In fact:
Plus we've been talking about traveling to Ireland on the NoR forums, and hell, St. Patricks day is next week, so I thought I'd post a list of my favorite pubs in Dublin city, So. Co. Dublin, and North Co. Wicklow.
Heres goes:
Now I don’t know about the best pubs outside of Wicklow and Dublin (actually I know the best pubs in Athlone, but that’s a long story); but I’ve a good notion of the best pubs from Northside quays down to about Arklow.
First things first, no matter what anyone tells you, stay out of copperface jacks (theres a reason it’s called slapper face jacks, or jsut slappers).
In temple bar, I like Eamon Dorans, and the Quays. The porterhouse has great brewed on site beer. The temple bar, Farringtons, and the Turks Head are all right. Oh and when in temple bar for gods sakes stay out of Gogartys unless you like packing yourself balls to buttcheeks in for the “oirish”.
My absolute favorite pub in all of Dublin is TP’s (tp smiths) Abbey and Jervis street (just north of the liffey and west of O’Connell street). The Oval at abbey and O’Connell is pretty good too, and has a great view.
If you like a good shithole bar, you can’t miss fibbers. It’s at O’Connell and Parnell streets, in the basement of what was the aquarium bar, but is now called Bacchus.
Actually Bacchus is a nice pub in itself; and fibbers is definitely not nice. Hit is from 7pm and later on a Friday through sunday and you get the goth and metal crowds. Lots of barely dressed folks rockin it.
Yes, I was there just about every friday saturday and sunday for three years.
Frazers around the corner on O’Connell is also a decent place, with good food; and the basement hosts a nasty late bar for the vampire crowd called dominion.
Oh and the best meal in city center is Shannahans on the green. Best steak in Ireland by a long mile; and a world class whiskey bar.
Now, on to the pubs local to where I lived.
In Ballbridge the embassy folks all like Crowes (and it's a decent place), but If you’re gonna drink in ballsbridge, Cullens is probably the best bet. Toners in Baggot street is a nice one too, a bit north. Theres this great place just a bit east maybe sandymount road… cant remember the name,buit its got a black horse head sign. Also Rumms in landsdowne road is nice.
Oh and not a pub, but you can get a half decent coffee and breakfast at the Bewleys restaurant.
Heading south out of Dublin I like Byrnes Galloping green on the Stillorgan rd. near RTE.
Oh and while you’re heading south, you might as well visit Johnnie Foxes. They bill themselves as “The highest pub in Ireland, and if you’ve rented a car it’s a pretty nice but twisty and kind of dangerous drive. It’s food is over priced, and it is full of tourists half the year, but the food is pretty good and they get good music in.
To the DART line on south now.
In Booterstown jsut off the DART is the Old Punchbowl, a decent place.
Blackrock has the Wicked Wolf, a great pub just off the dart station; and the grange pub a couple miles up.
In Dun laighaire the best pub is probably Weirs, on georges street, about 1/2 way between the two dart stations (dun laoghaire and sandycove). Walters has decent food, but it’s not much of a real pub. It's nice and fancy, but it's very yuppyish. I DO love the big couches and private booths in back though. The purty kitchen down the old sea road is a nice hole in the wall, good food, good folks, no parking. If you want to look for celebrities, the best place to do it in Dun Laoghaire is 40 foot, but otherwise it’s a crap place staffed with nothing but foreign students and wall to wall attitude.
In Glenageary, the graduate up the Glenageary road is an OK pub, with good food, but it’s mostly yuppy types (the same problem Walters has). I used to live 500 feet from the deerhunter, and I’d still walk down the hill the extra mile to Weirs; the place is full of skangers from the council estate down the road and manky old slappers.
Oh and the best restaurant in Dun Laoghaire is Toscana on the sea road. VERY good italian, for reasonable prices. Try the tiramisu.
Heading south, the best pub in Dalkey is the Queens; but it’s packed with wankers trying to get a look at Bono and Andrea Corr (both of whom live just down the road a pace, and frequent the Queens). McDonaghs isn’t as irritating, and they pull a better pint. Honeslty, when it's not full of wankers the Queens IS a great pub, with a really nice front terrace. It's a beautiful time to watch the folsk go by on a nice day, and the food is pretty good.
In Killiney you want the druids chair, another hangout of the rich and famous in Ireland. It has short hours though so get there early.
In Shankill go to Bradys, which is actually a four in one place; with Micky Byrnes bar, Bradys Lounge, Bradys restaurant, and a chinese retaurant upstairs (that’s actually half decent).
If you find yourself in Bray, Leave. If you can’t leave, go to the Porterhouse on the strand road, or the Veevay inn on the veevay road. There is really no good food in Bray, but they have one of the best chippers in Ireland just by the DART station, Henry and Rose. It has late hours, and it's famous for it's gigantic burgers with lots of weird stuff on them, which by Irish standards are flippin brilliant, and by American ones arent half bad for a chipper.
In Greystones go to Danns, the Horse and Hound, or the Delgany Inn. I quite literally used to live in the Delgany inn, the building it’s in is a 400 year old courtyard style farm, and on the corner is “the ivy cottage”, a rooming house I lived in for a few months when I first moved to Ireland.
On and The Hungry Monk in Greystones is the only decent restaurant other than a pub or hotel (the delgany inn sometimes has great food but they keep losing chefs, the horse and hound is not bad) you're going to see for another 30 miles south.
Lesse, the best pub in Wicklow town is probably the Old Forge, and Brittas bays not bad. Near Ashford it's probably the Honeypot. I'm thinking I've got the name wrong, it's a big yellow place with a honey bee sign off to the west of ashford in between the N11 and Killiskey or Newtown. The mariner is half decent there too.
Down in Arklow, the Wagon Wheels is a decent place.
Now I'm about three years out of date, so some of these places may have changed or closed since I was last there, but hey, I've listed enough you should be able to get by.
Well, lesse Twentymajor savage my list now shall we.
