James A.
Yelp
Located in the newer USC Village across the street from the main University of Southern California's campus, Rock and Reilly's serves good bar food and drinks. There is a large underground parking garage that usually has space, which is complementary with a 2-hour validated ticket from a vendor (like Rock).
We've been here before as a family when my daughter was a student, but haven't been back for a while. It will forever be ingrained in my memory as the place where the three of us watched the infamous double-doink Bears-Eagles playoff game...I was so sad after that game. A lot of the restaurants in the University village have a hard time making it, so the lineup seems to always be different when we visit the campus. But Rock and Reilly's is a mainstay, and with their outdoor patio that SEEMED to allow small dogs, it was an obvious choice for dinner with my wife, our future-in-laws, my daughter and finance, and their new dog.
It was Tuesday, so taco specials were in effect. It is seat yourself, and you order/pay through toasttab on your phone. As you order, somebody will deliver the food to your table. We left the menu up to the kids, but of course I had to gather the important information for my review.
Pint of Dos XX (Taco tuesday price of $8.50) - nice and cold, plenty of carbonation. A classic cerveza, perfect with tacos, though LA prices (I wonder what the non-special price is?)
Shredded beef taco ($2) - this is a deal. Plenty of really good shredded beef, tender, served on two corn street taco size shells. Comes with a little onion and cilantro.
Shredded Chicken taco ($2) - good, large pieces of dark meat chicken, topped with lettuce, crema, cilantro, cheese, and salsa verde.
Parmesan Truffle Fries ($9) - very crispy shoestring fries with ketchup, using very clean frying oil. The serving was generous...two orders were more than enough for the 6 of us.
Americana Burger ($15) - classic cheeseburger. My wife ordered it plain, and it really didn't look like much, but she said it was good.
Favorite Salad ($14) - spinach salad with blue cheese and candied walnuts. I got to sample this a little, and it was very good.
It can get a bit chilly (with the breezes) after sunset in LA, even in the middle of the city. I didn't see any gas heaters around, but because the patio is open year round, thinking they do have them but just put away for the season. So yeah, we were all chilly (especially the dog). But everybody had good humour. As I've experienced many times, a restaurant experience can often be more about the people you dine with, rather than the food itself. This was definitely one of those times.