Corcoran’s Grill & Pub

The waitress at Corcoran’s judged my friends, wouldn’t say prices, tried to take the check BEFORE serving the food & sent management over to interrogate us.
I have never felt so disrespected at a restaurant.
NEVER going back.

Love love love this place. I come every time I visit Chicago. I’ve had quite a few menu items and have never been disappointed. Their outdoor beer garden is a great atmosphere and they have some great bartenders. It’s fairly priced as well!

I came here Sunday with nine of my rec-​league teammates, and we just wanted to have some food, have some drinks and chill. The weather was nice, our waitress was nice, and the manager who helped take our order was friendly and entertaining.
But the food? Yeah, no.
I’m not a Bloody Mary person, but I know what they should look like. Five or six people in my group ordered them, and they came out looking like iced tea. I don’t think anyone made it more than halfway before ordering something else. Once I saw that, I ordered beer in a bottle.
As for the actual food, never again. I ordered the chicken nachos, which were literally the worst nachos I’ve ever had. The chicken was some sort of pulled, sodium-​ladened monstrosity doused in cheese, some of which was melted, some of which wasn’t. The guacamole on the side was tasty, but that’s it. I ate about half this dish — only because I was starving — before passing it along to two guys in my group who ordered salads. They were not impressed, either, eating maybe two nachos apiece before pushing the dish away.
As for the rest of my group: One girl got a turkey burger, which she said was a «5 out of 10» and did not finish, and three people got burgers. One guy who ordered a burger stopped after three bites. The patties were clearly frozen and didn’t look very flavorful.
All in all, this was probably the worst collective dining experience I’ve had in nearly three years of living in Chicago. I didn’t come here expecting five-​star cuisine — or anything close to it — but calling what we ate «bar food» is an insult to «bar food» establishments everywhere.
If you want to drink bottled beer on the patio, come here. Anything beyond that, keep walking. There are too many cool spots in Chicago to waste money on bad food.

One of my favorite bars! The bar food taste like… well bar food hah, but the ambiance is great, service isn’t bad, usually not horribly crowded, and their patio/​outdoorsy coach house are the PERFECT summer spot for a beer. This was a favorite last year for post-​beach volleyball games.
Never been on a Saturday night, but during the week and Sundays it’s the perfect chill spot for a beer and to watch a game.
Can’t wait for warmer patio weather!

ITS ALL ABOUT THE DAILY SPECIALS.
For me, Corcoran’s is most worth it for the daily specials. The food is average, but for the price you can’t complain too much. Be sure to check their website or give a quick call in to see what their daily offerings are.
On my last visit here, I had the crispy fish tacos and shared an order of poutine pub fries.
~ Fishy Fishy Tacos ~ a tad over cooked, but it seems like they made them a bit bigger than the last time I ordered them which is nice. Worth it for the ½ off price on Mondays.
~ Fries ~ tasty and the gravy was nice, but would’ve liked to see a tad bit more cheese curds on there. I washed that all down with a $ 4 blue moon. Not bad.
Probably more of a two and a half star place for me, but since the GF seems to like this place I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. You make GF happy, you make me happy.
‘Til next time, cheers!

What a disappointment, I was glad to see that this place had 3 stars. Should be 1 star!
Okay sure, this place might be good to stop by for one beer, but today I was there having lunch with some friends.
I had fish tacos and my fiancé had a omelette… The fish tacos ($ 11) where horrible! it taste like cardboard.
I was still hungry after I forced myself to eat the fish tasteless tacos, so I ordered a side of toast, just 2 pieces of toast. Oh and my fiancé had 1 Guinness.
Anyways…besides the Service being ridiculous slow, which I overlooked and did nothing but be polite. I invite you to guess how much our bill was. Guess, guess how much fish «tacos» omelette, side of toast and a beer was???
40 Dollars!!!
40!!! My side of toast was $ 3.00 that is unheard of! I was boiled I couldn’t believe it.
Anyways point is this place sucks ass and don’t go here.

Good food and good drinks! Pretty cheap as well. We had a large party so went to the separate building in the back and had the whole area to ourselves which was cool. Nachos and Mac and cheese were amazing

Absolutely terrible service. Night staff drinking shots when they should have been serving customers. Staff disappeared for 20mins. And then my father (who’s visiting from Ireland) and my husband was approached by a member of staff, who was DRUNK, because they didn’t give a good enough tip. This member of staff proceeded to shout at my father and husband as they were walking out the door. My husband and I will never step foot in the door again, and we live in the neighborhood. Disgusted.

Always stop here when in Chicago. Sat at the bar for a drink and shared a flatbread pizza — it was delicious! Great atmophere, great service.

Cool vibe, great music, EXCELLENT brownie with Jameson ice cream! My friends and I wanted a quick drink and dessert before a show at Second City and stumbled into this gem. We couldn’t be more pleased :)

Quesadillas with steak! Delicious!!! Patio with big screen TV. Love that place in summer and winter! I have gone more than 4 times and I will be going again soon!

Always liked this place. Best in the summertime for outdoor seating. Great food, fair prices and good service. We all miss Mystic Celt since it closed last month so this is a good substitute. I wish it was closer to my office.
Miss you Caroline.

I am amazed this placed is rated more highly. I lived in chicago for 4 years and this was my favorite bar. Its a traditional irish pub and more! They have specials on food/​drink daily on a rotating menu/​schedule so you can always get a deal.
My favorite food here are the wings. The things are bigger and juicier then typical wings and have a great crispy exterior. The other dishes (I have tried almost all of them) are really good as well and all can be had for a very fair price. If you are looking to grab a few reasonably priced drinks and some finger food or even dinner this place is great spot.
A favorite of mine is the seating area out back which is a beer garden like area. This area is especially great during the summer to cool off and get a few drinks.
The service here is also above average. The waitstaff make sure to get you order in and out asap which is much appreciated especially if you are in a rush just grabbing a fews drink before seeing a show next door.
Check this place no pretentious classic eatery pub out.

The food was delicious. The portions were appropiate (not too large). Service was friendly and timely.

The only good thing about our experience at this place last Saturday was the pretzel appetizer, and only because of the beer cheese. The service was awful. My BLT had extremely thick cut bacon that was way undercooked. The burger was inedible, and the nachos were not only terrible looking, but also terrible tasting.

I visited Corcorans on a late evening Monday. It wasn’t crowded and I received great and quick service after sitting at the bar. I ordered the cheeseburger, which turned out delicious, with fries, which were freshly fried. I also ordered a beer after being informed of the happy hour specials. The happy hour specials were decent: $ 4 for a pint of select beers and half off appetizers.
So in comparison to many of the other reviews, as long as you don’t go when it’s crowded, you will enjoy your visit.

Corcorans is my neighborhood bar. Since I live across the street I go here way too much. The staff is really friendly. There are a couple bartenders that have worked here a long time that I really like. You can also find a lot of regulars hanging out here as well as second city students and actors.
On to the food, well it’s really nothing special. I mean it’s not terrible but it’s not that good either. I usually stick with just appetizers here and share with my friends. I’ve had the wings, hummus, quesadillas, cheese curds, a salad (that has goat cheese in it and is quite good), mini burgers, and pretzels. If this place weren’t so close to me, I’m not sure I’d go out of my way to go here.
Overall, a nice neighborhood spot in Old Town with friendly patrons and bartenders.

We came here with some friends for a quick drink and it was an ok time.
Décor: Inside it is just your (pretty) typical bar — from what we could tell by walking through to the outdoor area. The back patio/​outdoor area is really cool though! They have (what looked like) a bar in the back and plenty of tables/​seats. We sat along the side wall, which was fine as we wanted something more low key. There are TVs outside, which seems a bit out of the character they are going for, but the sound is off so they are tolerable. It’s a big place though, you should be able to stop in with any size group and be set.
Bathroom: unknown
Staff: Our waitress was normal. Not bad, not great.
Drinks: Like I said, we just stopped in for a quick drink. We had beers and sangria (the beers were fine, the sangria was not to our liking — much too lemony for some reason).
Value: Prices are fine, right what you’d expect.
It’s a cool place with a nice outdoor space that I’d come back to check out again.

Great back patio for doing work on a weekday afternoon in the summer. Friendly service, tasty food, and some great classic rock playing in the background. The internet was unfortunately a little spotty at times, but I’ll still be back.

Been to Corcoran’s a number of times. Great location right at north and wells. Great back patio area (although it’s seemingly always reserved unfortunately).
In many ways Corcoran’s is your traditional irish pub. But it’s your traditional irish pub with great import beers, friendly & casual atmosphere, in an area otherwise full of overpriced and rowdy bars with lower quality drinks (ie the heart of old town along wells).
Corcoran’s really is a great atmosphere and the ideal spot if you just finished some intramural game over on the north avenue fields. Fantastic atmosphere in the summer.

One star because it took about 5 – 10 min to get greeted, ordered mojitos and there was a rubber band in our first drink. And the food was salty and bland. Go across the street to adobo for the fresh guac instead. The bartender had attitude when one of us asked to charge our phone behind the bar. Again it was slow. And we had to holler for our waitress to get check which took an additional 30 min. enough time for me to write this review. Oh and did I mention they did not even buy us a round of drinks for having unsanitary bar rubber bands in my beverage. I’ve been here often and the quality of everything keeps getting worse. The bars staff wait gracefully for old bar regulars but don’t even bother to give attention to girls sitting eating. oh by the way did I mention I’m service industry as well? I have a lot of patience when its deserved. work right down the streets

Great weekday specials. Very similar to its neighbor, Wells on Wells, although a little more spacious.
The appetizers are really large portioned and the staff is normally pretty good with their service. It’s worth noting that this is a slightly older bar, but nonetheless decent.
Same company as Emerald Loop!

Really a great Jem! can be packed luckily we found a table in the back. Have a good selection of craft beers and drafts. Ordered our food came quickly and it was amazing!!! really a true Jem!

3 Stars for the food but 4 stars for both patio and location.
I am an ISU alum, so I have spent many fall Saturday’s and weeknights here. The food is good but not amazing bar food, but it’s bar food. The patio space both in the front and back of house is what makes it great! Better than both Benchmark and Declan’s down the street.
Can’t wait until the weather starts warming up and I can find my way to Corcorans once again!

Coming into this pub it has a pretty cool ambience. A few friends and I decided to get some beer and wings here. They call their wing jumbo seem like an oxymoron to me but they are delicious and full of flavor. The service is really quick here which surprised me because it was packed and there was a football game on.
If you are looking for good pub food and good daily specials this is your spot.

Terrible service. The waitress took 20 minutes to get a diet coke. The manager was extremely rude towards my friend who was not feeling well. After scolding us, she ventured behind the bar to drink with customers and «socialize.»

Great Great Great drinks. Nice Irish pub for getting drunk. Get drunk then go across the street for some improv. #perfectnight
First place I have ever see where you can get cheese wiz on your burger? I don’t know, it is the midwest. They just do things different. Service nice and fast, and kept a nice even flow of alcohol coming.
Sat next to some #actors. Loved overhearing that conversation, it was like dinner theater.
Pass on the desert. The bread pudding was so disappointing.

The front bar is fine, and you’ll be lucky if you ever get a spot on the front patio, but the back patio is where Corcoran’s really earns its stars. Lots of tables and chairs are placed in a semi-​enclosed patio, frequently trafficked by the waitstaff, and in full view of multiple TVs (if that’s your thing). Regarding the restaurant as a whole, the food is good, they have daily drink specials, and a series of discounts and loyalty programs that will subsidize your trips to Corcoran’s.

Came here after Second City to watch the Royals sweep the Angels in the ALDS. Three of us shared the fish tacos and the fried cheese curds. Both of which were very good. However, the beer wasn’t cold and that just isn’t right at a pub. You’ve got to have ice cold beer!

Your standard bar and pub food.
Had the «jumbo wing special» which really was just regular sized wings. Salads were fine.
It’s bigger than it seems because of extra outdoor space and bar in the back. Fun neighborhood place to visit but nothing to write home about.

Came here on a Friday night with some coworkers. The bartender was really friendly, but the place just smelt funky. Old Town really isn’t my scene. It was entertaining to see some random guys dancing, but seeing how they waltzed out of the place with a flourish at the end, they were professional dancers.
Just me, but I won’t be coming back to this bar or area anytime soon.

This was Bar 2 on our pub crawl list for Crunkmas 2013. My friends and I took up 5 seats at the bar and stayed a decent amount of time. We were greeted by the bartender and quite impressed with the large selection of hard alcohol and beer.
I started off by sampling the Affligem Blond on tap and really liked it, so I ordered a full goblet of it. It’s a good option if you’re into banana-​esque Belgian Blondes.
Part of Crunkmas tradition includes doing a shot reminiscent of a grasshopper. They only had certain shots on sale when we were there, so we tried to figure out what would be the closest to that. They had one called the Clit Lickin’ Cowgirl #2; however, we were bummed to find that they were out of peppermint schnapps and a few other alcohols that we were interested in. Instead, we decided to create our own shot similar to the CLC2. It was made with Bailey’s Irish Cream, crème de menthe, and Goldschlagger. We named it the Cockring Clit Girl #3 (whatever that means), and it just didn’t quite hit the spot the way the listed drink might have.
Our total came to about $ 60, which isn’t bad at all for how many people we had and the various drinks we got. As we left, my friend apologized if we had been too obnoxious but the bartender assured us that we’d been a hoot and she actually wished we were staying longer since Friday afternoon is otherwise slow.