Worst breakfast ever. Everything was cold , eggs were raw. No soap in the bathroom. Slow service. Sent the uncooked food back 3 times still wasn't good. Coffee bad also and cold. Â
The second star is due to the fact that they apparently have never served breakfast before and that the manager gave the table a round of Jameson's.
This review is long overdue!
As a So Cal girl, I was stoked to be spending St. Patty's Day in Boston, but was over the lines and the crowds. Â We ended up here and stayed the entire day. Â It was amazing!! Â Nice bouncers, great music and a good mix of people. Â The best part though were the two female bartenders who were upstairs - they were very attentive and super nice!! Â And Pamela is a great manager too!! Â I promised I'd write you guys a review and here it is. I definitely had a blast and am looking forward to the next time I'm out there.
I've been here a few times now, once on a pub crawl and another because one of my friends apparently has no taste and thought this would be a good place to go. During the pub crawl our waitress decided to seat us next to a family with small children trying to enjoy a meal together. I'm not sure if she had no idea what a bunch of drunk people look like or if she's just not very bright, but it was definitely a poor decision. Even though we tried to be respectful and courteous, there's only so much a group of drunk people can do to stay contained. Needless to say, I'm sure we ruined their lunch.
The second time was slightly worse, the entire bar was freezing cold, smelled like someone's butthole, and all the drinks I was given were in plastic cups. I was also hit on by a series of unfortunate men, which was not the bars fault persay, but speaks volumes of the types of people this bar attracts.
I'll continue to try to avoid this bar to the best of my ability, the only advantageous thing this bar has going for them is that they still have pumpkinhead on tap....but that also leads me to believe they probably don't change out their kegs very frequently. Ew.
relaxed atmosphere with great service. Â when first walking, the smell of bleach hits you. Â but that is not all bad, at least the place should be clean. Â you wal into a side area of the bar, past a couple smaller social rooms. Â the wood floor looks great, perfectly worn and complimentary to the green walls and dark wood accents. Â the room closer to the bar is all wood with a wood/glass cabinet that contain irish whiskey bottles for decor. Â
the entire place isn't that big. Â the bottom of the L-shaped bar is closer to the door. Â a few stools, a clock, and a tap. Â wooden bar top with no rail. Â after the corner are another 5-7 stools. Â beyond the bar are lower eating tables and windows that overlook state st. Â decorated with white lights for Christmas. Â not overdone, but nice. Â rock music over the speakers.
good beer selection served up by capable, friendly bartenders. Â they also have a special reserver jameson for the same price as the standard. Â
overall low-kay, relaxed bar with a mix of patrons that melds well together.
I've been here a few times and didn't think anything special about it but also didn't hate it but after coming here with an event associated with a pubcrawl, I am not happy. Â First of all, they were the host of the after party but they also had a private event going on in the bar, so many of the people with the after party, weren't even allowed in. Â Secondly, the staff were beyond rude. Â (bouncers, bartenders, cleaners..everyone!) And to top it off...they ran out of several beers, including Bud Light, before 9pm. Â To run out of one of the most popular beers at this time, when you were well informed of a huge crowd coming in, is insane to me.
I will not be returning.
The bathroom smells like chlorine. Like a pool. William McCarthy the bartender/manager is awesome.
We stopped in here after a few other local joints and this was easily my favorite of the places. The bartender actually paid attention to us and we had a great conversation with him, which really impacts my opinion of a place. I can't say much about the prices because I was pretty drunk when I left so I don't exactly remember what I paid, but if I remember anything it's that we got a lot of drinks for a very low price. Not sure if that's because of the prices or if there were buybacks. Either way, I would absolutely make it a point to stop in here if I am ever in the area again.
My bar chair was terrifyingly loose and rickety.
And if William McCarthy reads this, you will get your cupcakes that we promised you!
Typical Irish dive bar with really good pub food and charm. Â I'd normally give this type of a place a 3 star rating, but both my wife and myself really liked their food. Â The burgers were above average and potato skins were great.
I've only been here twice and both during daytime football, so maybe my opinion doesn't apply to a night time visit.
A good place to stop by after work for a drink. They have ongoing specials, but no drink menu (which I think is weird). Â Drinks are generally $7 or $8 with a few priced at $10. You really cant beat their $4 margaritas..great price for the financial district. They are randomly strict on carding and then dont even check your ID the next day.. weird.
Overall love the place and the irish flair. Great place/atmosphere for games
I'm giving two stars instead of just one due to my waitress I'll affectionately refer to as Ficia Tennelly. Â She has been relaxed, pleasant, and prompt with food and drinks every time I've visited, and the drink specials are a steal. Â My gal pal and I got several rounds of drinks and a couple apps, and the bill was only $30. Â The chicken fingers should be called chicken dinks though since they're flacid and small.
Unfortunately, I went for Trivia and it was flat out depressing so my ranking needs to reflect the bad taste left in my mouth. Â There were only a few teams participating and it felt as though every single person but us were personal friends with the hosts. Â The questions were skewed towards their age group and private jokes were abound; I don't think I've ever said "Are you f&*(ing kidding me!?!" more times in my life than I did last night as we steadily slipped down the rankings into 4th place while the hosts' besties climbed the charts and took away prizes.
I know - it looks like I'm just a sore loser, but I'm not! Â It was really the most unfair and unprofessional trivia I've been to and I tend to take my trivia nights seriously. Â Any suggestions on better places would be greatly appreciated - hit me up like Blue Cantrell y'all!
I'm giving this place a 4 star based on a 4pm happy hour drop in. After seeing a tragic "we are closed today" sign at the Harpoon Brewery, we were trying to make our way over to McCormicks but decided to go to Kitty because it was on the way and it looked cheaper.
They have GREAT appetizer deals.. $3 for appetizers?? YES PELASE!
Their draft beers were pretty fresh, definitely not stale. We ordered wings and broccoli poppers that were stuffed with cheddar and bacon. Wings were actually really good! The broccoli poppers.. at $3 a dish I could legit eat 10. SO GOOD!
I mean it was a 4pm on a Monday so we def received more than enough attention and everything was fresh. For those who had a poor experience at night, I'd suggest coming back during the day and ordering some food.
So I am kinda disappointed fellow yelpers have given Kitty O'Sheas such a bad rep. I have been coming here for oh I guess about six years now. I have come here for bar crawls, a quiet afternoon with friends, bachelorettes and even my little sister's 21st bday.
Actually that night in 2006 was memorable. Me, her bff and her ventured in. It was a DEAD Tuesday night. The bartender hung out with us for a couple of hours and kept mixing up delicious shots and drinks. The service was great.
On other occasions it has been just a fun. We went today for a quick lunch and did not want to pay easter brunch prices. Yes, it is standard bar food but for less then 20 bucks we got delicious potato skins and a BBQ chicken pizza as well as sodas. You can't complain about that.
Yes it is nothing special. It is just like every other Irish pub in Boston. Except this one is dead and missing the college boys and their popped collars or whatever the rage is these days. For that it deserves a better rating then it is getting!
There is really nothing here worth coming back for. Really.
Decent beer selection, a few TVs here and there, clean bathrooms. The fries smelt good too, but I wasn't eating here.
As others have noted before, no idea why they charge a $5 cover on weekends, and really no idea why it's packed once the sun sets. Does a particular frat have party rights to this place?
Oh well, onward we'll forge to the next Irish bar, there is a surfeit of them after all in this area!
Uuuggghhhh. I hate this place. Probably my all-time least favorite bar in Boston. If I never come back, I'll consider my life a success.
I understand its location, but paying a $5 cover to get in here on weekend nights is just plain silly. It's basically a tiny room with a small bar and a crappy projector screen located conveniently in a corner behind the "dance floor" where it can't be seen.
I hate how the bathrooms are buried in the depths below the bar, where there's no cell service. Half the reason I escape to the bathroom is for a quiet locale to call friends. No such luck here =(
The REAL reason I think I hate this place is because of my last visit in '09. I was at McFaddens with a crew of about 25 for a 6-8 happy hour. We all stumbled over to Sissy K's afterwards, where my foolproof older sister's ID was denied for the 2nd time ever. I was shocked and pissed, so my BF and I went to Kitty's as the rest of them partied on. We would have gone home, but we were meeting friends in Faneuil at 10 so we just had to tough it out.
All we wanted to do was sit down and watch the Celtics, but the staff literally made us stand up so they could break down our table and hide our chairs to "open up the dance floor." THERE WAS NOBODY IN THERE! Literally 2 people sitting at the bar. We were so aggravated we chugged our beers and headed over to the Bar Room to take our aggression out on the punching bag.
It's safe to say I will NEVER be returning to Kitty O'Sheas.
Came here with a group that rented out the top floor, after a 3 hour booze cruise on the harbor. Â
Enough said.
Good: Â Decent Beer Selection
      Lots of space
      People actually dancing
Bad: Â Â Small incident with bouncer(can happen anywhere I guess)
      Smelled like they had paint stripper air fresheners
      The place starts spinning after a while
Nothing I would wait in line for. Â Great for a big group though.
I am giving a 1 Star rating after a McFadden's Happy Hour. Â Wow, this place must really be that bad.
Here is the breakdown....
Good
-beer was not stale
-i didn't wind up in the hospital after eating that food
-location which is probably the only reason they are sustainable
Now onto the bad
Bad
- Urinal in mens room was overflowing and practically took over the entire bathroom
-Stall was unable to be used
-Nobody fixed either issue for over 20 minutes
-Burnt chicken quesadilla
-Frozen guac served with quesadilla
- Mozzarella sticks and chicken fingers were greasiest I have ever seen at a bar in boston
- Waitress dropped a check on our table half way through eating
-Nobody came by to ask how things were going
-Waitress left crap all over our table and picked up a few glasses at the end
-Had to ask another waitress for drinks at one point while ours was socializing
Go to Black Rose or Sissy K's instead of this place
Kitty O'Sheas... I wanted to like you, but you truly suck.
After waiting in line for 20+ minutes we were FINALLY let into the bar around 12:30-40?... pay a 10 dollar cover, only to be told the upstairs is at capacity. Â When we get up there, there's blood all over the floor (I guess there was a fight, huh?). Â Well done. Â It happens everywhere, but it just kept showing us why this bar is overrated.
The absolute FINAL STRAW came when they had 'last call' at 1:15 and started kicking everyone out at 1:25. Â REALLY!? Â So we waited in line, didn't get in until 12:40, paid a 10 dollar cover, and then are kicked out at 1:30? Â
Well, that was a complete waste of time, booze, and money. Â Never again, Kitty O'Sheas, never again!
Props to the nice bouncer at the front door, though. Â He was patient with some drunk girls and was actually nice and civil. Â There's your redeeming point.
I've been here twice. I had a decent time the first time, experiencing the average music, and watching people make fools of themselves.
The place has enough corners scattered around the place to go off and have a normal volumed conversation with someone without straying too far from the party. Good for groups, but I'd recommend not overdoing it with too many people as they have a tendency to split them while you wait in line.
The second time I went, I realized that I must have been drunk as hell the first time. It looked like the clientele went downhill and that they let a bunch of high schoolers in. I realized how many of the tables looked like as if they had been thrown into a wall and that the alcohol choice wasn't totally up to snuff. As mentioned before, they split my group, (of 4 people,) and wouldn't allow one in, so I used the bathroom and left. (Waste of a $10 cover.)
I probably wouldn't go back unless totally shwasted or if I was dragged. But if I did go back, I'd bring sanitizer.
Went here to watch the Celtics get shellacked by LA in Game 6. Â There were lines at most of the other bars in the area, but we walked right in here.
Plenty of TVs, and a projector screen (probably only in place for games). Â They do have Smithwicks on tap, and the ever-inexpensive Brubaker bottles (these two add up to the third star).
The crowd seemed to be straight out of a Jersey Shore Reunion. Â We saw a guy braiding his girlfriend's hair !?!
There are better options in the area, such as Sissy K's.
This place needs a lot of work. Â This old pub is nothing to write home about.
I was here for a private event and the space felt like I was on an abandoned movie set.
It was dusty. Â The highboys were dilapidated, shocked I didn't get splinters. Â It seemed like a storage closet with old furniture and things thrown about. Â I would not host a private event here without doing some serious decorating.
The bathroom is falling apart, literally, with doors falling off.
The bartender was prompt and attentive. Â
Typical pub, seems like a good time could definitely be had!
DJ Artie V's mixes just make me wanna dance!!!
This place.. like any other bar, has drunks guys leaning against the bar to hold themselves up so becareful walking by them because they're like vultures. But if you want by them and smile they will be sure to buy you a drink...
When I'm in Boston and I wanna dance, this is def the place I will go to... There is always enough room so that your not bumping into people on the dancefloor. Therefore, its my kinda place. (Just watch out for the circus monkey's trying to take over the dance floor)
I had a coupon here for dinner from <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a> which was the only reason we picked this place over the many others in the area. I would not go back here for dinner because it was way too loud with awful music and the food was just so-so even by Irish pub-grub standards. Service was pretty good despite the crowded masses at the bar. Â
The bar scene looked alright, pretty happening but honestly, this places rip-off name is the best thing about it and it doesn't really warrant a second visit from me.
Nice lively Irish bar
I went here to get a burger and some buffalo wings. Â The burger is pretty good and the wings aren't too bad. Â The waitresses are super nice and friendly. Â The place had live music playing on a Tuesday night around 7pm with no cover which was really cool. Â It wasn't very crowded which I prefer, but I know this place pretty much turns into a club every Friday and Saturday night, they have an upper level too and there's lots of dancing and drunks here those nights lol. Â Fun place, depends what you want to do.
Like the red wallpaper.
Like the clean restrooms (even the boys room was clean!).
Like the bartenders.
Un-like the mixed drinks, which were questionable.
Came here for a party in the upstairs last night, so I can't speak to what the "usual" crowd is like. That may or may not be questionable as well.
Not the best Irish bar in the area, but not bad.
Standard pub food and good Guinness.
The staff is very friendly and the place is very clean.
It's usually not too busy and they have lots of TVs.
In the summer they remove the the windows and it is a very nice very open space.
As others have said it is definitely a generic Irish bar, but that is what it is supposed to be. I've been to the one in Paris and it was exactly the same. It was a nice change for the family since they were tired of the French food.
Not a fan of the cheesy music, but this is what is going on in Ireland today. Do you think 20 somethings in Ireland who grew up with the Celtic Tiger want to hear the Pogues, Christy Moore or Mary Coughlan? They do not identify with that IMO.
They are also set up so you can text messages to the TVs and to some of the other pubs in Boston. This is kind of cool.
The main reason I eat here is that they sell certificates on <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.restaurant.com&s=8cac03c1efb29efee41b3411fe3b107de69265557b5804295adb319e7abd90ce" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.restaurant.com</a>. So for $2-$3 I can get a 25 off 35 certificate and take the kid and his friends out for burgers and it is not too expensive.
I seem to find myself at Kitty O'Shea's with alarming frequency :) Â It's not as much as a dive as the Hong Kong, and I don't get hammered off scorpion bowls so it's a win-win situation. Â Speaking of which, I need a scorpion bowl fix soon, but I digress.
This place isn't as jam-packed as the rest of the surrounding bars after work on Thursday or Fridays, and they have pretty good food. Â They also have "Kitty's Special Brew" drafts every day, they're always $2 and the beers rotate frequently. Â Once it was Sam Adams Cherry Wheat, and for $2 a pop, I was a happy girl.
If you're going for the nightlife, there's a decent DJ upstairs on Friday and Saturday nights. Â It gets pretty crowded, but hey, it's Fanueil Hall, so that shouldn't be a shock.
All in all, it's a decent place for a night out, and the cover is only $5, so good times. Â We're in a recession, you know :) Â And you can always stop by Sissy K's or Hong Kong for $1.50 drafts if you want to get a cheap buzz beforehand!
A generic Irish bar.
Their beer selection was all right and it's the first place that I know that calls itself an 'Irish' pub and promoted $2 Pacifico's (which I enjoyed).
Their music was incredibly cheesy - a lot of 90s mainstream music and 90s "techno" (i'm using techno very loosely here) - Eiffel 65, ATC, etc....
The bartenders were friendly and the bathrooms were the cleanest that I've seen for a place that had as many drunk frat boys in it as it had.
The crowd was heavily college-aged with plenty of hooknasties and hambones even at 8:30 PM. (The hambones were surrounding the breathalyzer machine and were celebrating after one of them reached a .37 - at 8:30 PM...)
This was my first bar in downtown Boston, I hope there's better than this.
$5 cover??? Are you serious? For a pub??
That's what we thought before getting inside. I am from California, so we have covers everywhere, but usually at places that have live bands or are kinda swanky....but this place just looks like a giant irish pub...
Which it ended up being, BUT it had house $2 beers!!! Yup, I did write $2!!! Pretty amazing, and made the cover worth it! They also had a shot special of the month for $3!! So you can tell that the people in this two story irish pub, want you really to FEEL like you are irish with how cheap the alcohol is here!! The bar is always packed with people, lining up for more booze....and the dance floors both upstairs and downstairs are packed too!!
There has to be enough room for the security guard to let you upstairs, and they don't have your tabs linked from upstairs to downstairs, so that sucks, when you card is downstairs, and you are upstairs....They should really fix that in their system...
But come here, ready to drink, ready to dance, no one will judge here, because everyone is plastered! So Dance Like No One Is Watching!!
I've been at Kitty O'Shea's for a night out having a few beers, a birthday and a couple of fundraisers for worthwhile nonprofit organizations.
The bar doesn't have a great selection of different microbrews. It doesn't have award-winning food. You're not going to find a ton of different sports events on the TVs they have.
But what you will have is a bar that doesn't try to be anything its not. It's not too pretentious, not too upscale-for-the-sake-of-being-upscale. It's a decent bar outside of the main Faneuil Hall area that has a sense of what it means to be a good corporate partner to the nonprofit sector, a reason I will continue to support the establishment.
They've held several fundraisers for organizations I run or give to over the years, donating space on a Saturday night from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., along with a bartender, for free. They helped make fundraisers a success, and for that, I'm grateful.
They'd get a higher rating, but I'm a little curious at some of the prices. $5.50 for a Bud Light? Come on, now, Kitty's. That's fine to charge me that for a Sam Adams, and I expect to pay $6 for a Guinness. But if I'm drinking a Bud Light, that should be $4 a pop -- never more. Even in Boston.
I like Kitty O'Shea's in large part because every time I have been in there, morning, noon, or might, I have consistently received good service, good food, and well-poured drinks. They have a nice menu with many traditional Irish meals choices, as well as your usual American "bar food" options.
I really like that the bartenders at Kitty O'Shea's take their jobs seriously, being very careful to serve a truly great pint of Guinness each time, and making sure the customer is pleased with their drinks. They wear more formal attire, which reminds me of being in bars in Ireland.
Kitty's pulls for an eclectic crowd, depending on when you go - ranging from younger college aged people to older touristy folks fresh off a tour bus. My favorite time to go (falling somewhere between a college aged person and a senior citizen) is Saturday afternoon for a late lunch and a few beers.
That being said, Kitty O'Shea's does have great entertainment later in the evenings. I have enjoyed many of the bands that have come through. They tend to get really good Irish bands making their way around the circuit in Boston.
We were in the area and wanted to grab a beer and a bite to eat and found this place. It was a little past 3pm on Wed and when we walked in there were only a few people there, and they all worked there.
Not sure if being unsociable is part of their "thing", but they seemed to have gotten that down pretty good.
We ordered the wing ding because there was an appetizer special. I was pleasantly surprised at how good they were for pub food...and also they were fresh not frozen.
I would not go back here because their customer service turned me off. It's not like they were busy, so they could have greeted us and come to our table quicker.
Ok, so I realize my friend showed up a little too drunk (we had just come from an open bar wedding) and I don't even have a problem with the fact that you had to escort her out. Â What I DO have a problem with is that you KNEW you were going to escort her out (as she stumbled up the stairs to give you her $5) but collected cover from all 20-something of us and THEN followed us in to ask her to leave...leaving a bunch of us with no choice but to sit outside with her until everyone else was ready to go. Â that's kind of messed up. Â minus 3 stars.
i don't think i'll ever be back to give this place a fair rating so i left 2 stars. Â i don't remember much about the crowd...we were clearly overdressed but ended up with an entire corner of the bar to ourselves so it didn't matter. Â i do remember being confused by the music as it went from reggaeton to techno to more familiar bar music. Â
that's about all i've got on this place.
Spent the Saturday night before St. Patty's Day here with a Bachelorette party and had a pretty good time but wouldn't rush back. Pretty standard bar with a cover, high drink prices and no specials. Plenty of dancing going on upstairs, not sure about downstairs. Definitely a younger college-ish crowd... I can see why another reviewer dubbed it a sausage fest. I was a little disappointed that being an "Irish pub" they didn't do more to make it feel like St. Patty's Day. Still, the DJ and bartenders played along well with our bride-to-be "scavenger hunt" shenanigans.
I was most surprised by the rate at which the bouncers promptly escorted anyone looking like they had too much straight down the stairs and out the door. I lost count of how many inebriated people were dragged out, back-to-back. But hey, I appreciate a little crowd control if it means I won't have drunk girls and guys fall all over me attempting to dance seductively while barely able to stand on two feet.
I'm not a high school girl or a college athlete, so I felt out of place when I went in here on a Friday night. It was very strange that the girl I was with got the third degree from the bouncer and yet my boyish appearance and out of state ID got me not even a second look from him. Well it turns out that this guy - whose sole job is to prevent people who are under 21 from entering - is a total idiot, as evidenced by my friend seeing students at the high school she works at in the ladies room hugging porcelain. Happy sweet 16!!
Awesome.
I'm really not a fan of this place.
I went in once for dinner and drinks after work with a bunch of friends. I was actually pretty excited because I saw that they had toasties on the menu. My first experience with a toastie was at the Squealing Pig. What I got at Kitty O'Shea's was not a toastie. It was a cold cheese sandwich on cold, white toast. Blech. My friends, while not as unhappy as I with their meals didn't rave either.
Not only was the food not good, but it took forever to show up!
I've been back a few times as a night time (no food. ever again) hang out. It's your basic Faneuil location that's not quite in Faneuil. Nothing special, but seems like it might be an okay time with the right group.
Just another Faneuil Hall bar trying desperately to harp on the whole "Hey, Boston is an Irish city so we have an Irish name so we're Irish. Â Yeah, that's right like IRELAND. Â IRELAND FOREVER. Â FIGHTING IRISH. Â GREEN GLENS OF CORK TOP OF THE MORNIN' TO YA LET'S ALL DO AN IRISH JIG AND DRINK GUINNESS Irish! Â Oh, and that'll be $5 for your Bud Light." Â
Maybe I was having a bad night, maybe it's because I was DD, or maybe it was the people I was with... but I did NOT see anything special about Kitty O'Shea's. Â In fact, with the exception of Hong Kong (which, I suppose gives you a notion of my standards right there...) I think the majority of the Fanueil Hall bars are piss poor, overrated havens for all that is popped collar and fake Gucci about this city.
Wow, am I a grump.
If I'm going out at this end of Faneuil, Kitty O'Shea's has been my one-drink-pre-bar bar. Sometimes, you just need to ease into the evening. Especially when you know you will see all of your high school. Â
I have always been able to walk right in around 10:30, 11ish, no cover, no crowd. Â There is a smallish bar on the first floor, a good amount of tables, and a decent sized dance floor. Last night they must've been preparing for some loud techno Avalon-esque dance party b/c there were definitely strobe lights and one breakdancing dude.
As for my one drink - quite possibly the strongest drink I have ever consumed in downtown Boston. Â My rum and coke was at least 75% rum. I'm not complaining.