Lynagh’s Irish Pub

I’d really appreciate it if they had written on their schedule that if there’s a UK basketball game, they would not be having their Trivia night. On their website and from personal correspondence, they said that there’s a Trivia night every Thursday including the one I went on. But there wasn’t on account of the game. It takes under a minute to write «unless there’s a UK game.»

I went here during burger week and was less than impressed. I have been here many times at night just for a loud bar to get drunk, and going there earlier to get food didn’t really feel much different. The service was super slow and our server forgot about us a couple of times while she dealt with her regulars. I felt like I was dealing with a bartender rather than someone serving me food, even though she didn’t know anything about their beer. The food itself was all right, but nothing to write home about. I mean literally, I have nothing to write, because I don’t really remember anything about it. That being said, nothing terrible happened and I didn’t leave angry or anything.
I give it 3 stars because I’ve had fun here when coming strictly to drink and be loud. Coming here for food, though, would be only under special circumstances.

Lynaugh’s! You are a rough diamond you skanky beast. It’s hard to write a review of this place because it has been around so long and has passed through so many owners. I mean, seriously? I remember being a kiddo wandering through legs under a cloud of smoke.
Every time it goes to new management they always seem to F something up that was perfect and try to change my old girl. She ain’t what she used to be… I barely see her packed full of young alcoholics anymore and that makes me sad.
The ALL TIME BEST bartender calls this place his home though. Shout out to Dave, «You rock!» You’re always in good hands when he’s making your drinks. It is highly recommended that you OVER TIP him. He deserves it threefold.
The current owner is also the owner of Great Bagel and he has continued the gussying up of the Lynaugh’s food menu. One ameeezing thing he has instituted is unlimited mimosas for Sunday Funday brunch, and this is ameeezing! If you read this, pleeeease bring back the Tallboys on a regular basis. Pay them well, they are the quintessential bar band and should be treated with respect. Lynaugh’s and The Tall Boys belong together!
That is all.

For quite sometime, this place had been on my long list of local places to try. I was excited that they decided to be one of the 20 local restaurants to offer a $ 5 burger during burger week. The special burger that they offered, was the Backyard Voodoo burger. It has caramelized onions and a root beer and onion sauce. I’m not much on burgers, but my husband who is usually a burger and an onion fan, said that it had too much onions. Keep in mind that this is a special item, only offered this week. So we can’t knock them for that.
The menu is exactly what I like, pub like food with several appetizer options. I went with the $ 7.50 buffalo chicken sandwich. All of the items are ale carte, but to was it only an extra $ 1.50 to add a side. I chose the side salad and it was pretty good sized, especially for $ 1.50. It was a spinach salad with bleu cheese, candied nuts and an oily homemade dressing. The sandwich was way too messy. It came loaded with bleu cheese sauce. If I order it again, I’ll ask for the sauce on the side.
The owner, who has owned the place for about a year, was there and we chatted a bit about the history and previous owners of the place. He also owns Great Bagel, which is next door. I like the local feel of the place.
A pool table, dart board and several rotating craft beers on draft, adds reasons to why this place highly recommendable, in my opinion. I’ll be back.

Laid back atmosphere. Diverse group of patrons and regulars. Good food. Nice place to unwind.

Driving through Lexington on my way from Nashville back to Maryland and I was so excited to stop here for St Patrick’s Day meal and a beer.
Unfortunately we didn’t stay for too long because they were out of everything except chicken and burgers.
Now, I understand that this is a popular holiday but that is some seriously poor planning on their part. Not only that but I saw employees eating corned beef as they told us they were out… not cool!
As if running out of food wasn’t enough, it actually took ten minutes and us moving to the bar to even hear about the food shortage. Two servers walked by us sitting at a table with no acknowledgement.
Oh and there wasn’t even Irish music playing!

I’m between a 3 or a 4 star rating. I guess I’m going to go with 3 because this place is kind of a dive. The food is decent, but it’s not anything special. Just your standard pub food.
My boyfriend and I have the DealSaver burger basket card so we came to get our free burgers. The burger included on the deal was the O’Round burger, their standard burger. World famous? I’m not sure how. It was tasty and cooked as I ordered it (well done), but it’s a standard burger with lettuce, tomato and onion. And your choice of side item. I chose the Caesar salad. It was unremarkable. In Fact, not really a Caesar salad as it contained no Parmesan cheese or anything other than a few croutons and some Caesar dressing.
We just returned from a cruise so our appetites were pretty big. We ordered 2 appetizers along with the burgers. We ordered chili cheese fries which were not very good at all and we ordered the Cajun spice chicken wings. They came 6 in an order for $ 6.50 and they were actually really tasty. The wings were my favorite item!
It’s a good college hangout/​bar with decently cheap food and large beer selection. Not really a great place to go just for dinner.

Awful. Where should I begin? I was fond of old Lynagh’s especially for their daily deals: two entrees for the price of one on Tuesday! Now these deals are no more. The food is bland and extremely over priced. To get an expensive burger without flavoring, better pay up 8 to 9 bucks. Don’t worry, the meals no longer come with sides. I got a shepherds pie with a side of chicken curry soup. Both were tasteless. I kept thinking «this tastes like a lean cuisine». It was as much food as a lean cuisine too. Canned peas and carrots topped with some cheese and no good potatoes. Lastly, our waitress was very rude and after minimal interaction for most of the evening, wouldn’t leave us alone the minute the basketball game started. We will not be returning to Lynagh’s.

Hate to say it but this place is gonna close doors before you know it. This was a spot you wanted to last forever and say «my parents used to hang out here“the only charm of old bars like this is walking in and being like yeah. but now it’s like nah. The new ownership is clueless, they cut the music and the food to a no one cares level. Lynaghs lacks the working man hamburger pub vibe that kept that spot running forever. It’s cool they’re turning it into a jimmy johns.

I don’t know what the new owners were thinking when they totally changed the menu here! Burgers used to be the best in town but now are absolutely terrible. I won’t be going back for food — they also got rid of many favorite sandwiches like the T&A. Epic fail.

Beer’s a bit overpriced for a true Irish pub. And really, if you’re going to call yourself an Irish pub, you’d darn well better serve a good fish and chips and a solid shepherd’s pie.
The fish and chips: server informed us that, despite what the menu says, the fish and chips is not served with fries and a side… the fries are the side. As in, if you order «fish and chips with a side salad» you get fried haddock and a side salad. That’s not «fish and chips,» my friend. That’s fried fish and salad. To be fair, the haddock was fried nicely and the chips are wondrous, but fer goodness’ sake, serve what it bloody well is!
The shepherd’s pie was decent but not worth $ 9. It had a musty flavor and was clearly made from frozen bits of peas, carrots, and corn. Needed seasoning. Lamb was unidentifiable in the mush, and the beef was underwhelming.
It’s not a terrible place, but not a good Irish pub. It’s just a bar.

Bloody Marys are spicy, fresh, and simply garnished with a lime wedge. Ratios are good so still a ³⁄₅ for tastiness even though presentation is a little «meh»

This review is based on the O’Round and nothing but the O’Round.
I used to get these pretty regularly 30 years ago. Danged fine burger. Locals tell me the place is under new ownership and things were pretty much just like they were 30 years ago until just recently. The guy I brought with me today didn’t recognize that brioche bun at all.
Yeah. Brioche bun. Poppy seed brioche bun. Should change the name to Le Round. Loose, airy, brioche bun that gets all wet and falls apart when you try to pick up the burger. Who thought that was a good idea? I really hate that trend.
But hey, it’s a bun, and we’re talking about a burger. Other than the fact my medium burger came out well done, the problem is they’ve started buying cheap meat. Tell me if you, like me, won’t buy that stuff in the tubes in the grocery store because it tastes kind of musty and wrong? It’s in every burger I’ve ever eaten in 51 years from that tube stuff. It cooks up a bit tough and has that nasty off-​flavor. And now, so does the O’Round.
I’m going to have to ask you to trust me on this, since it’s a taste thing and hey, maybe I’m imagining things, but that’s my experience. Cheap factory processed ground beef does not taste like fresh ground trimmings, much less fresh ground chuck and sirloin. I’m serious when I say every time I’ve tried the tube stuff, and only when I’ve tried the tube stuff, it tastes like the O’Round did today.
On a better note the shepherd’s pie side wasn’t bad, though oddly sweet. The whole idea of shepherd’s pie as a side dish is great. Just fix the burger. That was awful.
Oh, and while I didn’t have fries, I read another review here that said they’ve started serving cheap frozen fries. After tasting the Le Round, I’m not surprised. Let me pause for a silent scream…
There.

They changed their menu after a hundred years. It sucks now. Chips are a side order now. They added fries to their menu. They’re frozen cheap potatoes. They tasted awful. Ill never go back.

This lil Irish Pub, close to UK campus, close to downtown is always usually packed. It is a staple for those kids on campus with no car. I think this truly might be a place for those people who really love to drink. They have a full bar and also offer lots of great food items.
I do not come here often, but when I do it is to enjoy a Guinness on tap. I mean if you are in an irish pub what more do you need. If I can recall their food is actually pretty darn tasty.
Their staff are nice and they know the names and lives of most of their regular patrons, just like Cheers. I like that aspect about this place. They offer live music at times as well.
All that being said, I rated them a 2 because the place is kinda filthy. There is a nice layer of dust covering everything above shoulder level in this place. It could truly do with a good old fashioned cleaning. They have a lot of bikes and things hanging from the ceiling and all of which is COVERED in dirt and dust. BLAH.
It is a great dive bar aside from the filth. If they decide to clean it up, I will gladly change my humble review of this place.

We stopped on our way to Atlanta from Ohio the Sunday after Thanksgiving. They let us in 45 minutes before they opened so my boyfriend could watch a soccer game. Their food was great and service was excellent. I had the Lynagh dog– delicious!

Horrendous service. I went there and got a beer and a burger. It wasn’t busy; there were three people in the place. I asked for a food menu. The server was so distracted by the burden of the three other patrons that he completely forgot about me. I had to stand up, and move to the middle of the bar in order to get his attention and place a food order.
I finally placed the order, and I watch the food show up for the bartender to give to me. He goes over, looks at the food, picks up the ticket, and then sets it back down as if he has absolutely no clue where it is supposed to go. He returns to doing absolutely nothing, and does not bring me my food. The food sits there for five more minutes, at which point I asked him, «Is that my food sitting there getting cold?» He replies, «Yeah, I’m really screwing this up aren’t I?» Bingo!
He caps this off by running someone else’s credit card on my tab. It took him 10 minutes to unwind that screw up. I couldn’t even escape the place quickly. I used to really like this place, but I’m not going back anymore. The service is so awful that it just isn’t worth it.

If you don’t want to read the drawn out version, the short of it is that the service is terrible and the manager is incredibly rude. I’d avoid this place, especially if you’re hoping to use a coupon.
We live right up the street from here and have tried it out a few times. Both were a complete disappointment. I won’t comment on the food, because we never ordered any, or the drinks because they were more or less fine– but the service is horrible. The first night we chalked it up to a fluke. We went in on a Wednesday and ordered a few drinks. The bartender sort of looked down his nose at us and as soon as we ordered disappeared (even though we were the only patrons at the bar). Sunday night was St. Patrick’s, so of course we celebrated in the stereotypical American fashion. They actually weren’t incredibly busy by the time we got in but the treatment we received by the manager was the worst experience I’ve ever had. My friend was attempting to use a coupon that had two possible drinks listed. We showed the bartender the coupon and she ordered the first option. After 15 minutes, she comes back to say they’re out of one of the ingredients. My friend proceeds to order the second option on the coupon. Another drawn out wait, and finally they produce it. After she pays we realize they charged her without actually using the coupon. We say something to the bartender who tells us «well that’s how it is in the computer so I don’t know what to tell you». We tell her we’d shown it to her before our order so she said she’d get the manager. Again, at least a ten minute wait. I really am not exaggerating the time periods here, we had two other friends waiting at a table for us as well. The manager shows up and looks at her coupon, then dismisses it completely with «well it’s St. Patrick’s Day». There was no mention on the coupon about excluding holidays. She proceeded to get extremely irritated with us and huffed and puffed and then snapped that she’d refund the money and shoved it across the bar at my friend. Both of us have worked in service jobs before, and in any other similar situation I can’t imagine if you had to wait so long and found out they were out of an ingredient for the original drink you wanted, and then out of green dye for a beer (on St. Patrick’s Day!), and then waiting for an extended period of time to speak to a manager, the drink wouldn’t have been comped or at least discounted already. The rudeness of both the manager and the bartender were ridiculous, and we will not be returning.

I used to be a slackass vegetarian who would lapse on special occasions (as in the green-​chili pulled-​pork tacos at Torchy’s in Austin – SO GOOD).
I don’t know why I thought being at Lynagh’s was a special occasion, but alas, I digress. I ordered a corned beef sandwich, somehow expecting greatness, and I was very much let down. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t good, either.
Fast forward two years.
People rave about their burgers, so in the spirit of being in Kentucky, last night I ordered the Beer Cheese O’Round (and yes, that shit’s TM’ed). It was a regular-​sized burger with a dollop of beer cheese on top o’ the meat, and the white part o’ the plate was covered with potato chips.
Okay, folks, potato chips are not a side. They just AREN’T. I might eat them with a burger or a hot dog at the house, but when I’m eating at a restaurant, I don’t want to pay $ 8.50 for a burger WITH CHIPS. Put some damn french fries on the plate like a real Irish pub.
Which brings me to the next point: Putting «o’» in front of a word does not make it Irish. And serving Guinness and painting your walls green doesn’t make you an Irish pub. I was once at an «American bar» in Mannheim, Germany, and they served Four Roses, Eagle Rare, and ROWAN’S CREEK. Now THAT’S an impressive attempt to live up to the professed genre of pub.
Lynagh’s: Add Bulmer’s to the beer list and we’ll talk. In the meantime, there’s lots of similar pubs in town that serve superior food for around the same cost.

This place has the best burger in town, The O’Round. I recommend it with bacon and A-​1 Sauce. Great place to enjoy a beer too.