McGilvery’s Speedway Pub & Eatery

Great local bar. Friendly, cheap. Check out trivia on Thursday night.
Food is good. Reasonable prices. Stew is a must October — March.

I feel like some of the reviews for McGilvery’s are quite unfair. I am ECSTATIC that there is still a bar where I can smoke. To me, if you don’t like smoke, you don’t belong in a bar. True, some smoking establishments have better ventilation systems than others, but all the PC business about smoking is really getting on my nerves. And non-​smoking laws DO hurt establishments.
I love coming here because I am allowed to be comfortable & be myself. It lets me feel like I am back in the last decade, minus the modern technology of the digital jukebox (which is cool, too, now that I know how to work it). I haven’t taken many pics recently with my crappy little phone for Unilocal reviews, but I DID make a point to take one of the ashtray mounted in the ladies’ room. Maybe I am one of the only people alive that gets excited over the sight of cool old ashtrays, but if you’re reading this and they appeal to you, too, we could probably be best friends, seriously!
Some piss-​poor planning on my part for NYE 2007/​New Year’s 2008, led me and my best friend to walk all the way to McGilvery’s in heels in some cold ass weather back then. We rang in the new year in a mostly empty bar & took a cab home. That was my only visit until recently. I’ve been back a few times in the past week or more including Monday afternoon with my dad when our power got knocked out. A fellow Unilocaler’s review got me curious when I saw you could smoke in there & I had not been to a bar in a very long time. Not being able to smoke is one thing that kept me from going out.
This is one of those places where you could easily become a regular and I do miss having a neighborhood haunt where they know my name and remember what I like to drink. I am one of those people that prefers to sit at the bar, but ended up sitting in a booth on all of my recent visits. The booths are nice, too, but keeps you from interacting with people as much. They also have tables, if that floats your boat. One huge t.v. screen and several smaller ones playing sports, news and trivia. God, I had not played trivia in a LONG time & enjoyed it quite a bit. I have not seen this placed packed, but there is often a good crowd and is made up of pretty decent people. On my first visit back there were some undesirables that showed up and were being a little obscene, but the bartender kindly told them they could take that behavior outside & they did not stay long. I do not believe that sort of thing was the norm for this bar.
McGilvery’s doesn’t seem to be in stock on all their bottled beers that appear on the menu & signs, but they have some good drafts to choose from that are fine with me. I tried a Blue Moon for the first time & also had a Goose Island IPA, but I usually stick with pints of Coors Light. They make a pretty good margarita, too! They also keep me loaded with ice water upon request. The only food I have tried are the pretzel bites. They appeared to be deep-​fried and were HOT outta the fryer. The spicy mustard I chose to go with them was damn good, too. They have a pretty big dining menu and lots of daily food and drink specials. One of the waitresses I had wasn’t as good as another that has waited on me a couple of times now, but service is up there. The bartenders are really top-​notch, especially the man that is usually working. I give him an A+ for sure!
So, in closing, this is not a fancy place, but it’s a nice clean and friendly place. It’s mostly an older crowd, but that is just fine with me. If cigarette smoke bothers you, yeah, it’s probably not the place for you, but it’s a BAR, what a bar used to be. What a bar is supposed to be! I really love it here and plan to go back often for as long as I am welcome.

My husband and I stopped in for dinner tonight. It’s a typical neighborhood bar. Our service was a little slow, considering the lack of patrons. Luckily they have trivia, so we passed our down time playing that. I ordered the pub salad, which was fine, and the breaded mushrooms, which were really good, albeit a little on the pricey side, since I only got 7 of them for $ 6.95. I was hoping for a nice craft beer, but there didn’t seem to be anything new that I hadn’t already tried, so I passed on that. My husband had the breaded tenderloin. It was… okay. Pretty bland in the taste department. The main thing about McGilvery’s is that it is an establishment where smoking is permitted. To me, that’s a negative.

I’ve been wanting to try this place for a while now, and business took us to the West side, so we decided to pop in.
First of all, I was somewhat shocked after sitting down only to find out it’s a smoking restaurant. The rest of Marion County is non smoking, and I assumed Speedway was, also… but apparently I was wrong. But, we were already setting and would have felt bad about leaving at that point. We were surprised, though.
The food was decent enough. My wife had a salad (OK) and breaded mushrooms (REALLY good).
I had a breaded tenderloin. It obviously was hand breaded, but was pounded out way too thin for my liking, and the seasoning… well, there wasn’t any seasoning.
The service was not exactly bad, but I’d say it was a little below average.
All in all, a pretty underwhelming experience. I don’t anticipate returning.

What a pleasant surprise. Expecting just a «pub» meal, we got more than we bargained for. The food quality was awesome, my mushroom and Swiss burger was cooked exactly to my specifications. And you could tell the grease was clean for the fries. There was a fresh bottle of ketchup on the table, the mushrooms were freshly seasoned with ground pepper, and even my lettuce, tomatoes and pickles were fresh.
We recommend this restaurant to anyone on the west side interested in a HUGE fresh ground beef pub burger and fries!
We met the owner too, she was smart, ambitious and forward thinking. Again, a pleasant surprise all the way around.

Not worth trying!

There are fancier bars in better locations, but this pub has a bit of Indiana charm that I can’t quite describe. It feels more like a family pub than a standard bar. It’s one of the last bars in the area that allows smoking and the only one in the area where you can yell at the TV while the games on and feel safe at the same time. The waitresses are always kind and do a great job. Katie is our favorite!
The food is your standard pub fair. I really like getting the BLT and fries. I do wish that they carried more local beer like Sunking’s Osiris, but they have good seasonal beers. Definitely a good place to hang out!

This place gradually became more and more expensive, to the point where now you’re expected to pay prices similar to a downtown bar without getting anything really in return. They have trivia on Thursdays, which is fun, but they have that same trivia at plenty of other places that are a) smoke-​free and b) better deals. I’d probably never return there.

Not a place to go if you are a non smoker. Its a lot like dining in a big ash tray.
Good food very nasty cigarette smoke.

Met some friends here after work. It was a good place to meet up with friends and drink some cheap domestic beer. If you’re looking for good stuff, you’re at the wrong place. In fact, you’re probably on the wrong side of town.
I joke with friends about how the east side (my side of town), while infested with drug-​induced goblins creating a quasi wasteland, it also has something very special and unique. Each side of town is very defined. The south side and the west side are a bit difficult to define but still have some categorical factors– like westside bar restrooms having ashtrays in them. yep. I didn’t go to the restroom here, but we sure talked about that.
Ok, back to the bar/​pub/​food, etc. I ordered the Hunk o Hunk o Burnin’ Love Burger. I had to say this ridiculous name. Take off the First ‘Hunk o’ to make it a little less ridiculous. Nah. It’d still be kinda ridiculous. With a name like that, you figure you better be getting something really great– and firey. Nope. This wasn’t spicy really at all! I think it had jalapenos on it, but they didn’t do much for spice. And maybe pepper jack? It was supposed to come with spicy mayo, but it came with a pack of regular mayo. I figured if I was going to eat unhealthily, I was going to burn my gut, but I didn’t. Boo.

Neighborhood bar located in Speedway. A good place to meet up with friends and get some cheap beer and some food, but nothing really too special. Beer selection consists of the usual domestics (bud, coors, miller, etc) with some Guinness thrown in there. It claims to be an Irish bar, but since it’s in Speedway it’s more of an Indy 500 bar than an irish bar.
The menu includes all the bar favorites; tenderloins, burgers, fried goodies, and pizza. There is always an empty table available, but it can get packed during football season so get there early if you plan to watch the game. Be warned, this place gets really smokey so if you’re sensitive to cigarette smoke this may not be the place for you.
Two things of note about McGilvery’s:
1. There is a day during the week when they host a live broadcast of a radio show. Find out which day it is and make sure not to go there on this day. Since it’s a live radio show, they require silence in the audience. So unless you want to listen to the dudes discuss racing stuff, you can expect to sit in silence unless you want lots of dirty looks from the radio hosts and other patrons.
2. St Patty’s day at McGilvery’s is really fun. They do a small menu featuring some irish favorites, they have green beer, and everyone is in a festive mood. There’s always a lot of people there and they even do a tent in the front of the building to accomodate everyone.

Decent enough place to hang out and grab some grub. Reasonably priced beers. Nothing special on tap, but that’s ok because they are tall and cold. They have one of the better tenderloin sandwiches in the city, and their fried onion petals are the perfect side. Get the BLT with a fried egg and add American cheese. Why? Because I took that suggestion from my sis and now know what I am ordering every time I go here from now on. The air purifier thing by the door makes the air smell weird. Not bad, just weird. Oh, and don’t go here when they have their live racing themed radio show happening. That is weird too unless you love racing radio shows and want to see it all go down live while you eat fried pickles.