My wife and I have a love/hate thing going with Delaney's. Â We live locally (5 minutes within walking distance) so we stop in more than we probably should for a late dinner or quick bite to eat. We like the place, but it has become an exercise in frustration. Those that frequent the place will tell you- the food is not the problem. Most of the items on the menu- some of which are very unique- are pretty darn good.
Where Delaney's fails continuously is its inability to provide consistent quality service and timely food delivery. We tell everyone in McKinney who ask us about the place- "Hey its a great beer/sports hangout and the food is good, but you'll be wondering where or who your waitress is half the time, and why it takes 20 minutes to get an appetizer."
And sadly, no statement could be more accurate of this place- just read the reviews. Not sure why the owner can't find good help, but if he ever does, I think this place would stay even more packed than it is now, which is pretty respectable bar traffic throughout the week.
So, food, I would say: 4/5
Service Quality: 1/5
Food wait time: 2/5
I give it a 3 for now in hopes that the owner will hire MORE and BETTER wait staff. We WANT this place to be good, but we've begun skipping it for the service woes alone.
I can't believe all the horrible reviews here. Â We went here for the first time this past weekend and thought it was great. Â We had fantastic service and really liked our food. Â I had the turkey sliders and they were great!! I would definitely order them again. Â They have a zillion beers on tap and this place is WAY bigger then it appears from the outside. Â We had great service ~ our drinks were never empty and our food orders were perfect! Â I would definitely go again!
Review Source:I would have rated it ZERO if I could.
Absolutely horrible service. Â Waitstaff that doesn't know what they carry and attempts to make excuses when the food is prepared incorrectly. Â Some dishes are grossly overpriced for what they serve - no consistency. Â I Â have been served a fork with a quarter-size gob of melted Cheddar on it - it was wrapped up with a knife in a cloth napkin. Â It may have been washed though that didn't stop them from nicely wrapping it in a cloth napkin and giving it to a customer. Â I have been served the wrong beer and they told they can't take beer back even though THEY brought the wrong one (I hadn't even tasted it - not that they could serve it again). Â Why would you go to a place that treats their customers like that?
I have been going to Delaney's since they opened and it used to be a good restaurant and pub when Blue Tate owned but it has really gone down hill.  I guess people don't know that it changed hands.  The last time my girlfriend and I went there everything seemed 'okay' - not great but okay - but certainly not like the old days.  After all the problems I had experienced there, I foolishly gave it one more chance (I _WANT_ it to be a good place!) and noting that the place was about 60% full, I decided to eat instead of just having a pint and grabbed a tall table closest to the kitchen.  After delivering my beer it  easily took ten minutes for them to ask me if I wanted food.  I ordered the easiest thing to make besides fries, and that was nachos - simple and tasty, chicken or beef, lots of cheese (with jalapenos, pico, sour cream and salsa on the side - so says the menu).  It took about eight minutes for the nachos to hit the kitchen window - and there they sat (and, yes, I timed it because there were five waitresses standing at the window chatting and counting their money and none of them thought to bring my food out to the _closest_ table to the kitchen).  It sat there for six minutes.  When it was finally delivered everything was integrated onto one plate.  I can't eat that many jalapenos without souring my stomach.  When I explained that the menu description says that all that stuff is on the side, she countered, "We don't do that anymore."  If you are too cheap to reprint a page of your menu, shouldn't you tell the customer that it has changed?  I asked her to have it remade.  It was done in five minutes and served promptly.  Then she asked if I wanted another beer.  I asked about St. Arnold's Santo that I hadn't tasted yet.  She said it was dark and heavy.  It is a Kolsch style beer (but dark rather than the typically very pale style).  It is light in body, so she clearly knew nothing of the product she was selling.  This sounded puzzling so I asked if I could get a taste and she told me that tastes were $1.  I'd open a bar in a heartbeat if I could sell beer for $1 an ounce!!
They have 52 beers on tap and I really want to have a good beer place near my house but it seems clear that they simply don't care. Â
I can only guess that they must be in financial trouble if they must charge for a taste of beer and don't want to put the nacho sides in plastic cups. Â Considering the amount of patrons, one must infer that there financial concerns are a management directive and when restaurant management starts taking shortcuts, watch out, especially in the realm of food safety.
My seven year old walked in and said it smelled like a bathroom. We should hae known. Horrible food. My tip- don't go. Couldn't manage to cook carrots long enough so they weren't raw. Hubs burger was terrible. Daughters chicken nuggets were so greasy. Same w fries. It's like nothing was drained. Dripping with oil. How do you screw up a burger and chicken nuggets? Waste of $35. Only positive- Bartender pours a strong drink. We'll never go back.
Review Source:My family and I come here fairly frequently because we shop at Market Street and it is very close to home. Â The space was expanded not too long ago whereby they took over a failed Cajun eatery. Â They blended some of that menu with their own and you have an new eclectic menu that I think works better for them. Â This evening, I had an Irish Burger that was good. Â It was accompanied by sweet potato fries. Â My wife had her usual salad.
I like the pork chops and the shephard's pie. Â I have been to their breakfast on a few occasions and the food is good.
The bar area is loaded with a sufficient level of different beers and liquors. Â Trust me, the bartenders know what they are doing. Â I think some of the complaints are from some of the regulars who feel they need more loving. Â No, I am not the owner, but yes, I think I know who you are. Â If they feel the need to complain because they will not let you get drunk, go somewhere else. Â The atmosphere might use something. Â Perhaps, the kitchen could be closed off more. Â There may be a tendency for waitresses to not look busy when they really are. Â We tip well. Â If there are complaints, it because it is the same idiots noted above. Â The place will get crowded. Â It is a sports bar and it can be loud.
I don't quite understand any bad reviews for this place. Â I love this place. Â They have over 30 different beers on tap...a very diverse selection. Â Atmosphere is great tasteful live music. Â If you like sweet potato fries...hands down theirs are the best. Â I go there just for that with a draft beer. Â All hamburgers are great and huge. Â I have never had slow or bad service and I have been here many times. Ignore the bad reviews and give it a try. Â Gotta have the sweet potato fries if you go!
Review Source:Delaney's is close and convenient to get to, after that it sucks. Service is slow and rude. The food is hit and miss, sadly the best breakfast in Mckinnney its not, cold eggs
and  country fried steak only warm from the gravy made this experience the last I'll
have here for food. But be warned if you drink here the bartenders are illiterate or dont care, ordered a non spicy bloody mary, it burned the throats of all that drank it.
Think if you live in Mckinney eat downtown or drive to Plano or Frisco.
I visit Delaney's at lunch on a regular basis. The waitstaff is always very attentive, even remembering what I like each time I return.
I really enjoy their smoked salmon croissant sandwich and their bacon cheddar burger. Plus, the fries are always great ... hot and crispy.
My family also enjoys Delaney's Saturday/Sunday brunch. From the very simple for my husband and me (eggs and bacon) to the kids' meals (waffles or pancakes), it all tastes great. Plus, it's right around the corner from our house!
My husband and I prefer to visit restaurants that are locally owned, and Delaney's advertises itself to be a great place to watch NFL games and, more recently, the World Series games. Instead of watching the World Series at home, we decided to try this place out. The first time was with our son, and the service then was very slow and inattentive, but since it is a local place, we decided to give it a second try last night. We figured that since it was a Saturday night, they would plan better and actually have an appropriate amount of waitstaff for the crowd that they hope to have on a weekend night with the World Series going on. We left last night after we sat for over ten minutes without anyone coming by to help us out.
Food: The food here is typical bar food with a few Irish/English dishes to fulfill its "Irish Pub" atmosphere. The food isn't bad. I liked what I had, and so did my husband and son. We had their appetizer sampler with fried pickles, potato balls and philly steak egg rolls. We also had their fish & chips, a burger and the Guinness stew. I can't complain about the food. It was all pretty good. This is the only reason this place has two stars instead of one.
Drinks: When the service is okay and you can get the drinks you want within 45 minutes of when you order it, it's good. They have a good selection of draft beer, and they have some good mixed drinks.
Service: This is where this place lost all of its stars for me. The first time we tried it, the service was good at first. But that's when there were only about ten tables occupied. When the game began, more people started coming in, and that's when the service literally died. I mean, it became nonexistent. We ordered a beer, and it literally came to the table 45 minutes later. We saw our waitress and the manager a couple of times in between and asked them for it both times, and they both seemed annoyed that we were asking for BEER at a PUB. They both stated that they were really busy and slammed, and they'd get us our ONE beer as soon as they could. So, if you're advertising a great place to eat, drink and watch the games, and you have a certain number of tables available, then don't you think you should have more than three servers available??
The following weekend, we figured on a Saturday night, they should have been more aware that there is a big game going on, especially since they are once again advertising it. So we went there (I know, suckers...) and we sat at a booth. After ten minutes of sitting and being ignored by waitresses serving other tables around us, we finally waved one down. She seemed annoyed by yet another table (gasp) with people to serve. We asked for our two drinks and waited another ten to fifteen minutes. So we left.
Lesson learned: NEVER go back. Ugh. And then the Rangers lost. Bad night.
YUM! My husband and I have lived in McKinney for about a year and every time we were in the market street parking lot we would see the sign for the breakfast at Delaney's and we always said "man, we should totally go to that". I cannot believe it took us SO LONG to try it.
I absolutely loved the breakfast I had, and so did my husband. Not only did we get to enjoy some very tasty mimosas with our brunch on a Saturday, but I had the irish eggs benedit which has potato pancakes, spiced sausage with hard boiled egg (instead of poached, but it was still very tasty) and that is quick fried to give a little crunch to the topping. Their hollandaise was delicious and I got toast with the plate but nothing for the toast so I asked for some of their gravy because my husband was raving about it and the manager brought it to the table and informed us he handmade it that morning. SO yummy. I loved it.
My hubby had the lumberjack breakfast and it was VERY generously portioned, I really couldn't believe they charged less than $10 for 2 biscuits, sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs and their homemade gravy! Hubby couldn't even finish it but it was so tasty he kept snacking on the plate throughout our morning. We are definitely excited about going back again and enjoying breakfast.
Is this a pub or a family restaurant? Kids all over the place & were hogging the pool tables while mom & dad drank. Beers tasted weird either from being off or the glasses. Food was iffy. I got corned beef & cabbage which was basically deli slices & reheated mashed potatoes. Wife ordered nachos which were terrible. Don't understand why people take their kids to bars here in McKinney or how this place manages to stay open.
Review Source:We loved this restaurant and bar and came here often. The past year though it has really gone downhill. Â The food which was always fabulous has really suffered. It was always a little in the pricey side, for a bar, but we happily paid because service and food were great. Now it is not worth paying the extra cash for very mediocre food and service. Â I really hope they get their act together because they used to be our favorite spot!
Review Source:I agree with the reviews below. Â I really enjoy this spot awhile back, but I havent been back since I got very sick from this place. Â I will not drink out of a glass w/out a straw or order draft beer anymore. Â I woke up the next morning after drink draft beer from Delaney's and woke up and my mouth was very sore and hurt really bad. Â Thinking about all of the reasons behind this there were only 2...either their cleaning product for their dishes irritated me or a glass was not cleaned. I am usually very good at checking my glasses before drinking out of it, but it is pooly lit inside this pub and wouldnt have mattered. Â All I have to say is that scarred me for life and have not returned!
Review Source:The food is decent, although I honestly haven't tried much here. Â The menu is a heart attack waiting to happen. Â I think I'll continue to avoid clogging my arteries with 72 pounds of fried fatness. Â
They DO serve Franconia beer...which is deserving of 5 stars :)
Karaoke nights are generally entertaining...but I think it has more to do with the people I go with, and less to do with the actual bar. Â And I say bar, not pub, because in spite of its misleading "Irish Pub" label...this place is barely better than a Chili's. Â
Case in point, one night I ordered an "Irish Car Bomb"....which is a staple at any pub...let alone an Irish one. Â The waitress had no idea what I was talking about. Â I had to go to the bar to order it. Â And then...the waitress brings out the beer...minus the rest of the shot. Â Required another trip to the bar. Â NOT COOL!
Food was excellent. Service was good (nice servers) and bad (long waits). Everyone in our party has really liked their food. My husband LOVES the Philly Cheese-steak rolls (like an egg roll with Philly Cheese-steak). They have...I think they are called Rusty Balls... that are like balls of potato with cheese, chopped bacon and jalapenos. Wish I remembered the exact item name but in general the stew was great. They have clam chowder every day!!!
Review Source:We recently moved to McKinney and are working our way through the restaurants in the area. In spite of the so so reviews for Delaney's we decided to try it on a recent weeknight since it is close by. I pull up outside and my husband (who arrived first) met me at the curb to let me know that they lost their liquor license and have no beer. WHAT?! What kind of Pub doesn't have beer. So we went next door to Market Street and bought a six pack of Guinness and BYOB'd it.
The fried mashed potato balls for an appetizer were pretty good, but just fair. Good enough for beer and football. My husband had the fish and chips...so so. I had the corned beef sandwich....again so so.
I got exactly what the reviews told me...so so.
Drive a little farther for Holy Grail, Trinity Hall or any pub in downtown McKinney. The food is mediocre and the service is poor!
Oddly enough, the service is much better on the weekends when the band plays and it's packed full. Â This is when the managers show their face and seem to care about your service.
During brunch or weeknights the service is rude, slow and more than once I've had the feeling like I'm intruding on their social time with each other.
They don't have the right to be called a pub. They are a greasy spoon that serves Guinness at best.
So sad . . .
Delaneys used to be our favorite restaurant - and all the more so  because it was close to home.  A true neighborhood treasure with great food, good service and a comfortable clientele of regulars.
Unfortunately, since the new owners took over, the place has slid steadily downhill. Â We've tried to hang on, but tonight was the last straw. Â First of all the restaurant is no longer kept clean. Â You can smell it when you come in, feel it when you seat yourself at a sticky table and see it when you look at the dusty counter tops.
The service has gotten really poor. Â We sat for 10 minutes with no contact whatsoever. Â Just as we were ready to walk out, a sullen looking server wandered by and we were able to put in an order (from memory - we never got a menu - or silverware). Â While we were waiting for our food we saw two other groups give up and leave.
When the food finally arrived it was a shadow of the old days. Â Flat, flavorless burgers - limp, greasy fries. Â I'll spare you the details - suffice it to say we will not be going back. Â Ever. Â Such a shame that someone would spend money to by a successful restaurant and then run it into the ground. Â And all the more so because it truly was the kind of place you loved to go.
Delaneys will limp on for awhile longer with its new clientele of pretend bikers and after work partiers who come mainly for the drink specials, but it will fold soon.  The heart has gone out of the place - its just a matter of time.  Do yourself  a favor and wait for the next restaurant to take the space.
This spot is very close to the hizouse...so we thought we'd check it out. Â We weren't looking for anything revolutionary, but honestly were just looking for a decent burger and beer. Â
Initially, we were pretty impressed to see some of the selection of draught beer... Â I'm not trying to say my honey and I are Certified Cicerones or anything, but we do occasionally like to have a brew other than Miller, Bud or Coors. Â Hubby ordered a standard Guinness and I ordered a Maredsous 8. Â These are beers we both have previously enjoyed on various occasions. Â On this day, we did not. Â I don't know if there is an issue with the taps...or what...but wow these beers were not good. Â The Guinness bore a vague resemblance to itself and my Maredsous had turned into something else entirely. Â After not being able to finish my beer, I ordered a Miller Lite to see if that fared better. Â This round was indeed better but only marginally...the place was pretty busy - so I don't understand why the domestic light beer wouldn't be pretty fresh and regularly rotated... Being that the beer part of our visit was pretty sad...we were in the running for a 1 star review.
We both ordered cheeseburgers and these were there only redeeming feature of the evening. Â Nothing revolutionary, but a sound hamburger that home grilling could only silghtly improve. Â We may indeed return for a burger (I'd say alone they're about 3 stars), but we won't likely order any brew.
Beware of new owners!
We used to go to Delaney's all the time (they are one of the only bar in town that serve my favorite beer and they are close to our home). Since the old owners took off the place has gone totally down hill. We were there with a large group of people on a Friday night and couldn't have been more disappointed. The service was decent (usually we have to put up with slow servers) but everything else bad. For some horrific reason the owners (that could not have been more absent from their own restaurant) decided that they'd like to save money on their overhead by simply removing the buttons from the thermostats and setting it at miserable 84 degrees!! Totally unacceptable for a hot June night. If we were burning up, I can only imagine what the staff was feeling like. This is cruel. No wonder the owners refused to be there for a busy Friday night... they'd melt! Paying up to $5 for a draft beer they should have the decency of keeping their patrons comfortable. And by the way, $6.50 for chips and salsa is totally ridiculous for a pub, who do you think you are?!
This was my first time dining here and I was impressed with the food. The atmosphere was relaxed and a little over the top with the Irish trinkets and pictures. They had tons of beer to choose from along with numerous mixed drink choices.
I had the Ham and Gouda Croissant sandwich with potato salad. It was delicious and I will definitely get it again. My wife had a burger with swiss and mushrooms and she loved it! My daughter enjoyed the mini burgers off the kids menu.
The service was a little questionable, although at the time we were there they were in the process of replacing their computers. The waitress apologized a lot, but not all of it was caused by the computers. We were waiting quite a bit! It wasn't bad enough to turn me off of this new find. I'll be back for sure.
Burgers: 4 and half stars
Irishman's Gyro Wrap: 3 stars
Customer Service: 2 stars
Overall ambience: 2 stars
Before I say anything negative, I've got to say that the burger my husband ordered looked really good and he said that it was a tie for second best burger in the immediate area. Â That's the good news.
I had the Irishman's gyro wrap and it was good but not terribly memorable. Â They need a "secret" sauce to jazz it up a bit and give it some pizzazz. Â That has really been my experience with Delaney's. Â I've been once before, had the pita wrap and was similarly unimpressed.
The experience today was just weird. Â We walked in and the bartender told us to sit whereever we would like. Â So I grabbed two menus and we headed to the closest booth about six feet away. Â We took two steps and the hostess appeared and took the menus away from us and told us to sit down and she would bring them to us. Â Stunned, we walked the other 5 feet and sat down and started discussing going somewhere else. Â She waited two or three seconds and then brought us the menus. Â That was just weird. Â Why would she do that? I mean, what was the point??
I find the presentation of the restaurant really confusing. Â I used to go to Tipperary's when it was on Greenville. Â Now, THAT was an Irish pub. Â This place looks the part but it plays country music as if were a BBQ or cheap steak place. Â The waitresses, some of them, wear exceedingly short Catholic school uniforms suggesting that it is more like a Twin Peaks or Bone Daddy's. Â The food is far superior to Twin Peaks and falls short of Bone Daddy's. Â The restaurant is on the west side of McKinney where you would expect a more educated clientele with a broader pallette but the menu, as previous reviewers have said, seems to be addressing an uneducated and inexperienced clientele by saying, "if you haven't ever had this, don't order it". Â Personally, I find that insulting. Â I was raised to never turn my nose up at new food and that is one of the few things I truly enjoy about traveling. Â There are other restaurants that I have gone to and enjoyed the food without having any idea what it was (Indian, Mediterranean, Ethiopian). Â I can't help but think that this is their way of covering for poor quality. Â If the food is good, why be afraid of letting people try it? Considering where the restaurant is, it can't be blamed on the population. Â With the kind of wealth in the area, we aren't exactly talking local yokels here.
I've seen some reviews on Delaney's that defend it saying that it is a neighborhood sports bar, nothing more and nothing less. Â Maybe, but that would be a shame because I think it has a lot more potential than that.
Great neighborhood bar and restaurant. Good food and several nice beers on tap. The blackened chicken sandwich is great. I'd recommend the potato salad. The burgers are very good...better than most nearby. (However, they almost always cook it medium-well regardless how you ask for it. It's still juicy though!) Friendly staff and the bar is well designed for it's size. They have about 12 HD TVs throughout.
Review Source:We trekked up to McKinney today for fun trying something new on a recommendation of a friend. We erred in not confirming exact location, so sorta kinda went out of the way by travelling up 75 to McKinney, taking the Eldorado Parkway exit, West. North on 75 was travelling too far East of the restaurant. The faster more efficient way from the Addison area would have been taking the tollway, then turning East on Eldorado Parkway No problem, we saw lots of scenery and areas not visited before. (Saw some other spots along the way to try in the future)
This restaurant is a smaller space than imagined after reviewing the web site, and is a definite "'neighborhood place" with lots of regulars. Nice first impression (love 'hood restaurants) At 1510 in the afternoon, it was moderately busy. Diverse mix of patrons; singles, couples and families. Dark woods, high top tables & chairs in the center, wooden booths on the right of the entrance and rather large long bar on the left. Okay, I am gonna like this place.
The menu is quite extensive, from several apps, soups and salads, wraps, sandwiches, burgers, hoagies, croissants, pitas, and entrees (Some looked so good; several chicken options, beef, shepherd's pie, Guinness stew, corned beef & cabbage, fish & chips, pasta, etc., so tempting!) So many to choose from. We saw delicious looking salads, burgers, etc. being served. All tempting.
We both opted for the cold Tuna Pasta Salad; (on this hot 103 degree day), a wonderful blending of flavors with finely diced (and I mean, REALLY finely diced) celery, onions, cabbage and jalapenos tossed with a smooth dill ranch dressing over penne pasta, topped with lots of freshly grated Parmesan Cheese, and served with beautifully grilled pita slices that were amazingly soft and buttery, The serving was HUGE,; IMO, enough for 3 servings. I'll have lunch tomorrow and again the next day. Even my friend, who is a big eater couldn't finish his generous portion.
Side note - there were probably over 30+ draft beers available. Friend had a Miller Lite (yuk!) and I reallllly enjoyed a Stella. Both served in an ice cold glass with lime. YUM !!
Service by Chris was "cute". He acknowledged right off that he had only been there for about a week, but any questions about the menu he couldn't answer, he would find out! And, he did! Chris has a great customer service attitude and was very attentive and helpful. A very young man (maybe a college student?) who deserves KUDOS for trying so hard. He added to our great experience.
Also, observed on the menu they have Brunch on Saturday and Sunday 9am-2pm, and Mon-Fri 9a-11a. How nice that would be. Lots of choices, some most unusual...typical "Irish Pub" items? One dish that caught my eye - Fried Green Tomatoes on top of 2 Sausage Patties, with 2 eggs (fried or scrambled) and 2 pieces of Toast. Sounds Yummy !!! Mimosas and Bloody Mary's for $3.50 at brunch.
Hope I am in the area sometime soon to experience more great service and some really different menu items.
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