Murphy's Grand Irish Pub — Restaurant in Alexandria

The food and wait-staff at Murphy's are wonderful--I'm a particularly big fan of the Shepherd's pie.

Unfortunately, though, I had a negative experience with Murphy's management that has discouraged me from wanting to plan any future special dinners or small-group events at Murphy's.

The issue we had with Murphy's related to a reservation that was not honored. I had several friends coming into town and wanted to get a table for 10 people, so I called Murphy's two months in advance, and made the reservation for a table close to the really neat fireplace located in the back of the restaurant; staff told me it would be no problem. The week before the reservation date, I called Murphy's to confirm, and they told me I was all set. I also called three days before to reduce the number from 10 to 9 people; at that time, they let me know that the Reservation coincided with Alexandria's St. Paddy's day parade (which is two weeks earlier than the actual St. Paddy's day), but confirmed that the reservation would still not be a problem.

On the night of the reservation, my party arrived on time, but we were told that our reservation had been cancelled (they said they did not allow reservations on parade day). I spoke with the manager and let me him know that I had confirmed this reservation three times leading up to the event, and was told each time (including two days before) that the reservation was still all set. The manager told me they could not change anything, but told me to wait near a large table (which, ironically, had been reserved for other customers). My party waited 50 minutes before we got the table, and even then we had to stand next to the table the entire time in order to claim it. During this time, management did not make any efforts to hold the table for us, nor offer any drinks just to make up for the wait time. When I again asked to speak with Management at that time, I was told the manager was busy and would take a while to come to me (he never did). Luckily, we were able to snag the table about 5 minutes later.

Recognizing that it was an incredibly busy day, my party and I went with the flow and tried to keep things easy for the very busy wait staff. The food was excellent, and the wait staff was friendly, so we left a nice tip. Even so, we were really disappointed that our reservation was not honored, and worse, that we didn't at least receive a courtesy call in the day or two before the event just to let us know that our reservation was not doable. We were also disappointed that Murphy's management took no effort to try to accommodate our wait in some way (even a round of cheap beers would have been welcome!)

All said and one, Murphy's has a great dining experience, great atmosphere, and and excellent food. Unfortunately, given the negative experience, I will not be planning any other special events or large dinners at...

We have been consistent at Murphys. Generally I have been a big fan of the place. The food is very mediocre (though the fish and chips are very good) but the atmosphere, drinks, and live music are incredible. Generally the service is absolutely top notch. However, last time I went, there was a female Latina server. She sat my group at a table. Unfortunately there were not enough seats for the large group. No problem. A small group moved straight to the bar based on the lack of seats. She was immediately upset because we did not order through her for our drinks. She wanted the tips rather than giving them to the bartender, even though we did not have seats at the table. At the end of the night she gave us a bill for several drinks. We told her we didn’t order these drinks, but rather, our friend nearby did. During this time we had talked about going home. He talked us into one more drink each and he purchased a round. He had been standing with us for the past 2 hours. However, he ended up moving to talk to a date that was meeting him there. Therefore, the man who ordered the drinks for our table had moved to a different location in the bar. When we explained this and moved the check to our friend the female Latina bartender became very irate and yelled at us stating that she knew who ordered the drinks and we were wrong. Meanwhile we had talked to our friend and he said, “Yeah, those were on me, I will take the check.” Either way, she was going to get her tip that she fought for. We explained the situation repeatedly and she followed us out of the bar yelling about how we were too drunk to remember who bought them even though we all knew who bought them and the payment/ tip were accounted for and going to her either way. As someone who has been a regular at the location it was incredible frustrating and unprofessional. I enjoy this place but I will not be back for a...

Murphy's a great place to get drunk in a loud noisy full of people bar. If you come at the right time of day one will find live music too. But it's never like a graveyard in here which I appreciate because when I like to drink I like to find many people around me. I'll never eaten anything from here so I can't comment down their food. But I can say that I've always had good service from the bartenders even if they've been a little flirty with my fiance; you know it's all about the tips. I will say don't come here if you want to quiet place to contemplate because I've never seen Murphy's quiet It's always loud cuz there's always a lot of people in here and there's always music whether it's prerecorded or live. Don't come here on a Friday or Saturday night if you can't deal with a packed bar either because it gets quite busy but it is a good place to people watch. And it's also an okay bar to go to by yourself has a female I've never had problems with guys hitting on me here not to say that it doesn't happen just that I haven't experienced that which kind of makes me happy. Anyway if you're looking for a pub that feels like a neighborhood pub I think Murphy's fills the bill. Also I've never gotten discriminated for wearing my three lions England's football gear in here. So thumbs...