Mackey's American Pub

After hearing much negative feedback about the environment here, we decided to try it for ourselves. The food was excellent, the service was prompt and our server was very attentative! There weren't any people in the restaurant except for a few at the bar, well be trying this restaurant again!

This is a tough one for me to review. I visited Mackey's for the first time last week. And I had a good time ... too good of a time, unfortunately. Being a friendly guy, I struck up bar conversations with some patrons, and after last call invited a couple of guys back to my place for another beer. I know ... stupid and sketchy move, and it wound up biting me in the rear ... one of the guys stole my wife's purse. (Someone found her ID in the middle of the road and returned it this weekend.)

Still, I can't fault the place for my stupidity ... but I can judge them for the clientele that they keep. Mackey's is a dark, smoky, divey Irish bar in old town Manassas. It's the type of place that I usually dig, the type of place that I used to hang out at all the time. It reminded me of my neighborhood Irish pub hangouts in Gaithersburg. But it's also the type of place that I'm probably too old to be hanging out in any more.

And I happened upon here on pure chance ... my usual spot in Old Town Manassas was closing early for renovations, and I was looking for a spot for beer and a bite to eat. They were open, had a decent beer selection, and still serving food, so I decided to give it a shot. The beer selection is your standard Irish pub fare - the usual NASCAR beers and British imports - but with a couple of surprising selections like Devil's Backbone Vienna Lager, and both Fat Tire and Shift from New Belgium. I'd prefer more local microbrews, but with 20+ beers overall, this is a pretty good selection for an Irish pub.

As for the food, I wasted little time scouring the menu after seeing that they were still serving a Shepherd's Pie. It was pretty good - the beef mixture had a nice flavor and the mashed potatoes had a good consistency.

Unfortunately, the aforementioned incident has left a sour taste in my mouth and I won't be going back to Mackey's anytime soon. But is that the fault of Mackey's? Mostly not. So I'll give them 3 stars .... which is pretty much about right for this place.

They have the best steak I have ever had.  Try the druken sirloin.  I got the petite and it is the best steak in the world.  I love how they have guiness on tap and service was great.

Only reason they did not get 5 stars is due to the appearance.  I know it is a neighborhod pub, but a little tlc goes a long way.

Regardless I am going back.