Murphy's Bar and Grill - Honolulu, HI

Not a dive, Murphy's Bar and Grill is on the contrary, a very nice Irish restaurant.  It seems kind of out of place in the south pacific.  In the United States, I usually think of Irish Bars as being a New England down to say Baltimore kind of thing.  Their website says "Murphy’s has been a haven for mariners, businessmen and locals since 1891."

Our waitress had an Irish accent.  I guess that it shouldn't be too hard to lure Irish workers to Honolulu.  They played WW2 music over the speakers. The booths were very nicely upholstered.  They used nice old furniture.  This was absolutely not a dive in any way.  In fact there was not a single spec of dust or dirt to be found anywhere.

We went there for lunch.  The crowd consisted mostly of business people trying to do business over lunch.  The business uniform for men here mush be chino pants and nice Hawaiian shirts.

I ate a really nice blue cheese burger with tempura potato fries. I could have washed it down with any number of Irish beers and stouts but, I chose a Maui brewing IPA instead.  It looks like if you want to go Irish all the way, then they have the menu items to accommodate that.  Their slogan is "where everyday is St. Patrick's Day."  If you want to go a little more mainstream, then that's okay too.  The IPA was really enjoyable.

Points off for being out of scope due to the fact that this was not a diner, drive-inn or dive.  Still, this is a really good restaurant worth visiting.  It even is part of the local history.  I would rate this one 9.0.

Murphy's Bar and Grill
2 Merchant St
Honolulu, HI 96816
(808) 531-0422
http://murphyshawaii.com

Brownstone Diner & Pancake Factory on Yelp

Brownstone Diner and Pancake Factory is absolutely what a diner is supposed to be.  In my humble opinion,  the thing that sets New Jersey apart from the rest of the world is that they know how to produce a diner.  This is a very nice example.

I should add that it is not a dive in any way with the possible exception of being a little too family friendly.  There were some kids being incredibly loud and unchecked when I was there.  The atmosphere was otherwise very relaxed.  The local cops ate here, too.  So you know it is good.

The food was GENEROUS.  You really can't blame Chris Christy for having what the experts like to call "a little weight problem" when the diners serve herculean portions of food.

I had the stuffed shrimp and lobster.  One stuffed shrimp was meal in and of itself.  It's not just the giant servings that were remarkable.  The taste was really nice.  I don't know what they did with the stuffed lobster but, I could not tear myself away from it.  They served the meal with a side of pasta, as if you were not going to explode from all of the carbs already.  It looked good but, I couldn't go near it. 

The Deserts are put on display to tease you as you walk in.  They looked really interesting I was  stuffed to the gills after the main meal.

They were very proud of the picture of guy over grill.  They should be proud.  This was a very nice diner.  I would rate Brownstone Diner & Pancake Factory a 9.3.  The food was simply awesome.

Brownstone Diner & Pancake Factory
426 Jersey Ave
Jersey City, NJ 07302
(201) 433-0471