Darby’s Pub and Grill

Cool location! Our waiter Tommy was very polite and funny, made the experience worth it

Good food and friendly staff. Les and Lucia are the best! Very accommodating and fun! A hidden gem

Amazing location, kick ass friendly staff, large beer selection. The perfect spot when you want a patio on a nice day (voted ‘Best of the Twin Cities’) and plenty of room inside for big parties as well. There’s a great menu with contemporary takes on classic Minnesota comfort food. Perfect for a mans-​man like me, and plenty of options for the wifey as well. Highly recommend this hidden gem in the north loop — there is something here for everyone: a classic bar scene (plenty of room at the very long bar for everyone — who wants to wait at a crowded little bar like horses at a trough, right?!). Not to mention: Large parking ramp on site — very rare downtown Minneapolis!

What a cool spot! I feel like this is one of the best kept secrets of downtown Minneapolis. A nice, chill spot, that’s good for hanging out with a group of friends, watching a game, or trivia. We sucked at trivia, but even with our complete trivia suckage, we enjoyed ourselves with the awesome atmosphere and great bartenders. Friendly and attentive servers! The Philly Cheesesteak sandwich was awesome!

There’s nothing particularly special about this place except its location and its massive patio. After a Twins game, I’m sure it’s a great place to be because it’s by the light rail and Target Field.
The food itself is standard pub food. The drinks are standard pub drinks. It was good, not great. I liked what I had both cocktail– and food-​wise. Nothing about it stands out, good or bad. However, it does have that hallowed treasure that is free parking in their ramp. Free parking in downtown! The holiest of holy grails right there.
One weird thing is that the bathrooms are down labyrinthine corridors. It’s part of a giant office building, so you have to make a trek to go to the bathroom. (Turn left and then kinda just keep going down that same corridor and after a few turns you’ll get there.) This isn’t a bad thing, but I hope you’re not easily lost when you’re drunk (or sober).
Also, the entrance is actually in the back, so when you reach the point in the alley where you’re going, «This can’t be right…» just keep going. The door’s at the back of the building at the other end of the patio. I think you can get in via the front entrance for all the businesses, but one of my friends got lost in all the corridors doing that…

Darby’s is not only a great place for wings, appetizers, and drinks… but parties as well! We recently took advantage of their fantastic layout for a party. The staff was so incredibly accommodating and flexible with all of our needs. We have had such great experiences we will be having out wedding reception at Darby’s. A hidden gem in the north loop. Perfection!

My husband and our 2 young boys were visiting from out of town and arrived before our hotel check in time. We were tired and hungry and had 2 cranky kids… The service was quick and friendly and they even brought out bread, fries, and fruit to help our little ones wait for our meal to be prepared. We were so pleased with the whole experience and will definitely be back if ever in MN again! Thanks so much!

After a Twins game this place is close and reasonable priced, which is not the case father into the warehouse district.
Good service, the Santa Fe was great with some heat but not silly amounts. Had it with an egg and was happy. As is the case with too many places the medium burger was fully cooked. Oh well.
Coleslaw was OK but not exceptional. The hash browns and fried pickle were both deliciously light. Nice to have some sides that did not weigh done the meal!
Worth the stop. Walk in along side the ramp to avoid the maze. As with all warehouse places, the rout to the bathroom is circuitous at best.

Love this place. Just a perfect spot to go for a beer before a Twins game. The bacon wrapped tots are a must try. They also make a bacon/​cheesy/​tots hot dish that they sell that at the stadium. Service is always fast and friendly, and the patio is huge. Never had a problem getting a table. Thanks Darby’s, I’ll be back.

3.5
Service — The server was there at the beginning of the night but disappeared for the rest of the evening until it was time for the bill. Happens every time at Tuesday trivia.
Food — TOTS, lots and lots of tots and different toppings! There’s chilly topped, bacon wrapped and the standard plain. I would pass on the cheese curds, they were the thick breaded type. I would recommend the quesadilla, probably one of the lighter happy hour foods. Basically all their happy hour items have loads of cheese on it, which I can get down with.
Atmosphere — It’s a sports bar in the basement of a business building near the Twins Field, meh. TVs are placed, from my experience, in good view able spots. no neck craning or looking around a pole to get at the score.
Trivia Mafia Tuesday — quick, like speed trivia which I loved.
Free parking in the structure next store.

The couple of times I have been there the place was empty and we experienced average service. The food wasn’t much better than a franchise bar. I give them one star because they are a very poor neighbor to the North Loop area. They need to realize that they now have a people living close by.
On numerous occasions, they have had their outside speakers cranked up with no one out on the patio. So all of Darby’s Neighbors get to be annoyed. I tried to call them, but just get their answering machine. Next time, I will call the MPD.

Working at City Pages with Darby’s in the basement of our building, it comes at no surprise that I end up there at least once a week.
Hopelessly devoted to their chicken salad wrap, I often find myself day dreaming about it when at my other internship. My only complaint, and of course this is probably just a criticism of the American dining experience as a whole, is that their portions are incredibly large. Having once been a chunky kid, I have no problem downing both sides of my wrap as well as the side fries or tots, but that doesn’t make me happy about it. If their wrap was even ¹⁄₃ less large, I would constantly be satisfied as well as longing for my next lunch here. It mostly just ends in my feeling grossly full and contemplating why I do this to myself every.singly.time.
I always want to order something different, but I keep coming back to that wrap, with the perfect amount of mayo and the addition of grapes that would make a grocery store drop down on their knees in prayer. Maybe I’ll eventually venture out and try their burgers or apps, but for now, my recommendation is for my main squeeze, mentioned above.
I’ve heard from coworkers that their happy hour is spot-​on, so if you’re ever at a Twins game, stop by for a beer.

I’m actually sad to have to give Darby’s 2 stars. I was hoping it would become a staple in my favorite patio bars but after last night, I don’t think I’ll be counting down the days until I go back.
Let’s start with the good. The bacon wrapped tots-​whoever invented these is a genius, they are as good as they sound. Other people at our table ordered chicken fingers, quesadillas, more tots and the chicken nachos which were all great. So overall, good bar food and a great selection of beer.
The bad– the service. We were told right away the were short a server so slower service was expected but what we had was a little ridiculous. We were only asked once for drink orders during happy hour times even though there was about 30 minutes left, so half of our group did not get happy hour prices which is what we came for. They also forgot an entire food order and food came out in the wrong order all night. Between the 3 servers we had they all seemed very nonchalant about the poor service and our waitress at the end did not bother to help us split up a bill between about 12 people, which is a nightmare.
I would probably only go back for a few happy hour drinks and not in a huge group. The patio is nice and big-​they just need to work on customer service… big time.

I feel a response is necessary to a post below declaring the owner of this establishment as, «racist.» First and foremost, I did not witness the described event therefore I won’t directly address that patron’s comments; although labeling someone with that word without further description is negligible and rather cowardly.
What I want to make clear is the passion, dedication, and sensibility that the owners of Darby’s use when running their business and participating in the community.
The owner’s of Darby’s gladly and without hesitation, let a local non-​profit that I volunteer for, use their patio and donated beer to our event. Our non-profit’s focus is on inner-​city youth who attend the Minneapolis Public Schools. We dedicate millions of resources to programs that help further educations, careers, and compassion throughout our community. The efforts and accommodations made by Darby’s far exceeded all of our expectations and the diverse members of our group felt welcomed and EVERYONE had a tremendous time.
I am very fortunate to have my office located in the same building as this establishment… Both owners, in addition to the staff, provide an atmosphere that is reminiscent of «Cheers” — They want to ‘know’ who they are serving, will ‘talk shop’ with you, and foster an environment that accepts the multitude of diverse and eccentric personalities that exist in Minneapolis.
Oh– and if it’s your first time– DEFINITELY grab those bacon wrapped tots! :-)
Thank you, for all of your work– Owners and staff!

We stopped into Darby’s on the fly, really more than anything because it was located between Target Field and where we parked our car. We were very pleasantly surprised. Everyone was friendly but without being pushy
The beer list was not that great but was saved by a couple of the better selections, including a seasonal from Bell’s. Bonus points for the Bells bar glasses. Beer itself was fresh and cold.
Food-​wise it was a pretty decent menu. Salads, burgers, sandwiches. Pretty typical bar fare, but well executed. My husband got a salad with fried chicken on top and he said it was pretty good (high praise indeed for a bar salad). I only got a basket of tater tots, but it was huge and perfectly cooked and only $ 3. Awesome. Our server was really nice and I really appreciated that she did not rush us even though the kitchen was about to close.

Food totally sucks. Thank god they have a nice patio and you can’t screw up beer! Wait a second, maybe they can.

Bacon Wrapped Tatertots smothered in melted cheese.
That’s really all you need to know.

I went back to Darby’s again and their chicken salad sandwich won me over. Not to mention they allow dogs on the patio! Dog friendly places rock!
And if that doesn’t seal the deal, they also have this amazingly tasty hot sauce. Try the calypso hot sauce with your meal next time you’re at Darby’s. But be warned, the calypso hot sauce is as brutally hot as it is phenomonally flavorful.
We need more places in Minneapolis with unique hot sauce surprises like this! I think having tabasco and sriracha at every single restaurant in town is plain played out and boring.

My husband and I frequent Darby’s neighbors of Fulton Brewery and Smack Shack, but we thought we should switch it up before this past week’s Twins Game. We were greeted by an extremely friendly man who was able to find us an outdoor table when they all appeared to be booked. However, that was when good service stopped.
Our waitress seemed extremely bitter and annoyed to be at work, and our requests for water only seemed to further enrage her. She came by seldomly and it took her nearly 10 minutes to come after our friends joined us.
The food was fine; I wouldn’t go so far as good, but it definitely was not bad. I had the crispy asian chicken wrap and was satisfied, but the cole slaw was way too runny. We started with an order of the Frickles (fried pickles) which were good, but nothing to write home about. The shining star of the food we had was definitley the Tater tots, so if you do go, stick wtih those.
The other obnoxious quality was the proximity to the Northern line rail. When the trains were not going by, it was a cool view, but when they went by (which happened twice during our 1 hour visit) it was extremely loud with occasional screaching that was ear piercing.
Needless to say, we will not be back as there are so many better options around Target Field to choose from all of which serve a better product and certainly better service.

If I could I would give this place negative stars. Food was sub par at best. But… our server was sweet. The thing is… there were two guys at the bar playing some sort of dice game. Cool. Except every time one of the guys would play he would slam the dice cup down as loud as he could. Probably trying to compensate for something else…
Anyway it was obnoxious. It was non-​stop. It came to the point we started to say something. Keep in mind there were ONLY 2 other people in the place, who also expressed their frustration. Finally the guys caught our drift but gave us major sass. Turns out the guy slamming the cup was the owner. wtf. Ok. You ONLY have 4 paying customers in your restaurant (located in DT Mpls) total on a Friday night… You need us.
Anyway F this place. Never again. Big mistake. I suggest you spend your money somewhere else. If you consider going here throw it in a hole instead. It’ll be better spent. This place is a joke.

I’ve come by a coupe times to participate in the Trivia Mafia events Tuesday nights (when the Twins are out of town). The patio seems pretty nice, but being Tuesday night, no one was out there.
The bar is part of what appears to be an office complex, so the location is a little odd and not the easiest to find. But once you get there, this doesn’t really matter.
The food on my first trip was very good. I got the grinder and felt that this sandwich was what I would call above average. On my second trip I got the chicken philly sandwich. I wish I had gotten the grinder again. This sandwich was about average.
At the end of the day it is a bar with good bar food. Nothing amazing, but worth going back to with the right expectations.

I might be slightly biased because Darby’s is in my office building, so their happy hour is very convenient for after work, but I’ve had really good experiences here.
They have one of those 3−4−5 happy hours, where certain drinks/​apps are either $ 3, $ 4, or $ 5, which is a pretty good deal. I generally just get a glass of Michelob Golden, but I’ve also tried the Darby-​rita, and it’s very good.
Their food is best when you go with their appetizers. I particularly enjoy their chicken nachos… they come in their own metal ‘baking sheet’ container, and for $ 4 on the happy hour pricing, they could feed a small army. The frickles are delicious, too, and they have bacon-​wrapped tots, which are as decadent as they sound.
The only negative, though, is the table service. I’ve had quick and efficient service at the bar, but I’ve been burned by a waitress several times. I’ve experienced 30+ minute waits on getting someone to take my drink order, which is kind of annoying. I usually just go to the bartender. The service at the bar has been my best bet.
Note:
For lunch, they have daily specials for under $ 7 most days. Their Taco Tuesday special might just be my favorite lunch deal… you get 3 beef tacos, rice, and beans for $ 6.95. Yum!

Let’s see here…
The Patio overlooks the beautiful train tracks. Luckily we left before one came by but I can imagine that would really put a damper on the conversation.
The service is not great at all. Not only did our server literally get lost (we had other staff go looking and report back she was gone), but when she did return, I think she was high. The blank stare and slow reaction speed was kind of a red flag. Then she dumped a beer on me (accidentally of course), but stood there looking at the damage. My friend had to get up and grab napkins as she just kind of walked off. And then, i was actually charged for the beer. Awesome.
I can’t speak to the food since their kitchen closed sometime before 9.15pm (when we orderd). Our server didn’t give us the warning at all, or even offer menus when we were seated, so maybe they have no kitchen? She did offer to call in an order to Pizza Luce if we wanted something. I guess it happens alot?
I have experienced MUCH better before. Might try again on a game day, with lower expectations and that might help. Seems like those might be the best times.

This place could be great for game days but when I popped in for a drink there wasn’t much going on, and on a Friday night no less.
There were some people seated and some at the bar but it was pretty dead, especially considering they had the room to pack a lot of people into the place.
I think this could be a fun place if there were warm weather and the ability to enjoy their sizable patio or music was in full swing. It’s off Washington Ave N and you kind of have to swing around to the patio to find it, which is kinda cool. I like how it’s in a low-​key area off the street.
I haven’t tried the food, but I will be back sometime probably due to the proximity to Target Field and give it another go.

The luncheon buffet is DOA. Ended as did some of the staff’s employment, about two weeks ago. Gone are the Sunny Sliders. Menu is solid though and in the $ 8 – 10 per meal range.
Loved the Sunny’s back ‘in the day.’