I can’t believe we’re up to double digits in this year long fried chicken eating tour!
For our tenth trip we’re headed to East Peoria to a place I haven’t been back to since we stopped in during our tenderloin tour way back in 2013 and that place is Carrigan’s Pub.
I’d say we’re overdue for a return visit so let’s get the cluck over there already!
Here we are at Carrigan’s Pub on a snowy December evening. Check out the sign…how did they know we were coming here tonight?
Okay, let’s get inside and out of the cold!
We settled in at our table and Shelli Jo was our pretty and friendly waitress. We checked out the menu and she took our order.
I love it when things work out like this!
Here’s this month’s fried chicken crew, from the top: Jeff, Tom, Floyd and Steve!
This is Steve’s first time on this chicken tour so it’s great to have him and everyone else along for this clucked-up evening!
J.J. saw me taking photos and offered to take one of all of us at our table and here we are!
Talk about a motley crew!
We started our dinner off with a trip to their well-stocked salad bar.
We also split an order of the Haystack Beer-Battered Onion Rings.
These were light and seasoned nicely and had a great flavor to them. So far we’re off to a wonderful start for tonight’s fried chicken dinner!
There’s everyone digging in and enjoying our starter courses!
The dining room is nice, comfortable and cozy and I love the festive Christmas tree in the corner.
There’s the soup of the evening and the nightly specials happening in here. They don’t list the secret, Apple Fritter Thursday special that happens in here. You have to ask Shelli Jo about that, but remember…it’s a secret and you didn’t hear it from us!
Next door to the dining room is the large bar area with a fully-stocked selection of beer, wine and alcohol for your drinking pleasure!
They have pool tables and gaming machines in here for you gambler’s out there and lot of daily and nightly specials to check out!
Meanwhile, back in the dining room…
Our dinner’s are served!
Myself, Jeff, Floyd and Steve all got the fried chicken dinners. Jeff and Steve got theirs with corn and mashed potatoes and gravy, Floyd got French fries and I had the baked potato.
Tom decided to be a rebel and ordered the country fried steak which was served with mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits and corn.
Everything looks absolutely fabulous, let’s dig in!
I’ve heard good things about this fried chicken from Jeff and he was right on the money with his fowl praise of this fried chicken!
It was fabulous and you can read more about it below!
Everyone agreed that this was top-notch fried chicken and the side dishes were excellent as well!
And once again, for the tenth month in a row, Jeff wins the clean plate award!
No one can clean a plate of fried chicken like Jeff!
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The Fried Chicken Dining Experience
Carrigan’s Pub is a wonderful place to enjoy dinner. You can eat in the bar, but I really enjoyed eating in the cozy dining room.
Everyone is friendly and it’s a fun and hospitable experience!
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The Fried Chicken
(As always, the fried chicken rating is my personal rating, we’ll have shared ratings on the last post of this tour.)
This fried chicken came highly recommended by Jeff, who is the fried chicken aficionado of our group and he was not lying when he told us how remarkable this fried chicken is!
It was crispy with light breading on the outside and so tender, juicy and tasty as you bit inside of the generous pieces of chicken. The chicken is seasoned to perfection and it’s a true and tasty treat!
Carrigan’s Pub takes the top spot in my ratings and I’m giving it a high rating of 3.8 Colonel Sanders. This is going to be a tough one to beat, but we still have two more stops on this clucked up tour, so stay tuned!
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5506 N. Main Street
East Peoria
309-698-1020
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Related Posts: MBIP Clucky Dozen Tour: Donnelly’s Irish Pub, Rip’s Tavern, Agatucci’s, Mona’s Italian Food, Rookies Bar ’N’ Grill, Gils Supper Club, Midway Duck Inn, The Owl’s Nest and Schooners.