McNamara’s

One of my retired colleagues lives in the neighborhood and asked the 4 of us to get together for lunch here. The food was excellent. Two of us had the meat loaf with mashed potatoes while the other 2 orderd sandwich plates (BLT with fries and hamburger w/​fries). The atmosphere is that of a typical pub and they have a separate eating area from the bar. All in all a very enjoyable experience. Will visit again.

My family has been going here for as long as I can remember that is why I cannot believe I’m writing this review but I feel it is necessary.
I was only made aware of this last night but a few weeks back my son met up with two of his fraternity brothers from college here for drinks. My son gave his credit card to the bartender so she could run a tab for all three of them. When the night was coming to a close, they decided to ask for the check. As his two friends stepped outside for a smoke, my son waited but the bartender never gave it to him, she only put his credit card on the counter right next to his beer. He assumed she was so busy that she just forgot to print the receipt… so he waited.
When his two friends came back from smoking their cigarettes, they wondered why the check hadn’t arrived. One of them again asked the bartender for the check and she said, «your friend took care of it». My son was shocked as he wasn’t given any check whatsoever. He objected and said no, you never gave it to me. She obviously thought he was too drunk to realize she never gave it to him and would just agree to what she was saying. She also said you added a tip and signed for it and the total was $ 60.
He was furious and knew there was so no way the total could be anywhere close to $ 60, so he asked to see the receipt but she refused and said it’s already been processed and put away. He said that total is way too high, you must’ve made a mistake and she looked at him and said (with a very cocky attitude) I’m not going to show you the check because it’s already been processed… end of story!
At this point my son and his two friends were pissed and they called her a liar and said what she’s doing is against the law and they demanded to see the receipt but again she refused. They said they would never go here again and tell everyone they knew of the horrible way they had been treated. I just wonder how many people she has done this to? How many people are being ripped off by the bartenders at McNamara’s? Be very careful if you go to this place, you might get ripped off by the bartender, especially if she thinks you’re drunker than you really are!

The décor of the place is really nice even though it’s been open for years. Service was good, wasn’t packed during lunchtime. I had the tilapia tacos with rice and refried beans which were tasty and plentiful. Husband had the potato leek soup which was really good and corned beef sandwich on dark rye which was good but the bread was a little soggy on one side.

One of the things I love about this place is the setting. With both indoor and outdoor seating, and a bar, there is a location to fit your mood. I especially like the times when they play the Irish music. It adds a cultural element to ones dining and drinking experience.
The food is a good. I usually only frequent the place on the weekends when they serve breakfast. The food is made fresh and made well.

Food is good, so is the service. Been here a few times. Very friendly, will be back very soon

I really like this place. I usually order a CHeeseburger/​Chicken Burger or some wings whenever I’m in the area. I’d totally recommend it to peeps. They also have some decent prices if your looking for a drink or two. May I also mention that I got a free shot on St. Patrick’s day?! =D

Food still has been good. Service is starting to be slow once in awhile but its fine. Still good times!
Skillet or Crab Benedict for brunch is awesome!

Can’t complain about a thing here. The food is excellent, varied although limited menu from steaks, chops and chicken to a pasta or two and sandwiches or a seafood offering. Always done right. Its a bar with some tables in the back and occasional entertainment. Go in, get a drink or two, and then have dinner. Very reasonable prices, and the beer lines ARE clean. If you are drinking tap beer, you shouldn’t be reviewing anyway. One complaint upon thinking about it: no parking.

I have been conning here for years but the food has just gotten better. Their brunch is awesome and it is such a friendly place to eat and drink and watch a game.

Watch the Cubs game here with my two five year olds in the evening. At least three other families there with their kids eating and cheering on the Cubs in the restaurant section. Pizza was good, bread was good, beer selection could use a good local mirco craft beer,

They have trivia here every Monday. Great, low key atmosphere. Perfect neighborhood bar with friendly bartenders and good booze selection. Also the 50 cent wings on Monday are awesome. I’m here pretty much every week.

I’m reviewing McNamara’s as a brunching-​with-​toddlers («BWT») spot, not a bar.
I regularly lament the dearth of good brunch (BWT or not) spots in Irving Park, east of the expressway. The only salve I have found for that, other than the gobs of money I save not eating fancy brunch food and drinking bellini after bellini, is McNamara’s, just a little west of the highway.
I’ve been there twice, both times to meet a friend and both times with at least 3 toddlers in tow. This time we were 6: 3 adults, 3 toddlers, 2 infants. Trouble, and yet we had a great time.
There was outdoor seating – essential when you are outnumbered by kids, particularly ones who either enjoy or can’t avoid dropping food constantly. Our waitress delivered a stack of Irish Soda bread slices (I think it is) right when we arrived – also essential to the BWT experience because hungry leads to all kinds of badness. Finally, she kept the bloody marys and beer coming. Yes, bloody marys and beer; we had FIVE KIDS UNDER THREE with us for gods’ sake.
The only downsides I saw were the lack of a changing table in the bathroom (and, come on, it is a bar) and that one has to walk through the bar (and wonder about the state of our society, given how many people are getting blasted at 10:30 a.m. on a Sunday) to get to the restaurant.

i have mixed feelings about this place, as the only viable bar in our neighborhood.
pros: delicious and inexpensive weekend brunch, fantastic wood-​fired chicken sandwich, outside seating.
cons: dirty lines for their tap beers, blasting music outside, servers who don’t write down your order (and get it wrong).
honestly if they would clean their tap lines and cut the outside music, this place would improve massively.

One of my favorite places in the neighborhood.
Try the turkey. Fantastic!
Potato leek soup is the best.
Decent beer selection.
Good prices.
Always a good time.

Service was terrible. Rude bartender. Didn’t stick around for dinner after the greeting we received. I say find a job you like. Never will go again.

I love this place. It is the perfect neighborhood bar. The bartenders; Eileen, Steph, and Lauren, are the nicest girls in the world. They remember your name right off the bat, and are all genuine, which I appreciate.
The food is good, and I’ve had a lot of the menu, but all the girls know that I’m most likely going to order the chicken tenders, original, with honey mustard sauce.
Basically, come in here to have a good time. Whether that’s watching a game, chatting with the always wonderful bartender, or grabbing a quick bite to eat, or trivia on Mondays.

3 great places all in one…1. Bar — TVs, decent bars on tap and specials. 2. Restaurant: booths and 4 tops create this side restaurant where you can sit down and have a meal. Live music on Fridays/​Sats. 3. Outdoor patio: 2 patios for summer drinks and dining. You really can’t go wrong, this is my favorite neighboor spot.
Ps. try their Turkey Meatloaf special, it’s awesome.

This is a nice place to watch TV, get on wi fi, and have any drink from Heineken to pineapple juice (if you choose to avoid sodas or alcoholic beverages). Nice ambient temperature and get out of the house during the cold weather. Friendly people. Family atmosphere up to 9pm. Then it is like a living room pub. Good conversation or you can get on free wi fi or watch big screen tv. It is like being home and the prices are fair to frugal specials.

One of my favorite places for breakfast in the neighborhood…
Sweetbread that they serve with every breakfast is delicious!

Two different worlds… One, in the middle of bar. People watching the game. Drinking. Eating FF. Talking with very tall barman.
Second, very homy, cozy breakfast/​lunch place. They serve this special sweet bread with raisins before you even order something. My favorite thing is the Skillet. One if the best in town for sure! Love the Eggs Benedict toooo! At dinner time looks like they got different specials every day.
Staff is nice. I really nice atmosphere. Good place to eat lunch and drink coffee. At summer time they open patio witch is great cause not many places at the neighborhood got that :)
Once again. If u want to drink a beer with a friend or take your kids for a dinner, you should check this place out.

Stopped in on a Monday evening for dinner. There’s bar seating, table top seating in the adjoining room and patio seating in 2 areas on warmer days.
Since we need to take advantage of nice weather when we can, we opted for patio and sat on the Irving Park side.
The menu offers the usual suspects for bar fare – chicken wings, nachos, potato skins, mozz sticks. And they also offer a nice array of sandwiches, entrees and salads too.
Service was great. Made some great suggestions for beer and was on point with our requests/​needs.
The food was good. We ordered half an order of nachos (beware, the half order is HUGE and we couldn’t finish it), the Fish and Chips dinner and chicken tenders for the kid. They offer malt vinegar, as it should be served, for Fish and Chips, The fish was fresh and well made. The nachos, like I said was a huge portion and good – refried beans, sour cream, guacamole, jalapenos, cheddar cheese, tomato, onion, and salsa sauce. The chicken tenders were pretty average.

I’ve been here a handful of times both for dinner and their Sunday brunch. Both times had a good experience.
We’re here now on Father’s Day, and it’s not too crowded which is fantastic.
They offer the brunch menu alongside their regular menu, which is great as my husband doesn’t tend to eat breakfast foods. I ordered the crab cake Benedict and he ordered the build your own chicken sandwich.
Crab cakes were good, a little red pepper heavy for me, but not enough to deter me from eating them. The hollandaise is slightly bland. Still smooth and creamy, but could have used a hit more of lemon juice. The potatoes that came on the side were just potatoes, but were good in the sauce.
His sandwich looked good. He got it with sautéed mushrooms and buffalo sauce. The chicken was a great portion size. Only complaint would be that the bun was not up to the task of keeping the sandwich together.