SGA Executive Team Hosts Happy Hour at Murphy’s Grill

Image courtesy of Anthony Curioso.

By Anthony Curioso

The popular on-campus pub-and-grill restaurant in the Pryzbyla Center, Murphy’s Grill, has now followed in the footsteps of most pub-and-grill restaurants in the DMV area by hosting its first-ever happy hour.

Branded as “Murphy’s After Hours,” the inaugural happy hour took place on September 23 from 7:30 to 10 p.m. During this timeframe, Murphy’s Grill offered several drink specials, including a $20 bucket of beer, a $15 pitcher of draft beer, and $6 “well drinks.”

In addition to the drink specials, “Murphy’s After Hours” also offered several food items from the standard list of Murphy’s Grill menu options that one may purchase using their Dining Dollars, including their classic burger in the form of sliders, chicken wings, and nachos.

The concept and eventual execution of “Murphy’s After Hours” was born out of a combined advocacy effort by Michael Kish, a senior philosophy major and Student Body President, and Matthew Devlin, a junior finance and sales major who is serving this year as the official liaison between SGA, the student body, and Dining Services.

President Kish, when asked for his thoughts on the event, said, “This marks the return of the Rathskellar,” in reference to a previous on-campus pub-and-grill restaurant that operated on the CUA campus until 2003, and whose former place on campus was taken over at the time by the Office of Housing Services. 

Due to the requirement that patrons be over 21 years of age, the “Murphy’s After Hours” crowd mainly consisted of undergraduate students from the Class of 2026, along with a small number of graduate students. During the event, all the television screens within Murphy’s Grill showed the National Football League’s (NFL) “Thursday Night Football” match between the Minnesota Vikings and the Los Angeles Chargers. 

According to multiple sources, “Murphy’s After Hours” is slated to become a regular event, with plans to host it every Thursday evening. Dining Services also plans to host “Murphy’s After Hours” on days when a large-scale sporting event is scheduled. For Game One of the 2025 World Series on October 24, Dining Services reprised the event for similar crowds, showing the Blue Jays’ blowout victory over the Dodgers on each of the Murphy’s Grill television screens. If the October 23 debut and subsequent reprise of the event the next day are any indication, “Murphy’s After Hours” will undoubtedly draw larger crowds to Murphy’s Grill than have been seen since the restaurant’s establishment in 2017.

Nicole Campos, a graduate student in biotechnology, offered her thoughts on “Murphy’s After Hours” and happy hours in general.

“I would love for ‘Murphy’s After Hours’ to become a regular thing, because I think happy hours really revitalize the restaurants and bars where they occur,” Campos said, “and as a server myself, I wish the bar I work at would implement a happy hour.”