Patrick J’s Irish Pub

My husband and I stopped in here on a Friday night. My daughter takes dance at Linda’s so I’ve been wanting to try out Patrick’s since they opened last year. I have to say the food was really good. My husband had the pastrami sandwich and I had the chicken piccata. The meal didn’t come with a soup or salad option which was fine because it’s always too much food for me. The service was good, had a great waiter. The only reason I’m not giving them 5 stars is we were seated in a booth and they were super uncomfortable. They hardly had any cushion to them. It would also be nice to have some divider between the booths too since it is a bar atmosphere.

Came here on a Tuesday night for some spontaneous trivia. Nice big open space, wasn’t ungodly crowded… but enough people for a good hearty game of trivia. Bar staff was friendly and attentive.
I ordered the garlic parm fries after seeing someone else order them. You get a massive quantity of steak fries tossed in garlicy goodness and topped with shaved parm for only $ 6. I felt like it was a really good value. We didn’t have any other food, but I can tell you that the other dishes people were ordering looked quite delicious.
I will definitely be returning to Patrick J’s, especially since my BF and I have a $ 10 gift card for coming in second place at trivia!

Had been for dinner and drinks and loved it, so we decided to host a holiday party for about 80. It couldn’t have gone better. The front room overlooking downtown Berkley is great for functions. They helped us set up a food and drink menu — cocktails were delicious, the food was terrific. And then the service that night put it over the top.
It’s as good as anywhere in the area, just friendlier. Plus there is tons of free, convenient parking. Couldn’t recommend it more for a night out or a big event.

Liked the open atmosphere, and the food was pretty in top. Liked the seasoned fries and my husband liked the beer selection. The mashed potatoes weren’t my favorite, but our waiter made the experience particularly better. The music they play is on the louder side.

Food is mediocre and overpriced. Not at all an «Irish Pub» atmosphere. I had a feeling what I was getting into when I noticed the Americanized FOUR leafed clover on the front of the building. The place has potential maybe under new management. Also, the bathroom smelled better than the actual dining area. Although I will say, the bartender was extremely nice!

Patty J’s is a great place with the coldest beer I have had. Parm garlic fries are top notch. Great beer selection, and they have Blanton’s!

Good food. Good booze. Great people’s. I will be back and probably will always be back.

I was really excited to hear that someone bought up the Hiller’s building and wanted to put money into it. It needed so much help. The bar itself is beautiful. Nice open layout with the option of outdoor-​esque seating. I love the garage doors. Is it «decorated» with an Irish feel that they’re trying to achieve? No. There’s hardly any décor still.
My family and I decided to eat here within the first two weeks of them opening. We were less than impressed. I didn’t want to write a review then because soooo much changes in the first several months of a new bar/​restaurant being open. The food was bad. A person I went to dinner with got the shepherds pie; it was disgusting. Again though, things change!
The service then wasn’t good. The waitress seemed to take forever on getting drinks and then never came back to the table to check on us after she took our order. She wasn’t even one of the ones who delivered the food. The owner, Bob, was the one who came over and checked on us.
So, we went back just recently to give it another shot. It has improved… kinda. The service was still really bad. I walked in at 6pm. I had an appointment at 7:45 so I figured I would have plenty of time. The waitress never even took our order until about 7:15. The food was better. In my opinion, they’re trying to be this Irish pub with unique ideas when in actuality it’s just glorified bar food. The nachos they make have potential but then they used gross canned cheese and it lost all sense of what nachos should really be. The pastrami sandwich was decent. Needed a little bit more sauce but it had good flavor. The fish and chips are good. A little salty, but good.
Overall, I think they need to stop cutting corners with frozen, pre-​made packaged food. Get an actual chef in there instead of cooks that are trained to rip open the package and serve it.

My first time here and while the food was good, the staff wasn’t. We arrived with 3 of our party of four. We wanted outside seating but none was available at the time. We asked if we could take a table inside (plenty available at the time) until the outside seating was available. She said if we were seated inside we couldn’t then move outside? WTF? Are you serious? Talked to a manager who said she was «mistaken» and we could do that.
In the meantime 2 tables had opened up outside. Asked the manager if we could take a table outside and he said not until our complete party arrived? Again… serious dude? We have 3 of 4 here. I’ve been at plenty of places that do this. Nope, he is not there to ensure customer satisfaction, only to enforce his rules. Not like there weren’t any tables open out there by this time.
Manager was as clueless as his hostess.

Most Irish places are the same dimly-​lit, Shepherd’s pie serving dive, but Patrick J’s is a step above. The restaurant is a massive, well-​lit bar with high ceilings and lots of natural light from the floor length garage door style windows that face 12-​mile road. It’s pretty juxtaposed to the cramped Hiller’s grocery store that once sat there just a few years ago (worst grocery store ever).
The bar is seriously massive, I can’t stress this enough. Much different than the stampede that is trying to fit into a Royal Oak bar. Lots of parking both outside and in.
Menu was solid. You know those restaurants who have so many items you don’t know what to get? This is not one of those places. Concise menu that shows the owners and chef’s are going to focus on a few things and do them right. The sandwiches have a nice twist as well. For example, you can get a Reuben or you can get a Patrick J version with bacon and mustard. It was awesome. Skip the fries and get roasted root vegetables, which were also good. My group also enjoyed the tempura shrimp, shepherd’s pie and a giant chicken sandwich that could have served 4. Yes I ate off all of my friend’s plates. No, I have no shame.
I would have liked the bar to have more TVs, and larger ones because then it could be a logical spot for gameday. More booths and more refined seating would have been nice but I’m sure that will come in time. They do have a lot of bar space and stand up counters to drink so they have that going for them. The garage doors that open to the street will also be solid come summer time.
Will go back again and look forward to trying something new on the menu.

Not spectacular. Service was super slow and not really friendly. Food was typical bar food with an Irish flare.

I’m extremely disappointed in this restaurant. Huge waste of money.
My burger was extremely over seasoned… true burgers shouldn’t have spices in the mix.
Examples of better burgers: Red coat, Green dot stables, Bradys, Detroit burger company… even burger king.
I ordered it medium… it came well done and the fries were cold.
There was also a strange «fishy» smell that wouldn’t go away.
The «Chef» was screaming in the kitchen like he was Gordon Ramsey… I hope he realizes he works at an Irish pub… AKA. a bar NOT a 5 star restaurant.
I guess the owner let’s him harass the other employees… NOT to mention I sat near the front door and heard him over the music and distance screaming at his fellow cooks.
The service was good and my beer was cold… but I won’t be back.

The food is only mediocre at best. Do not order the mahi mahi. It was bad. Stick to fried, bar food. Very few healthy options at all.
The beer list is good. Service was good.
I think it’s absolutely terrible this place isn’t family friendly. This is Berkley. Restaurants are frequented by families here. Us parents like to be able to grab a beer and a meal every now and then with our kids in tow. When we do, we’re probably staying around Berkley. Not likely getting a babysitter to go to Patrick Js. But, no high chairs and no kids menu. The waitress suggested chicken wings. It’s my understanding they’re trying to be more adult and less family friendly — good luck in Berkley.

Probably at about a 3.5 here, but giving them the benefit of the doubt since a few of the hang-​ups I have are just personal preferences. Came in yesterday for dinner and some drinks. We sat at the bar. The bartender was fantastic — prompt, made suggestions, friendly, etc. A+ in the service department.
We tried a few different items off the appetizer menu. The boneless buffalo wings had good flavor and the portion was quite sizeable. They were just too breaded for my tastes. They aren’t normal «chunky» size buffalo wings, but they look like they might be hammered out pieces of chicken that are larger and flatter than what you might normally think of when you think of boneless wings. I know that boneless wings aren’t what one normally thinks of when they think of «healthy» but these probably fall on the unhealthy end of normal boneless wings.
We also tried the parmesan garlic fries. Again, a heaping portion. Amazing flavor. In line with Irish fare, they are thicker cut. Not a huge fan of thick cut, but I know they’re staying true to the theme here. Very good nonetheless. Ranch dressing tasted good, but was a bit on the watery side.
We also tried the garlic chicken flatbread. Flavor was amazing. Dough was a bit on the spongy side. Overall very good.
The third person in our group ordered the BBQ Chicken salad. It looked really good, solid portion, and she spoke highly of it.
All in all, this place has a lot to offer. Very nice atmosphere on the inside. Good beer selection. Good service. It can get pricey though and the draft beers are closer to 12oz than 16oz. So, it’s got a couple things that prevent me from raving about it, but I’ll likely be back to give it another shot.

Wow, Berkleyites sure are picky :)
I was impressed with this place! I went the week after it opened, so the waitress couldn’t answer any of our questions about drinks or the menu and had to go ask somebody else, but that’s to be expected when everyone who works there is new. One thing that was super weird was that my friend and I wanted to sit on the patio, and there were like four empty tables there, but they were going to make us wait for a «two-​seater». I’ve never been to a place that would make you wait for the exact right size table to open up, when there are numerous already open tables that will work. So we just sat inside.
The food was FABULOUS. I’ve been dying to go back, just to order the exact same stuff. Their Michigan salad is phenomenal– each ingredient is prepared individually in some way (baked apples, smoked blue cheese, candied bacon…) and it’s not cheap, but it’s huge! I had enough to take some home for a late-​night snack after dinner. We split an order of the parmesan garlic fries, which were also wonderful.
I definitely can’t afford to eat here on a regular basis, but the food will keep me coming back when I can!
(Oh, the one other weird thing is that they don’t open until 4 pm. This was really disappointing when I tried to go back for lunch one day…)

36 bucks later for two, and the place was just ok, yea you’ll do fine, but you’re off the list.

My wife and I stopped here at the end of a bike trip. We ordered appetizers and drinks. Overall the beer selection was good the appetizers were good and the service was good. The music selection was puzzling.
We both ended up getting beers from a Traverse City brewery (terra firma) — Amber and Porter. Our server was happy to bring us samples of several draft beers to help us make a selection. Although she was not very knowledgeable about the beers, she was very happy to let us sample until we found a good fit.
We ordered the Boxty and Brussels Sprout apps. The Brussels were crispy and deep fried with large shavings of cheese. These were a good version of fried Brussels but not as good as several places in Ferndale and Royal Oak.
The Boxty was a good fried potatoey dish. The highlight of this dish was the aioli. We asked for extra aoili on the side and our server said this was a common request. The additional aoili was an important part of this dish.
They had a great draft beer selection including many Michigan breweries.
Three for a new place. We will have to return and see if they can make improvements.

Nice location on 12 mile in downtown Berkley. Great patio with a lot of seating and views of the 12 mile. The patio only has 1 TV, so may not be the best for sports fans. Interior is specious with high ceilings and plenty of room to move around. Great looking bar and comfortable hang out area.
Food looked great at everyone’s tables. We had the Classic Reuben and the Michigan Salad. The Reuben was great and well priced. The fries were perfect. The Michigan Salad was just ok. It was a little small, had basic chopped iceberg lettuce, and seems over priced for the ingredients. I wouldn’t order again unless it was changed or price reduced to $ 7-​$ 9 range.
Beer selection is very strong with a large draft selection you’d expect in an Irish pub along with the many different Michigan craft brews and propyl at regional options. If draft isn’t your thing, a long list of bottles will fill the gap.
Overall, I’m happy with the location, beer selection, and food I saw around us. However, some of the food may be a little over priced (salad) and beer could also be a little rich based on the $ 6 Perrin Grapefruit IPA I had.

Service is good!
Sat on the patio and had the pretzels and husband had a beer or two. Beer is super cold — which is awesome!
The pretzels are alright. Hearty & dense.
You get a good portion to share and they are surprising. Served with beer cheese and mustard. The beer cheese could be a bit smoother. But, a good dish to snack on.

Opening night (7÷6÷15) and this place already seems like a hit. The service was good, especially for the first night. They have a great beer selection and the app’s we had were great. Unlike many bars/​restaurants in Berkley, there is plenty of parking in back.
True to the Irish theme, the menu itself made us want to come back. I didn’t see one thing on it that I didn’t want to try. The front open air area was a great idea and was the first to fill up. As outdoor seating or for a private party, this will be a popular section. We plan on going back often.