hate having to do this but there has been a lot of changes at Murphy's in the last year, none of which I can report as being good. This place used to be consistently great with service and food but I'm sad to say it's not anymore.
Began earlier this summer when the food started being hit or miss. Some days it was the stellar food we all came in to have at lunch and other days... not so good. To the point that the last three times were bad and the large group of us haven't gone back and probably won't. The food thing came down to if a certain chef was working - if he was there, good; if not, bad. Started asking the waitresses and figured out the trend.
Fast forward to today and that chef has left and no longer works there. Which leads me to understand why the last 3 times in a row the food has been subpar. Like what makes a tomato hard? wasn't green or unripe but hard like... tough to cut hard. wtf? I don't know enough to know this is a reason the food has got worse but typically if you're looking to franchise you get different food vendors that can deliver the same type of food to your locations all across the country. So think frozen foods instead of more fresh stuff etc. I mean it makes sense.
Also when you have a trained Chef quit whom made great food, and tailored to groups that wanted more expensive off the menu lunches and catered for local businesses & events... something's up. I can only assume it was the quality in food and the new direction...
... meaning... I also found out (chandler news and biz journal) that Murphy's is wanting to franchising and changing their name to Irish Republic and some of what's going on inside. Girls with slightly different garb... kilt's and knee-high's. etc. Not so much breastaraunt-ish but similar.
Trademark Info: http://www.trademarkia.com/irish-republic-public-house-85274024.html
Service... much like the food the service has gone down in quality. There never seems to be enough girls during what used to be the lunch rushes and an hour lunch quickly turns into 1:30 lunches waiting on fill-ups and food and the check. It's not horrible service, girls are nice and friendly, just slow.
In summary:
We haven't returned in at least 4 weeks and it's just not an option when thinking of places to eat downtown Chandler anymore. From 5 to a 2 (meh i've experienced better).
I miss what Murphy's was - we all do.