Murphy’s Craft Bar + Kitchen — Restaurant in Sidney

I happen to have an emergency situation in Indian Lake Ohio. I was transported to Wilson Hospital. Never been there before ever to the emergency room. I just got out of the hospital the week before and I am not in a very good mood. This is not where I wanna be on a nice fall crisp day. I do not wanna be in the hospital again so they said my heart is having a condition and they’re trying to get it under control and they said they might not keep me since I just was in the hospital and I can see all the results so they let me go About 1 o’clock in the afternoon! Well, I came by squad. All I have is the clothes on my back in my purse and I’m walking down the street and my phone dies so I go to CVS and I buy a pair of sunglasses and a charger for my brand new iPhone 16 cell phone because somebody stole my purse two months ago and I hadn’t had a cell phone in two months And I can’t hardly work. This thing I had an iPhone 12 and now I’ve got a 16 so they tell me to go to court Street and I’ve never been to Sidney in my life and they said just go down this hill you know go you know you’ll see the rock on the right and you’ll see North Street on the left and you’ll go over this bridge and and then you’ll See Court, Street with all the restaurants are on court Street and I am starved to death so I see this police car go by and I follow it to the police station and I think well they’re in the heart of downtown Sidney there’s probably a lot of stuff around here so I feel safer and I start walking Down Court, Street and I see the fabulous historical district. I mean it’s fabulous and the shops are fabulous and I only live 35 minutes from this town and I don’t know anything about it but I’m from South Dayton and I don’t know anything about north of 70 anyway so I fine Murphy’s bar and kitchen by accident! It’s 5 o’clock in the afternoon and I’m starved to death and I’m thirsty and I’m a huge IPA drinker and I said do you have IPAs on draft? She said we have 30 of them I said can you just pick me one? I’m so tired and my feet hurt and I just walked 5 miles to get here so she picks me the bartender picks me up a great IPA and I am. I am massaging my dogs and sitting there. Happy as a clam you know And there’s three other people at the bar besides me and there’s 20 seats at the bar and she goes you wanna order some food and I say yes and I pick out a nice dinner a nice salmon with a salad in it and a side dish. Well, these two guys Three seas next to me get the appetizer tower and my dinner is $30 which I didn’t think was bad for what I got well, they paid $30 for this appetizer tower. That’s six people could’ve ate on for three days. I mean it was humongous. It had fried pickles fried green beans loaded tater tots. I think they were something else on there, but I can’t remember and so they invited me to have a little appetizer with them so I was appreciative because I was starved to death and I was waiting on my dinner and I proceeded to tell them that I just got out of the hospital and I walked there and I was trying to figure out how I was gonna get home because it’s a 35 minute drive to my house! So we had some nice conversation with these guys they worked for crown equipment and they were analyzer or being encounters as I call them accountant types and they had just flown back from Colorado on the private jet and ended up at Murphy’s with me, which was totally weird and the bartender‘s name I will not reveal, but she was priceless. If we had we had good conversation and good meal. I would recommend Murphy’s craft bar and kitchen to anyone of any walk of life. I mean they were nice friendly people and I needed a nice friendly person because I had to figure out how I was gonna get home. They don’t tell you that when you order the squad to come and get you how the hell are you gonna get home? They don’t even tell you where they’re...

Murphy's is a great addition to the town of Sidney, and I truly hope they continue to improve. They're already off to a great start, and I hope people continue to visit, but I have some concerns. The prices for both drink and food are noticeably high. For example, a 12 oz pour of Keypunch is $6.50 at Murphy's, but a larger 16 oz pour is only $6 at Brewfontaine, and a growler is only $11 at the Troy Kroger. For another example, you can't get a meat burger for under $12 at Murphy's, but you can get one of Thurman's burgers for less than $12, and Thurman's burgers are (arguably?) better. This leads into the next concern. I'm actually OK with paying the current food prices, but the quantity and/or quality needs to reflect this. Many dishes need more/different seasoning, and I'm not the only person to voice this. I took some friends here and they all sadly agreed that each of their dishes were more bland than what they expected. The current menu is amazingly good, but the dishes themselves just need polished (I have someone with a true knack for flavor profiles in mind that could help improve these high potential dishes, but that's up to Murphy's to pursue this if they so choose). Overall, Murphy's is good, and maybe one of the best places in Sidney to grab a drink and a bite. I hope they continue to improve and they're here to stay.

Edit: Don't change anything with the fried pickles! Honestly, Murphy's has the best fried pickle chips...

Let's talk about the good. The food is fantastic, it is my opinion that if you want great food in Sidney this is the best place you can go. Next, the service tine was a bit slower and prices a bit higher than other sit down restaurants. However, the employees were very nice. Next, the atmosphere was very appealing. This restaurant seems to tick all the boxes for a great experience, except the comfort. The seating situation at this restaurant I what I would call, tragic. First of all, the regular chairs are ONLY metal. No cushion? Really? That may not be a big deal to a younger person like myself, but older folks may feel discomfort. Next, the booths are the worst I have ever sat in. They are so high off the floor that I have to bend down to eat anything, (I'm 5"5 by the way) they have no cushion on the seat and hardly any on the back. While sitting in the booth I constantly found myself needing to push myself upwards or else I would literally slip off of the booth seat. But to top it all off there are bolts protruding from the backrest. Nice. At least this was my experience sitting near the front of the restaurant. I don't know if it would have changed if we got a different table. However I'm guessing the seating is consistent around the whole restaurant. The seating situation left a bad taste in my mouth and if it would have been better this restaurant would have...