Kelly's Pub - Sandwich, Illinois, Untapped potential

After a few hours out in the Saturday cold my family and I hit the next stop of our day. An anticipatedlunch @ Kelly's Pub in Sandwich. The appeal to me was the historic Pullman rail car that houses one of their dining rooms. I am a history buff, and enjoy seeing how things used to be. This car had had the likes of The Glen Miller Band, boxer Max Baer, Guy Lombardo, and Princess Grace dine there. As I sipped my beer looking at the ornate woodwork, and stained glass, I was taken back in time. I was a little disturbed at the upkeep of this treasure, but it is at an Irish Pub in a small town in Illinois so perhaps a total restoration cannot be expected.

Foodwise I was not really impressed. As I stated above they bill themselves as an Irish Pub, but had somehow "run out of" corned beef by 1:00 p.m. on a Saturday, pretty unforgivable. So I went with a cup of Irish stew, and a burger with gouda instead of a Rueben. The Irish stew had beef in it and not lamb, and was decent, very little if any broth, all carrots, potato, and barley. A couple chinks of tasty beef were found.

The burger was a decent burger, angus, and cooked medium, although I wanted medium rare.

The one decnt dish was a steak and mushroom boxtie, almost like a philly steak mix inside a good sized potato pancake. Overall I think this place could be a treasure with a little work, and some work on the menu. I think they are getting by with the minimum of effort right now.

train car:


front:


enjoying the surroundings:


Irish stew:


Boxtie:


burger w/ gouda:


Kelly's Pub
Corner of East Church Street @ South Main Street
Sandwich, IL.

Looks like some hits and misses there. The gouda on the burger is interesting, I like gouda a lot but I'm thinking a conflict in texture with a burger. The stew looks disappointing, like it needs more of something. I was curious about the boxtie and it's something I think I'd like to try, what is the white in top, a sauce? But the biggest disappointment.... no corned beef!?

LikestoEatout wrote:. I was curious about the boxtie and it's something I think I'd like to try, what is the white in top, a sauce? But the biggest disappointment.... no corned beef!?

the boxtie was the best item of the day, the white topping was a kind of a sour creamis mayo if that makes any sense.

I tried this place out maybe 10 years ago. I got a salad. It was so bad I called the waitress over and told her to bring the menu. I told her to look at the salad as I read the menu description of it. She had to agree...it was nothing like the menu description. The train car is cool though.

razbry wrote: The train car is cool though.

thats what I came away with, most likely wont be returning. Sandwich is a nice little town, found a local grocer, and picked up some nice unenhanced babybacks that I smoked that night for a snack.

hey jim , i passed this place for years(going & coing from lake holiday) never went in . train does look cool.

philw wrote:hey jim , i passed this place for years(going & coing from lake holiday) never went in . train does look cool.

the train car was the big draw for me, I am a history buff, and even if the food wasnt up to par, it was neat eating in that old train car.