29 East Franklin Street
Price of a Guinness: $4.00 | Overall Rating: 6.90
Oh the amount of things to be said about MacDigger's. Where to even start may be the toughest decision I make this morning. Let's start with the locals/demographics.
This is your "everyone knows everyone" bar to a T. I stumbled into the front door when entering here on my first visit and once the door closed behind me it was a bit of a "record scratching" moment where everyone just looked at me like "who the f*ck is this guy"? I quickly learned that everyone enters the establishment from the back...
I arrived on Christmas Eve and the Pub was rather full, so I found a seat at the end of the bar. The bar itself is a horseshoe bar that holds probably a mere 20 or so patrons at a time. The people that frequent at this place are your run of the mill blue collar workers and middle to lower class. Once you fit in with this crowd you'll be hooked and find it hard to close out your tab.
Is this an Irish Pub? Not really, perhaps it started out as one. After spending about 5 minutes inside you'll discover that it's more of an American sports bar. With that being said; if I was rating this place as a sports bar I'd probably give it over a 9.00 as it is a fine establishment who treats their patrons the right way. However, I don't rate sports bars, I rate Irish Pubs. So as an Irish Pub, I'm giving it a worthy 6.90. I believe they'll approve of that number as well!
They don't have Guinness on Tap but they do offer it in a can (yes, a bummer indeed). The bartender did ask if I wanted her to pour it or if I would rather pour it myself which was nice. I chose to pour it myself. They offer Paddy's Whiskey and I must say that they have quite the beautiful heavy hand. Emphasis on the heavy. The beers on tap are your typical cheap domestics and the whiskey selection overall won't be tickling any whiskey snob's fancies but for a dive like MacDigger's nobody really gives a flying balls.
They have 2 soft tip dart boards, a plethora of TVs for gamedays, a decent selection of sports decor on the walls, and a handful of tables for casual seating. The music is all over the place depending on who's playing the touch-tunes at the time being, but the music was fun while we were sipping. Perhaps my favorite thing about this place was that they have a big sign that says "asshole corner". I adopted that corner as my home for the hour that we were there.
One quick and fun story about the place and it's patrons before I go is how I became one with the crowd. For the first 15 or so minutes nobody necessarily gave me the light of day and I don't blame them (I'd tell myself to kick rocks if I saw me in public). Anyhow, when I went into the bathroom someone from the bar yelled "if you shake it more than once you're a queer". Once I walked out of the bathroom I claimed "I'll shake it as many times as I fuckin' want". They all laughed and started including me in the conversation at hand as I finished my last pint, and as they say... the rest is history.
If you're an Irish Pub enthusiast than perhaps find another Pub to spend your time in. However, if you're in the area and you're looking to kill an afternoon in great fashion then be sure to enter MacDigger's from behind!
A recommendation from me and a worthy score of 6.90.
Slainte.
A big slainte to all of those who have entered The Drunken Mallard! Until we raise our
glasses again, have a beautiful day!
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