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

The Nook - St. Paul, MN

The Nook in St. Paul, MN is a neighborhood Irish bar restaurant.  The waitresses all wear green t-shirts with Gaelic-type print.  There is a lighted Guinness sign right in the middle of the place.  It was a friendly restaurant but, this is a place where beer is consumed by the pitcher so, leave the kids at home or take them elsewhere.

There service was maybe not the best that night.  I got the original burger, a vanilla malt, onion rings and asked for A-1 sauce.  At first they didn’t have any A-1.  Then they scraped one up some from the kitchen.  An honest mistake – no big deal.  When I was ready to leave I put my credit card down to pay the bill and had to wait a LONG while until they picked it up.
 
They have several newspaper articles and local magazine covers framed and displayed telling about their many awards for best burger in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area.

The food was pretty good by normal standards but, by triple-d standards, I would say that it was just okay.  I have a feeling that they are known for their double-stuffed burger.  I thought about it but, I just didn’t have the appetite for it that night.  So, maybe this review isn’t being totaly fair to the restaurant.  But, the triple-d reviews aren’t always fair to my cholesterol level.  So, we’ll just have to live with some balance in life.

If you're in the area then I would give it a try.  If you have the appetite for the double-stuffed burger then let us know what you thought.

The Nook
492 Hamline Avenue South
St. Paul, MN