The Best of Dublin Pubs

Final List Dropped

By Brian Gillespie

 

Best Dublin Postal District for Pubs:  Hands down Dublin 07

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Best Neighborhoods:

• Stoneybatter

• Rathmines

• Drumcondra

• Camden Street

• Village of Swords

 

Best Food:

• The Old Spot (Gastropub)

• Spitalfields (Gastropub)

• Legal Eagle (Gastropub)

• Harry Byrnes Pub (Pizza & Pub Food)

• The Comet (Pizza)

• Mema’s (Pizza, Wings, Loaded Fries, & Vegan Options)

• The Shakespeare (Korean)

• The Black Forge (Gastropub)

 

Best Craft Beer:

• Bonobo

• Underdog

• Blacksheep

• Cassidy’s on Westmoreland

• PYE

• Rascals

• Tapped Late Bar

• Blackbird

• Porterhouse Temple Bar

• The Circular and the Other Hand

• The Cat and Cage

• Dudley’s, D08

 

Best Snug:

• Toners

• The Flowing Tide

• PYE

• Doheny & Nesbitt

• Bowes

• The Palace Bar

• Searsons

 

Top 10 Pubs for Tourist – Bucket List (If you can only visit 10 pubs in Dublin):

1. The Palace Bar

2. The Long Hall

3. Toners

4. O’Donoghue’s on Merrion Row

5. The Auld Triangle

6. The Stag’s Head

7. The Glimmerman

8. Kavanagh’s The Gravediggers

9. Kennedy’s on Westland Row

10. Davy Byrne’s

 

Best Trad Music:

• The Old Punch Bowl on Tuesday Nights

• The Celt

• Darkey Kelly’s

• Peadar Brown’s

• Devitt's Pub

 

Best Tiny Pubs:

• Dawson’s Lounge

• The Confession Box

• Old Royal Oak

 

Best Temple Bars:

• Oliver St. John Gogartys

• Bad Bob’s Temple Bar

• The Norseman

• The Quays

• The Palace Bar

 

Best Hotel Bars:

• The Merrion Hotel’s Cellar Bar

• The Mont Hotel’s The Sin Bin

• The Shelbourne Hotel’s Horseshoe or No27.

• O'Neills Victorian Pub & Townhouse

• The College Green Hotel’s The Mint Bar

• The Ferryman

• House Dublin

• The Clarence (all of their bars)

• The Dean’s Sophie’s Bar

 

Best Sunday Roast:

• Legal Eagle

• The Old Spot

• Hawksmoor

• Anywhere FX Buckley

 

Thatched Roof Pubs:

• Courtney’s of Lucan

• Taylor’s Three Rock

• The Glenside Pub

• Stillorgan Orchard (Closed)

 

Best Old Pubs:

• Cat and Cage

• The Hole in the Wall

• Mulligan’s of Poolbeg Street

• John Kehoe’s

• Slattery’s on Capel Street

• The Palace Bar

• The Stag’s Head

• The Long Hall

• The Bleeding Horse

 

Best Village for Pubs:

• Howth

• Lucan

• Dalkey

• Village of Swords

 

Best Gay Bar:

• Pennylane

• Street 66

 

Toughest Bars - Only go during the day, or just don’t go. 

Note: I never felt unsafe/unwelcome in any pub in Dublin:  

• The Priorswood Inn, D17

• The Finches, Clondalkin

• Noctor’s, North Wall, Dublin 01

• The Metzo Lounge, Shangan Road, Dublin 9

• Decies County Bar and Lounge, Ballyfermot

 

Love What You Never Did with the Place - Good old pubs, but they need a good cleaning & a refresh. 

(You may need to think twice about using the loo, too.):

• Lord Edward

• The Wind Jammer

• International Bar

• Brogans

 

Best Whiskey Bars:

• The Palace Bar

• Moss Lane

• The Whiskey Reserve, Temple Bar

• Bowes

 

Best Cocktails:

• Bar 1661

• 9 Below

• The Big Romance

• 4 Dame Lane

• Café en Seine

 

Speakeasy (ish):

• The Little Pig

• Vintage Cocktail Club (VCC)

• El Silencio

• The Hacienda Bar

• The Sitting Room at Delahunt

 

Brew Pubs:

• Rascals

• The Porterhouse

• Four Provinces Brew Co.

 

Best Place to watch a game (when everywhere is booked):

• The Waterbank Gastro Bar

 

Date Night: Rathmines: 

• Stella Cinema

• Stella Cocktail Club

• Kodiak

• Blackbird

 

Dog-friendliest Pub:

• PYE in Dundrum

• Barbers Bar, Stoneybatter

• The Cat & Cage

• The Old Royal Oak

• The Bath Pub, Bath Avenue

• Bonobo, Smithfield

• Brewdog

• The Hill Pub

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Best Tourist Trap:

• Guinness Open Gate Brewery – This is Guinness’s Craft Beer Bar

• Roe & Co Distillery Bar

• Teeling’s Bang Bang Bar

• John Kavanagh Gravedigger

• The Merry Ploughboy Gastro Pub

• Taylor’s Three Rock

 

Best Pub that you never heard of:

• The Full Shilling

• Courtneys of Lord Lucan

• Blackbanks Bar & Grill

• Old Royal Oak

 

Literature Pubs:

• McDaids

• Davy Byrne’s

• Kennedy’s Pub

• Ginger Man

 

Craft Beers to try in Dublin:

• Rascals Brewing

• Hope Beer

• White Hag 

• O Brother Brewing

• Wicklow Wolf

• Wicklow Brewery

• Kinnegar

• Four Provinces

• Whiplash Beer

• Trouble Brewing

• Galway Bay

• Black Forge

• Changing Times Brewery

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Best Bar Groups:

• Murray Bar Group: Murray’s Bar, Thomas Clarke’s, Fibber Magees, and The Living Room.  For bars with different styles and a connecting outside courtyard.

• The Chawke Group: Scattered around Dublin, but all are quality pubs: Searsons, The Oval Bar, The Goat, The Dropping Well, The Bank on College Green, The Lord Lucan,  and The Orchard.

• FX Buckleys: Ryan’s Parkgate Street, Ryan’s Pembroke Street, Crow Street, Monkstown, and The Bull & Castle

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Where’s the Best Guinness –I've been asked this question countless times. It can be said that there is a significant difference between a bad pint and a good one, but only a slight difference between a good pint and a great one.  From my humble perspective, the best pint is found in a pub where you're comfortable, the bar staff is friendly, and you're surrounded by good people.

 

As for the best, I will encourage you to decide.

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If you are looking for a song to keep you motiviated along the way:

Chasing Rainbows by The High Kings

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