j k o'donnell's irish ale house

don't expect traditional irish food. i visited j k o'donnell's for dinner with my mom and sone. sheorderedfish and chips and iorderedbangers and mash. the only thing irish about the food was the name. the "chips" were potato wedges, not the traditional soggy, steak-cut type chips you get in the uk or ireland. the fish was also battered in a crispy, fishstick type batter.
as for the bangers and mash, the sausage tasted like bratwurst and the gravy looked and tasted like instant brown gravy. the gravy was milky and opaque instead of dark brown and more like onion soup broth, which is what i have had at any other traditional irish/english pub.
neither dinner was bad, but they were a huge disappointment when we were expecting traditional irish food.

what a wonderful experience!

there were 9 of us here today. my wife and i along with our daughters and families.
audra was our server. she was simply amazing!
the food and atmosphere were wonderful. our server, audra, was so attentive and knowledgeable about the menu.
there were three whoorderedfrom the children's menu, the restorderedfrom the adult menu. a rueben, burgers, soup and salad, scotch eggs, corned beef and cabbage were all delicious! as good as the service was, audra was the high point of our meal.
well done audra! we will ask for you the next time we stop by.

my last rant about jk's was not good at all, things changed for the worst and went from being my favorite spot in fort wayne to not going there any more. it's been well over a year since my last visit so thought i would give it a try again. 100% improved. brought back some items that were deleted from the menu and added some different things as well. iorderedthe scotch eggs and the bangers and mash, both were excellent. friend of mine got the pot pie so i tried it and it was excellent as well, very hearty and tasty, perfect for the cold winter days. my brotherorderedthe shepards pie and he enjoyed that as well. bravo jk's for making this spot a favorite again.

service bad. service was so bad. sent my drink and my burger back. the burger looked really good but it was raw, iorderedmedium. i'm paranoid about sending food back so i asked her not to bring it back. the waitress seemed like she couldn't talk or something. the other food at our table was pretty decent.

i used to love this place, but i've been there twice at lunchtime over the past three weeks and had terrible service. the wait staff seemed more intent on congregating behind the bar and talking about customers in the bar than taking care of their patrons. in addition, they were out of the first three beers that iorderedon my first trip.

for a pub that used to be excellent, it's fallen pretty far.


-----02 aug, 2009-----

easily the best irish pub in the city. the chef's special (and yes, they really have a chef) is great, no matter what it happens to be. add this to one of the most extensive beer lists in the midwest and you have an easy, inexpensive dining choice with a great atmosphere.

will never go back!!!. we arrived as a family of 5 and it took them.at least 10 min to acknowledge that we were even standing there. finaly a waiter came and said we have a party getting ready to.leave we will seat you soon. 15 more minutes past and he finally sat us. weorderedour food which was the cheddar fondue salmon and full order of fish and chips. we sat for 40 minutes to.get our food not once did our waiter come up to.us to see how we were doing no refills nothing. we got our food and it wasn't what i was expecting. salmon didn't come with anything it didn't look good at all. it looked like they cut a hole to.put the "wild" mushroom mixture in it then they had soggie very small potato cakes under the salmon it was very dry it wasn't good at all! this meal was $17 way too much for just salmon. then the fondue came with bread which was very stale. fish and chips a "full" order was two pieces of fish. it was sub par but it was the only thing that was with it. all this time not once did the waiter come and see how we were doing, no refills at all. we are all done and waited for a least 15 minutes before the waiter came and asked how everything was. i said it was the worst food ive had and we have never been here. he said let me get the manager first. well another 10 minutes later we were ready to go because our kids were still hungry and the manager gave me the excuse that they are very busy so that pretty much why food wasn't good. then he argued the pont that their bread isnt stale that is how its supposed to be that way. then he just walked away and took the salmon off the order he didnt come back to.me nothing.
not very happy with this place. we will never go back needless to say we took our kids to.mcdonalds for a bite to eat.

good time bound to be had.. their beer selection is impeccable. any place that ever has three floyd's artic panzer wolf on tap is five stars in my eyes. but their food is pretty damn good too. the first time i ate there iorderedthe ploughman's lunch, a make your own sandwich comprised of smoked turkey, ham, swiss and cheddar, greens, tomato chutney, mustard vinaigrette on potato bread. when iorderedthe ploughman's lunch, i did not realize i was going to recieve a platter of sandwich goods i was gonna have to assemble myself. i have to admit i was severely disappointed by that fact. other than that minor set back i was thoroughly impressed by the combined tastiness of the sandwich ingredients; once assembled it was divine. the second time i attended a dinner at jk o'donnell's iorderedthe fish and chips. the chips (basically thick cut french fries) were unimpressive and the sauces that accompanied the chips, a irish curry, garlic aioli, and spicy smoked whiskey, were all very very disappointing. you would be much better off asking for some good ole' ketchup or malt vinegar to top your fries. however, the fish was off the wall crazy good. fried to perfection in a delectable batter, this fish is some of the best i have had, as a good ole' indiana boy. i plan on revisiting jk o'donnell's many times to come.

a pint of plain. very classy joint. weorderedthe irish flight (5 stars), some jk chips (3 stars), the wedge salad (3 stars), the irish stew (5 stars), and the banoffee (5 stars). large variety of beer for you beer folk. with tip, we spent $45. not bad for all that we got. i'll definitely be back for more irish stew and banoffee.
overall 4 stars

banofee heaven. i have only been there once but i love it! i had the "grilled cheese", i didn't realize what i was ordering :) the sandwich is huge and i had alreadyorderedthe banofee dessert. both were amazing but the dessert (which i took to go and ate in the car) was spectacular!!