Rafferty's Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Evansville

I would give it 3.5 stars, as I believe my review is more critical of the staff than the food. Arrived at 1pm on Sunday with my small daughter. In my 14 years living in Evansville, I've been here once, probably 8 years ago.

We were seated right away in the sunroom. The area was clean and inviting which was pleasing. The dining room near the entrance seemed dark so I was glad we were in the sunroom.

We ordered drinks and a chips/queso app which came quickly. I liked the queso but my daughter did not. Pico came also but we didn't eat it, though we both tried it.

Ordering was fine but it seemed to be longer and longer in between times of seeing our server. I think the server had several parts of the dining room and was everywhere. We ordered Kona Chicken, garlic mash, and a kid's burger. Everything was tasty and was out quickly. The chicken was juicy. I would have liked some honey mustard for the chicken but I couldn't get a server to come over. My daughter and I asked three different servers for ketchup and it took 11 minutes to get it. My daughter was trying to be super patient but at 5, waiting for a condiment is hard. I didn't even bother with my honey mustard because I felt so bad she had to wait.

My daughter decided she wanted a real glass cup and I asked for one. The server tried to make a joke and told her to not spill but it came across as a nuisance to the server.

I needed a box, to place a to-go order, and wanted to pay. It took several minutes to get our to-go food (no big deal) but it seemed the server had my card longer than I felt comfortable with. I consider maybe the server was conserving steps and trips, but I was hoping to grab my food and leave quickly. The card came back and the server made one last trip with our food but was less than friendly.

I never said anything rude or came across that way (or hope not) but our server was not 100%. I consider the server might have had a bad day so I'll try here again and hope the...

Traveling to Evansville for cheer competition and anytime we are in Evansville we love eating here. Our experience today was incredibly short of amazing.

The food was not the issue today. We got honey butter croissants for an appetizer, I got the American Burger, and my dad got the Bacon Burger. Both burgers were very flavorful and very filling. The service on the other hand is why I’m giving such a negative review.

We sat down and a couple minutes later the waitress Amanda came to take our drink orders. Took us 6 or 7 minutes to just get DRINKS. After taking our order, a food runner came to bring us our croissants. Not a huge deal as food runners are not an unusual thing on a Saturday. Before our food came out, Amanda had come by to say she would get us refills on our drinks. Took 5 minutes just to get those drinks as well. Our food came out and again it was excellent. She never came over to ask how our food was, asked if we needed anything, absolutely nothing. We saw the food runners more than we saw our waitress.

I talked to the manager about the service and to me it seemed like he didn’t care about our complaints. I work in food service as well so I understand being busy, but at the same time she definitely could have tried to be a little faster. Knowing the level of service I provide, I expect similar service if not better.

Also to mention, the same server had a solo diner and the woman had gotten her salad and her meal before she had her drink. Even after she had gotten her drink it was incorrect. There was also a couple that had gotten their bill as we were sat down and left muttering about awful service. Unfortunately our experience was not a...

Fast and friendly service. Love sitting in the bar area. Phenomenal french dip and buffalo fingers! Only complaint is the stacks and stacks of dirty dishes in patron view in bar. UPDATE 2023 My husband and I stopped in for lunch. The server was very kind, accommodating, and knowledgeable. We ordered the fried mushrooms as an appetizer and OMGSH! Not only were they some of the best fried mushrooms I've had, they would have been fine as my meal! Huge, deliciously battered, and the horseradish-mustard sauce was delicious, even though they are wonderful by themselves. I ordered the blackened salmon (cooked medium), Caesar salad, and green beans. Hubby ordered a full rack of ribs and a loaded baked potato. First picture of my salmon wasn't even blackened and it was cooked to a well-done dry!!! I sent it back (can't go to Rafferty's without getting your food re-fired. It's a constant.) However, the manager was very quick to resolve the problem. When I received it again, it was delightfully blackened and juicy, but the middle was raw! I just took it home and cooked it myself lol. The green beans were ok and the caeser salad was very good. Now, my husband's order... He refuses to send food back if he doesn't like it. He's not at all like me! LOL. His ribs were dry, no smoke flavor, and just doused in bbq sauce! He said it's as if they used 2 day old ribs and just sauced them to death to hide the dry & chewy meat. My husband has 2 smokers and loves to smoke/grill meats, so I know he wasn't kidding. I doubt we'll be back anytime soon, but if you go & you love fried mushrooms,...