I love Irish pubs. They are pretty much the only places I will ever go for a drink, as I hate bars and have always loved the ambience of an irish pub. In my book a great irish pub has great music, great people (and lots of them!) excellent food and terrific service, as well as lovely ambience. Murphy's fits the bill completely. They are sort of like two pubs in one - there is the quieter "snug" that surrounds the bar, and another area that fills to the brim with people on nights when there is music. The music plays only in the larger area, and seems to be only celtic music and is quite excellent. They have music on thurs, fri, saturday and sunday. The muscian that night is always listed on a blackboard at the head of the alley that leads back to the pub.
That's right, an alley! With cobblestone walk and a terrific old irish feel to it. There is murphys on one side and an Irish gift store on the other, and once you walk down that alley it is like you exit sonoma entirely and enter a little piece of Irish heaven. There is some sort of bakery near the head of the alley and they cook bread 24 hours a day so the alley always smells deliciously of fresh air, baking bread and the wonderful pub grub that murphy's serves.
Murphy's food is out of this world. They have regular resteraunt food, like steaks, pasta, etc. and also sandwiches, but the real beauty of the place is its genuine Irish pub grub. They have shepard's pie, pasties, mushy peas, colcannon... and all of it is positivily delicious and extremely filling. On top of it they have the most delicious onion rings I have ever tasted. They allow kids, just like a real pub, and have a short kids menu as well. And they mix an excellent Irish coffee.
The prices are reasoable as well. Last night was my birthday and my husband and I went there and had a feast. We had a shepards pie, colcannon, mushy peas, pasta, two orders of onion rings, three guiness, and an irish coffee, which all cost $65, which I thought was excellent. I couldn't finish any of the food since they have such bountiful portions and took home nearly everything in a box. I have tasty food now that will last me at least two days, and I really feel that it was worth the money.
They have plenty of irish memorbillia on the walls at Murphy's, even in the bathrooms which are clean and fit in well with the rest of the resteraunt. The lighting is perfect and the servers are very attentive to the needs of the patrons. I was surprised with their excellent service - they were perfectly willing to accommidate our large order and they got our order perfect on top of that. The food arrived hot and fresh and at amazing speeds.
They also have a nice outside sitting area, including a table that has its own heater, which I thought was terrific. The area in which the music is performed has a 7 dollar minumum during performances, which I thought was perfectly reasonable. The music last night was a terrific celtic music jam that meets there the first sunday of every month.
All in all, I think Murphy's is my new favorite place to drink and eat. It is the BEST irish pub ever and I recommend it to anyone. I'm even going to take my 92 year old granny there! I believe that they are open from 11-11 on weekdays and 11-12 on weekends.
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