Patrick McGovern's Pub — Restaurant in Saint Paul

Last night we decided to try this pub for dinner and drinks before our event at the Xcel. The pub was packed but we were seated in a timely fashion. Our server was very pleasant and quick with taking our drink order while we waited for the rest of our guests. She did a really good job with the cards that the management dealt her. This is about the time that the experience takes a turn for the worse...

The show started at 8pm so we arrived at 6:20 and ordered around 6:40-6:50. The pub is literally 2 blocks from the event center so we don't need much time to get there. Around 7:30 our server came by again to check on us. At this time we had finished our second drink and knew we were running close on time. It was time to either eat or probably skip the meal and pay to make it to the show. We inquired about the status of our food and she said it shouldn't be more than 5 minutes. We decided that should work and asked her to bring our check with the meal so we could pay right away. With a table of empty glasses by this point we ordered a third drink.

Around 7:45 I went looking for our server because the food was not there yet. The restaurant had turned into a ghost town over the last 20 minutes or so. The areas that had packed tables now only had 3-4 tables of people. I could not find our server or the manager during my check and I returned to the table.

At 7:47 the food finally arrived. I told the server that I was upset with this timing and we were going to miss the beginning of our show now and I would like to speak with a manager. She told me she would find the manager and ask him to come to the table. It was finally time to start eating because we were starving.

The first bite is a sweet potato fry, had it been lukewarm that would have been an improvement over the temperature these fries had now become. It was so cold I could not eat it and had to decline. The nacho plate had clearly been sitting for quite a while. The melted cheese on top had solidified and the jalapenos had dried out, another inedible plate. She tried to power through and made it to about the 4th chip before having to wave the white flag. Chicken fingers...you guessed it, cold.

Luckily the salad were supposed to be served cold. The dilemma was that they seemed to have been sitting under the same heat lamp that the rest of the food was so they were not very fresh. It was also now 8:00 pm. The ladies were able to eat about half of the salads while 3 of us did not eat.

At 8pm the manager that I had requested 13 minutes prior finally arrived. During the 13 minute wait the server had come by and I gave her my plate and informed her that it was so cold I would not be eating. The manager came over to apologize and offered to comp all of our food. That seemed to be a logical offer since we were leaving without food in our stomachs. I then expressed my frustration with being late to my show and the fact that I would now be skipping dinner. He response was that on event nights the kitchen takes at least 40 minutes and our delivery was on par with that. He didn't feel he needed to offer anything more that free food, that we couldn't eat, because the bar was not slow. He apologized that we were late to the show but making the food sent to the kitchen free should suffice for an apology.

I conclude with two questions for the management here. If you know that your dining on event nights is 40 minutes +, why don't you tell customers that? If you know that your ding on event nights is 40 minutes +, why have you not taken steps to properly staff your restaurant to accommodate the crowd?

If there is an event at the Xcel I would avoid this place at all costs. Could be worth a shot if there isn't an event but I can't say much because I didn't have...

I usually never leave reviews unless they are positive but my friends experience at Patrick Mcgoverns on Saturday night for the st pattys bar crawl was completely unacceptable. Her and her sister had been waiting in line to use the restroom when a middle aged blonde woman came in & went right to the front. She simply asked the woman if she had cut the line, as the line was extremely long and this woman just went right to the front. She didn’t ask in a rude way whatsoever. The woman responded with “No my dad is the owner of this bar, and actually your out”. Before my friend could even process what was happening, this woman physically grabbed my 5 foot friend, and proceeded to drag her out by her neck. It was without a doubt assault. The girl who was dragged out, as mentioned, was with her sister. Her sister tried to get this woman off of her, but the woman started to drag her sister out as well. While my friend was violently dragged out, she lost her purse due to the force of this woman dragging her out. When she went back to patrick mcgoverns the next day to retrieve her purse, her debit card had been stolen. So she not only was attacked physically, but also had her card stolen. It was extremely uncalled for, and I honestly am very much so encouraging them to press charges against Patrick Mcgoverns. The security team that witnessed this seemed helpless. Almost as if this woman has done this before. The security allowed my friend & her sister back into the bar, which further proves that my friends did nothing wrong to provoke this woman in such a violent way. The brother of the woman who attacked my friends apologized, explaining that his sister is generally a big jerk, and that she was out of line. This woman was also much much older than my college aged friends. My friends are very petite girls and were defenseless during all of this. My friends went out for a fun night to celebrate st patricks, and were physically attacked for asking if the owners daughter cut the line. Completely disgusted with this behavior. Please don’t take this lightly, as I am not someone who is going to leave a bad...

I’ve always been a McGoverns fan but our last experience has me dumbfounded. I will start by saying I totally understand a restaurant being slammed, especially during events. However, the whole experience was just… odd. My 9-year-old nephew and I arrived to McGovs at 5:30 and it was busy. No problem. We waited our turn, and when it finally was, they seated other groups instead because we were only two people. So we waited…and waited. At 6:15 they finally seated us… at a table with another couple who was trying to have a date night. We weren’t asked but rather told, but all tried to make the best of it. The server finally came after 10-15 minutes and we put drinks and food in right away. She brought my drink but didn’t have room on her tray for my nephews soda, but did have enough room on it for all the other newer tables that were sat. At 6:55 we still didn’t have food. The newer tables did. She then brought us our bill and said she knew we were trying to get to the game and didn’t want to hold us. We still didn’t have food. It finally came. Cold. What appeared to be the manager came over and offered the other couple free drinks for their experience, but said nothing to my nephew and I. The man in the couple told the manager she better be offering the same thing to me as she did them, and then she did, but did not appear to have planned on it until he said something. It was just a weird, awful experience and dinner and the game was supposed to be a Christmas present for my nephew and was just a bummer. I know everyone there works hard and am generally appreciative. Just wasn’t the night I planned on it being, and was opposite of the great experience we get every...