Donnelly's

Hands down my favorite Iowa City pub. I have always had superb service from the friendly and attentive staff. The prices are pretty darn good and the atmosphere is great.  This small pub is mellow enough to have a quality conversation with dinner guests yet not too toned-down that a jovial time cannot be had. There are plenty of HD TVs and the staff is always happy to change the channel to whatever you'd like. The food is great for a bar.  The wings are the best in town (by far). I would also recommend chicken sliders or fish and chips.  There is an excellent selection of beers and they are more than happy to keep 'em coming.  They have excellent specials such as $2.50 bottle nights (Wednesdays, I think) and serve great seasonal drinks. Overall, this is the best bar in Iowa City to spend a couple hours relaxing, eating, and drinking.

The GOOD:
Decent pub atmosphere.
Burger (angus) was great. Plain, but surprisingly satisfying. Cooked to perfection, moist, flavorful. The roll and onion were both perfect.
The fries were perhaps better than many other restaurant fries, although that might've been because we were hungry and the barbecue sauce goes well with salty food.
Price was generally competitive.

The BAD:
The menu on the website does not match the prices or content offered at the restaurant.
Barbecue sauce costs .50 extra for a single small cup of Sweet Baby Ray's. Fifty cents for that? Really? And the waitress didn't let us know it would cost extra.
Because it was a busy day (and thus it would be too much work/wait), Donnelly's was not offering onion rings. Kind of a lame thing to stop serving, especially when customers only find out when they show up. So, Donnelly's, people should only expect a full range of items when you're not busy?
Oh, a slice of cheese is .75. Seriously.

The MEH:
The service was surprisingly fast for how busy they were. But given that they were probably dealing mostly with customers looking just to drink, and that they weren't taking any of those cumbersome onion ring orders, perhaps the quick service isn't anything to be surprised at. Our waitress was attentive enough, but it way quite obvious she was more interested in getting to other people quickly than in making us feel valued, as she dealt very hurriedly with us. That's not necessarily a bad thing -- it's a pub, and we weren't looking to make friends -- but it's worth mentioning.

OVERALL:
If you want a quick bite of delicious bar food, you could do a lot worse than Donnelly's.

The inappropriate "Irish car bomb" t-shirt seriously turned me off...definitely not an Irish pub (just because you serve guiness doesn't earn you the name.) Our gin and tonics were ice water, the music was ok, but the general ambiance and decor were tasteless and generic. Can't speak for the food at all, but for a late night drinking spot- terrible.