The restaurant is beautiful and clean. Its a great location.the server was friendly and provide a…read moregood service. The food was good, but my sandwich was a bit cool in temperature. I think you probably needed a little bit more time on the fryer or wherever they put it. The dessert was good. It was large and it was very sweet. You should all try it make up your own minds.

The server we had was very friendly and made sure that we had a good experience. The food was fast…read moreand delicious! I loved that the dining area was right on the water and they had an inside and outside seating area. Definitely recommend

Absolutely love this little bar on the lake when I come to town. Couple beers and the fire tables…read moreout front is a great evening. The owner and bar tenders are really nice guys. Will always come back when I'm in town.

I loved this bar when I drove by. I had to stop and I'm glad I did. It has a neighborhood bar…read morevibe and it has a college town vibe. The bartender was great and the beers were good. I don't think they serve food. One thing you may want to know, there is one bathroom with one toilet on the first floor. There were a lot of people. So I did have to wait quite a bit to go to the bathroom. That's the only draw back. Otherwise. Come have a beer at Gibby's!

Great little townie bar. Limited menu, good prices. Quick bartenders but not pushie…read more If you are from out of town, stop in for a quick lunch and some lively conversation. If you are from town, write-off your afternoon.... The beer can prices will keep your whistle wet without breaking the bank. Great job to the owner. Shawn gave a new life to this neighborhood bar!

From the owner: McCarthy's Bar & Grill is a small town bar with an attention to its history and detailed service. read more

Wow. I rarely leave negative reviews; I try to lead with generosity. But I was genuinely surprised…read moreby the level of service we received - especially because my extended family, who live here in town and joined us, told us how much better things had become after the renovation. Things started off normally. We were seated promptly, although our server, one of the bartenders, seemed largely uninterested from the beginning. When she came back to take our order, she forgot to take mine and my daughter's, but added them at the end. Mistakes happen, so we didn't think much of it. What happened next was where the experience really went downhill. We ordered two appetizers and six entrées. Somehow, my salad and my daughter's cheeseburger arrived well before anyone else's food - and before either appetizer had even come out. The food runner, who turned out to be the most attentive, also failed to bring silverware. After waiting about 10 minutes without seeing our server, I finally had to walk to the bar to ask for utensils. Instead of simply helping, one of the other bartenders gave me a hard time for asking. When our server finally brought silverware, she sarcastically said, "I guess I'll have to fire the person who brought your food over." She then walked back behind the bar and joked about the situation with the other staff. Several members of my family overheard the comments as well. Being mocked after an obvious service failure was far more frustrating than the mistake itself. To be honest, as the only person of color in our party (the rest of my family is white), the way I was treated left me wondering whether unconscious bias may have played a role. I can't say that for certain, but it's an unfortunate feeling to leave a restaurant with, especially because I looked different from 99.9% of the rest of the clientele. Meanwhile, the rest of our party waited another 25 minutes before receiving their meals. Both appetizers and all of the entrées arrived at the same time, and my father-in-law's chicken sandwich came out prepared almost the exact opposite of how he ordered it. The only bright spot was one food runner who genuinely seemed to recognize that things had gone wrong and tried to help. Unfortunately, that professionalism was not shared by either bartender - one of whom was also our original server. One final note: the music was so loud that holding a normal conversation at the table was difficult. Overall, this was a disappointing experience from start to finish. Everyone can make mistakes, but how a restaurant responds to those mistakes says everything. In this case, the dismissive attitude and lack of professionalism were far more memorable than the food.

Revisited this restaurant/tavern shortly after they reopened following an extensive renovation due…read moreto a fire. The food was very good which it always has been with the chicken wings being the standout item. The renovation really opened things up and the restaurant is much bigger than it was. High ceilings and light colors make it seem even bigger. Also they have added LOADS of wide screens that showed every kind of sporting event known to mankind. This will absolutely be my "go to" for games when I'm out and about in the Oswego area. The only downside I saw was the noise level when there are a lot of people there. Because of the high ceilings and how open it is, the voices seem to echo and consequently you almost need to scream to hear each other. Not a horrible thing if you're there to take in a sporting event, but if you're looking to enjoy a nice quiet meal you may become frustrated.

Under new management and the food quality is absolutely terrific. I saw an order of chicken wings…read morecome out before I ordered and they looked fantastic so I ordered the same thing. I wasn't disappointed. Wings were among the best I've ever had. My wife ordered the smash burger which was equally as good. Friendly bartender made this place a home run. May want to call ahead to see if you can get a table because the place mobbed on a Tuesday night!

A real gem of a bar and restaurant. Our son who attends Oswego State U suggested it the 1st night…read morein town visiting him. Nothing disappointed! Service was excellent. Mush / cheeseburger, blue cheese chips, fried pickles and spicy cheese curds all perfectly made and delicious. We're from Texas, and they were playing great country music for awhile too, y'all! Always a plus!

First: Location was super clean, neat & orderly. Casual dress, beautiful inside & outside seating…read moreoverlooking the Oswego River as it dumps into Lake Ontario. Second: We lucked out with the BEST WAITRESS I've had in over one year. Ms. Amy S was so pleasant, attentive and just a sweet lady. Third: The food was served beautifully and good size portions. The fresh haddock...YUMM and the specialty dish of brussel sprouts in a cream sause...OMG..yumm-yumm. Prices were right on target. There was one very minor issue with my wife's dinner and before I had a chance to say ANYTHING...it was taken off our bill as a comp by the Manager. All in all this was a perfect location for a nice quiet casual dinner with my wife as we watched the water. BRAVO! Paul & Coleen Clapper, Syracuse, NY

Great BBQ! Oswego is lucky to have something different, it's a bit of a BBQ desert. We had the…read morepulled pork, brisket and mojito chicken sandwiches, and tried almost every side (you get 2 with each sandwich). My dad had the stout and a tester of the brown ale, both delicious, as was the cider we sampled. Restaurant is light and airy, while keeping the charm and architecture of the old building. Beautiful view of the river, in a cute downtown area, plenty of off street parking. We went for lunch on a weekday, so it wasn't packed, quite a few at the tables filled but service remained attentive. Best bartender too!

Owner Patrick Mitchell has worked in kitchens across the country, including the south, and brings…read moreboth a northern perspective and respect for the heritage of the cuisine. The restaurant on the corner of Bridge and West First Streets in the center of Oswego is probably not something you'd expect to find in the area, somewhere that adds an entirely different dimension to dining in the city - a showcase of cuisine inspired by the American south. We recently tried out Southern Fare with some friends and we were all extremely impressed with the restaurant. My wife and I got there a bit earlier than our friends, so we sat at the bar for a bit. As someone who doesn't drink, I'm always excited to see mocktails on the menu. My wife got a cocktail, I got a mocktail, we both loved the drinks and the bartender was extremely nice and personable. We made a reservation for 6PM on a Saturday, although it seemed we probably didn't need one this day, so when our friends showed up, we were sat right away. Our friends ordered cocktails, while we ordered another round for ourselves, and again, loved everything we got. We ordered some friend green tomatoes for an appetizer, which were a little bland, but the sauce was good and made up for it. We all ordered a different main dish and everyone was very happy with their food. I ordered a pork chop special - I love pork chops, but don't eat them often, as my wife isn't a fan, and pork chops can be difficult to cook properly. The dish was a lemon marinated pork chop, grilled, topped with a strawberry compote, crispy fried potatoes and roasted broccoli. The pork chop was huge, cooked perfectly, juicy, bursting with flavor. The broccoli and potatoes were also delicious and needed nothing added to them. It's probably one of the best meals I've had in CNY, period. It was a little bit higher priced, but it's what we expected, and the food was absolutely worth it. We will absolutely be back again.

Amazing service, drinks and food! Fried green tomatoes were perfectly seasoned and salted with…read morelight batter. The fried chicken, same.. we got it plain to try it the first time naked, but I would definitely sauce it next time. Also ordered but not pictured was the double smash burger, Mac and cheese and chicken sandwich but my boys devoured them before I could take a picture.

Hey! Looking to get treated like crap at a bar that obviously thinks it's a lot more important…read morethan it really is? Feel it's not a complete night out unless you get ignored by the bartender for at least 10 minutes while she flirts with her boyfriend at the end of the bar? Want a place where the staff looks upon a large group of good-tipping regulars as an inconvenience that forces them to actually do their job? If you answered yes to the above questions than this is the place for you! But enough of the sarcasm. The Sting is a very standard bar. Decent layout, darts AND pool (who could ask for more?), nice-ish outdoor seating right along side a major street. What sets it apart is its service. For years a large group of people I worked for went to this bar every Sunday night, who knows why. We routinely put up with horrible service, mediocre prices and the lack of food or even bar-snacks out of a sense of inertia but when we found out the staff actively hated our presence (be careful who you talk to, Miss Bartender), that was it. I'll never go back to this place, nor will my coworkers, and, considering the vast number of alternatives in Oswego, I'd highly suggest all'y'all give this place a miss.

The other review says it all. Can be fun, but there are better choices in town.read more

We had a really great experience here. I made reservations for a party of 11 a week in advance and…read morethey were very accommodating. When I checked in 3 hours before our reservation, I asked if they could make sure we were inside as it had gotten chilly. They were happy to accommodate the request. Out waiter arrived with water for everyone, which is a huge bonus. He was also very accommodating as some of our party was a bit late. The food was delicious! I ordered pasta primavera and it had pesto, goat cheese and portobello mushrooms. The others ordered the seafood, steaks and kids meals and everything was really good. We also attended a party here at one point and again the servers were very accommodating. Hard to believe a place that is this good is right in the hotel. Definitely go here!

I was kind of hesitant to stop here as some of the other reviews weren't so pleasant, however we…read moreactually stayed at the hotel that this restaurant is in and just to make sure being a bar and grill I wanted to see what they had so we checked out the menu before sitting and yeah, no problem I can't remember the name of the way Chris but she was awesome very attentive and helped my wife out with a drink but I'll get that out in a minute. We started with appetizers and we were very impressed. I had some fish strips and she had some clams, and both were very tasty. After this I ordered a fake haddock beer battered onion rings and she had a macaroni and cheese with seafood. Everything tasted just wonderful. It was a nice breezy evening and we sat out on the porch overlooking the river which was only about 100 yd from the lake anyway. The part I wanted to brag about was when my wife showed me the cocktail menu and asked what she thought I would think she would like and I mean this light-heartedly because my wife does not like the taste of alcohol. There's only one particular flavor of wine for example that she can have and I've tried it, it tastes like a spoonful of sugar, I'm not a big fan.. but either way they didn't have that there and nothing else on the cocktail menu looked to me like she was going to enjoy it however I had a video that I had saved from you too a year ago of oranda bartender making a drink that could be served to people that don't like the taste of alcohol. I'm not going to go into what was in it here however I showed the ingredient list to the waitress and asked her if she thought that the bar would have all of that and she replied yes so she wrote down to each individual ingredient and came back with this cool looking glass full of pinkish liquid it had two oz of alcohol in it according to the list I gave her, and my wife absolutely loved it. So basically from a waitress telling a bartender. Here's what I want but I don't know the name of it, but here's what's in it... They nailed it. . Add that to everything else that went splendidly, and yeah I would definitely come here again.

We went here for lunch on a Saturday, and they were able to accommodate a party of 8 immediately…read more We also had 1 person join late and they were able to accommodated us on the outside deck. The waitress was excellent and took the kids orders before adults. The kids are able to play some of the games, like cornhole and connect 4 while you are waiting for your food. The food was excellent. I ordered the vegetable panini and it was so good. Everyone else also enjoyed their meals. The only problem we had was the yellow jackets. There had to be about 20 of them flying around our table, no exaggeration. They were fling on everything.

They may have been a bad day here. I ordered the Rubin and the bread was burnt on the edges and…read morerock hard all a round. Waitress was not the best and I could tell she was embarrassed regarding the food she brought out to us. I didn't complain or send it back and will Just reevaluate going to this place in the future while in Oswego Ny.