Kelly’s Tavern

Never will i step another foot in kellys. The waitress was a complete asshole an told her manager that i wouldnt tip her. u getcha tip when im done drinking an not a minute before they kicked me an my entourage out. we cussed them out an didnt pay for nothing lol. So screw kellys

Good food, good drinks, good clientele one down fall they are pricey. The staff is friendly the wings are great.

Last time I ate hear, about 3 years ago because I refuse to go back, was horrible. They served me undercooked chicken wings… never again.

The service here is not good. We waited a long time. The facility doesn’t look very clean. The bar seems to be the busiest place and pretty noisy. The food was not anything to speak of. I am surprised they have remained in business with the amount of people that were in there on a Friday night. Unless there is a big change will not be returning to this place. I would look someone else to spend my evening.

Was very disappointed the French fries were hard the catfish was small and only one piece. The best part of the meal was the ice tea. Never again. First and last.

Haven’t been here since last review, what a difference!
The place has remodeled and now bright, clean and inviting. The menu has been overhauled as well as the staff.
When you walk in at lunch you do have to find a hostess or waitstaff, usually behind the doors sitting at the bar, but the bar area has been opened up to let sunlight in!
I chose to sit in there since there was no one out in the dining area, I figured I’d get served faster and I did. The bartender was super nice and checked on me often. The tuna bites I ordered were cooked perfectly rare. At $ 10.79 and about a 6 oz size, they are not a bargain, but they were good, I couldn’t order them as a salad topper or I’d be charged another $ 8 which is terrbile– Baron’s has a fabulous tuna bite salad at $ 10.
I also went with a co-​worker after a long day of meetings at about 7pm, we sat out in the dining area, which was so pleasantly surprising, there were other booths with people there (Kelly’s was seldom busy in the dining area). My co-​worker had the reuben they added to the menu and fries. He was happy and decided to order dessert– the desserts they offer are only two and they are not on the menu. He chose a brownie with ice cream. It came in a big glass with lots of whip cream, it looked delicious and he said it was :-) I thought it should at $ 9! The other option was a pumpkin tart or turnover. The cook came out to see how we liked the food (Joseph) a super nice touch.
Staff is actually wearing uniforms (a green Kelly logo t-​shirt), so much better than guessing who is who).
So food is good (average price), more to choose, atmosphere extreme improvement, waitstaff so much nicer (although they should have someone manning the hostess station at lunch).
Forget about the old Kelly’s this one is worth another look.

Wings excellent. Alfredo with Broccoli good. Service superior.
Not really an Irish Pub though.
But all in all a good restaurant
.

The absolute worst place I have ever eaten at. There was a hair in my food and all they said was that the cook was new. Didn’t take my meal off the bill. They food was so disgusting. The place stunk so bad and was so dirty. Cigarette butts all over the floor. DO NOT EAT HERE EVER! They need to close this one down like they have done to the others!!!

Food is average at best. This was my 2^nd visit to this location in the last year & while the service was ok, its the overall feel of the restaurant side that is kinda creepy. Dated & tired décor which stinks terribly of cigarettes. We went to eat in a restaurant & came out smelling like we had been in a bar… now I realize its both but you should be able to enjoy the non smoking side & thats just not the case here.
The food was average. I go because I like buffalo salads & wraps — which truthfully was good. My hubbys hamburger was really good but his fries were soggy with grease. My sons chicken was average with the same greasy fries. Table was dirty & so was the silverware.
We love the Kellys in Great Bridge but we will not be back to the one in Suffolk.

I have family in SE VA and NE NC. I love trying new restaurants… most of the time. I’m ok with the food being average and let’s face it, this location’s food is average at best. Yet, as long as the wait staff is good and the atmosphere is good, that’s easily overlooked. I rather enjoyed the bartender, Kasi. She knew what she was doing and did so very professionally. New manager and all of a sudden a new staff? Seems odd to me and more like the new manager wanted his friends around him instead of quality staff. I will ask my local VA and NC family to avoid this place at all costs. No one wants to frequent a place with leadership driven by popularity over service.

A recent visit to some friends in Suffolk found us at Kelly’s. Honesly, I was a bit dubious about spending my Saturday night in what appeared to be a Bennigan’s, but when in Rome…
I’m glad I didn’t let my first impressions prevent me from having one hell of a night. Our bartender Jen took excellent care of us, ensuring that our glasses were never empty. We pumped $ 20 into the jukebox and had our run of the music for most of the night which lead to several impromptu singalongs. The boys played a few games of pool, but were lured back to the bar with the promise of food. The menu was pretty standard bar fare, but there was one clear stand out: Marinated Steak Bites. Do yourself a favor and order up some of these bad boys, because they were Delicious. The steak was tender and juicy and cooked perfectly. It’s served with a spicy aioli sauce that ads a nice kick to the steak. If I had known it was going to be so good I would have forgone the calamari for a second order of steak.
The crowd started filing in around 9ish, and there was a good mix of folks of all ages.
One thing to mention for out-​of-​towners: It’s southern Virginia, so they allow smoking in the bar section. We had several smokers in our party, so it wasn’t a huge concern for us, but for those not used to spending hours in a smokey environment it may be a bit of a turn off.

After seeing many Kelly’s Taverns in the area, we finally decided to try out this one. Walked in and waited to be greeted. The restaurant was not busy. We probably stood there 5 minutes with no one coming to greet us. So we walked out and will never return.

When the waitress tells you the chef is in training, how are you supposed to take that! We ordered the special which was chicken & dumplings. I received chicken broth with egg noodles! I can only rate based on my experience, and it was not good!

First, the table was not clean. Whatever was atop my tuna was unidentifiable and the potatoes were cold. I would not recommend.

Desiring to not eat at a chain restaurant for lunch while I was in the area, I chose to eat at Kelly’s Tavern.
I liked that the «burger» menu gave your four options — beef, turkey, chicken breast or veggie. My choice was the fried egg — chicken breast option. Meal came with a choice of several sides, and I chose the fries.
This was a delicious choice. Server did ask how I wanted the egg fried, and I chose «hard» so there was no runny yolk. The blend of cheese, egg, bacon and chicken breast was enjoyable, and the fries was good too.
Service is not the strongpoint of this establishment. The entire time I was there for lunch they had maybe 4 or 5 tables being served, so I would assume the locals steer clear. I stood inside the door and waited for someone to greet me and take me to my table. With so few tables I don’t know what the server was doing, but she certainly wasn’t attending to the needs of the customers. My beverage glass was empty before the server finally showed up for a refill.
Looks like some staff training, management training or both is needed here.

Well they are awful friendly down in Virginia. I guess us New Englander’s get spoiled with good food. Super accommodating staff, just hard to find good food down here.

On vacation in VA, we stumbled on Kelly’s Tavern (Suffolk, VA) by accident. We were at a strange (for us) intersection in the dark in what looked to be the center of town. This large Irish-​looking (if Bennigan’s was ever OK in your eyes) bar rose in front of us. After a long day of car travel (and having fond enough memories of Bennigan’s) we decided to give Kelly’s a shot. The building looked clean, modern and had enough wood and faux shamrocks to lead us to believe that we would get a decent meal.
We were quickly mistaken. Upon entering the dining room, you could have heard a pin drop. There were a couple of tables eating in near silence except for the loud woman on her mobile 3 tables down and the cop who left his scanner on. You could hear the faintest alt-​rock-​Irish soundtrack at minimal Muzak levels at this point… but things were way too quiet. Went to the bathroom (past the bar) hoping to find some life in the building but was met by an NBA game nobody was really watching and about 4 people nursing various refreshments. talking at library levels.
The server took our orders and within a reasonable time brought our food… to universal disappointment. My wife’s grilled chicken/​Kobb (not my misspelling) salad just lacked any sort of zest. The chicken was ok, the salad was just a bunch of elements thrown together on a plate and just didn’t taste good together (her words). The girl barely touched her chicken fingers and steamed broccoli leaving half of it as there was «too much brown dry spots on the broccoli». I went with the Carolina BBQ sandwich. I was hopeful as I smelled vinegar when it got to the table but unfortunately upon inspection my pulled pork was simply chopped with vinegar and not (seemingly) part of a sauce as my pork was pink and untainted looking. Worst of all, the BBQ sauce the server brought was the overly thick dark red/​brown Kansas City sauce most of the restaurant mass-​marketers pass off as BBQ sauce as opposed to an easy to make Carolina style sauce… and it was cold. I ate my sandwich-​I had driven for 13 hours, had a quick nap and was hungry… but I wasn’t proud of myself.
Short story… Kelly’s kind of sucks. Their atmosphere is stultifyingly boring (at least Friday, November the 2^nd it was). The food was inspiring to the most banal menu maker in the world and the execution was non-​existent. I would call Restaurant Impossible on this place but they kind of have to call Robert Irvine themselves. Here is the link because you guys are struggling and your expensive building in the middle of town needs help.
PS, the coolest thing in the place was the cigarette machine so congratulations Kelly’s on having a modern machine that pimps cancer-​causing devices be the most interesting thing in your building!

We eat a Kelly’s from time to time and the food is fairly o.k. most of the time. Your best bet are the tuna bites (request that they don’t over cook them) and the crab dip.
The main issue with this place is that they still offer smoking and it smells like it plus I don’t think they ever clean the walls and carpet when they stopped allowing smoking in the entire restaurant. The kelly in Va. beach and chesapeake offer the same awful smell so I don’t think the management notices.

Kelly’s in Suffolk is ummm… A MESS! The service was ok and the food was even worse. I went for lunch and ordered a sandwich and french onion soup. The fries that came with the sandwich was great however the sandwich was just ok. The french onion soup came with a massive amount of cheese on the top and really tasted like tepid flavored water. I probably wouldn’t go again.

I have to say that service is hit or miss at this Kelly’s. I’ve had excellent service twice — Fourth of July 2009 & 2010. I’m not kidding.
The food is alright. The hamburgers are your best bet and are usually quite good and I do like the fries. The crab soup here tasted like lukewarm milk with chunks of stuff in it. It was disgusting.
I can’t recommend this place. The other Kelly’s Tavern in Chesapeake is far more consistent with good service.