Rafferty’s Irish Pub

I came here with a friend on a Saturday evening, but left very disappointed in this establishment. Our waitress did not know about any of the types of beer they offered, she personally made the weakest Absolut and Pineapple, and she did not know the proper times to barge in and interrupt a conversation. The only food item we ordered was even worse. $ 8.95 for nachos that barely had any toppings on them. There was a tiny sprinkling of cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, a tiny dollop of sour cream, and a few jalapeños. We had ordered the chili on the side. There were more chips with absolutely nothing on them than chips that had anything on them.
This establishment seems to have more locals and regulars, and that is usually fine. However, this place has the potential to get more traffic if they would improve their customer service and food.

Great place for a drink with friends. Good food, service is a little slow, but very friendly.

Just an ok beer selection, but the pub food here is excellent. Our group of 4 gave very high marks to the Cubano and chicken parmesan sandwiches. The bleu cheeseburger was very good, but really too big (is that possible?). And shepard’s pie… great. Excellent service as well.

It’s a neighborhood bar, so if you’re looking for a 5 star steak or gourmet burger you should turn around. With that said, the food is good. I had a veggie burger and the balsamic mushroom. Yummy yummy. I wasn’t expecting that good of food from a local bar but it was delish! That’s why I’m so confused as to why people are reviewing this place as if it were Fogo De Chao or something.

Been there many tines. Love the clam chowder and fish fry. Also like the chicken pot pie asks bbq ribs. Friendly staff. Great prices, and karaōke weekends and Wednesday

Don’t judge the place by the décor. A diversified crowd and great food. If you like meaty, juicy, tender ribs with a BBQ sauce that has a slight kick, I highly recommend the ribs here. I think they were the best I’ve ever had.

Food was good, service was excellent. Ordered the fish and chips. Ask for COURTNEY! She was quick, nice and very attentive!

The sign said «All you can eat Fish Fry» so we stopped in. What a Surprise !! Nice pub! Great Fish! Not your all you can eat Stale Breaded Fish, but Yummy Fresh Battered Fish! And Oh the Crab Cakes! Try them! Beer’s good tooo.

We love Rafferty’s for a neighborhood pub with good sandwiches and burgers. Waitresses are very friendly and fun! Only complaint is the corned beef this past weekend was not up to par with an Irish pub on St. Pat’s weekend. Too fatty and dry!

My girlfriend and some friends went to try this place out. Never again. Bad service left us with a bad taste in our mouth. Or was that the food. This place is your typical hole in the wall, the surrounding neighborhood should’ve set off red flags. I hate to say that this will be the last time we go there.

Was in the area and stopped here for lunch. Looks like not much on the outside but don’t let looks deceive you– food is good. Not amazing but definitely good Irish bar food for the price. Our server was the only waitress in the place AND she was tending bar! She was great though– and mind you it was pretty crowded in there (Bears game). Crab cakes were delicious, and their chili is really good! I don’t however, recommend the reuben sandwich… corned beef was a bit dry and the sauerkraut was as well.

Unilocal, you have failed me TERRIBLY.
If you are looking for a dive bar with a cheers atmosphere I imagine this is the place for you.
If you are looking for a decent dinner spot to enjoy with your 6 year old… not so much.
Went here on a Wednesday at 4:30 after grabbing my car from down the road. Unilocal reviews seemed promising and I wanted something more than a chain restaurant. I was a bit surprised that there was a solid force of day drinkers there but to each their own so we sat down for our meal.
I had the corn beef and cabbage soup. It tasted like it was previously frozen. Next tried the «button bites». These were pretty decent. How can you go wrong with breaded and fried jalapeños? It really went south with the ribs. They were disgusting. I am surprised they are advertised as their specialty and «#1 ribs in the area». They were made worse by the most terrible rendition of sir mix a lots baby got back I have ever heard BLASTING in the restaurant and copious F BOMBS being dropped by the patrons.
My son had the grilled cheese and fries which he said he didn’t like after he took one bite.
To be fair that is kind of his m.o.

Been here a couple times for dinner and I have to say this place makes the best burgers in the area and they are very inexpensive. Rafferty’s also has a large outdoor eating area which is managed by a very friendly front of the house staff.
If you are looking to stop by for dinner, stop by early because this place tends to fill up quickly, especially on the weekends.

First time here, had lunch on a Friday afternoon. Friendly staff and good service. We had clam chowder– very good. The Irish Stew was fabulous. Fish and chips was good. Comfortable and friendly atmosphere, I’ll be back.

Great place to stop and hang-​out. We sat outside and enjoyed a few beers and a burger. Very nice experience.

It’s a great spot if you’re a smoker. We sat outside on their outdoor deck on a beautiful Saturday evening. I guess all the local smokers know that Rafferty’s does not enforce the smoking ban, hence every table, except ours, was occupied by smokers. Atmosphere was surprisingly smoky, despite being outside.
Cobb salad with salmon was not great — very salty salmon. The waitress was very polite, but too busy to serve our party promptly. Appeared they were short staffed.

I love raffertys. Has a cozy vibe, and a good mix of crowd. I think the burgers are very good! One of my favorites is the caprese burger. The flavor is a nice surprise. I have also had some kind of Mexican/​salsa burger that was good. Prices are very reasonable. Place is very crowded on their fish fry days, Wednesday and Friday. I definitely want to try that! Will be back soon!

I’m having a hard time deciding between 2 and 3 stars, but I’m keeping it at 2.
FOOD: This is the reason for the low rating. I was surprised by how cheap all the food was, but when it was brought out, I understood. I ordered a burger, and was asked how I wanted it cooked. That was a laughable request! It was clearly a patty that was previously frozen, and it tasted like a cold hockey puck. The friend that brought me said their burgers were good, but I thought it was disgusting. I’m hoping I had a bad experience but I couldn’t finish more than a quarter and threw out the rest. The saving grace was the amazing Cajun fries and ranch dressing, but I was not looking for a french fry-​lunch.
DRINK: I had a blood mary, which was also reasonably priced. Delicious, also!
SERVICE & ATMOSPHERE: We sat at the bar, and the bartender was great and very nice. The place was completely empty otherwise, but I can see how this would be a fun place. It’s pretty far out of my way, but close to a good friend, so I’ll be giving it another try I’m sure. Hopefully I’ll have a better follow-​up review, then!

This place will never see another dime of my money. If they put a gun to my head or promised me a date with Helen Mirren — they couldn’t force or entice me back. This place is miserable.
We started the evening by being blasted with the ugliest, most vile hate rock I have ever heard. It was a lovely mid-​August Sunday evening and this music was making me want to rip my own face off. We decided to eat on the patio to avoid the music — only there is an outside speaker system so we couldn’t escape the devil’s braying. Mercifully it got turned down after another couple came outside.
After what seemed like 15 minutes the waitress finally greeted us. She had four tables — FOUR — and no one was getting any attention but she always seemed red faced and out of breath. I didn’t help that she had on long sleeves and a floor-​length sweater. It also didn’t help that she had obviously been somewhere the day before and got enough sunburn that — combined with her other struggles — succeeded to make her look — I am not going to get mean — but let’s just say she should have called in sick.
Before I go any further I need to point out that I am zoftig. I have always been zoftig. When I was in the restaurant industry — I was aware of my build and was very careful to not make that a negative when it came to providing the best service possible. There are things you do and things you don’t do if you are chunky — this girl did pretty much all of the don’t dos.
I finally ordered the Caprese Cheese Burger and well-​done french fries. A Caprese salad is a very specific thing. To make the Caprese properly you layer FRESH Mozzarella and slices of tomato. You sprinkle basil and drizzle some olive oil. I love Caprese salads and I love cheeseburgers so I was excited.
After what seemed like 30 minutes — I was seething but my friend was chatting away and I didn’t want to make a fuss The waitress came out to the table with ice-​tea and my friend’s glass of water. She held the glass of water up under her arm — the rim of the cup tucked safely into her woolen-​clad armpit. Suffice it to say that water never got touched.
She talked about how «slammed» she is — I guess four tables is a lot.
Fifteen minutes later she came out with my food. This is where the evening broke down completely for me. I was so hungry I dug in like my life depended on it. I grabbed a fry — perfectly brown and totally cold. It was like a small slab of press-​board except less flavor.
The bottom piece of the bun was as wet as the waitress’s armpit — but not as salty. The soggy bun made the low-​grade meat even that much lower. The cheese was as fresh as a Jackie Gleason joke.
I asked for hot sauce — got the fleshy smile. Never got the hot sauce.
This was the worst meal I have had in a restaurant — I think in my life. If you say two meals a day X seven days a week — that is 14. Multiply that by 52 you get 728. Multiply that by 25. (This is assuming I didn’t eat in restaurants for the first 25 years of my life.)
In roughly 18,200 meals — this was about the worst. There may have been one buffet on North Clark Street that was in the same ballpark — but this was pretty disgusting.
It only gets one star because some random guy — who made a big awkward entrance — bought a shot of Rumchata for everyone. He literally bought and served everyone in the joint a shot of Rumchata. Had it not been for him — I would not even have be able to eek out that one lonely star.

When my regular Irish watering hole was out of Guinness on a recent hot night– we sought refuge at Rafferty’s which turned out to be a really great choice!
While the parking lot is small and you may find yourself parking along Brainard, once you step up to either taking a seat on their patio or sitting inside, you’ll find a pretty decent Irish pub– complete with friendly locals and good food.
The menu was much bigger than I thought is was going to be. Oh sure– there are the standard burgers, pub fare and Irish offerings, but their dinners were where I was surprised– from steaks to chicken pasta primavera.
We were there on a Friday so the deep fried fish and chips seemed to be the dish of choice– but I went with a burger and my friend went with the pasta dish. Know that the dinners come with your choice of soup or salad and on this night the soup choices were chicken noodle or clam chowder.
Burgers can be made in a quarter or third pound version (I went with the smaller one and it was plenty big!). The other nice thing is that there is a jukebox to play all your favorite tunes but the volume isn’t such that you are screaming to be heard.
Service was good, the beer was cold and the people watching was pretty good in this place! Seems like it’s a local hangout so many that were sitting at the bar knew each other.
I’ve driven by this place countless times and never have given it a second look. But if it’s a cold one served with some tasty food that you are looking for, you might want to turn it and check it out. I think it just replaced my regular Irish watering hole!