Ballydoyle Irish Pub & Restaurant

I wanted to write this place a decent review...I really did, and I would have before my experience there last night.

Flash back a week and a half ago - I called and asked if they took dinner reservations, the guy who answered was NOT at all friendly...even after I told him I was bringing in a large party for my birthday.  Then I asked what time they start charging cover for the band - he said around 8pm.  I had a group coming out for my birthday party so I needed to know these things.  I'm also friends with the band, so I was coming to celebrate w/ them as well.

I've been here a few times before and they NEVER charged a cover to see this band so ok, I get it...they bring in a crowd, let's charge them but we arrived at 7pm and they were ALREADY charging.  Most places don't charge if you're coming in for dinner that early - double, the cover and your meal but I guess this place does now.  The guy at the door was nice enough to let me in free as I was the birthday girl.  We were told that if we left before the band started we'd get our cover back.  Lame.

The place was jammed packed but kudos to our waitress Claudia who did her best to accomodate us all night, this included separate bills for everyone which was extremely helpful!!! She gets the rave review here...

A friend of mine stepped outside the bar at some point (it was quite hot in there) and saw that the door guy was letting people in for FREE saying, just keep going... without charging.

At the end of the night as the place was pretty much cleared out we noticed one minute the leftover birthday cake we brought in was at our table, the next minute it was gone...no one seemed to know where it went.  It ended up on the ground outside the door.  Not to say the bar is to blame here but really????

The food is good here, the service is great but I was not impressed by the rest of this place.  I'll probably come back to support my friend's band, but not for this place because I'm a fan of it.

I love this place!  It probably helps that it's an Irish bar and I am Irish, but the food is also good and they have a pretty decent beer list.  I didn't really like the pot pie; it had some spice in it that I found off-putting, and the "topped with puff pastry" really just means there is a puff pastry roll plopped on top.  It was ok, but I'd never order it again.  My husband and I both have been please with the fish and chips as well as the chicken tenders.  I don't normally like french fries very much, but theirs are SO good!  We've also like the pulled pork sandwich, the philly cheesesteak sandwich, and I most recently tried the vegetarian boxty.  I'm officially a boxty fan!!!
We also frequent the DG location when Send in the Clones play.  They're a great cover band, and are really entertaining!  We've gone to the Aurora Ballydoyles to see them play as well.  I very much recommend checking them out at Ballydoyles!
Also, the service at the DG location has been great!  I don't think we've had a bad server there.  I don't have any complaints on the service at the Aurora location either.  The one in Bloomingdale, however, has awful service!  They were always nice, but VERY slow.

Ballydoyle is a nice Irish Pub-themed place on the main drag in downtown Downers Grove.

It's located a few minutes walk south of the Main St. Metra station, so it's an easy haul if you're arriving via that route. If you're driving there, your best bet is the parking garage which is pretty much located behind the place and free during evening hours.

The food and drink here are OK -- nothing to rave about but not bad at all, either. I had dinner here with a friend shortly before moving out of the area and had a Reuben sandwich with a side salad, washed down with a couple of Harps. The service here was A-OK as well.

Outdoor seating (which we had) is available when the weather favors it, although it's located alongside a busy walkway and can be annoying when you have a bunch of out of control kids running around, as was the case when we were there.

Nice place -- for as long as I lived in the area, I wish I'd visited it sooner than I did.