Kelly's Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Newport

Update 2022: Ok, so we've returned a couple of times now both for lunch and dinner. It's pretty basic pub food and variety, pretty good but nothing overly exciting. The presentation of the food is above average although. It is, I feel, fairly on the higher end of cost for what it is. Also, I'm not certain if it's just us but, both times here and at one other establishment in Sandpoint, every time we eat there, we feel kind of stomach upset and get "the trots". We've kind of come to the conclusion that it may be tied to a certain fry oil they utilize. You be the judge as you may tolerate it just fine. The soup was absolutely wonderful and wish we had a bowl instead!

---‐‐-----------‐--------‐---‐----------

We were here for the first time New Year's Eve. I expected a few more people than there was but figured many people were at private parties or with family. Nonetheless, it was a nice night.

It's a much bigger place on the inside than appears on the outside and has an open feeling while still having sections. The ceilings are tall so it doesn't get too hot yet I was pleasantly surprised not real cold either. Overall, it's really clean, uncluttered, and the restrooms were the nicest I've seen in a bar for a while.

They have just a couple big screen TV's instead of a wall of them, I really liked that. It was refreshing/different to see it was tuned to snowboarding competitions and was strangely mesmerizing. LOL They do not although, have any game tables that I could see. The bar itself is one of those giant dark wood antique ones with beautiful stained glass accents. There is also an outdoor patio area but smoking is not allowed there either which is nice for a non-smoker to enjoy frsh air as well. You can smoke out front street side.

They only serve full menu meals until 8 pm but what is nice is they continue to sell fried appetizer items. We got the sampler basket and each type was fried to perfection! Excellent for when you need to slow down on the drinks a bit. They offer a nice amount and selection of taps which is served in pint canning jars. We will be returning during hours when the full menu is available...

New to town, went to check out the food scene and Kelly's was it. On arrival there was live music, nice, but we preferred a more quiet atmosphere and went inside. The servers we encountered seemed annoyed we were there and one informed us the large part of the restaurant was going to be closed off for a party, so we opted to go outside. We weren't brought menus or greeted and ended up waiting for 20 minutes for a server to come over and ask if we wanted a drink. About 10 minutes later the bartender brought out our drinks, then we waited for another 15 minutes before a different server came over and asked us if we wanted another drink, we ended up pulling the menu up on our phones and ordering through her. The food came out pretty timely and was hot and pretty good for fries and burgers, though more expensive than expected. After finishing our meals a new server came over and offered us boxes, which we gratefully took and packed up our food. A little while later we flagged down a new server to pay our bill and left. The whole experience was a little odd. I've never dined anywhere were I had no idea how things went; typically you show up, are seated, given menu's, then you have a server the rest of your time there. If it's a good establishment, you are attended to regularly... we all know how restaurants work. This was not typical. Im hoping this is not their norm and was an off night for them, but probably won't be back if that was the way things are run there. The food was okay, but for the lack of service,...

This was one of the worst dining experiences we’ve had in a long time. We’re visiting from Texas where we are used to a little something called southern hospitality. This was not that. The food was mediocre at best, and we’re pretty sure the chicken gave us food poisoning.

From the moment we arrived, the service was unwelcoming and unnecessarily difficult. The waiter in suspenders insisted we sit at the bar due to a lack of tables, only to suddenly demand physical IDs (we weren’t even ordering alcohol). This caused an awkward scene and they ended up splitting our group of six across two separate tables which was inconvenient and not ideal.

The staff overall felt cold, passive-aggressive, and rarely checked on us. Service was slow and passive, while it was obvious that locals and repeat customers received far better treatment. We felt ignored and unwelcome for the entirety of our visit.

Would not recommend and will not be returning. It seems as though all the “good” reviews on this place were written by locals. Please note that if you’re not a local, you’re...