MacKenzies Bar & Grill

Great food. And pretty diverse menu. I always seem to get the Cuban sandwich or the shepards pie (ask for a fried egg on top). Chill atmosphere. If this place could work on getting food out a little faster its 5 stars all day. But honestly don't plan on being in and out fast. Good things take time tho. And its pretty much the only bar in north Stamford.

Stopped in to watch nfl on our way home.  They have the sunday ticket, friendly service, good food. Locals were fun!  Easy on/off 15.

MacKenzies has been around for sometime and I've visited it on several occasions over years. The first few times it was on my parents tab and all I got was a burger. More recently I've had a few beers at the bar on low key work nights. All in all my experiences there have been fair. That is, of course, until I went there the other night with my girlfriend on a slow Sunday night to unwind with a drink or two and have some good old fashioned pub food.

First I ordered the potato pancake appetizer, a shot of Tito's vodka, and a drought beer. The shot was "chilled" (read: mostly water) despite the fact that I didn't order it that way. Speaking as a bartender, that's a big no no. The pancakes came out pretty quick, and were decent. We then proceed to wait an unusually long time for our entrees. My girlfriend wasn't very hungry so she had the side order of mac and cheese and I ordered the shepherds pie. The table next to us, who sat down twenty minutes after us, received their order of mac and cheese before we did (turns out the waitress never fired our entrees and my girlfriend took that opportunity to cancel her order). We're reassured my dish will be out shortly, so I decide to wait for it because I am absolutely starving at this point. I wait probably another twenty minutes for my dish to finally arrive. The shepherds pie was average, and at $15 is one of the cheapest dinner items on the menu. I wasn't thrilled with the quality of the meat, and the mashed potatoes were a little dry.

To their credit, they offer me a complimentary drink and my girlfriend a dessert. Although frankly anything less would have made me very surprised, even at this point in the meal.  Also, my girlfriend has a food allergy to dairy, very manageable if she takes the right pills. So before she enjoys her dessert, she has to take them. Not surprisingly they had let her water run out. I mean, it happens. So I get up to cue the busser/expiditer to refill her water, who happens to be talking to a customer. As a result I'm not surprised that he doesn't immediately grab a pitcher, and I sit back down. I look over two minutes later wondering why my girl's water glass remains empty while she is waiting to try her dish and THE BUSSER IS STILL TALKING TO THE CUSTOMER. Up until this point, I had maintained a facade of understanding (I've been a server at restaurants before myself) but I pretty much drop it at this point. With hardly anyone else in the restaurant, there was really no excuse for the lack of service.

To sum up my experience at MacKenzies, don't go there if your looking for a gourmet restaurant with good service. But do expect to pay those prices, with everything on the menu besides the burger being more or less overpriced. While they attempt to be like their downtown counterparts in terms of price point and decor, the only reasons this place is still around is because they have a captive audience when it comes to people who live in N.Stamford that don't want to drive twenty minutes to downtown.