Johnny O’Quigley’s Irish Pub & Grille: Erin Go Bar
34940 Emerald Coast Pkwy, Destin, 837-1015
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By Bruce Collier September 22, 2005 Issue

Johnny O’Quigley’s Irish Pub & Grille doesn’t go too far overboard on the Irishness. They don’t offer Irish stew, oatmeal porridge, corned beef hash, or anything else that might speak to you of the Emerald Isle and its kitchen. In any event, “Irish” food is so much a part of what we call “American” cooking that most of its ethnicity has worn off. If you like potatoes, corned beef, cabbage, cheese, bacon, eggs, bread, and tea, congratulations, you’re eatin’ Irish.

The restaurant is fairly big, with seating arranged in a roughly L-shaped room, with some tables outside. Inside are booths, running along the walls, and slightly elevated tables and chairs near the bar. There are numerous wall-mounted TV sets, and plenty of decor, equally divided between pro and collegiate sports memorabilia and Irish Pop Art. The servers on the night we visited were uniformly female, uniformly pretty, and almost uniformly blonde. All are cheerful, and seem willing to help each other out with serving and clearing away.

The menu is done in varying shades of the Irish flag (green, white, orange), which made the print a little tough to read in the dim light. O’Quigley’s offers appetizers, grilled hamburger or chicken sandwiches, wraps, various house specialties, surf and turf, and assorted pub-style sandwiches. There’s a daily soup, house soups, and both side and dinner-sized salads. As previously said, the Irishness comes not so much from the food itself, but from its nomenclature.

For example, one sees O’nnion Rings, Ques O’Dilla, Chili O’Cheese Fries, Filet O’ Mignon, Buffal O’Ed Chicken, Tender O’Pork, and so forth. You get the idea. This required study, so we did what restaurant reviewers always do when studying. We ordered drinks.

O’Quigley’s has a full bar, and offers a selection of domestic and imported draft and bottled beers, including most of the Irish favorites. There’s wine by the glass and bottle, and a number of house drinks. I ordered a draft, and my cocktail-fancier friend ordered a greenish concoction of vodka, coconut liqueur, and melon liqueur, called an Irish Rebel.

I don’t have space to list all the appetizers, especially if I call them by their menu titles. We got fried cheese wedges with marinara sauce, and a platter of sliced fried potatoes dressed with melted cheese, shredded cheese, black olives, bacon bits, tomatoes, onions, chives, and sour cream. The cheese was crisp and greaseless, and the spuds were plentiful, hot, creamy, crunchy, messy and almost a meal unto themselves.

Other appetizer choices include wings, chips and salsa, cheese toast, stuffed mushrooms, spinach and artichoke dip, chili cheese fries, and nachos. This is all sharing food.

For the main course, my friend invested in a full slab of baby back ribs, and I went for the Royal Reuben. Hers came with baked beans and fried potatoes. I got mine with a salad. Both items were good, the pork and corned beef respectively lean and tender. The beans were smoky and slightly sweet. My sandwich was nicely overstuffed and my friend ate maybe a third of her slab, and that with my assistance. “This is tomorrow’s lunch, maybe dinner, and a treat for the dog,” she figured.

Other main course offerings include fajitas, pasta, fried catfish, blackened chicken and seafood, and a combo platter of coconut shrimp, ribs, and grilled medallions of beef called Nine Fine Irishmen. You can also get steaks, smothered chicken, fish sandwiches, a loaded baked potato, BLT club sandwich, fish and chips, tuna melt, and daily lunch specials. It’s a little of everything from everywhere (except the Far East), and it’s all generously portioned.

Even so, we had dessert. Dessert at Johnny O’Quigley’s is not listed on the menu, so you have to ask. Given the nature of the menu, I expect that not many diners have room for something sweet, but they are missing a treat. Three desserts were offered the night we were there, a caramel apple cheesecake, key lime pie with Oreo crust, and bread pudding. We got the latter.

A medium-sized chunk of pudding came out warm, napped with a hot and creamy vanilla custard sauce. The pudding was not overly sweet, and the sauce was slightly pungent with cinnamon. The whole thing was so elegant that it seemed to belong in a more formal restaurant. Save room, even if you have to forgo the Tower of Beer you’ll see offered on the drink menu.

While not a culinary anthropologist’s pristine idea of an Irish restaurant, Johnny O’Quigley’s Irish Pub & Grille is, nevertheless, a slightly silly, good humored, and enjoyable place to dine. You can stop by for a quick drink, or a longer series of drinks, a snack, a meal, and a pleasant evening. These days, what more do you dare ask?

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