Murphy's Pub & Grill Rockford — Restaurant in Rockford Township

While visiting Rockford last summer, my friend took me out to lunch at Murphy’s Pub and Grill. As I surveyed the menu, I noticed they offered a giant burger challenge! A whopping 3 lb burger patty topped with 12 slices of bacon, 8 slices of cheese, grilled onions and placed on top of a 1 lb house-made bun, served with an entire pound of French fries. Competitors have one hour to eat this powerful platter in order to the meal for free, a $50 gift card, and a sweet t-shirt. Losers would have to cover the cost of the $100 dollar meal. Only 4 people had EVER completed it and they included 3 of the greatest eaters of all time, Patrick Bertoletti, Molly Schuyler, and Randy Santel. The mondo menu item and its devious lore piqued my interest, but self doubt and shame dissuaded me from trying such a grand challenge and I ended up ordering a meal made for mortals instead. The existence of Murphy’s Burger Challenge continually plagued my thoughts, taunting me for chickening out, and I vowed to one day to return and face my fears as well as that burger head on… and after my major league eating debut in July, I knew my return to Rockford this summer would finally be the year…

I eagerly got to Murphy’s early the day of the challenge to set up my camera, drinks, and mental state. Murphys had even set up a stage with a long table and kingly throne for me to eat at during the challenge. Before I knew it, the time finally came and my burger emerged triumphantly from the kitchen. A huge platter hit the table before me absolutely loaded with fries and WAY more vegetables than I could have anticipated! At least an entire head of lettuce was on the burger and on the side!

After a brief cool down, it was go time. I jumped into the largest burger of my entire LIFE starting by ripping off the top bun and attacking the MEATS. Let me tell you, this burger was seasoned with loads of delicious garlic, so much so that it actually reminded me of Nathans hot dog haha. Funny enough, I brought along the same strawberry watermelon Mio to flavor my water for this challenge that I used at Nathan’s, so the beefy and soda mixed burps I experienced during the challenge felt fondly familiar and provided a sense of encouragement.

The cheese coated mounds of meat wrapped in chewy bacon were the easiest part to get down. Then it was time for this beastly bun. It had a tough crust almost like a pizza with a similarly doughy flavor. Outrageously delicious, but a slog to plough through for my jaw and esophagus. Luckily the bottom bun soaked up plenty of burger juice to keep it soft and added an extra layer of nuance to its flavor staving off fatigue.

After finishing the meats, veggies, and bun, all I had left were the crispy fries. The first handful tasted fantastic, but each bundle of taters just became harder and harder to swallow. My gut was broaching capacity considering the unusually crazy volume of fluid I ending up needing to keep all this food moving down. My eating speed exponentially decreased with every spud induced bite.

With my last fiber of gumption, I cleared the very last bit of food from my mouth at 46:37 making me the 5th human begin to EVER finish the Murphy’s Burger Challenge! This was without a doubt my absolute most GRUELING challenge yet in terms of volume and duration. The before and after weights of my tray revealed that I had consumed 9.3 lbs of total food! This doesn’t even count for the pitcher and a half of soda that it took me to get it down as well. My gut was close to if not at MAX capacity by the end making my now 11th restaurant challenge win a particularly proud accomplishment. As I basked in distended glory, the owner came over to congratulate me with my Murphy’s gift card, a Murphy’s t-shirt, and even a rad Murphy’s Mug!

Thank you so much to Murphys for hosting such a demanding food challenge and for treating me like a celebrity! You made me feel like a rockstar and I hope it made for a fun watch to your regular guests. This challenge is no joke as it tested and pushed me beyond my...

Just want to start off, great customer service from our male bartender. Really friendly and attentive. PROBLEM: arrived with my roommate and my girlfriend to have a few drinks, as we sit down female bartender, ID checks, asks order and then asks if I'm paying cash or starting a tab. I asked if there was a minimum for card as some bars do, she said there was no minimum. Had 2 pbr tall boys, total: $6.00. Left $2 tip in cash. Signed receipt, went to a different bar. Checked my bank account and noticed they charged me $6.00 for the beer and $25.00 for I dont know what. Called bar and female bartender picks up phone as I ask for what the charge was she mentions it's a charge for pre-authorizing the card. They do it to find out if there is an amount of money sufficient to the account by placing this charge. I told her I asked about a minimum charge, she hung up on me. ALSO note my roommate and girlfriend also paid with a card and didnt recieve the same charge. Why was it just my card? Girlfriend calls back and she is livid. Wondering why that information wasnt presented when I asked about a minimum. It is not a minimum charge, it's a pre-authorized charge to make sure I have the funds to cover my bill. That doesn't make any sense. Tried calling management today and it appears no body is in charge ever. She mentioned she was kind of acting manager? Wait what????? Does anyone have a title at this bar? It is a business, and sure seems to be mostly successful. But to be better they really need a manager, someone who can actually get some of these people motivated enough just to do a simple task as cleaning those disgusting bathrooms, or even easier providing the customer with information. You should know your job well enough to answer the simple question. I wouldve paid in cash if I was made aware of the charge, because if anything I paid $32.00 for 2 pbr tall boys and an additional $2 tip for how stupid I was for trying...

It was pretty relaxing. We sat outside They had umbrellas to keep us cool. Social distancing with tables was in place. I walked inside to let him know that we were there and the lady immediately greeted us and asked us how many were in our group. She came out right away and asked us what a drink order was and if we were going to be ordering food handed us menus because we said we were. We had been there before and had like their food I already knew what I was ordering. The grilled portobello sandwich is awesome! This time I ordered it with chicken absolutely delicious I couldn't finish the whole sandwich and eat the fries but the fries are to die for as well! My husband ordered the Philly steak sandwich but because of the fries he couldn't eat it all either lol. I have to mention that the fries are seasoned fries The very crispy and delicious! Even though we were sitting outside we really didn't have to wait that long for everything. It was very relaxing and nice. Everyone is always so nice when we go there whether we have sat inside before the pandemic hit or outside now. Everyone has always been gracious and fun to be around. There's a mixed genre of people. I have even taken my daughter there to have her chicken caesar salad She loves it! I heard it could be ready on the weekends in the late evening but we haven't been there for that. We have went inside to eat during the day and early evening or on the weekends during lunch and dinner hours. My husband and I went up there for a few drinks one evening around 8pm. There was no craziness...