Paddy Coughlins Pub

Nice pub. Great sandwiches, and we even had Guinness chocolate cake for desert (I almost never have desert with lunch). Staff was very cordial and efficient. We plan to return for lunch often.

A well worn and comfortable Irish pub with good food and good beer selection.
Really not much more to say. If that is what your interested in you will not be disappointed. It’s won several best of the area awards, and I can see why

Brought my boyfriend here on Saturday for a last minute dinner. The place was packed and full of energy! The waitresses greeted us right away and told us how long the wait would be. We opted to eat at the bar instead. We ordered drinks right away which were served with a smile (and made correctly!), and we were offered dinner menus.
My bf had a cheeseburger and fries and I opted for a veggie burger and sweet potato fries. The portions were HUGE, perfectly prepared and the prices are so reasonable. Absolutely the best place in Fort Atkinson to enjoy pub food, Irish tunes and great drinks. Love the ambiance as well. Bravo Paddy’s!

Great food and great atmosphere. The regular menu has great burgers and Irish Fare. The specials are always amazing. Live music on the weekends and super friendly wait staff. They also offer gluten free options as well as gluten free beer. The Guinness cake and Bread Pudding are awesome. Tell Erin «Tim sent me».

I actually moved to Fort Atkinson because of this pub. This is a Chicago caliber neighborhood Irish pub in small town Wisconsin. I am in awe and so impressed with what Erin and her husband are doing here with atmosphere, service, and menu. Life is a delight with this gem.
First of all-it’s the neatest lil Irish pub this side of the pond. Outdoor bar seating to watch passers by, indoor skylight and antiques, and a gorgeous back bar make this place feel like a well worn home away from home. Special touches like Trivia Tuesdays, a mug club, a pay-​it-​forward buy your friend a bevy board, and a wall signed by bands who have played at the pub make this place, quite simply, a happy place.
They have an unparalleled attention to their selection on tap-​never seen a place with a scotch ale and a cidre always on tap. Damn fine mixed drinks and award-​winning staff-​these folks are like family and look out for ya. The food is spot on to boot – I recommend the BBQ hamburger or their cheese curds! Epic snacks with homemade spiced pretzels or homemade chips. Keep an eye on their Facebook page for constantly curious and highly delectable specials.
So truly impressed with what the team is doing here. I’ve travelled to Ireland and back and followed Irish bands through a number of pubs on this side of the pond… and this one takes the Guinness cake. Slainte!

Great Food… great service! Enjoyed kayaking all day on the river and finished with the perfect meal… we are from Western Subs of Chicago :-)

Great beer and food. Bar is made up of a lot of reclaimed materials from the area and gives the place a real old Irish feel although the place is only about 5 yeas old. Great specials on Friday nights and local music most Saturdays. Taps are great with the traditional Irish beers I.e. Harp, Guinness, Smithwicks, Kilkenny and the rest are mostly IPA’s that get cycled out regularly.

Nice place in downtown Fort. I went in for lunch but it looked like a place I’d like to come back for drinks some night. I have heard that have live entertainment at times.
The lunch was very good. My rueben was toasted perfectly and had good flavor. The Irish Stew was thick and tasty but could have been better if it was served with some type of bread.
I have relation in Fort Atkinson so I will be back anytime I’m in the area.

My favorite bar in Fort Atkinson. My wife and I are regulars, and probably stop in at least once a week. We always feel at home when we’re at Paddy’s.
I can’t say much more than has been said already… Erin and Brandon do a great job as owners running this place, along with Jerry, Megan, and the rest of the staff. The wait staff are always top notch, friendly, and attentive.
Food is always good… I don’t think I’ve ever eaten something I didn’t like here.
10 beers on tap, with all the usual Irish beers, plus a rotation of various imports and micro/​craft beers. Also, I’m usually not a martini person, but the Hendricks martini is tremendous.
Fort Atkinson is lucky to have such a great place to go for food and drink!

Great food! The fish tacos are excellent, as is the James burger. And a great selection of beers. If you are in Fort Atkinson make it a point to eat at Paddy Coughlins!

We eat and drink here quite regularly and I can’t say that I’ve ever had a bad experience. Nearly everything is made from scratch with fresh ingredients, which in Fort is saying something. And while somewhat lacking in truly Irish selections, they know how to do pub grub: the fries are superb, as are the reuben, paddy melt, wings (Tuesday nights only, best deal in town), soft pretzel sticks, soups and salads, and just about everything else we’ve tried. The Friday night fish fry is also top notch — whatever the special is that night is almost always fantastic.
The draft beer selection is the best in town, with several rotating taps (always one IPA or other hoppy beer, and then usually one lighter and one darker selection) and a solid lineup of Irish classics (Guinness, Harp, Smithwick’s, Kilkenny).
The atmosphere is cozy and welcoming, with lots of pub ambiance, a solid wood and brass bar that is great for ponying up to, and just the right amount of Irish kitsch. There are a couple TVs, but they aren’t intrusive, and music is well selected and kept at a moderate volume which makes it a great place for hanging out and chatting with friends even on busy nights. Most importantly, the owners/​bartenders/​waitstaff are all incredibly friendly, accomodating of requests, and generally fantastic human beings.
In sum, we really love Paddy’s. It’s an unexpected gem in the middle of Fort Atkinson.
P. S. We got the bread pudding for dessert a few nights ago and it was RIDICULOUSLY good. I had no idea.

Great food and good beer. Surprisingly assortment of choices on the menu. Excellent townie atmosphere without making outsiders feel unwelcome!

I’ve had several surprisingly good meals here. I’m also pretty impressed with the staff/​ownership. Each time I visit I’m made to feel like a regular. People are on point.

Was in town visiting some friends and came here for drinks… Wasn’t expecting much but they have gluten-​free beer AND food? What a surprise! They even have GF buns for their sandwiches and burgers, which made for an awesome meal that wasn’t exactly expected in a town as small as Fort… I knew that New Grist would be found here and there, but this was quite a treat. Great service and atmosphere too — can’t wait to come back!

Great sandwiches and everything was fresh. Took some bread pudding to go.

Yum! Their daily soup for $ 1 something is really good and it’s great to see something at that price. They have great service and are very flexible about making a change to a dish if you have a food allergy or are just high maintenance like me. The food is very good pub food. Everything seems to taste like it’s from scratch. You can get drunk off the desserts made with booze, btw.

In Fort Atkinson, this is by far the best place for a great lunch. My personal favorites are the chicken guacomole sandwich — boiled chicken with fresh guacomole with just the right amount of kick on a fresh roll. The Reuben is also exceptional and will not disappoint. I have been here many times and have had excellent, friendly service every time.
I have not tried them at night, but they apparently have Irish specials which I’m sure are also exceptional.

Quick review: I don’t spend a lot of time in Fort Atkinson, but when I do, I’ll spend it at Paddy Coughlins. Great food, great service, decent tap selection, fair prices, and a fun atmosphere — this place is a WIN.
Detailed review:
Some friends of mine had given Paddy Coughlins Pub a favorable review, so when the possibility of visiting the Irish-​themed establishment presented itself, I jumped on the opportunity. We made the short drive to Fort Atkinson, found parking in front of the bar (on the street, but there’s also a large lot across the street as well), and wandered in to the crowded bar.
Make no mistake — this is first and foremost a bar/​pub. There are a bunch of tables with comfy chairs; the larger tables can accommodate groups as large as 8. There are flat screen TVs mounted high-​up; the ceiling in this place is quite lofty as well, which adds to the open and airy feeling.
The bar features about 10 – 12 taps, most of which are European in nature; taps that came to mind include: Smithwicks, Stella Artois, Kilt Lifter, Guinness (of course!), Spotted Cow, and a few others that escape me. Bottled selections are decent, but not «expansive.» No worries; there’s sure to be something for all to enjoy. Prices? Totally fair — our first round which included 2 Lake Louie Scotch Warped Ales (in bottles), a UV-​Lemonade, and a soda, was $ 10.
Appetizers are interesting and from what we sampled, very well prepared. The pint of pretzels is interesting — it’s exactly as titled; a pint glass, filled with «two-​bite» soft pretzel sticks and served with a creamy mustard on the side. The pretzels taste an awful lot like the supermarket-​frozen type of softbake pretzels, but that’s ok. They definitely hit the spot. White cheddar cheese curds were superb as well.
The menu offers a wide variety of food, from burgers and ‘wiches to seafood and traditional Irish/​UK grub. We ordered a little bit of everything: burgers, fried egg sandwiches, the reuben and fish tacos. Side options included fries, sweet potato fries, or homemade chips. Most opted for the sweet potato fries, which were quite easily the best sweet potato fries this reviewer has ever sampled.
The grilled mahi mahi fish tacos featured a lightly grilled mahi with crispy grilled veggies (onions and bell peppers). No cheese, no grease, no dressings — just a nice, clean fish taco. Yum.
I’m told the other dishes were fantastic; I sampled the homemade rye from the reuben and loved it. The portions looked to be more than ample.
We finished things off with the bread pudding and the Guinness cake. Both were ok; the cake was a tad dry, and the pudding was a tad runny, but it was all good. We really enjoyed the entire evening; our waitress was fantastic, even though the place was slammed. She never missed a beat.
Paddy Coughlins Pub = WIN
Service = 4.25 stars
Food = 4.25 stars
Value = 4 stars
Misc = 4.25 stars
A solid establishment — easily the best «pub» in the area. I’d go here for drinks, appetizers, lunch, or dinner any time, and I live 50+ miles away.

Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, is not the place you expect to want a fish sandwich. But I’m telling you– their Mahi Mahi sandwich is an ass-​kicking delight. Perfect flavors, perfect blackening, perfectly cooked, awesome bun, enough mayonnaise to make your arteries happy. You can also sub in sweet potato fries, which I always appreciate. Appetizers include fresh pretzels with real, perfect mustard– divine.
More than that, the atmosphere of this place is homey and small-​town without being the kind of place where I can tell I am going to be punched in the face for hating on UW-Madison’s basketball program. They have a board for friends to buy each other drinks, and the service was great.
I’ll definitely be back next time I’m in the area.