Shamrocks — Restaurant in Saint Paul

I have been there a dozen or so times before this last dining experience. It was less than expected first we had made reservations for a booth only to be advised none was available. Of course looking forward to good meal and drink we gladly accepted a table in the middle of a very BUSY area. Initial service was slow but acceptable to a point. Ordered our meals and the first round of drinks and proceeded to wait which was expected due to how busy they were. However after finishing our first round we waited for our server and finally went off to the bar to get our own still trying to make the most out of a busy location. When our dinners arrived they were two out of four that were not as ordered it appeared the kitchen was as stressed and stretched as well as the servers at Shamrocks. Of course we ended up once again going ourselves to the back bar to get an after dinner drink as our server was nowhere to be found. When we ready to leave it took two requests to get our server to provide us with our check as he was apparently to busy to finish with our dinners. Of course we settled and left with a sour taste in our mouth as this was not the service we were expecting as what we experienced in the past. Yes it was busy as there was a concert going on that night and people were hurried but we were not part of that crowd and acknowledged that when we were asked upon entering. BUT we had been there in the past during sporting events without a problem. Sadly if this is what has become the norm I would have to advise people to not expect the great food and service of the past during concerts or sporting events going on...

Reuben was a disapointment - the meat tasted like it had been soaking in lard or something. No flavor, not even the 1000 island sauce could help. The fries were extremely salty, couldn't finish them without 4 refills of pop/water. The seasoned fries were better than the salty fries that came as a side with the sandwiches. Juicy Lucy hamburger was very bland, we were surprised. Server warned us with a snarky "there'll be pink in it" when we ordered it. Chicken Strips and Walley Strips were very heavily battered so there was more of that then the actual meat. The server was good, attentive service but wasn't too interested in how we felt about the taste of the food. Don't buy pull tabs unless you want to wait for a bartender to help you if you win big, they aren't interested in attending to a cash-out for at least 20 minutes if you are just a restaurant customer. I wonder why they carry pull tabs then? Parking sucked, garbage including used rubber gloves and soggy bar coasters on the pavement right outside the back door. We don't think we'd plan another visit here. Kind of gross, feeling like a brick is still in my stomach 7 hours later. Plenty of televisions to catch the game though if that...

I came here many years ago and had the fondest memories, however those memories were dashed after our visit yesterday. They were slammed due to the wild game, so I'm not taking the quickness of service into consideration. However our 2 servers.. that's right 2.. seemed confused who was waiting on us and both kept coming to the table so we weren't sure what was going on. Our cheese curds were phenomenal.. but that is where it stopped. The chicken strips were way overcooked and the breading was hard..the juicy lucy was not medium.. it was medium rare and in some spots almost rare. The brisket on top was a huge chunk of fat that I had to spit out. Our fries were cold, limp and tasteless. We weren't really able to give feedback, because we didn't really see our server(s) again after we got our food. In fact, we sat about 20 minutes just waiting for the bill (the wild game already started so they were much slower by this point) I will update If we go again.. however neither of us wants...