P.J. Whelihan’s Pub & Restaurant

Front doors were jammed shut. Beautiful building. Hostess/​staff uninviting. Inattentive server and bartenders with low guest count. It took 55min to receive second drink. Will not return.

I’ve been here a handful of times and always had an enjoyable experience. However, last night my friends and I went in for the Eagles game. (It was packed!) Told to wait 45 minutes, ended up waiting 60 minutes. Then, we sat at our table without beers for about 20 – 30 minutes… We were about to leave at half-​time when our poor waitress (it wasn’t your fault!) was able to get her hands on our drinks. Food was okay. The girls who brought out our food threw it on the table, no silverware/​napkins for my buddies. My one friend who ordered a pitcher of beer got no glass — he was perfectly fine drinking directly from the pitcher, however, the pitcher was obviously cleaned quickly and it tasted like soap. My other friend got his food 30 minutes later once we had finished. Cold. And to top it all off… the game broadcast and all Televisions turned off twice during the night. Eagles lost which didn’t help add to the experience.
Overall, they were slammed. Bar staff was overwhelmed. Seemed understaffed. Our waitress did everything she could to keep us satisfied, and for that, I thank you! She’s the main reason I didn’t give 1 star for our night. I’d probably come back for food on a random night — however, I’m not sure this is the place to be for a big sporting event.

Wings and fries are good but the rest of the menu is terrible. Drink prices are way too high for the area but it is a fun place to watch sporting events.

This place is soooo nice and a very cool place to hang out. Unfortunately the food isn’t all that. Our food is never temperature hot. Everything is rush rush here. It’s super busy everytime I’ve been here. But if you don’t go for the food then just go to be entertained with all the good looking staffs they have working there while you get your drink on. Haha Enjoy because I did!

I haven’t been in this building since it was Casa Grande. It has been converted into a mecca for watching sports which is why I went. My midwestern team was playing on the west coast, so no chance that game gets any late Sunday afternoon airtime on MY east coast cable feed, so off I went. …
1. THE FOOD AND DRINK: I had a French Dip roast beef sandwich. For about $ 10.00, I received about a ¼ lb. of fairly tasty thin sliced beef on a french bread type roll with some melted provolone, chips and a pickle. It was warm enough and not bad. Traditionally, this sandwich comes with something called au jus gravy which I would have much preferred to the small cup of the more soupy canned beef gravy that was included. The «craft beer» list offered about a dozen draft brews and some in bottles. The beer was cold & quite tasty with most offerings starting at $ 5.50. (Note: the list was on a paper handout in maybeeee– 10 point type. Wear reading glasses? bring ‘em.) …
I shared a plate of «chipoltle lime wings.» The wings were big, and covered in a gooey somewhat sweet sauce with a hint of chipoltle but no lime flavor detected. The consistency was «kept warm on a steam table» and slightly tough but NOT objectionably so. I’d give them a 3– 3.5 out of 5 rating.
I’ve had better but definitely had worse…
2. THE SERVICE: …
Our server was timely and attentive. No problems with food ordering, delivery and beers came quickly. However, technical difficulties and delays resulted in some problems watching my game and others.
It took 5 – 10 minutes to dial up my game and then in the last 5 minutes of several games including mine, whomever is in charge of the televisions managed to change every tv to the world’s strongest man competition and only after a 4 – 5 minute delay was he/​she able to reverse it. Hint to management: Retrain this person or someone else needs to do this job.
…
Finally, the rest room was clean enough for a men’s room considering most times I am pretty ashamed of my gender for it’s ability to pollute a bathroom. Having said that, one of the two soap dispensers was out and both paper towel dispensers were out. To their credit, they also offered a super blower hand dryer which helped but did nothing to allow me to wipe my face or the counter top after I finished. Yeah, I do that.

This is a sports bar. To assume anything else would be a mistake. Overall, the food and service were appropriate for this type of place. DO come here if you seek sports on numerous TV’s (50 or 60?) with loud commentary or club music pulsating throughout, especially on Sundays. We endured the sappy Eagles victory song several times. As sports bars go, it is more stylish uncluttered and comfortable than most, with PLENTY of room. DON’T come here for date night expecting anything romantic. I was generous with my overall star rating because «A-​Ok» suggests no room for improvement. ( Unilocal should fix that.) WIth some more attention to detail and some technical refinements including TV and volume management, Whelihans could be dialed-​in. # Unilocal #P.J.Whelihans

Awesome environment. That’s a plus. But food is hit or miss. Service at the bar is awful. I wish sports bars would hire based on sports knowledge, charisma and actual ability rather than looks. It looks like they just want cutesy looking girls with little ability to talk and provide good service at the bar

Good place to watch sports. Food pretty good. Service at the main bar, POOR! Girls chit chat is more important than taking care of customers?

My fiancé and I absolutely love coming here! We are so happy that Berks County finally has a place like this. Tonight we went in for dinner and were seated after 5 minutes, due to it being fairly busy. We were quickly greeted by our server, Morgan, who was friendly and knowledgable of the menu.
They offer a great selection of craft beer along with a good selection of your typical beer (Coors, Miller, Bud Light). The beer menu gives you all the information and more, which is great!
The menu offers a little bit of everything, and I personally think everything is reasonably priced. My fiancé and I got the French onion soup which was delicious! He got a turkey Reuben, which was huge and full of flavor. His side of famous fries were hot and seasoned well. I got 10 wings, which were done just right. The wings here are a must have and are honestly the biggest wings in the county.
This is a great place for kids, sports fans, and large parties. They have 58 tvs (I asked). They have a huge patio, which also holds a small bar.
The service is always great from start to finish. Some of the reviews are a bit harsh. I think the women are too quick to complain, because the staff is 99% females. Overall, we love coming here and can’t wait to go back!

I come here for lunch some days and sit at the bar. They have since turned down the loud music (from my previous review), and it is an enjoyable experience now. Nice big wings and a variety of beer. The other options on the menu are good too. Give it a shot!

Menu is smaller than I expected, only like 4 wing flavors available. Super overpriced, 2 orders of wings and 2 sodas was like $ 35, which is ridiculous. The bar/​restaurant is huge.

For as much as I’m in to food, I’m really bad at identifying obvious chain restaurants. That was the case when P.J. Willy’s opened up in Spring Township. «New restaurant opening? I can’t wait to try more of the local flavor!» It wasn’t until I Googled the place and realized they already had a dozen locations in the Northeast.
And local flavor it was not! Well, they DID have pretzel bites, so I suppose that could be paying slight homage to Pretzel County, USA (which would be nearby Lancaster, although Berks can hold its own).
Anyways, this place has a ton of TVs, and you can get super rowdy for any sporting event. I was literally standing up in the «dining room» and screaming at the top of my lungs during the last Monday night Eagles’ game. And no one batted an eye.
The food is downright atrocious. Think of your grocer’s freezer section and then, if you can, brace yourself for even worse quality. That’s what you’ll be served here. I’d prefer bagel bites or just straight up Ellio’s pizza to be honest. And while we’re reminiscing about my 90’s cuisine, let me just give a shout-​out to Gushers. Thanks, Gushers. I miss you. You’re better than anything P.J. Whelihan’s has to offer.

Ummm I mean I don’t really except much from pjs anymore. Our waitress was a nice girl but very inexperienced and very well. Honest. When we were finished eating she goes oh sorry for the wait I was cleaning the back so I can leave then she told us she helped us out by not charging us for the famous fries up charge. Yet when I looked at the bill the 1.99 was there for both entrees. I don’t mind paying for it but don’t say you did something and then don’t. She then also started to sweep under our table when we were still there!!! I use to work in a bar and grill so seeing people do things like this makes me cringe. The food was alright. My boyfriend didn’t like his at all but he’s way too nice to say anything and mine was okay. I can’t complain I guess. Still kinda mad though waste of 68 dollars. Thanks pjs. I won’t be returning.

Consistently terrible service and mediocre food. Game sound may or may not be coordinated with the images on screen, which really defeats the purpose of coming here to watch a game.
Basically you should only come here if you’re sneaking around a trashy mistress who you can’t take to Spruce because you’re a regular and people would recognize you.

Super noisy sports bar, mediocre food at best.

Good food tonight (usually hit or miss), and excellent service (Dani), which is unusual here.
I had the Sriracha Chicken Tacos which were excellent. We all shared wings which were eh.
The hosts were completely indifferent to our presence. Nothing like walking out and having three kids at the hostess stand ignore you and your patronage. Sweet.
Also, place was half empty on a Saturday night at 6:00. Warning signs?

I’m pretty sure my chicken died of natural causes and then was petrified before it was left in the deep fryer for three years. I really expected more from this place.
I got the Hot n Honey and Chipotle Lime BBQ. I almost chipped a tooth on the Hot n Honey.

Oh, I would love to like this place — it is all the shell of a cool place, but the food is so predictably boring and microwaved, and the hot wings were cold in both temp and taste, and the bartenders had no interest and personality that I would drink beer here and that’s it
Food is just totally bland and tasteless and overpriced — but lots of tvs are fun!

I have been anxious to try this place! We really don’t have a «sports bar» of this magnitude in Reading. Decided to try this on a Sunday around lunch time, after football season was over. Knowing what this place looked like inside with the previous 3 restaurants that were here… Wow, they did a nice job renovating this place! It is very open concept, from one end to the other. With a big bar in the middle. The exception is the outside bar, which is closed, because it was 20 degrees outside!
Enough rambling, lets get on to the food and service! Alissa was our waitress, very polite and attentive. She is the reason I am giving 3 stars instead of 2!
My sister in-​law joined my wife and I. We did not have any alcohol on this trip so
I cannot rate the bar or drinks.
I wanted to try the «Official wings of Wing Bowl», however I hope they realize real soon that charging $ 10 for 10 wings in Berks county will not fly! There are alot of places with good wings and flavors that charge
$.50 per wing, Or have all you can eat for under $ 10. Their prices lowered the star rating!
We started with the Loaded Tater Tots, pricey for quantity but, Awesome! Gotta try them if you go!
Main dishes: Wife, PJ Burger… needs alot
of improvement… starting with getting rid of the frozen burger patty and make a fresh one!!!
Sister in-​law: Crab cake sandwich… she took the top bun off looking for the crab cake. Small portion for the bun size, looked over cooked, but she said it was good.
Me: Started with the Boneless wings with the Sesame asian sauce. It was supposed to have a «kick» but I didn’t taste one, and it was a little salty. For my meal I had the Fish Taco, had to ask if it was one taco or more cause the menu made it sound singular.
Compared to the rest of the food we had, this was the shining star! Should be a feature dish, not hidden with the other sandwiches on the menu! It was 3 soft flour taco shells with a bit of red cabbage coleslaw on the bottom, topped with a piece of white fish that was slightly crispy grilled. There was a piece of lime on the plate to
squeeze over the fish (I highly recommend doing so) and a side of fiesta rice. These were the second best Fish Tacos I have ever had! They saved this place from a lower rating!
All in all, I will comeback at least one more time. I want to see how this place operates during a sporting event and to see if they changed their prices.
If you guys at PJ Whelihans read this, please
price check your competition… including the smaller restaurants, or you might over price yourself right out of business in Reading! Especially with Tilted Kilt and Buffalo Wild Wings coming to town!

Only because I can’t rate lower. Waited a full hour on a late lunch Saturday only to have our food come out cold. Server could have noticed we had a 3 year old and made some effort but she was busy socializing at the server station. If I could measure a meal by the amount of food left on our table I’d call this a waste. Beers are only redeeming feature here. Save your money and go to Chilis for better subpar dining. We spent $ 80 and feel cheated out of 2 hours!

P.J. Whelihans is a complete waste of your time, and the only reason I’ve decided to write this is to inform others not to make the same mistake.
In an area outside of Reading where you’ve got a plethora of choices to choose from, you have to be exceptional to draw continuous crowd. You will not please people forever, or keep a business going by looks alone. You know who’s business model that was? Hooters. Hooters is no more, at least in this area. No amount of sports paraphernalia that you nail to the wall, or large TV’s you mount, will fix your general incompetence of staff or weak menu offerings.
I’d like to share with you my experience. I just returned from lunch with a handful of coworkers. During our visit we had two orders botched, one credit card left behind when the tabs were collected and a lotta hungry folk who had just paid more then they should for way too little. Your food was reminiscent frozen meals to go. Along with the school cafeteria like presentation, the taste was non-​existent. I understand portion control all too well, but these were meager at best. Of the group that was with me, nobody would be considered obese. Everyone left hungry.
To say I am disappointed is an understatement. Maybe the understatement of the year. I’ve never felt so compelled to write a review before, never so angry at a food establishment. If I could take stars away from you, from every review posted here, I would. It seems my only recourse is to leave you with a single star, the absolute worst that Unilocal will allow me, and the hope that you will either quickly fix your deficiencies, or be replaced by someone more savvy.