The Irish Lion Restaurant & Pub

I've lived in Bloomington for almost 20 years and have been a frequent customer at the Irish Lion at different times, as a grad student and as a professional living in town. Over the years, I have tried every single item in their menu and have sampled their extensive bar selection.

Overall, their food is average at best. Their best dishes are the burgers, which are tough to mess up, and the corned beef and cabbage. If you ask for a salad with chicken expecting it will will have the equivalent of a chicken breast and cut down on calories, don't order it. You'll get maybe five thin breast strips and a bunch of cheap cheese from the supermarket dumped on top of the salad. Their escargots are frozen and prepared with cheap butter. In fact, a lot of the food is frozen and cooking of many entrees seems to be a microwave orgy. On the other hand, their desserts are very good and the whiskey pie is plain sinful. A good menu selection would be fried pickles with a drink of your choice, lamb/blarney burger or corned beef and cabbage and a whiskey pie, even if you're not a fan of whiskey.

Service is hit and miss. Most of the servers (if not all) are young college kids and their attention spans are limited. Sit at the second floor and you may get someone in training and overwhelmed. Sit outside and you'll be competing against better looking people than yourself. For better service, sit in the eating area close to the bar.

Atmosphere is great. The old bar and the tin ceiling make you feel like you went back 100 years. That, paired with their great choice of whiskey amd scotch plus beer on tap, is the main reason I keep going to the Irish Lion.

I've been here twice now. Both times I've gotten fairly decent service--prompt and friendly despite both times being with rather large groups.

The food I've had has been mixed. The appetizers I got last night were fairly good. I got the burger the first time I went--it wasn't very good. So I'm guessing that this place has better "pub" food than their regular menu. But I've heard that some of their meals are decent too--the more expensive ones, a.k.a. the ones I'm not going to buy as a poor graduate student!

The selection of beer is good, but honestly, if you're going here, you need to get a half-yard or a yard of Guinness. Forget everything else!

I'll keep coming back when I'm downtown. It's a decent place and I've got no huge issues with it.

I absolutely love this place! It's one of my all time favorites of Bloomington! The cheap Pub Grub is great for college students trying to save on money and are amazing. The pricey items on the menu are very worth it. The whole menu is wonderfully savory and delicious. Everyone must try the Blarney Balls.
The decor is very intriguing. There are all kinds of taxidermy animals and mounted heads, beautiful model ships are hung from the ceiling. Very old Irish rustic feel.