine was gritty. Whatever can it came out of, they could do better.

Wolfspouse had the Fish & Chips. Not much to say other then it was definitely overcooked. Cod should be flaky. You shouldn’t need a knife to cut it. The chips were soggy to the point of her not eating more then one and not taking them home in her doggy-bag.

Little Wolf had the chicken strips. Very greasy (I did try some).

For desert we both had the Crème Brule. Interesting idea making it with Baileys. I’ve never had it cold before though and mine didn’t have much of a “crust” to it.

Basically the food wasn’t all that great. It wasn’t so much bad rather I expect a lot better from what is trying to be an upper-middle tier restaurant and given their direct competition they will really have to step it up.

We’ll give them a few months to work the kinks out (they’ve been open two weeks) and will make a return trip but at this point I think they have a long way to go.

Right now I’d give them maybe 2.5 stars out of five.

2/16/2007

We were back out that way and it's been a couple of months so we decided to stop in and see if they had gotten the kinks worked out.

Well, they've added some $7 burgers to the menu so I can't complain about the price as much. Other then that they haven't improved much, and in some ways have slid even further.

I had the "Black and Blue" burger since the entres are still too high. Let's just say that it's a bad sign when *I* leave food on my plate. :) Three words to describe it, overcooked, dry, and tasteless. I had asked for medium and would have considered what I got to be overdone if I had asked for well-done. How you can make a bacon and blue-cheese burger tasteless is beyond me but they somehow managed. The fries were typical mass-produced junk. My very first job was at an Italian fast food stand that made their own fries from scratch so I hate, hate, hate the mass-produced ones.

Wolfspouse had the BBQ Chicken and Brisket sandwich. She said it "was better then the fish and chips" she had the last time but that's not saying much. The BBQ sauce that was served with it was KC Masterpiece or something very similar. She had to ask for more sauce and what they brought out looked and tasted like Sweet Baby Rays. No points for originality. Once she had her extra sauce brought out I noticed quite a few of the wait-staff bringing out little bowls of sauce out to several other tables.

Little Wolf had the Two Cheeseburger plate off the kids menu. Good price but again, the burgers were overdone.

Speaking of the wait-staff, pretty useless. We gave the waitress probably the lowest % tip I've given in several years. She had no follow-up with us. We had to have a busboy track her down for the extra sauce then didn't see her again until she came to ask if we wanted dessert.

Well, that's it for the restaurant. I normally wouldn't comment on another review but I've seen one online through the local paper which the restaurant proudly displays by the door. The review describes the food as "American comfort food with an Irish twist". With all due respect to the other reviewer the food is more like "American comfort food done poorly by a Polish family that still has no clue about Irish cooking".

Since they've been open for a while now I'll be a little more harsh and give them a ** out of *****.    [17 Feb 2007 13:43:11]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Nothing special

     ­Wolfhound668   

McCarthys
Had a great experience at McCarthys Restaurant. Not sure what the other review is about, but not all the owners of the restaurant are not Polish. After talking with one of owners, Dave, I found out the restaurant is named after his 3 year old Son McCarthy, who is Irish. Their menu seems to be really well balanced and has a lot of great comfort foods with some Irish specialities. I have tried a number of their items and they have been great. Their pricing cant be beat for the quality of the food and the drink prices are great also. They have a fantastic spot to watch sports, unlike Wild Wings which looks like a college bar it is much more upscale, and actually has good food.    [14 Mar 2007 15:36:16]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: bookmaker, pot pie, rueben, twin fillets

     ­Mike, CDW   

great food great atmosphere
I eat at McCarthys 2x a week and always have a great time. The staff has always been great and I have tried almost everything on the menu. My friends and co-workers go there for lunch often and goto the bar after work, they have half price apps everyday during the week from 2-6 and from 9-close and have great drink specials. Live music thurs-saturday in the bar.    [14 Mar 2007 15:55:34]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: everythin

     ­smooth, mundelein   smooth1dbc at yahoo dot com

response to mixed feelings
we eat at the restaurant at least once a week and for the 2 main reasons are for price and qaulity. you think the price is high and they finally added $7 burgers. They have always had sandwiches on the menu for $7. As for the entrees they all range from $10-$19.95. I hate to see my favorite restaurant not get a fair shake. If you can not afford $10-$19 for an entre maybe you should not go out. For a restaurant I think that is great price for the amount of food you get. I have never gone away from McCarthys hungry, with the soup, salad and bread that comes with the entree. I cant believe you dont like the place, our family loves it and I always here people talking around us about how great the food is. The servers are always friendly as well.    [20 Mar 2007 10:44:29]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: pot pie, ribs

     ­Janet   

MCCARTHY'S - EXCELLENT EXPERIENCE
I truly think people need to gather all the facts before they write a review. I have been visiting McCarthy's since they have opened in November. Steve, partner and executive chef, prepares all the food from fresh ingredients and meals are prepared when ordered. There are three families that came together to create McCarthy's. As soon as you walk in the door, their family crest is nicely displayed above the host stand. Their crest represents the Irish and Scottish heritages that have come together to create thier own restaurant - not the usual cookie cutter Irish themed restaurants that aren't even run by the owners - they are the usual boring chains with pre packaged foods and high prices. McCarthy's is run by the owners. They are always on site(even their children) talking with customers, taking the time to make sure everyone has a great experience. I APPLAUD THEM! Thank you for creating a unique experience that has a little something for everyone. They have a family night on Thursdays with a magician for the kids. They have live entertainment Thursday thru Saturday. And did I mention the FOOD - Yum - you can tell everything is fresh. It's always a good sign when you see owners, employees and families of both eating at the restaurant all the time! I would highly recommend you try McCarthy's yourself - and form your own EDUCATED opinion!!!    [20 Mar 2007 10:53:29]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Pesto Chicken Ciabiatta

     ­Anonymous