Pulling a muscle is a very valid excuse for not working out. It's beautiful outside and I haven't been to DeKalb or Sycamore for a while so with no particular place to go I meandered out west.
 Saw O'Leary's and parked. Nice high cieling room with raised seating areas on either side of the door. The area to the left of the door has an old barrel and whiskey jugs for decoration. It used to be a J.C. Penny's at one time which explains the way it's structured including the original copper cielings.
 Lots of cherry wood in the bar, high tables and chairs, and wainscoting with walls painted dark red, very light green, or maize yellow. Pay close attention to the beer can collection behind three glass display cases on the east wall with 350 or more cans. There are also a half dozen large model airplanes (and an obsevation or plain ol' hot air balloon model) from a Mustang to a German Fokker biplane.
 Talked with owner Mel at length and his lovely wife Debbie. They have several aged Irish whiskeys, thank you, so I had three. It was nice to see the Red Breast 12 year, a really smooth and mellow whiskey. Also had the Middleton that definitely gives the Red Breast a run for it's money. Note the Cosentino "The Cab" on the brief wine list. I am crazy about the full flavor and rich mouthfeel of Cosentino's wines.
  Was eating later but in my (newly) constant striving for complete reviews, I ordered the jerked boneless chicken bites. They were batter fried, not greasy, and extremely moist. The jerk sauce was sweeter than I'd personally make it but the allspice shone through which is characteristic of Jamaican jerk and weirdly missing in a lot of other restaurant's versions.
  Nice clean restaurant with attention to detail from the entry way to the men's room, a friendly pair of owners, and some good bar food. I hope I can get back here for the Baconpalooza pig roast Saturday, the 27th of July.
My bride and I've been to O'Leary's several times and I wish I could give O'Leary's at least an 'A-OK' as I like the ambience of wood though it's light wood, I'm a man and real men love dark wood) but when it comes to their menu, portions and the food's pizzaz I've experienced much better.
Maybe it's just me but I find the menu boring. A good menu to me is where I'm in great stress because there are so many things. Not so at O'Leary's it is the opposite, I'm stressing as to what to settle for. My most recent visit I had the A1 peppercorn burger and was reminded I'm not a fan of O'Leary's. It was about an 1/8" think on a ho-hum bun. The side of fries probably smaller than a medium size fry at the place named after a clown. Truth is I felt like it was a meal from Mac's and if not for the meat being somewhat more tastier I would think they ran to Macs.
My bride had the salmon and though she enjoyed it was average at best.
Considering the small portions and the lack of pizazz to the overall prep, I've had much better burgers for the price and those burgers had larger sides.
Then when it comes to desert, talk about boring! There is only four items and one of them is bread pudding. OK the Irish are big on bread pudding but it was boring enough to skip and I'm a kid when it comes to desert.
The ambience is very nice, nice big square bar, booths, TVs. It' clean and he staff is friendly and most of the times attentive but all those pluses don't add up to overcoming the blah of the boring menu, little baby bear portions and the food's lack of being yum yum 4da tum tum and ho-hum food and it is those items that make a Scottie Bear place a 3 - 4 star place.
The going out the door on O'Leary's if your out walking and it's raining and your hungry I'd say it be worth going in the door.
We've been here for drinks a few times before this weekend. Â While they are somewhat over priced normally, they have some decent specials during the week.
My husband's parents were in town and really like pub fare. Â We took them there for lunch on Sunday and were very pleased with the food and drinks. Â 3 of us had burgers and one salad. Â We were thrilled with all of it - it was just the right amount of food and it was delicious.
The only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is because the prices were just a little high for the area.
A little introduction:
I have been to O'Leary's Several times through out the years my 1st few visits were amazing, great service, great food, and atmosphere. Sadly for awhile they tapered off with lower quality food  lower staff count etc see the reviews below, my latest visit was going to determine weather or not I ever came back.
The two of us walked in on a Sunday afternoon about 2ish well past the lunch peak, and we greeted by a Hostess in very little time. She seated us in a booth and we placed our drink orders I had a Apple wood Chuck bottle and she had a Soda, Coke I believe. Fearful of our last time I  ordered for her the tried and true appetizer platter it came with Mini burgers, cheese sticks and chicken fingers. This combo was not at all disappointing in fact it rocked, then came the BBQ Pulled pork sandwich, this was the reason I started eating here the 1st time I ordered it was simply amazing!  This time was almost as good and the best part is they went back to their good fries (last visit  they where cheap and awful) with this powerful rebound for the win I give them four stars!
Why four and not five you might ask? well the service was slow our server was inattentive and for how dead it was I would love to give them a five star but come on people when there is only two lonely tables in the restaurant pay attention.
After living in the area for a year and a half, my husband and I finally decided to try O' Leary's instead of the usual places in Sycamore we've grown tired of. Â
It seemed like there was plenty of staff, and not too many parties eating, but it was by no means empty. We came here around 5:30, and we were seated right away. Â The server was not far behind, so we didn't wait long at all for our beers and appetizer. Maybe a few minutes for the beers and less than 10 for the mozzarella sticks, which were pretty tasty. Â
After reading through the menu, I decided to get the 8 oz. Sirloin and my husband got the Fish & Chips, and this is why I gave this restaurant only 4 stars - I would've liked to see a ~little more variety, maybe more Irish items, but from what I saw, it was your traditional American pub fare. Â With my steak, I ordered the fries and cinnamon apples. Â I ordered it to be cooked medium-well.
We did not have to wait very long for our meals to come, not nearly as long of a wait as Applebee's last month.
I cut in to my steak, and FINALLY....I got a steak perfectly cooked to order! It was just a little pink in the middle, but overall very juicy and flavorful. Nicely charred with pretty grill marks on the outside. I loved the crunchy onions and the seasoned butter that was on top of the steak. Fries were crispy, Â (and there were plenty of them!) not too salty and the cinnamon apples were heavenly. My husband devoured his fish and chips, and could not believe he got so much food for $12. The pieces of fish were massive, and he loved every bite.
As far as the flavor of my steak goes - my $14 dollar sirloin here at O' Leary's was so much better-tasting than the $40 dollar filet mignon I had at Johnny's Charhouse, by leaps and bounds. And it was perfectly cooked. My idea of medium-well was exactly the cook's idea.
The server was always coming by our table, making sure we had enough water, if we wanted another beer, and checking to see how things were. She didn't "disappear", or anything like that which is a sign of a good server, in my opinion.
We ordered dessert, and originally we were going to get the chocolate chip pie, but our server politely informed us that  they were out of the chocolate chip cookies that went into making it. So, she suggested the chocolate molten cake. I was apprehensive, because I know Chili's and Applebee's does the same thing. But this one was really, really good. Two huge scoops of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream, and then the cake. Very warm and moist, and we ate every bite.
The price was what I expected - $56 for two people BUT we did order expensive beers, appetizer, two entrees and a dessert.
I would recommend this place, for sure. However, as our server told us, it will be  getting busier when the NIU kids come back. Definitely recommend coming here for lunch or dinner.
First, was there to take my daughter to lunch. There were 4 in the group, just ordered sandwiches and an onion ring and soft drinks no boose. It was over 60 dollars for a lunch. WAY TOO EXPENSIVE! The onion rings were good, and the food is ok for a bar and grill, I had a burger, which was not as good as a fudruckers, and a small amount of fries on the plate, smaller than a Mcdonalds small fry. Just too expensive for average food, and yes the place is clean for a bar, but yes very slow, maybe because the other poeple in town know it;s too expensive to eat at. I know college kids cant afford to eat there.
Review Source:The ambiance is great the place is huge however the food I found to be rather lack luster. Of course if you claim to be an Irish establishment the drinks must be good, and they always were. However, every time I came here my food was just unappetizing or they would get my order wrong.
My first meal here was the Reuben sandwich which was just plain inedible. The corned beef were in tubes and hard to bite into. I tried shredding the meat but it was so engulfed by fat that it made my fingers sticky to the point that I didn't even want to eat anymore. I left that day hungry.
The second visit my friend and I ordered the huge onion rings which were good and large portions were a requirement. The chicken strips which were a better came in a huge portion as well but being deep fried after the first chicken strip my stomach was telling me to stop and they reheated horribly.
The last meal was during St. Patrick's Day which was a blast they had numerous drink specials and dinner specials and a live band. The place was hopping and the servers were dressed in the funkiest green garb possible. I had a good time because of the the drinks and people around me. I ordered the fajitas and I ordered them with additional shrimp. I did not get my shrimp and they tried to charge me for them. They did however appealed greater to the visual, auditory, and olfactory senses then my taste buds. The fajitas were bland and required alot of salt. The beans and rice were okay but my Guinness pint was yummy.
Great place to hang out for drinks and shoot the breeze with friends but I would skip the good and go down the street to Thai Pavilion or Mediterraneo instead.
We ate lunch here on a Saturday afternoon with our young children and were served promptly. Â They do have a kids menu with generous portions (enough to split) and the grownup menu is huge! Â I suspect that means some things are not as good as others. Â We had fish and chips and the veggie burger with homemade potato chips. Â Both were delicious, and they had $3 pints of Blue Moon--yum!
Review Source:Nothing special at all. went with a large group on a monday afternoon, had terrible service. food was average at best, as we all ordered different things.
Nice and clean restaurant, but if you want a solid bar and grill, head down lincoln highway to fattys. food is much better and dare i say it, even tho fattys is known for slow service, service is better there.
WAY Too Salty/Fatty, Dark, but clean. Â
Oddly competent-looking incompetent distracted waitresses.
Is anybody there NOT red-faced and bloated in early stages of High BP vascular failure? It's  NOT JUST a  beer face.
As Elizabeth D wisely prophesized (Drunk-parent-killer at 4 stars :)
"This is, as I have said, a good place to bring your parents when they visit."
For a college town bar, this place sure is clean. Of course, that means this place gets about zero college crowd, so I'm guessing you don't go here for the jello shots.
We were there to eat dinner before a show at the Egyptian Theater nearby.
I got the fish tacos. Not real impressed. Fish wasn't breaded and fried, the tacos had grated fake cheddar on them, and the tortillas they came on were paper thin and fell apart as I ate. Also, for $12, you get 3 fish tacos -- that's it. No rice, no beans, no parsley, nothin'.
My wife got the Fettuccine Broccoli Alfredo. It was very good, although a little on the heavy side.
My brother got the fajitas -- I'd say he had the best of the lot. It looked very good, and he liked it.
His girlfriend got the pot roast. It came as a large scoop of mashed potatoes (lots of skin still in the mash), two good-sized slabs of pot roast, and a small bit of carrot and some bits of onion. That was it -- basically meat and potatoes. So, if that's what you're looking for, they've got it.
Overall, not worth a special trip, but not a bad place to go if you're visiting your kids -- or waiting for a show at the Egyptian.
TIP: Park somewhere near the restaurant if you're going to the Egyptian, it's only a block away. But watch the parking signs, their are all sorts of parking restrictions downtown.
First of all, I should say that I don't go to O'Learys to drink. I generally go for the food, because my parents like the place, so I'm often there in the afternoon and can't really comment on its nightlife.
The salads are all wonderful, the cornbread is tasty, and the french onion soups are salty and hot. The blue cheese burger is an artery-clogging wonder. I've even had fajitas there. Fajitas were not Irish at all, but they were delicious.
The spiked coffee is also good. The servers are friendly, although from time to time they seem to have been given too many tables to cover, and are being run a little thin.
This is, as I have said, a good place to bring your parents when they visit.
I understand that Dekalb is a college town, but does that necessarily mean that, even at 10PM on a Sunday, the music outside this bar/restaurant must be blaring? Â And did the shot girls need to hear "no" four times before leaving us alone?
The interior of this place was a little quieter, but it was still hard to have a conversation. Â Its decorated in the typical trying-to-be-Irish fashion. Â Bathrooms were clean. Â
Our server was perky, but could have been a little more attentive. Â The shot girls were just plain annoying. Â
My veggie wrap was bland, but the french fries were good. Â My boyfriend's nachos were gross, even by bar food standards. Â
I could see coming back here for a pint if I was visiting friends in the area, but that's the only way I'd be back.
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