32 Delsea Drive
Price of a Guinness: $7.00 | Overall Rating: 7.45
A Pub with a rather large following, Schileen's makes a lot of locals happy. Does it have the craic and pouring skills to make a traveling Irish Pub enthusiast overwhelmed with joy? Not really.
There are many ups and downs with Schileen's. Let's start with the uppers. It was 11:15 in the morning and there were already a few bar guests, tables being sat, and 3 bartenders on duty. The place clearly gets crowded quick; especially on gamedays. There are a handful of TVs for watching the games, although depending on where you are sitting at the bar you might have a tough time seeing many of them, even with your head on a swivel.
They provide a couple of steel tip dart boards and they even offer the Old American style darts from back in the day. You always have to appreciate any Pub that still offers Steel Tip Dart boards over the pathetic soft tip darts made for children.
The interior of the place has a large layout that can hold many people. They have a nice patio which is enclosed for the colder months and there are big open spaces for large groups. You can grab a few "quickdraws" from the available lotto, or as the Midwesterners call it; "Keno", and you can also grab some beer and wine to-go which is nice.
That's about all that comes to mind when focusing in on the positive aspects of the place. Now, let's move to the gripes.
Apparently Schileen's is a "certified perfect pint" Pub. The pour they served me was certainly not perfect. What I got in exchange for the $7.00 was a Bishop's Collar; a disappointment indeed. No Pub in this world can be considered a true and authentic Irish Pub if they're handing out lousy pours. Perhaps they only serve their "perfect pints" to their regulars and not just any chap who sits at their bar, and if that's the case; their Craic rating would certainly drop to a low.
To stay on the topic of true and authentic Irish Pubs, no true Pub would try and cater to anyone and everyone. A Pub owner needs to know its niche and know how to properly cater to it. Schileen's offers pizza, roast beef, cheese-steaks, calamari, interesting soups, eggrolls, meatball parms, and other random food groups. One bit of advice; stay in your lane and stick to your craft!
The bathrooms are a bit small for a place that fills up at night. I'm glad I didn't order the interesting looking Creamy White Bean soup or I may have had a rough time waiting for a toilet!
The decor around the place was decent and they have neat signs that tell you how many miles you are from nearby landmarks. The atmosphere as a whole is a rather grungy one though that makes you feel as if you are in an outdated basement from the 80's. One may say that the place gets crowded because it's one of the only spots in the immediate area surrounded by homes and apartments and not because of the craic. Don't get the wrong idea though, as the service isn't all that bad and the people can be friendly.
To wrap it up, Schileen's is a bit all over the place. When it comes to its main purpose it would be more appropriate to claim this spot as a sports bar instead of an Irish Pub. The final impression of the place is that it tries to cater to everyone and its regulars are the middle aged crowd with nowhere else to go and the typical Pennsylvanian Jersey Shore wannabes who spend a little too much for crappy pours of Guinness.
Slainte!
Comments