My family and I are long time Local Fans. We often swing by before seeing a show at the Orpheum,…read moresuch a fun tradition. We went this last week with a large group before a show and had another great experience. We didn't make any sort of reservation and they were able to seat us right away. Staff were very friendly and flexible with our group needs. We also enjoyed a great variety of foods and beverages. The table loves the fish and chips as well as the whiskey bites.

I stopped by The Local for lunch on a Thursday afternoon and was seated right away with no wait…read more There was plenty of patio seating available, but I opted to sit inside--and I absolutely loved the atmosphere! The interior has that classic vintage pub feel with lots of character and natural light. There are tons of booths and different seating areas that could accommodate parties of all sizes. I especially liked the glass dividers between some of the booths, which give you a little extra privacy without making the space feel closed off. My booth also had coat hooks and easy access to outlets, which I appreciated. I could definitely see myself coming here for a working lunch. My server was incredibly friendly and helpful, especially as I was trying to figure out how to use a couple of rewards I had on my account. I specifically came in wanting to try the fish and chips. Their lunch menu offers smaller portions of several dishes from the dinner menu, including a fish and chips option for around $15. I really wanted to try the walleye, though, so I ended up ordering the full dinner portion for around $28. The fish was absolutely the star of the plate. The breading was fantastic--crunchy around the edges while still light and fluffy--and the fish inside practically melted in my mouth. The tartar sauce was also really good and paired perfectly with it. The sides, unfortunately, didn't impress me nearly as much. There were plenty of fries, but they were pretty average, and the coleslaw was mostly cabbage with a light dressing. It felt like it was missing some acidity or lime to give it a little more personality. For almost $30, I also expected the meal to be a bit more substantial. I left satisfied, but found myself hungry again a couple of hours later, so I'm not sure the dinner portion felt worth the price for me. If you're mainly curious about their fish and chips, I'd probably recommend trying the smaller lunch portion first rather than committing to the more expensive dinner version. Would I come back? Absolutely--the atmosphere, service, and location alone make The Local worth another visit, and I noticed several other dishes on the menu I'd be interested in trying. I just don't know that I'd order this particular meal again. The fish itself was excellent, but for me, the sides and overall value didn't quite match it.

Stopped in here on SPD around 1pm and it was steady busy. I shared some of the fish and chips with…read moresome coworkers and it was tasty. Nice flakey fish and crispy fries. Large portion and shareable.

The food here is an absolute joke. Disgusting overpriced garbage. The service isn't terrible if…read moreyou're just stopping in for drinks. But seriously, don't eat here.

Finally had a chance to check out The Local and it was pretty much exactly what you'd expect from…read morean Irish pub. Huge bar top surrounded by TVs, lots of Irish decor, and cute booths that really lean into the theme. Unfortunately, things started off a little rough. The person I met there waited over 10 minutes at the host stand before anyone acknowledged them. I totally understand hosts may be on break or helping elsewhere, but with the restaurant nearly empty it was surprising that no bartender or server stepped in. Once we were seated, it also took a while before our server came by. That said, our server ended up being super friendly and attentive the rest of the visit. We ordered an Irish lemonade, a cold beer, and the Gaelic Whiskey Bites. They were exactly what you'd expect with an extra crunchy exterior, but the sauce was actually really good! Honestly made me wish I had tried a burger with that sauce instead, but we weren't hungry enough for more food. Overall, it's a decent neighborhood Irish bar, but nothing really stood out to me. I'd probably come back for the patio or on St. Patrick's Day!

Wow, this place makes one of the best pot roast dinners you'll ever have. The pot roast is super…read moretender and everything that you would expect from a really good homemade pot roast. This place is very generous with the amount of meat that comes with the order which is the biggest I've ever seen for its price. The vegetables are super good. It was a mix of mushrooms and carrots in a thick brown gravy. The mashed potatoes were fine. Next time I would ask for extra mashed potatoes. I love how it is garnished with the skinny fried onions. I would definitely come back here and try their other foods, especially their chicken pot pie.

The food here is excellent. The go to when I come back, and I will, is the Fish & Chips and the…read moreRuben. The ambiance is a cool Irish Pub vibe. And the service is great.

We stopped by on a Saturday as we were looking for a good family lunch spot and the other Yelp…read morereviews were good. The whole experience seemed flustered. The host originally seated us in a space that did not fit our party. Then he moved us to a center spot in a long, family-style table with people on either side of us. We had a five year old with us who was overly tired and very spunky and we had to try to keep her focused on us and not our neighboring patrons. Was really not the most appropriate seating for children but we didn't want to ask for yet another table. Soon after we sat down, we discovered that the parties on both sides of us were upset and looking for any employee so they could express their frustration. Seeing as we were all so close, we could hear them complain to others in their parties about the service. We learned shortly that we should have written up our losses early and moved on. We didn't. We ordered our beverages and immediately got water. The rest (2 soft drinks, an iced tea, and a milk) slowly trickled out one by one. The waiter apologized every single time he came to the table about how slow everything was from us being seated to getting our drinks to him coming to take our order. Once the food came out, he was apologizing again for how long that took. He wasn't wrong. As for the food, it was fine. Portions were average to smallish for the price. It wasn't as special as we had hoped it would be based on the descriptions. We each got something different and all said that we wouldn't order that item again. Not that it was bad. It just wasn't good. The best thing we had was the pretzel stick appetizer. That was pretty good but for the price, we wouldn't order it again. Nothing was super memorable except the decor which was super fun to look at. Oh and the very apologetic waiter. Our food came out hot. Turns out that was not true for the table to our left. The table to our right got the wrong food so half their group was done while the others were just starting. Apparently one of the cooks had called in. So, over all, I gave them an optimistic 3 stars. It was like a participation award with the assumption that if they were firing on all cylinders, it could have been much better. Personally, i wouldn't try them again but as the only Irish pub in the area, it could be a neat happy hour hang out. It just was not a family lunch spot.

Continually amazing!…read more We stopped in here the other night for the tried and true fish and chips. O'Brien's Public House always has some of the best fish... however you like it. My husband got the fish tacos for the first time and loved them.. It was a really healthy portion and even had some leftovers. I stuck with my favorite, the cod & chips,these are always amazing! Our server was very friendly and it was a pretty slow night but great service overall. Can't wait to stop back again and enjoy even more food!

I live in Shakopee and have gone to this pub many times. the food is o.k. not wonderful but…read moreadequate. However today has caused me to give O'Brien's one star and believe me if it were possible I'd give them -1. I was supposed to meet six of my friends here today for St Patrick's Day. Our car got struck and we did not arrive until 1 1/2 hours late. We were so late that we would have just had a drink had we known there was a time limit on the table BUT our waitress, Addison 8, did not mention this and took our meal order leisurely. Just after we were served she announced to the table that we all had to leave in 15 minutes. I said I assumed it did not apply to us as we had not even started to eat. she told us it applied to all of us. She told us if I was not happy about this I could speak to the Manager. I told her I would like to. then she said I could speak to her instead but I told her I wanted to speak to the Manager. No Manager ever materialized. I probably will never go to this restaurant again. I know times are tough and I don't object to time limits on tables BUT if a customer is very late the least a server should do is let them know there is a very limited time left for them to eat BEFORE they order $70 worth of food and drinks. I will be sure to mention this matter to my friends and as I have stated i will make sure I give my other regular restaurants the business I gave O'Briens. '

Friendly service, good food, and a solid place overall, but the place wasn't very busy-at-all. I…read morereally think it's the lighting. The vibe of a bar and grill gets KILLED with bright lights. Play great music, and keep the lights low. Along with an awesome staff, and good food, this is a winning combination.

Very tasty food I will go back on the full experience. Customer service is awesome. Delicious.read more

Three of us met here for a meeting. They gave us a great table in a separate room and we were able…read moreto talk. We ordered the Irish egg rolls and they were ok. I came back for dinner and had a lemon drop martini and the Cobb salad without croutons. I have to say that was one of the best salads I've had in a long time. Perfect amount of dressing and every single ingredient was good. Making a great salad is not easy. This one was great. I ate way more than I planned. Would get it again!

I had breakfast supper and appetizers during my stay for my nephews wedding enjoyed the groom's…read moredinner here also. Food was very good nice space for a larger event very nice outdoor space and service at all times was excellent

Visited on a weekend with my mom and brother. Their menu is pretty stacked and has a lot of good…read morethings listed so I had issues picking what I wanted to get! I ended up with the bacon ranch wrap which was very yummy. I got a side of fries and enjoyed them. I didn't love the sauce/dip that came on the side but everything tasted very good! I would definitely go again. Service was fine, it was slow so it was very easy to get our servers attention.

The walleye was delicious. Our server was friendly & attentive. The old building is lovely. We'll…read moredefinitely dine here again!

Thought we would try this place as we were looking for a new restaurant and we were glad we did!…read more I ordered the lunch fish and chips: amazing! The fish was so tender! The lunch size was perfect for me! My husband got the burger. I tried a bite and the meat was SO good!! Our only complaint is we didn't love the fries. Our server was great. He was very friendly and nice. I felt like it was a little cold inside, I had to keep my jacket on while we were there. The bathrooms were clean and spacious. We will be back!

Stopped in with some friends for the first time this week. Service was nearly nonexistent…read more Ordering was slow. Getting drinks was slow. The bar was nearly empty, there were maybe 5 people in the bar/restaurant when we arrived. I don't think it was slow on the bartenders part as much as it was our server. A couple Guinness, a black and tan and a hot cider later, we waited to order food. While eating we decided we didn't want to wait any longer for our server so we went to the bar to ask for waters, our drinks long gone at this point. We also got up to get our own ketchup. Burger was fine but mostly flavorless. Cottage pie was fine, had I not been starving I likely wouldn't have eaten as much as I did. The food was just OK, nothing memorable or spectacular about it. Prices were pretty high for what it was, $17 for a cheeseburger is pretty outrageous, cottage pie in a ramekin was $18. Server wasn't very friendly, or was just in a bad mood that day. She spent a lot of time in the back (this was between major meal times, around 3:30-4) so she didn't seem super engaged or have much desire to be out on the floor. 3% surcharge for credit card

We had a group of 2 tables here on a weeknight for dinner and music. The live music was fun -…read more super casual space with folding tables. The service was tough, as it seemed like only 1 server was juggling a full house. It was disjointed, took a long time, and some orders were inaccurate. Food was very dive bar - greasy and pretty bland. However, lots of people come to support their friends playing live music, so that is nice.

I always forget about this spot as it's not in the heart of West Saint Paul. I've been here many…read moretimes for different gatherings hosted here and it's always a great experience. The large room can hold a number of people for an event like a birthday party, retirement party, or celebration of life. The food served was fantastic this last event I attended. I'm still thinking about the steak slider, wings, and fries. When the food was empty, it was restocked quickly. Food was fresh and pipping hot. Delicious. I'll definitely be visiting this stop again soon.