By Nick Zwerle
Maguire’s is all about the honey hots. Maguire’s is a pretty small pub that sits around 75 people with tables somewhat on top of each other, and booths along the wall. Walking in, there is a small bar facing you with about 15 to 20 seats and the dining area is all around the bar and extends to the right side. The restaurant features include takeout, seating, waitstaff, parking available, television, wheelchair accessible, serves alcohol, and includes a full bar. During lunch, the vibe is bright and happy since they keep all the windows open. Parking can be difficult as the liquor store next door has snagged several prime spots out front, but there’s a bank next door in the adjacent lot that offers a good over spill. This restaurant is great for kids, families, and bar scenes with friends.
The last time I sat down to eat at Maguire’s, the hostess took our name and told us about 25-35 mins for a table so we had to wait it out. Timing was pretty good as we were seated in about 25 mins by our server, Stephanie, who was very efficient and delightful. On the walls are chalk boards showing the specials, some of which are also listed in the menu. Maguire’s waiters and waitress’ are always very polite to their customers because customer satisfaction is the goal of Neil, the owner. Crusty warm bread rolls were brought out to our table first with butter and they were absolutely delicious.
It’s part of the experience to be in a dark atmosphere, but the tables are well lit so reading the menu was easy. They have lights hung up all along the the chalkboard to brighten the place up. It tends to be fairly quiet whenever I go to Maguire’s for lunch but at night on a weekend the wait is consistently over an hour. However, at night the lights get darker, they have TVs blasting everywhere you look, and crowds of people are seen having a good time. If you sit near the bar, there is a rather strong smell of ammonia that I think comes from the dishwasher and glasses behind the bar, but nothing too intrusive.
We started with the chicken honey hots, ($10.59 for 10 tenders), which I highly recommend to share. These excellent morsels of battered chicken in a sweet and tangy honey sauce served with blue cheese dressing, carrots and celery will be a delight. Maguire’s is known for its honey hot tenders. These boneless wings taste like buffalo with a sugar sweet taste that just blesses your taste buds when it touches your mouth. However, they also offer a great widespread selection of appetizers. The bowl of onion strings, ($6.29 an order), are served overflowing the container with greasy crunchy strings of goodness. The onion strings are so worth it because they can feed a table of 4 because the serving size is so large. I have also tried the mozzarella sticks, ($7.29 for 6 Sticks), from Maguire’s and they are exceptional just like every appetizer at Maguire’s. You can’t go wrong with any appetizer on the menu because there’s so many terrific options.
Some main course meals that Maguire’s offers are salads, sandwiches, pizza, and special and seasonal entrees. I’m not a salad fan myself but when I went with my family my mom ordered a chicken and pear salad ($13.29) and she really liked it. It looked very appetizing with sugar glazed pecans, pears, and nice rich pieces of chicken topped off with some raspberry vinaigrette dressing. Every time I’ve gone, I’ve gotten honey hots as my main entree because that full order will be more than enough for me. The one time I didn’t get honey hots, I wanted to try out the shepherd’s pie ($13.29). Inside was warm mashed potatoes, freshly boiled corn, and shredded pieces of steak. It hit the spot on a cold day and I would definitely recommend it to other people. The servings at Maguire’s are a good size even though the prices may be a bit expensive. People do have to understand that an average table of 4 is going to cost about $100, while 4 people who want to get burritos would be about half of that. However, with great service, customer satisfaction, and outstanding food you can charge the wage that you want to charge to customers.
Maguire’s doesn’t usually keep deserts on the hard copy of the menu since they are written on the chalkboards around the restaurant and your server will offer coffee and dessert to customers. Hands down the best dessert is the Toll House Cookie Sundae. This beautiful dish has a hot cookie on the bottom layer, vanilla ice cream on top of the cookie, and warm Hershey syrup drizzled across the whipped cream, which is truly a 10/10! You can’t go into Maguire’s without ordering the Honey Hots and the Toll House Cookie Sundae because they are just out of this world good.