172 1st Street
Price for a Guinness: $8.00 | Overall Rating: 5.00
There's a first for everything; The Drunken Mallard rated a Pub at the perfect medium: 5.00. O'Hara's is a tough cookie to crack. We've been a handful of times over the last 5 to 6 years; probably over 8 times by now. Every time we go it's a different story. We're going to keep this one short and sweet.
One afternoon you'll walk into the door and smell puke from the night before while another afternoon you might walk in and the place is bleach-clean with a friendly bartender giving you a warm welcome. One night you'll pay your tab without any problems and another night you might be getting charged for drinks that weren't yours by the confused bar staff (yeah... that happened). Their selection of draft beers is a bit on the depressing side although their choices on whiskey will tickle many a fancy.
Now let's get one thing straight; I have zero reason to lie or make anything up when I make these ratings. Truth be told; every time I walk into a new Pub I am in high hopes that I'll love the place and leave it with a high score. I stumble into way too many pubs to be making up stories or intentionally leaving someone a bad rating for the hell of it, crazy stories and poor craftsmanship come and go on their own so I have no need to be on the lookout. Don't get things twisted though; it's like riding the MTA: when I see something I'm going to say something.
Anyhow... back to the flip-flopping experiences at O'Hara's. One day you might stumble in to watch the NFL games and you'll catch every game that you want. Another NFL Sunday you might notice that they don't have a particular game on any of their MANY TVs, politely ask for them to turn said game on any of the TVs, and they'll tell you no. They really are all over the place when it comes to what type of experience you're going to get.
The prices are ok for what you get, especially for the area. They offer a great atmosphere for watching sports and hanging out with friends while dressing in casual clothes. Every neighborhood needs a Pub like O'Hara's. So don't get me wrong; when they aren't dropping the ball they do provide a good vibe and a good time. It provides decent furniture, worthy architecture, and non-gimmicky wall decor.
Is there any craic? Eh... not really. One shady thing about the service is that the staff seems to routinely forget to mention that there's an auto-grat on the bill. Small potatoes for some but for someone like me; I typically get a little offended whereas I will normally tip you more than 20%, however if you're going to blindly add a gratuity to my tab then I'll just leave it at that. Your loss.
To wrap it up, O'Hara's does not offer darts but they do offer food. They don't offer the best service but they do offer an upstairs event space. They may buy you a drink but they may charge you for someone else's. The most previous time that we were there we experienced a non-airconditioned seat at the bar, an average pour of Guinness, an informative bartender from Columbian descent, and enjoyed the little power outlet by the barstool while watching the Mets. I typically pride myself in finding the perfect score for Irish Pubs but I will admit... I may need to revisit this place a few more times to give it anything above a 5. Do I recommend the place? Sure, why not; just don't tell anyone that I sent ya there!
Slainte!
Comentários