747 West King St.
Boone (828) 264-5117
We ate lunch at Murphy’s one May day.
Tom: Let me start out by saying I hate entering a restaurant to be first greeted by the smell of smoke. For me, it immediately lowers the rating.
Ray: Well, Murphy’s restaurant side is all non-smoking, which is a plus (the Pub side is all smoking, in case you want to light up). Quit your bellyaching’ and let’s get to the food!
Tom: Ok, but the smoke leaks! Now I’ll gripe about the food instead! I chose one of the specials of the day–a “Grilled Salmon Salad.” I was lickin’ my chops after the waitress cooed that it was “goooood…”
Ray: And how did you find the salmon?
Tom: I moved the lettuce and there it was! (rimshot, please…) It was about a third of a fillet on lettuce that was not cold. The salmon was not very tasty, either. The salad had some sliced cherry tomatoes and croutons. It was served with a small toasted and buttered roll that looked suspiciously like the bread in the French Onion soup that I had to accompany it.
Ray: How was the soup?
Tom: It was good, with a piece of toast in it unlike at the Red Onion where they did not even toast the bread. I wish though they would give out little scissors to cut the cheese, like at Peppers.
Ray: Maybe they do not want you to ‘cut the cheese’ in their restaurant!
Well, I started off with a bowl of the chili (lots of meat, a very few beans and light spices, $3.00). The chili was ok, but nothing spectacular. For my main meal I had the Barbeque Sandwich with slaw & pickles and fries ($5.20). The sandwich was big, but the barbeque was dry and fairly bland. The Murphy’s barbeque sauce didn’t really do much to help the sandwich, but their Jamaican jerk sauce was very good. Still, I’ve had better barbeque sandwiches at Bojangles. The fries were well cooked and good.
Tom: The decor was fairly plain with cheap, framed poster prints and the ubiquitous missing ceiling tile. Is it so hard for restaurant owners to take enough pride to keep up their place? A tile costs about a buck…
Oh yeah, I had a Nevada Pale Ale to wash down this whole experience…
Ray: …the front door didn’t close all the way, which let lots of flies into the restaurant. And, the service was fast but uninspiring… our server seemed to have a blah attitude.
Tom: Well, I’ve said enough…
Ray: I’ve been going to Murphy’s since they were out on NC 105, and I’ve had much better meals in the past than I got today… perhaps we just picked a bad day for our review. However, I’ve noticed that both the bar and restaurant have gone downhill in the last few years. Murphy’s does have good bands on many nights, which is a plus.
Unfortunately, I can’t really recommend Murphy’s anymore, unless you want to go see a good band occasionally. If you’re looking for a pub, I suggest you go to Boone Saloon instead, where the service is better, the food is better, and the restaurant in general is much cleaner.
GPS Coordinates
Lat: 36° 13.167′
Lon: 81° 41.157′
Menu (prices may change)
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