I used to enjoy this place, when I was 21. Â If you're over 25...I would really not recommend it. Â It's fine for a quick nothing special lunch and a beer, but if avoid at all costs after 7-8pm, when it turns into a shoulder to shoulder house party where you can't hear yourself think.
Review Source:Horrible service, uncomfortable and filthy establishment, and subpar food quality. Not to mention the influx of an obnoxiously drunk and self righteous crowd anytime a live band is playing which, btw, will ruin your night (I mean the bands, although the drunk idiots are a nice cherry on top). This place disguises itself as a "pub" to hide its mediocrity, and through the years it's only been getting worse.
Review Source:Rude if not forgettable service (aside from the few unforgettable, insane, and inappropriate servers), filthy interior and utensils, slop resembling food, terrible live music. It's essentially a glorified dive bar because it's the only Irish pub in the area. I've been here over 26 times and each time the quality is diminished. I love bars, Irish pubs and even dive bars, but this is truly useless.
Review Source:I've spend many nights at Dick O'Dows. It's a very casual and friendly atmosphere, a very unique feeling in Birmingham. It's very much a pub with tons of seating and a decent kitchen. The food doesn't wow, but it's good. The beer selection is large enough so I can always find something I like. The staff is very friendly. I have had a few visits during peak times when it was hard to get the attention of a bartender, but generally you will never sit with an empty glass.
Review Source:about as fake Irish as you get. Over priced and full of  pretentious birmingham snobs, the only thing this place had going for it was lead bar man Sam and they screwed him out of a job after 16 years service. Oh well, i won't be missing this place whilst I'm kicking back in Belfast this summer!
Review Source:I've never had a bad experience at Dick O Dows. Â The only reason that I can't rate it any higher is due to the fact that I've never had that WOW moment there.
I do recommend that people give it a shot as it is the only place in BIrmingham, that I can think of anyway, that gives you that pub feeling.
We came for the trivia, which I called ahead to confirm was happening... whoever the booking manager here is has no idea what they are doing, because the band kept playing for 45 minutes past when trivia was supposed to start. Who books a band and trivia on the same night???
The first drink I ordered was a Bloody Mary, which when it showed up was in a tiny glass... i shrugged, chugged, and assumed it was some sort of wimpy size that they served unless you specified that you want a "normal Bloody Mary."
Literally the only good thing was the Sporcle trivia guy, who played awesome music, kudos bro, you're the fucking tits.
I ordered Smithwicks since it's an "Irish Pub" (it's not, at ALL) and it cost $6.00. It's not even that much at a Conor's!
Then when I got the bill I got charged $7.00 for a Stoli Bloody Mary... which was not a pint but was literally an 8oz glass (I confirmed it with him before my rage - I would never complain about selling me a fake well, or a small portion, but BOTH?!), nor did I order Stoli, I just asked for a Bloody Mary. What kind of "bartender" up-sells you without asking if you want well/house/Stoli? Then he claims that their "well" is Stoli/Skyy/etc - yeah fucking right bro. I may have a CO license but I'm not a fucking idiot, I grew up in the "real OC." This guy was also doing shots earlier so I wasnt surprised that he was a fuck-up but I definitely took it out on him since I have a lot of bar experience and don't fuck around with idiots.
Great atmosphere, beer, service and food.
I would skip the scotch eggs. Plain. Bland and for $8 you get 2 hard boiled eggs, cut in half, rolled in sausage and fried. They serve this up with diced potatoes... Eh
Irish stew was very good and so filling. There was a balanced ratio of meat and veggies and all served up in a bread bowl. I didn't find this to have any distinct flavors- Guinness ????
Bangers and mad potatoes- the sausages aren't appealing to the eye, but they are very good. Served up with real mashed taters and brown gravy. Hubs requested extra gravy.
Son ordered a hot dog, which at first we were told they no longer served hot dogs, but would check...dog was good but served on a huge arse hoagie bun. Fries were excellent.
We will return. Sandwiches look fab!
The Black & Bleu salad was everything I hoped it would be and more. Â So good!
The service was alright, but there were definition a few times I was waiting on a refill, the tab, and the bartender's general attention because he was more engaged with the group of female regulars sitting down the bar from me. Â
As the evening grew later, music started - pop covers done by a decent-but-nothing-special acoustic group. Â The place really started to crowd up at this point, with a mix of middle aged housewives imbibing on red wine with their friends (and dancing. Â Ooooh, how they danced. Â *shudder* ), and the early-20's crowd who were out drinking too much in celebration of their Christmas vacation from school. Â
One important thing to be noted is that this is definitely a "come as you are" type of place, which is nice - not always the norm in downtown Birmingham. Â
I'd come back for the food, but not necessarily to hang out.
Meh. If you've seen one, you've seen 'em all: Mock Irish pubs serving beer and pub food. In a party of three, we visited Dick O'Dow's the other night looking for drinks and a bite to eat. The bar area was packed, so we decided to wait for a table, which the hostess said would be about 10 to 15 minutes. We stood and chatted in the entry way, which was chilly but better than being outside. As we were being seated, we were kindly notified that our seating area would become the stage (for live music) in two hours, so we'd have to finish by then or find room by the bar somewhere. Incidentally, it was very loud inside, so conversation even among the three of us required raised voices and some lip reading.
Once we were seated, our waitress let us know that they had run out of some beers but also had some seasonal beers on tap. I settled for a Blue Moon, a decent beer but nothing special. From the food menu, I went with the macaroni & cheese with pesto. Our food was ready surprisingly quickly. My dish was hot and delicious, but not quite perfect. First, there were big globs of cheese throughout the dish. I would have preferred a cheese sauce with a more homogeneous consistency. Second, the penne noodles didn't absorb much cheesy goodness. Maybe fusilli or elbow macaroni would be better. Finally, a bread crumb topping would have helped absorb the excess fats/oils from the cheese. Regardless, I'd order the macaroni & cheese again. The pesto was a nice twist.
Service was fine, especially considering how packed and loud the place was. The food was good. The beer was good. Three stars seems about right.
I've been here twice in the two years we've lived nearby. First visit, we got dessert and a drink. Dessert was not good--could've picked up a whole box of the same chocolate cake at GFS for the price of the single slice, and it would have been better and fresher.
Second visit, we actually looked at the real menu. I was shocked to see gastropub- type dishes on the menu! I would never have thunk it, from the looks (and smell) of the place. Herbed goat cheese in puff pastry with crostini? Umm, yes please! Turns out, the pastry was more pillsbury, less puff. And it was not cooked through. It was chewy and gooey. The dough, not the goat cheese. Blech.
It is always crowded, so I guess locals don't mind the sub-par food. Or the stinky, dank interior. We went on a Monday night in August for the second visit, and we were told it was a 45 minute wait for an outside table. We would have left, but we had to use up a Groupon that was set to expire.
Stick to alcohol and you will probably be less disappointed. Oh well, lesson learned.
I've been here twice. The first time was for dinner and a couple of beers with my boyfriend. The second time was sort of a double date. The first experience was not bad. The service wasn't great but they were very busy and the food was good. We ordered potato skins as an appetizer. They were huge and delicious. I got a chicken pesto sandwich for my entree which was also great and my boyfriend ordered the Reuben. We had zero complaints about any of the food.
On our second occasion here, it was the day of the Woodward Dream Cruise so needless to say it was packed. Once again, service not so great. Bartenders literally looked right at me and did not acknowledge me. But they were slammed so I will give them the benefit of the doubt. Still had an awesome time. Always the love the atmosphere here and love the authentic Irish pub decor. We spent half the night at the bar and the other half on the patio which is always a favorable feature of any bar or restaurant. It was a wonderful evening even if it was mostly due to the company and volume of alcohol. Oh and they even had live music this night. Â The band was not necessarily my taste but it was still cool. All in all I like the place and will be back.
I've been to this Birmingham staple many times for drinks, but just recently tried to food for the first time for lunch. We sat on the outdoor patio, which was nice, and ordered the ahi tuna and original sliders.
The ahi tuna sliders were one of the most "exciting" sliders I've ever eaten. The wasabi sauce on them had a tendency to build up in the back of the pharynx by the end of each slider, causing an intense but fleeting sensation that I found oddly fun. Nonetheless, I was relieved to have plenty of water and the original sliders to calm myself between tuna bites.
I usually don't write review unless I am very disappointed.
So I went to this place on a date to have a couple of drinks and some chat... We order 2 glasses of wine only. We had a good time chatting except for the fact the waitress kept coming by and asking us if we want to order something else.
When they gave me the check I looked at it and it was about $35!!!! For 2 glasses of wine!!!! Honestly I was on a date and I didn't feel to discuss about the amount which should probably have been $15 before taxes, I just signed the check because I wanted to leave. I also put $5 tip which I thought was the right amount for the quality of the service.
After a couple of days I was looking to my CC statement and I found a charge of $60 by this place on that night. I immediately contacted the owner via email asking for clarification. He said he needed the CC again to verify the transaction and that he would get back to me. I waited 2 days, then I contacted him again (he didn't actually wrote me back!!!). He said he had found the $60 charge to my name and that probably was a mistake (given 2 glasses of wine) so he would have contacted me again to find an agreement for a refund.
He simply disappeared. I tried reaching him again a couple of times and there was always an excuse like "I will contact you back"... I think this is really a bad attitude because everyone can make a mistake typing a check, but a) how can you justify 2 glasses of wine for $60?? b) if you admit the mistake why delay so much replying and trying to fix it??? ... Seriously is this the way to treat a customer?
I could have stopped the transaction through my CC but while I was waiting for his replies which did never come promptly, the CC billing period closed and the statement was printed.
I don't care so much about the amount (and of course I will never put my feet anymore in this place) but about the attitude of non returning emails until the person gets sick of the situation.. Thank God there is Yelp where we can give our feedback. Be aware if the same could happen to you!
Good:
Outdoor seating in the summer
Homemade potato chips
Bad:
The service - waited over 30 minutes for our food, no napkins or plates on the table with our apps.
Food: Â Burger (a turkey and a bacon burger were ordered) were both just OK - they were bland, lacked creativity and were overpriced for being...plain. Â
Salad: Â A fajita salad was ordered - pretty standard. Â Would have liked to have seen more "fresh" ingredients used - pretty much just iceburg, cheese, corn and tortilla strips. Â
It would pay for Dick O'Dow's to get a fun chef to change things up a bit in the kitchen. Â There is potential with this place...but they are losing the local business. Â I imagine pretty soon, they will be living off of the 21 year old drunk crowd as everyone who appreciates good food will put them on their D list.
I struggle with this one which is probably why I have never written a review. Â I have gone there my whole adult life... And the bar part is good. Â Don't go to watch a game, go to socialize. Â 4-5 stars for the bar. Â The patio is nice in the summer.
Now the not so great. Â The food isn't great. Â It isn't bad, but it is inconsistent and mostly fried. Â The service is even more inconsistent - it seems to depend mostly on the drama going on with the staff. Â
The super not good. Â Last time I was there (Sunday afternoon) it was like kindercare. Â As in 100 children under the age of 10. Â The parents in Birmingham are sometimes not the best (I'm from there, so stop hating) and in my scenario, the kids were playing in the bathroom sinks, unsupervised... Â If I was at a place that I expected to see a banquet of children, fine. But Sunday night at a bar? Â Just totally not expected. Â
Based on the good bar, medium food, and hodge-podge service / patrons, I averaged the scores and landed at a 3.
I met some friends here for dinner and drinks last night. I order a Celtic Reuben and Chardonnay, both were good.
Now the service was another story. Our waitress was very attentive at first. One of my friends thought that she was dipping ( chewing tobacco) the whole time. Not very appetizing when you are trying to eat. Â When we were ready to leave, our waitress was nowhere to be found. It took us about 30 min to locate her, then another 20 min to get our cards back. Mind you, it was near closing time and practically empty.
Just a quick review which I may add more to later:
This place was *fine* for kids, on a summer day for a late lunch. Â We ate on their patio out front (nice and shady). Â And they do in fact even have a kids' menu. Â My kids got burgers, I had the shepherd's pie, my husband had a corned beef sandwich, and all was tasty. Â Inside atmosphere was nice as well.
Good bartenders, good beers, good bar top. Nothing fancy and no complaints.
Almost never am I up in Birmingham, let alone finding myself wandering around on foot (part of it began with an urgent need to find a public washroom... which was not easy up here!). In any event, popped in here at a late hour on a Sunday, and it was perfectly peopled... one seat left open at the bar just for me. Service was great - on point with no jazz hands. They have Boddingtons on tap which, even though it's becoming less and less of a rarity as euro distributors continue to consolidate and so all our favorite bars are carrying the same imports, still gets me in the can't-resist region of my brain. So I nursed a Boddington's, chatted with some Birminghamers (who weren't as obnoxious as they looked and dressed), and eyed the tail end of a baseball game. All the woodwork along the bar top and the walls makes for a nice old-timey guzzle environment too.
As bars go this is the place to be if you want to be seen by the Birmingham crowd, however if you are looking for a good atmosphere to enjoy a tasty beverage with some friends, I'd recommend elsewhere. Â I should mention that this is more for the night crowd as during the day the bar is less packed and more tolerable. Â
The owners spent a lot of money and effort to bring the look of an old Irish pub to the suburbs of Detroit, they did such a great job that it is almost too popular. Â Trying to have a conversation on a Friday night is useless, you'll loose your voice yelling at the other half of the conversation before you finish your first beer. Â
I'm also not a fan of the bands they choose to play there. Â I've seen plenty of people dancing to the music but I'm not sure that is because of the band's talent or the amount of beer consumed.
On the plus side they do have a more secluded and normal seating area in the back and serve good food. Â
All said and done if you want to be in the biggest party in Birmingham this is the place to be but don't expect to be able to talk to anyone.
This is our Sunday night go-to bar. It's open late (until 2 AM I believe) and has the perfect atmosphere to grab some tasty grub and a good beer before bed and embarking on another painful work week in the morning. I love the intricacy in which the interior is decorated and the unique giant wood tables in the bar area that look like they were carved from singular trunks. Although you can go to watch a game, DoD is definitely not your typical obnoxious sports bar filled with just-graduated ex-frats boys. Instead, it's filled with cougars and ex-frat boys in their 30's. But at least they're quiet.
Between the boyfriend and I we've literally tried almost everything on the menu, but our favorites are the killybeg mussels (although the 'soda bread' does not cut it for me), wings (the dry rub is phenomenal but the buffalo is good too), chicken pot pie, deep fried zuccini, potato leek soup, and half the sandwiches off the menu. Did we miss anything? Ah yes, NEVER pay full price here. DoDs offers discounts on practically every website there is out there including <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a> and halfoffdepot. I don't see why they need to offer promotions like that, but you want to take 50% off my bill for not-your-typical bar food? Go right ahead!
*** I'm reviewing this place as restaurant and not as a bar.
I come here for lunch often because it's close to my work. Â I have tried a lot of their food as you can see from pics I posted. Â I have to say that this place has good food. Â Lot of Irish style meals. Â Great sliders and I think their regular sliders and the irish sliders are one of their best things on the menu. Â Their regular hamburgers are bland. Â Not recommended. Â They have good soups and salad as well. Â Check out their daily specials.
They have a fireplace in the back for warming up during winter. Â Service is usually good and they have good selections for beer.
Unfortunately, this is the best hang out in downtown Birmingham, so it attracts everyone from the full-douchebags to the semi-douchebags. Â I fall somewhere in the middle and even I don't like myself. Â
The only reason I go there is because I can stumble home and even then I still seem to regret it every time. Â
By the way, who would give this place 5 stars? Â It's a fake irish pub, with the red wings blaring, that serves mediocre food on dirty tables. Â This is so far away from 5 stars.
I really really like the vibe of this place. Maybe I just come in on good days or am just easily impressed with the intriguing decor, but they always leave me satisfied (TWSS).
The food portions are huge and hearty. Get something outside of traditional sandwich or fried stuff... the good old "what you'd find at your grandma's" items on the menu are delish. The booze selection is typical, but not overlypriced.
The staff - I have always loved the staff, down to the busboy. I complimented him (the busboy) for checking our area a record eight times in 10 minutes, just to make sure no dirty dishes were on tables and everybody's water was full. When I complimented him, he was very appreciative and my dining friend and I could tell that meant a lot to him.... it really showed he cared about his job.
And that makes me care about this place. Good people all around.
My favorite things here are the Irish Fry and the Guinness. Â It's probably the closest place to me where I can get a plate with soda bread, tomatoes, black and white pudding, Irish sausage and bacon, and a couple of fried eggs. Â Now, how authentic is it? Â Well, I suppose it's authentic enough; honestly, I don't have much of a frame of reference as I've never been in a position to get a breakfast plate like this in Ireland. Â What they put on that plate at Dick O'Dow's sure goes well with the Guinness, and that's enough for me for now.
I don't know that I necessarily should be in a hurry to try anything else on the menu. Â I know that I am not in any such hurry. Â I may get around to it someday. Â I just enjoy the Irish Fry enough that I can't seem to develop enough interest to try anything else.
It's your standard fake irish pub. There's nothing too special about it, but they splurged on the decor because it's Birmingham.
Like most folks, I didn't think much of the food - I mean it's not bad, it's just not outstanding - but their fried mac & cheese is surprisingly tasty.
I wouldn't come here for a party, but if you play it right and head into the back where it's quieter and less crowded, you can still rack up a decent and enjoyable evening.
Dick O'Dows is Cheers Birmingham. And I love Dick's because sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name...
While I haven't lived in Michigan for over 5 years now, I know that a few hours at Dick's will have me running into all of the people that I miss seeing and all of the people that I thought I would never see again. No trip to Michigan is complete without an evening here. The drinks are reasonable and, more often than not, there is live music in the front room. After making the rounds, I generally opt to head to the less crowded and more well lit back room and snag a table with friends. As everyone always seems to know everyone else, the evening inevitably turns into a musical chairs of catch up.
Dick's is a great spot to see people any time of the year, but becomes crazy busy around both Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you aren't up for the chaos and potentially long door lines, I might suggest heading elsewhere.
We've setup a number of Michigan State alumni happy hours here. Â So if you have a group of people. Â Give DoD a ring and they'll give you a deal.
They gave us a free appetizer buffet and $2.50 Labatts.
Brian the bartender is AWESOME.
The staff is pretty friendly though when it gets crowded, the waitresses don't come around as often as I'd like.
The bar food is pretty standard but their beer selection is fantastic. Â
They allow cigar smoking in the bar too though I don't think many people take advantage of that.
Ugh, where to being....the place of where all duchebaggery is committed. I have to admit I do go here...only bar in downtown bham that you don't have to be a cougar or a loaded a-hole to go to....I will do massive updates with this bar too each time I go...so always remember to look this up.
I was there recently and aside from some duchebags that were with the party I was with...I did not run into one other person from my past that wasn't trying to get info out of me as far as 'who is more successful now...' which in my drunken state was a bit of a disappointment, actually. Normally, I don't want to see anyone but the lack of crowd this certain Friday night has given me writers block for a good review....
Good beers on tap, food is OK...a couple things are good, but there are so many better places to eat. I have had ok salmon here before, but I have been to Ireland and uh, the 'Irish cuisine' it is not, especially the boxty's. Also, one of my favorite apps ever is fried zucchini, and as I found out and was EXTREMELY disappointed it was off the menu-BOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Height of duchebag season here: Thanksgiving, Xmas and NYE, and the Saturdays in the summer...you won't be able to move in here, and trust me the line is in NO way worth the wait unless you are specifically waiting to see someone already inside.
5/4/08-UPDATE. OK went for a quick dinner on a Sunday night, and I have upped my star rating...the food was actually GOOD...the mac and cheese is one of the best I have had...the farmhouse salad was fresh and filling with a delicious homemade dressing....I have always been a fan of the cod sandwich and once again it was on par....the crab cakes were decent...BREAD pudding-a fantastic must have...apologies to Dick's for trashing the food...but then again if you can't get it right on a dead Sunday night....
Nice little Irish pub in downtown Birmingham. I'm going to give them three stars for having a good selection of beers, and I think that I'll add another for the neat Guinness posters in the men's bathroom. Â If you're a lady, maybe there are other cool posters on the wall, but I didn't see them. However, I'll take one star back for there being a lot of smoking going on. We sat in the back room, which was pretty empty, so there wasn't anyone back there smoking (but I still ended up smelling mildly of smoke).
The bartender will give you free pretzel nibs if you ask him.
One stars 'cause they have decent beer on tap. Â This place is my worse nightmare. Â Don't come here on Holidays. Â You are bound to see that person you never again wanted to see, here. Â The clientle is way too concerned with looking good and being cool. Â
In the summer they have a deck they place in the street in front of the bar. Â Be forewarned ..... I am so very scared for those who dare to eat or drink there - looks like you are tempting fate.
I'm giving it three stars because I didn't have to pay for anything, and the staff was REALLY accomodating to our drunken rambling demands.
Inexplicably we had a company Xmas party out here, and as an old Midwestern girl, displaced in L.A. it was nice to get back to the kind of bar I used to frequent when I was underage and drinking heavily.
Weird that it was the venue for a corporate Xmas party, though.
I have to say, after nearly a decade in L.A. I'm not a fan of smelling smoky at the end of the night, but it was a LOT better than I remember bars in the Midwest being, so that was terrific.
The food was ok. Â Not spectacular...but ok...for a pub. Â The drinks were strong and came frequently. Â I didn't love that twice my drink disappeared by overzealous bussers before it was finished...like an OBVIOUSLY unfinished drink. Â A nearly-full Whisky and Coke for example. Â Lame.
But, listen, they rearranged the room several times for us, put up with our crazy party, and it was a really cute space for our party. Â So yay!
But no Leinies on tap, which is what I look forward to every time I go to the Midwest, so boo.
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