Murphy's Pub & Sports Bar — Restaurant in Cromwell

TL;DR Last Licks: 5/5 Murphy's: 0/5

We had an awful experience at Murphy’s in Cromwell (AKA Chicago Sam’s). A group of us were invited by a friend to support the local band Last Licks, and let me tell you, we will never return to this place, and neither will the few small groups that made up about 20 spectators.

First off, there was a $20 cover charge, which we expected that since it was a live show. Doing the math, that’s about $400 the bar took in because of the 20 invited people who came there to enjoy the band. But I really hope that money went straight to the band because Murphy's certainly didn’t earn a penny of it. The service was abysmal. We waited 45 minutes just to be greeted by a waitress, and while drinks came out in a decent time, we were warned that the kitchen was "backed up." Fair enough, but we certainly didn’t expect to be there for over THREE HOURS with no utensils and cold food. My friend had to wait to eat her salad because there were no utensils.

To make matters worse, they brought me a cold plate of pasta without the BBQ chicken listed on the menu and offered me a to-go box hours later—after I had already explained I had never received the full meal I ordered! On top of that, they brought the wrong order to our table—a stir fry that we didn’t ask for—and tried to charge us for it. They kept mixing up orders with another table.

There was a fight a grown man almost initiated over politely being asked to take back his empty beer bottle. The entire time, the bouncer was too busy collecting cover charges to notice the chaos going on just feet behind him.

All in all, this place was a disaster from start to finish. If you’re a fan of Last Licks or a decent dining experience, do yourself a favor and go really anywhere else. Don’t waste your time or money...

I go to this particular place every year to see my favorite band. But this year was quite different than the years in the past. First of all, we were charged $20 cover charge for a local band, (which I I do love.) But I've only paid $10 there every year in the past. So I'm sorry Last Licks but I'll never be coming to this establishment to see you ever again. Because when I spent the $10 cover in the past, I'd spend an awful lot of money drinking and eating. But after paying $20 cash for a cover, I refuse to give them any more of my money because that's just BS the way they rip off the Last Licks fans! So I had some house wine. I ordered a pretzel. It took over an hour and a half to get the petzal and before the band was playing and during their break they had this speaker on the wall blasting so loud that you couldn't even hear yourself think or try to talk to the person next to you. So as for the food, the taste of the pretzel was delicious. But if the manager can't take care of an establishment that gets an awesome local band then they shouldn't be managing this place. The service was horrible. It took forever for her to come back and ask me if I wanted another glass of wine and then she never did come back to ask me if I wanted my check!! We had to go to the bar to pay for our tabs! So the service was bad. The management was bad. The overcharging was bad. So sorry! I miss the old owners of this establishment and they weren't that great either, but much better then this one! And as for the band they were awesome! I'll just have to see you in all your other locations...

All they did was put a new sign on the front of the building. Sat at the bar. The bartender asked us what we wanted for drinks. We asked for menus and were given just drink menus. She disappeared and the bartender from the other side came over and asked if we were ready. We said we needed a minute. Our bartender finally came back. We ordered drinks. She disappeared again as we waited for her to come back to take our food order. We could see her vaping in the back. Another very sweet girl noticed we were waiting to order and took our order and menus. Our bartender finally came back, so we told her we already ordered. Our bartender kept leaving the bar to talk to her neighbors. And when she was back behind the bar, she only paid attention to 2 guys that seemed to be regulars and walked around to the other 2 bartenders who were diligently working. Our food came out. Both dishes came with fries. I had a handful, my husband had half a plate. We asked the very sweet girl if that was normal, she said no and went and got me more fries. Wings were pretty good. My tuna melt was not melted. Food was lukewarm. Our original bartender was useless. Manager walks around not doing anything or managing his staff, half of which were standing around doing nothing. We made sure the girl, who said she was on her 3rd day got a good tip. We will not be back. Place needs more than just a new sign. It needs an overhaul, and management that actually manages service...