O'Briens was only ok. Good selection (Probably the best in Temple) of beverages, but food was just ok. Frozen steak fries and 2 small pieces of fish were nothing to get excited about. I met some interesting people, but the servers weren't friendly or motivated to have a paying patron. I'd have left a better tip if the bartender would not have been worried about his phone so much. When I entered, I waited about 5 minutes before anyone said anything to me. I sat at a table then eventually moved to the bar because I thought there were no servers working. After ordering, I saw two servers come out from the back area. None of whom engaged anyone in conversation or smiled in the least. Sitting at the bar was frustrating too. The bar sits probably 16 people and there were people spread out every three seats so there were no real available seats. I stuck my self at the end of the bar and waited for service. It was very smoky but I guess smokers gonna smoke. The physical atmosphere was comfortable with classic mahogany/cherry colored wood everywhere two TV's at each end of the bar and one large projection screen. There was a stage that provided a cool venue to possibly listen to some live music. they could have had more comfortable bar stools instead of backless unpadded wood seats. If I go back, I'll have to have a really good reason.
Review Source:Typical Irish pub. Decent menu and pub fare. We went there to watch a K-State game. The bar tender was nice and changed the TV so we could watch the game but did not turn the audio on because it 'wasn't a big game', understandable if the bar was packed-- but there were 5 of us total.
Main reason why the 2 rating is that it is a smoking bar! GROSS! Having lived in major cities that have banned smoking-- it seems archaic and unhealthy to have smoking in public places.
My husband and I have been plannig on coming to this place for a few week  now, or whenever we got a day off together. Today we finally decided to make the trip from copperas cove to Temple. We arrived and got our drinks around 3:30Pm and wanted to order food. The waitress how ever wasn't very consistat or knowledgeable of what were daily specials and charge us regular price for our drinks. Also the cook was in a meeting for an hour and a half durig buisness hours ( the whole reason went was for the " traditional irish food". So we never got to order our food. Its an okay place to drink but i woud'nt ever go out of my way again to stop. Servce was at best  mediocre. Watch for the woman with pink hair she has no idea whatshes doing.
Review Source:One of three bars in downtown Temple, so coming from New Orleans, we of course made our way there.
It has a large variety of drinks and beers though they are sometimes out of the less common ones. A little bit pricey but at least it exists!
Have had a few of the appetizers and they have been great.
Service is always good and fast.
Though I have never attended they have live music on the end of the week nights and from what I have been told it is pretty good.
This place rules in Temple. While it is true that Temple has been a bit slow on developing a decent nightlife/music scene, OBriens has giving one roots. A genuine Irish pub atmosphere with absolutely no neon, OBs is home to the city's most Austinesque music venue and one of few not totally reliant on country and western. Yes... you can catch some diversity of talent here Thursday through Saturday. The staff is very friendly and apparently have a good time serving the guests. They have a really large selection of beers from all over both in bottles and draft. It is fun to sample the variety and develop a list of favorites. Don't become too attached to something off the wall, however. The selections are not static and can disappear as new ones arrive. OBs offers hot pub food anchored by a darn good and generously proportioned Reuben. Rumbling stomachs need not depart the scene to find satisfaction. If your drink preference is not of the malted variety, the bartenders are generous in their pours and offer a decent selection of mixed drinks and shots.
Shoot a game of pool, toss some darts, catch a game on the huge, high def screen or engage in a lively trivia competition while enjoying the company of  a pleasant bunch of regulars and hosts. This place is the one to try in Temple.
Let me say first off that O'briens does not have any heavy competition in the Temple area, and the only reason it is getting 3 stars is because I happen to have an almost unhealthy obsession with the Trivia set here. If I find it available a little closer in a different locale, this place is going to get bumped out.
That being said, it is a bar, and for being a bar, it does pretty good as far as drink selections are concerned. Actually, it does VERY well considering again that it's in Temple Tx. They have plenty of bottles and variety to choose from, but the problem comes in when they don't stock what they advertise, leaving you with that super annoying situation where you ask for something, then you have to pick something else, and they are out of that too, and the next option, and so on. If you don't have it available, just take the bottle down until you do, and be done with it. As far as staff is concerned, I've never had a problem with having slow service, regardless of where my group of friends sat there was a waitress coming by every 5 minutes or so. I would agree that food wise, you could do a lot better by going down the block to the Italian restaurant, or for pub grub, just hit up the green door. One strange thing that I've noticed as far as seating (and this is in ALL Temple bars / restaurants) is that there is no outdoor area. For an area that has pretty decent weather most of the time, it surprises me that they don't have more outdoor venues. While downtown Temple does look (and is) a little run down, I think it would help revitalize the downtown area to have some outdoor music or seating. But then you might have to deal with the Temple railroad gremlins and hobos panhandling you in between swigs from your coors light, and nothing kills a good laugh like a smelly and disheveled man with scurvy asking for some change.
Music wise, this place annoys the living shit out of me. I don't know who picks the bands or handles the sound here, but I am beginning to suspect it is a war veteran who has lost their hearing and or ability to recognize when peoples ears are bleeding. This place plays the music WAY too loud, all the time, resulting in songs that even if you like them, are so loud that it is grating, and you can barely talk. This also is a knock on the bands, which are mostly local cover bands that attract devout followers who are blindingly entertaining to watch 'rock out'. The bands for the most part are decent, but the volume levels and overpriced cover charge (10 bucks for a local band in Temple, really?) do them in, as you can barely understand them since O'briens packed an arena sound system into a small bar. Perhaps that's where that exorbitant cover charge went....
Interestingly, these qualities all combine to make a bar that is GREAT for getting shit-house drunk in with your friends, as they have cheap beer, generally good drink specials, and they don't care if you are combatively drinking and chain smoking enough to require the purchase of government carbon credits. Overall, if you want to go tie one on, I would recommend this place. If you want to go chill and have a few beers and shoot the shit on a friday night, go someplace else.
As far as independent bars are concerned, there aren't many in Temple that don't garner that "oh God, we're going to be stabbed on the way in" feeling. If you arrive at O'Brien's after dark, you'll probably get that feeling just based on it's downtown location, sketchy foot traffic and odd parking structure. Parking is limited - VERY limited - in close proximity to the bar, but there is plenty, usually, around the corner or down the street a bit.
As far as being a "traditional" Irish Pub, well, they've got some Irish stuff adorning the walls. That's about it. It's a BAR, full stop. It manages to do what bars do best: serve alcohol.
Skip the food offerings; they're extremely over-priced, the food service is slow at best and the food is... well, just go to dinner somewhere else afterwards.
It's located in a beautiful historic building downtown and has a respectable selection of beer, lager and cider on tap - I'd say between 30 and 40 offerings, and probably almost as many bottled choices as well. While the bartenders seem to be knowledgeable, the wait staff is only so-so... You'll wonder if they're even old enough to be working in a bar, and then you'll wonder where they went... The wait staff is very friendly, they're just not very accessible.
It's great for a cold cider - I recommend the Woodchuck Pear or Apple draught Ciders , or a half-and-half Apple-Pear. The Chocolate covered Apple is pretty tasty too: Woodchuck draught Apple Cider topped with draught Guinness. And they make a respectable Irish Car Bomb if you're goal is to get completely smashed.
Conversations downstairs usually require shouting a bit to be heard above the din, but if you're upstairs it's a bit quieter. Expect to NEVER see your wait person if you're upstairs; I find shouting over the ledge directly to the bartender is the best way to get a refill. They don't like it, but that's what works.
The atmosphere is... well, I covered this a little bit earlier, but it strives to be an authentic Irish Pub and I suppose it does a fairly decent job insomuch as this is smack in the middle of Central Texas... green, white and orange can be found as well as a few Gaelic blessings on the rich, dark wood-paneled walls. It does have a lot of charm.
The bathrooms are usually pretty clean and relatively ornate, which is odd and a bit disarming for a Texas pub.
There is live music on several nights of the week, and it is L-O-U-D. The high ceilings provide for major amplification, so it's loud everywhere, upstairs or on the floor, but upstairs seems to be a little less murderous on the ears.
O'Brian is actually one of the nicest bars in Temple, and let me tell you the competition isn't stiff. So don't hold it to super high standards. The entire bar is carpeted and has an upstairs which provides a decent view of the stage for the live music without blasting your ear drums. There is seating on the floor in front of the stage but sit at your own risk.
The beer selection is quite extensive but ordered a Gin & Tonic instead. *Wrinkles nose* Not good. Barely could finish it.
There was a $7 cover charge on Saturday night for the live music but ladies got in free. Woohoo. Most likely will come back here when returning to visit old college friends since bar options are slim.
O'briens is a very traditional Irish Pub that I was surprised to find in the downtown area of Temple, TX. Â We stopped on our way home from Austin to Dallas.
I would say they probably have about 40-50 beers on tap, and about that same amount in bottles. Â The bartender seemed knowledgeable on the drinks and made a cheese cake shot for us that I never had before. Â Yum! Â The food menu looked impressive and I noticed that they have bands on certain nights. Â Whenever I travel South again, I'm going to definitely stop back here!!
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