My husband and I went here with our 3 girls on our way home from Madison. Â We were trying to find a new place to eat and looked this place up on yelp. Â From what we read it seemed like it was a hit and miss place so we decided to give it a try. Â I really wish we hadn't. Â We looked the menu up before we even got there and decided if the appetizers we wanted to try were good we would order our dinner there. Â We ordered 3 appetizers to share between the 5 of us. Â The wings, the cheese curds and the irish nachos. Â The only good thing about the wings was the flavor, other then that it was like they were microwaved wings with their own sauce thrown on them. Â The irish nachos were a joke. Â It was soggy waffle fries which once again seemed like they were nuked with cheese and bacon on top with a small dollop of sour cream on top. Â Now the menu states that its waffle fries with cheese, bacon, sour cream, scallions, peppers and pico on it. When I asked our waitress about it she got snotty and rude with me and said that the peppers and scallions were in the pico. Â When I looked at the menu incase I was mistaken I then got her attention again and she said that like she said before the scallions and peppers were in the pico and if I wanted extra onions and peppers she would have to go back to the kitchen and get them for me. Â The only thing that was excellent was the cheese curds. Â Our drinks were not refilled one time and our waitress walked by us several times and the place was not busy at all. Â When it came time to pay our bill was 34 dollars. Â Even though the rude horrible waitress didn't deserve a tip I at least gave her a couple of dollars which brought my total bill to 36 dollars and change. Â Well it has now been a couple of days and I was looking at my online statement and I was charged 10 more dollars then what was my original bill plus tip. Â I called the place and they had someone there that was able to refund my money thankfully. Â I would never eat here again nor would I EVER recommend anyone to eat here. Â If you do decide to chance it like I did make sure if you pay with a card that it is for the right amount after a few days so that you don't end up giving a 12 dollar tip to a crappy waitress.
Review Source:I'm a big supporter of local restaurants but this one won't get a third chance. We had a weekday lunch there and the service was so slow it took a full hour to get our orders, making us late for getting back to business. The management apologized and gave us a $5 gift certificate so we tried again.
It was Sunday breakfast at 10 am the day after St. Patty's Day. A great time to celebrate with the Irish! The front of the restaurant was pretty full, but there was an entire dining room to the side that was empty. After a 15 minute wait the hostess led us to the front dining room and pointed to a table that was across 3 rows of tables. Problem was each and every table group was crammed in there with the chairs back to back and no way in. Off she went leaving us staring at the patrons with a bewildered look. Hey, everyone loves staring at a room full of people with a table you can't reach...
We walked right back to the hostess stand and stood waiting for another 10 minutes to see if we could get another table. We were in full view of the wait staff. Nobody even gave us a glance or a "We'll be right with you". After that we just took off and ate at another restaurant.
Everyone in Janesville wants interesting restaurants that have a unique menu and are independently owned. I do too! But I sure won't give this one another look!
Our first visit to O'Riley and Conway's was St. Patrick's Day, 2013. We fully expected the place to be busy due to the holiday, what we didn't expect is a list of shortfalls as follows; 1) An Irish bar that was out of Strongbow on St. Paddy's Day. Â 2) Our corned beef and cabbage dinner was served without any silverware, by the time we received silverware, the dinner was cold and had to be returned to the kitchen. Â 3) We had prompt service when ordering beer, however when asking for water to go with dinner, the wait was extensive. Â 4) There was confusion over the return of our credit card because the server dropped the card into the bottom of the check folder, upon asking to see the manager, we we're told there would be a lengthy wait. Â 5) Despite the poor service, we tipped our waiter, and shared our concerns via their facebook page. Â The facebook post was deleted by them, and comments disabled, rather than addressing the situation. Â Extremely poor service, we won't be back, and will certainly tell others about our experience. You only have one opportunity to make a good first impression!
Review Source:Things I like: it's an Irish pub. I love the atmosphere with Irish music in the background. I like to pretend I'm Irish when I'm in here... I've always wanted to be Irish. Also, great beer selection :)
Cons: The service is very poor. The wait for food is long, like an hour, even when they're not busy. The kitchen also looks.... suspect. While they have a good menu, the food is usually luke warm and overly greasy. Waitresses chit chat while the food is waiting to be walked.
Overall: Great place to come for some beers and maybe some apps. I'd pass on it for dinner.
I had heard from a friend about O'Riley and Conway's Irish Pub from a friend that lives in Janesville. Since I love Irish food, when we were passing through, my wife and I decided to stop here for lunch. The parking is a little difficult. It's located on a one way street and there is parking on the street. The lot next to the building has many stalls marked with signs saying parking by permit only Monday through Saturday. Just be prepared.
The interior is nice enough; it has an old Irish Pub feel. We were seated in the front area, where it felt a little cramped. It was like they tried to cram as many tables as possible into the area with no regard to personal space. I could clearly hear the conversations of the tables next to us while trying to converse with my wife.
The menus had a variety of Irish influenced dishes as well as some American classics. While there I had a cup of the Reuben soup with the Bangers and Mash. My wife had a cup of the Reuben soup and a Salad. I decided to try the Reuben soup because I don't recall ever seeing anyone have anything like that before and I love Reubens.  It was served first and it was delicious. It was like a cream of potato soup with corned beef and cabbage added to it and just a hint of Thousand Island dressing. We both thought it was delicious. The Bangers and Mash were a disappointment however. Bangers and Mash are one of my favorite Irish/English ethnic foods. I've had it all over the country and even homemade ones. These were the worst. The Bangers tasted more like plain everyday breakfast sausage you would get at a local store. Not the savory Irish or British Bangers one associates with Bangers and Mash. Then the mash was nothing more than plain boiled red potatoes that were mashed. There didn't seem to be any seasoning or anything else to them. They were lumpy with large chunks of potatoes and just very bland. I didn't enjoy it at all. The best part was there was a dollop of some Irish Crème Sauce on the potatoes, but it was a limited amount and not enough to balance out the plain potatoes. My wife enjoyed her salad, but to quote her, "It's a salad; it's hard to mess it up."
The best thing about O'riley and Conway's is their beer selection. They had a fairly large one with many beers on tap. The only issue I had was that their beer list just put the name or style of the beer on the list and not the manufacturer. So you might think you are ordering a beer from one craft brewer only to be getting a different one.
The service was a little off when we were there. I'm not sure if this is normal. We had waits between orders. Drinks went dry; I had to inquire about a beer multiple times before getting an answer. We had to wait for our check after requesting it. It was fairly busy when we were there so I'm going to keep that in mind. This may just have been a fluke.
Overall we had a decent experience. I can see the draw of why people like it. I'd be willing to go back in the future; I'm just not getting the Bangers and Mash.
I went for the fish fry.  You get a large piece of fried cod, excellent coleslaw and chips.  It was very good but a bit pricey.  I read the reviews and should have ordered the fish tacos and let my spouse order the fish fry - then split it.  The table next to us had the fish tacos which looked awesome.  Others were ordering mussels, shrimp and I think sauteed spinach over linguini.  That looked awesome too.  (I can't believe I forgot to order Scottish eggs!)  The beer selection is as equally impressive as the food.  I was pleased to see a  triple on the menu. Â
The place is an Irish pub all the way. Â It is an awkwardly long restaurant. Â I think they tried to fit too many tables in front making it difficult for servers and patrons to maneuver. Â Overall though, it was very charming. Â Service was okay but it was very busy.
Everyone raves about the Fish Tacos, so of course we were expecting to have been over-hyped, and were probably going to be disappointed. Not the case here. The Fish Tacos are excellent, the best we've ever had anywhere. We also had the special, Prime Rib Tacos. These were also outstanding.
Quiet booth, fast, friendly service, cold beer, perfect date night.
Terrible service...unless your a regular. Â 1 hr wait for a hamburger with a side of raw fries. Â Hostess was untrained and seated at a table already taken. Â Having worked extensively in bars/restaurants I would say overall it was a disappointment. A bummer really because it offers a cool interior and bar and upon entry you expect a fun pub experience and meal. Â BTW, what the heck is with the 5 gallon bucket of what looked like urine in the ladies room? Seriously no b.s.? A simple suggestion, no matter what it is - that doesn't help peoples appetites?
Review Source:I went to this fabulous restaurant yesterday. It is a smallish pub but has great potential. The bar seating is nice and the restaurant seating is very welcoming. I personally like the small booths they have for a great personal meal and conversation. The decor of the restaurant is great with its dark hues and woodwork. It looks like a pub that would be right at home on the main street of any Irish town. I am not sure how long this place has been open.
Their bar menu is absolutely great! Huge selections of beer, whiskey, and scotch. The food ranks right up there with a favorite Irish restaurant/ pub in Chicago. Two (well four with the other person I was with) thumbs up for their Ruben. The Kerry Rolls were quite tasty as well.
There are a few minor improvements such as they do not have an organized Pub Quiz night. Personally, that is one of my favorite times to head out to a pub for some good food and stretch my brain with trivia. I really hope in the future they will have that as an offer as their consumer base grows. The music playing in the restaurant was great. It really sounded like everything that comes across my Dropkick Murphys Pandora radio.
All in all a great Irish restaurant and pub!