Dempsey's Burger Pub — Restaurant in Lawrence

I decided to review the local dining establishment named “Dempsey’s Burger Pub,” where in my opinion, you can get one of the best burgers in the city of Lawrence. With a wide section of main entrees and appetizers, there is something on the menu for everyone. Located near the center of Lawrence on Vermont Street, only a block away from the popular Massachusetts Street, this provides a superb location for this Pub. When standing out front of Dempsey’s, it is directly next door to the US Post Office and right across the street from a fairly big parking lot. Upon walking up to Dempsey's, your first impression of the building is a red cinder block building in the shape of a cube. In the center of the building is a big sign that has the name of the bar on it. There are two big windows that have three panes of glass in each of them. Upon entering the restaurant, the front door has the pubs name and what appears to be the logo with the hours of operation on it. If standing looking directly at the bar to the right of the entrance is an outdoor seating area with around five tables for patrons to sit and enjoy the weather if they choose to do so. Upon looking over the menu you would see that it is a long thin rectangle, printed on a cream colored piece of paper. As I analyzed the menu further I noticed how the menu was laid out. On the front side you will find you appetizers, salads, and desserts while on the back you find the main entree items and options you can get on the side. The way this menu is set up, I feel, makes things far easier to find. I dined at Dempsey’s Pub twice and both times the food was delicious. On my first visit I ordered the “Smoke Stack Burger”, with a side of fries. This burger has smokey bacon, swiss cheese, the house BBQ sauce, and lettuce. When I received it and took my first bite I was hit with all the flavors from the burger. The burger was cooked very nicely, it was juicy, and tender, and had the perfect amount of pink throughout. As well as the burger the bacon was cooked subpurb, it was the perfect mix of chewy and rough and the smokey taste of it made it go perfect with the burger. As for the fries they had a decent amount of crunch without being burnt and had a fair amount of seasoning on them. My second time visiting was equally enjoyable. This time I decided to order “The Phog” with fries again. The Phog is loaded with the house truffle mac and hickory smokey cheese, bacon, and shallot marmalade. All of these flavors mix together to form an amazing sandwich. When eating this burger every bite has a different taste. Sometimes you will get a large amount of Mac and Cheese and other times you will get large amounts of bacon and marmalade. With the mystery of what your next bit will be it makes the burger that much better. The burger came out medium rare and once again was cooked perfectly with there being a very good amount of pink inside the burger. That being said I thought there was something that could be improved on at Dempsey's. The first being that the Mac and Cheese on “The Phog” needs to have a little more cheese on it on the burger I had it was a light drizzle of cheese. It should be more like Mac and Cheese and less like cheesy noodles. Also I tried the “fire fries” which in my opinion just looked like they sprinkles red pepper flakes on the fries and then stamped the name fire fries on them. I also would say that the tables should be checked on a little more for drink refills and making sure everything is going okay. I would give this restaurant 2 1/2 out of 4 stars. The atmosphere of the restaurant is a family friendly environment, along with having things to make it feel more like a bar, by having a pool table, a dartboard, and alcohol signs, these give it the feel of a bar and pub. I would strongly recommend that you try Dempsey’s Burger Pub the next time you are looking for a place to eat out. There is a great environment and something on the menu...

Deliciously Greasy Burgers, Cold Beer ... And Air ... Yummy Truffle Fries - Must Be Dempsey's!

I was a bit reluctant to try Dempsey's after reading recent reviews by my Elite '14 brothers and sisters in Lawrence, Kansas saying that "things have gone downhill" and that the burgers are "greasy", but heck ... don't burgers and grease go hand-in-hand? I am sure glad we gave 'em a shot!

Don't want to gross you out, but in preparation for two scopes being inserted into my body, one in each end so to speak, two days later and the inevitable PREPeration (H), I knew I would not have a decent meal for at least 36 hours, so a big greasy burger and basket of truffle fries sounded pretty darn good!

The place is a local haunt for KU (college basketball powerhouse University of Kansas) students and this particular Tuesday night in Lawrence was no exception. With about half of their burgers being offered at half-price ($4-$5 a pop) to students, I know why they were busy. But a pub with just 5 or 6 draughts available on-tap was a bit unusual. I ordered an O'Dell (not O'Doules) IPA and at $4.50 for a British-size pint it was a good value with a strong, rich, hoppy flavor as all good IPAs do.

We decided on a Mushroom, Bacon, and Swiss burger ($9), a House Burger with Bacon and Cheddar ($8.50), and a basket of Truffle Fries ($4).

The fries were plentiful and awesome! Lightly salted, the hand cut fries were sprinkled with Parmesan (parmigiana in the old country) cheese, parsley, and accompanied by no less than 6 different sauces (catsup, spicy mustard, old bay and tomato coulis aioli, sweet chili aioli, truffle cream, and roasted garlic aioli ... all made from scratch). We barely made a notch in the basket, taking half home for my wife to eat the next night while I fasted in prep for the next morning's procedure under the influence of "Milk of Amnesia".

As usual, on my first visit to this and many other restaurants, I ordered the simplest burger on the menu, the "House" cheeseburger ($7.50) medium-well with cheddar cheese, a big piece of butter lettuce, two thick slices of tomato, homemade dill pickle, and both grilled white (as I had asked) and raw red onion. I added bacon for an extra buck, well cooked but not too crispy. The bun was nicely toasted, looking like a "pretzel" bun even though that was not the way it was described on the menu. The burger was in-fact greasy, but perfectly so, thick, and cooked just as I had ordered it. The bun was in a bit of disarray by the time I finished, but held together until the last bite, keeping my hands relatively clean although I did go through about 20 of the rather thin napkins supplied on the table.

The Bacon Mushroom Swiss Burger ($9) comes with sauteed shitake and portabello mushrooms, Gruyere and Swiss cheeses, and Applewood bacon on a toasted pretzel bun. Unfortunately, on this particular night at least, the bun was not toasted and, in-fact, was slightly cold to the touch. The burger was delicious nonetheless, an 8 ounce patty cooked to perfection with melted cheese oozing out of the side of the bun.

The service was very good, especially considering the large, energetic crown consuming burgers along with mass quantities of beer. The place is a bit of a dive, plain with lots of rough wood and glass, making the room rather chilly, particularly next to the window on a cold winter night where we needed to keep our coats on during our meal. Who knows, maybe KU research indicates that beer consumption is inversely proportionate to the temperature of the room?

CombatCritic Gives Dempsey's Burger Pub A Solid 7 Bombs Out of 10 ......

Last night, my brothers, my fiancé, and I chose to stop by Dempsey’s to see if we could grab a bite to eat. The time was around 10:40 p.m., and we knew that we were pushing into the time that grills typically close. When we arrived, we explicitly asked the doorman if food was being served to which he glanced down at his phone and replied, “Yeah, there’s still 15 minutes!”. We entered and seated ourselves, as directed by the signing, and waited for a server to arrive. Server A passes us and looks at our table out of the corner of her eyes and continues on past to deliver a bill. Server A passes us again on her way to the bar and picks up some more orders and delivers them, passing us both ways. She then moves to the bar and takes a seat next to a customer and proceeds to chat with them. Server B begins to pass us a couple of times and also chooses to ignore us. 10 minutes pass and I count at least 12 times where we are passed by a server and are not even acknowledged. At about 12 minutes, the bartender calls Server B over to the bar where they talk for a second and then look in the direction of our table. Shortly after their conversation, Server B arrives at our table and asks if we had been helped yet and I informed her that we had not to which she replies, “Great……” and then turns and walks off. Server B proceeds to Server A where a short conversation ensues ending with Server A glancing at her watch a couple of times and then, looking frustrated, moves over to our table (time check, 10:54 p.m.). She asks how she can help us and reply by asking if we can see menus. She states that the grill had now closed and wouldn’t be serving the menu, but states that a limited late night menu was available for ordering. We decided that it was in our best interest to leave since providing our table service was clearly going to be against her will. In summary, this experience has forever turned me away from this place, no matter how good the burgers may be. Honestly, you can go a couple of blocks away to The Burger Stand and get the same exact menu selection at the same prices with better...