The food here is surprisingly good. Â Friendly staff and live music every time I've been. Â The ONLY reason I don't give it a full five stars is because of a lack of variety of beer. Â They save themselves from a three star rating, however, by offering several different types of layered beers (IE: snake bite, black tire, etc) and a nice selection of whiskey. Â I recommend this place.
Review Source:Ever since degrading my personal dignity and becoming a George Mason student (Sorry but it's true). Â
I've been spending an inordinate amount of time at O'Sully's
Mostly due to proximity to school and my insatiable thirst for intoxicating beverage post the misery that is Class.
I'd never been to O'Sully's in the past because I mostly wrote it off as rather blue collar for the Clarendon scene. Â
You'd often drive by and see gackles of plaid shirted, chain wallet wearing, and hipster bespectacled folk smoking outside. Â Â
Anyhow, the more I go the more I hear how people love the place, and I just can't figure it out. Â Â There's nothing wrong with the place, but then again there is nothing right with it either.
It's just a dive bar, sometimes they have Karaoke which can be alright, but if that's your party piece then you're just not doin it for me, sorry.
O'Sullivans is Back!!! After some kickass renovations the local watering hole is back on the scene in Clarendon! It has that warm Irish pub feel to it and a pub type menu. Â Great place to get a drink after work with friends, play a little darts, and chat it up with the friendly bar staff. Â It's on the casual side which I appreciate in this neighborhood. Â See ya there.
Review Source:Stopped by after the Clarendon Mardi Gras Parade. Â I was impressed with the recent renovations they completed. Â Now they have 2 main bar areas, one on the original side and the second on the new/expanded side, and also plenty of space for sit down dining and a large room in between.
Tuesday night they have karaoke. Â Folks were having a lot of fun singing.
The service was good. Â The waiter was able to handle a very large group and was pretty quick with the service. Â Bartender on the new expanded side was also very polite and upbeat. Â Although I have not eaten here, one friend ordered a salad of some sort which looked great, and another ordered spinach dip and bread appetizer. Â We all agreed we wanted to come back again very soon!
You're typical Irish pub and your typical Arlington scene. The expansion is nice, more room to roam. The bathrooms were rennovated too. Live music on certain nights. They leave some tables out during the night so groups can sit. Nice place to hang out and grab a beer or whiskey.
Note: If you order from a cocktail waitress you really have to yell for her attention. Bar area gets crowded. Meh.
I came here for the first Friday of the month Power Hour with the Silent Critics also. We had a large group so they told me to come really early. They were able to seat us all and were really friendly about it (13 of us). One of the managers (maybe an owner) was a reallly nice guy and went out of his way to make sure we were enjoying ourselves. Even the bus boys were nice! The service wasn't too slow considering this place is packed on Friday nights. We had a great time and will be back for sure!
Review Source:Really terrible service. We arrived yesterday during brunch (in other words, the place was NOT crowded). Our server did not even take our order until we'd been sitting for 15 minutes. After an additional 30 minutes, we had only received our drinks (minus the water I requested), and we never did receive our food. Our server never even came back to see if we needed more drinks. We finally left payment for our drinks and walked out. Our server watched us leave, but never attempted to engage with us.
This was easily the single worst dining experience of my life. But then again, judging by the other reviews of the actual food at this joint, maybe they did us a favor by not serving us and making us leave hungry. Perhaps this place is tolerable if all you're interested in is getting wasted. Myself? I will never come back; they clearly are not interested in providing decent service.
A decent Irish-American style bar/pub. Requisite Irish beers on tap (Guiness, Harp, Smithwicks, etc), soccer on the telly, dark wood and dirty looking plaster walls... you know the drill. Of all the places we saw on the main Wilson Ave area, this seemed like the most comfortable bar to just hang out and have a couple beers in.
Review Source:I was drunk before I even walked in the door.
I had a beer, and possibly some pills before I came in this last weekend for the Clemson game. Â Apparently this is the bar for Clemson watch parties, and as they were taking on a top 5 ranked team, it was going to get a little crazy. Â The entire bar, upon entering, was hammered on nostalgia and the prospect of Clemson winning their football game. Â I actually felt sober compared to the guy aggressively drunk dancing next to me, or the guy who dropped his beer on the ground en route to his mouth. Â That is an accomplishment, honestly. Â I looked at Freesus and we had the same look on our face. Â "How. Did. We. Get. Here". Â This was a very good question, but really it didn't matter. Â We were in the heart of darkness and there was no way out.
At some point I learned the Clemson chant, which ends with a "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO". Â It was pretty infectious, and somewhat of a nod to Ric Flair, so I didn't mind. Â I drank good beer and took excellent shots of Jameson's and eventually I was even more drunk than before. Â When everyone in a room is drunk at the same level, something magical happens. Â You forget, for a moment, that we are all separate beings, and in forgetting we embrace the greater aspects of our humanity. Â The people next to me were my friends. Â Everyone in the bar was held in the warm grasp of camaraderie, and we danced and yelled and cursed with every play made on the field. Â
The bar has history smoked into its wood panels, the bartenders were not only attentive but on their game the entire time(imagine how hard it is to serve a group of about 100 drunken people all screaming their orders out), and still had enough levity left in them to make jokes to customers. Â You have to admire a bar like this - even if that admiration is tinged in Orange, and veiled in drunken memory.
O'Sullivan's is simply a fun time. The place itself is small, and only has one main bar, so it is a little difficult to get a drink when it's crowded. I went on a first friday of the month, where they have a band that plays a live power hour. The bar hands out plastic shot glasses...and every minute the band changes the song and you do a shot of beer. The place was packed for the start of it, and only got more crowded as the night went on. Drinks were cheap for clarendon and the clientele was all there to get drunk. Fun times were had by all. You'll definitely find me there again next month.
Review Source:I came here for the first Friday of the month Power Hour with the Silent Critics. The band started around 930. It gets crowded so get here early. The place is small but has a good feel to it. And even though it's located in Clarendon, the crowd was not too pretentious or too bro. The band played all types of music and would be really great to see just for a normal show. The beers were decently priced: $4 for bud lights, $5-6 for better beers.
All in all a great time with exceptional live music. One of the most best times I've had in Clarendon.
The only thing I could write about this place that is negative would be that the floorboards reek of spilled Guinness pints and unwashed feet, but such things only contribute to the overall authenticity of an Irish pub. Come on in: Â The beer is cold, the bartenders are friendly, and the food is fairly good. Â This is a great place to start your evening. Â Take a fair warning that it gets packed here on weekend evenings.
I deduct one star for the clientele. Â If O'Sullivan's were actually located in Ireland, it would likely have broken drywall, cracked pool cues, and some errant teeth scattered in front of the bar from several brutal (and authentic!) drunken brawls. Â Stuff like that is awesome!
Unfortunately, because it is in Arlington, O'Sullivan's is populated by fairly droll, professional late twenties to early thirty somethings. Â Good luck catching something interesting because no one ever got pistol whipped for missing a trivia question while talking about The Big Bang Theory.
I tend to rate places on the memories I've made at a particular place and I've only had great experiences and made wonderful memories at O'Sullivan's.
First, I love that you go up to the bar and are served by an ACTUAL Irish bartender. It just makes the night start off well. And it's defiantly the kind of place that if you  nice and polite to the bartenders, they remember you and serve you quickly and don't water down your drinks. (because lets face it - you can be as nice as you want to some bartenders and they're still asses).
I also love that it's people in their mid/late 20s and 30s. You don't tend to see college kids getting wasted and causing scenes in here. It's mellow and relaxed. A place to show up in jeans, (not having to worry about making a big to-do over getting ready to go out), and stand around have a few drinks with friends. There are a few people that wind up dancing on the weekends when there is a singer/band playing, but it's not freaky-club-grinding you'd find in DC. Also, the place does get quite packed as it gets later in the night and it will eventually become difficult to maneuver, but again, people tend to be friendly and don't mind moving around.
Drinks are decent prices, nothing outrageous.
Also, if you come during the winter, and come wearing a coat, there IS a secret place to store your coat so you're not carrying it around all night. Just ask the bartender and they'll tell you.
It's a great place to enjoy a few casual drinks when you don't want to want to go to a loud bar or a place with over-priced drinks.
Went here every single night, except one, on my business trip during the first week of April. It ebbs and flows with patrons, mainly because they have no cover and my local friends LOVE this place. (WHY would girls pay a cover to get into a place, is beyond me... and I live in Las Vegas, the land of cover charges.)
I don't know the price of the drinks here, because I wasn't the one paying, but I'm pretty sure by the way people were drinking, they're moderately priced. I had my first ever shot of Jäger here.
Karaoke is really popular and I did that for the first time while I was here. Word to the wise, David Banner and Chris Brown's, "Get Like Me" was probably not the best choice.
Anyway, this place is fun and FULL of people, and the bathrooms are decent!
O'Sullivan's Irish Pub has the most energetic atmosphere in all of Clarendon. This place is fun! The down side is that is does get PACKED in a hurry, but I can manage.
Trivia Wednesday's (8 out of 10):
- The Host of Trivia is hilarious and entertaining
- The bartender(s) do a great job accommodating the Trivia Teams
- Perfect way to breakup your work week
- The questions are a mixed-bag of General knowledge, history, geography, music and movie quotes
- Good way to see how intelligent your date/girlfriend is... or isn't
All in all, O'Sullivan's gets 5-Stars from me due to their awesome staff, overall pub atmosphere, quality food selection and outstanding location.
Have a pint for me when you stop in. Thanks.
Came here for New Year's and fully appreciated the fact that there was no cover to get in. The people who were here were thankfully all in their late 20s/early 30s so even if they got drunk it wasn't the crazy: "I am puking in the middle of the room" kinda deal that you'd prolly see elsewhere if an open bar existed.
I would definitely give the place another shot; I heard trivia nights are supposed to be fun!
With all the microbreweries, beer bars, brew pubs, and whatnot that have been cropping up in this area the last decade or so sometimes you just feel like having a well-poured pint of Guinness. Â The bartenders here do just that, pour you a proper pint in a proper glass in the proper amount of time (no rushing). Â That's the main reason I come to this establishment.
The other reasons? Â Well, during the early part of the week you can find an assortment of folks you might actually want to have a conversation with right off the bat. Â None of the usual Clarendon folks seem to frequent this place except in the Thursday through Saturday period, so the rest of the week you can sit back, relax, have a good conversation with an old or new friend, and enjoy that wonderfully poured pint.
My new favorite weeknight drink spot in Arlington. Great drink specials, solid and large menu, friendly but not overbearing staff. Shout-outs especially to Kelly the waitress and Patrick the pub quiz guy, who made me and my friends feel like regulars the first time we came (and we've been back!). I announced that I deserved a free drink for being the duchess--and they agreed! Yay!
This is by no means a gastronomic wonderland--the food is of the quality you'd expect from a neighborhood bar--but somehow, the fact that my nachos came with marinara sauce rather than salsa last night just further endeared me to the place. I think O'Sullivan's is the best in NoVA at what it tries to be--a friendly, casual, unpretentious neighborhood pub.
5 stars for the atmosphere, service and prices (all of which others have heavily commented on), -1 star for Canada Day's poutine.
If you don't know, poutine is the quintessential Canadian dish. This furious mix fries, squeeky-salty curds and gravy is to Quebec/Canada what the hotdog is to Americans. It's serious business. So it's only normal that on a special Canada Day event at O'Sullivan they offer poutine. The place was fully packed with Canadians.
I was surprised to see that so few ordered it. I got my answer when I got my order. Large plate of fries, tons of gravy. 5, yes only 5, little curds. It was more of a "frite sauce" than a poutine. They probably had a limited supply of the curds (unpasteurized dairy is hard to find in the US)... but $8.50 for that large plate of fries and gravy I just felt ripped off.
O'Sullivan's is exactly what I look for in a great neighborhood Irish pub - great Guinness, excellent staff and service, and a good pub atmosphere. Â This pub was the first stop on our Third Quarter Irish Pub Crawl held on December 17th (because I like to celebrate St Pat's four times a year), and they got us started properly: a couple pints of the black supplemented with an order of Dingle Balls (amazing) and chicken pot pie (also damn good). Â I was in a few nights earlier and had the burger, which was also solid.
Donagh and Paddy took good care of us both nights. Â There appear to be a ton of regulars that come in, and the barmen seem to know them all and seemed to enjoy chatting with the customers. Â I caught the end of the trivia session on Wednesday, and the place was packed with a lively crowd. Â There are several LCD TVs for watching games, and the pub music is great. Â
I wish we could have stayed at O'Sullivan's a bit longer, but then it wouldn't have been much of a "pub crawl."
1. relatively inexpensive food for the area (main dish, fries, coleslaw ~ $10)
2. above average waitstaff
3. actually owned and operated by Irish ppl, not common
4. good atmosphere, usually not too crowded at night
5. best Guinness in Arlington
6. mostly decent bands playing on Fri and Sat
7. Wednesday trivia night is pretty good
8. not full of assholes like a lot of other bars, good place if you want to relax with some locals and have a beer without some BRAH spilling his drink on you and skeezing out your girlfriend
I visited O'Sullivan's twice during my stay in VA. The first time I went there, it was for some pre-dinner drinks. The bar was newly opened, but it seemed to have some regulars in the bar. We received service. It was neither friendly, or rude, it was just service. I had a great black and tan and even complimented the bartender on a nice pour. He seemed to loosen up after that.
The second time was for post-dinner drinks. I was challenged to some darts and was surprised that I didn't get kicked out for hitting everything BUT the dartboard. Again, we received ok service and the drinks were good.
I did not try O'Sullivan's food, so I can't comment, but for the bar was a-ok!
O'Sullys is, to me, simply THE best bar in Arlington.
Unpretentious, friendly and the best staff in the world (I'm looking at you, Paddy, Jeff, Donough and Megan!) who actually know how to and take pride in pouring a proper pint of Guinness. You ever go to a bar and spend 10 minutes trying to get the bartender's attention as he looks at the floor and anywhere but at the thirsty customers!? Well, there's never a struggle to get a bartender's attention here. They keep their eyes up!! They are enthusiastic and work fast and hard, and will even keep the bottom of your glass from ever getting dry if you are sitting at the bar and ask nicely.Trust me, take the time to get to know the bar staff and they will truly take the time to get to know you.Good luck finding THAT in most of the Arlington bars.
The clientele (other than on Friday nights when the exurb crowd overflows in from the Ballroom et. al.) is far less 'Clarendouchy' than the 'hipper' places down the street and that's worth quite a lot in my book. This is not a meat market scene; it's a proper pub for having a few pints and maybe meeting some 'real' people from time to time.
The food is exactly what you would expect at a decent Irish pub, although I am partial to their wings (dryer than many).
Icing on the cake: the Wednesday  pub quiz is the best in the area and the live music (again, other than Fridays) is unobtrusive and usually pleasant enough.
It may not be for everyone. I have friends who complain that it is 'too dark' or 'too boring,' but not me. I've become a regular, and though I hate to think that this post might encourage crowding at the bar, I still can't help but sing the place's praises.
So- a group of us go to O'Sullivan's every Wednesday night for trivia and we have never had anything other than a wonderful time. Â Does it smell like smoke? Yes, but it is a bar in VA.... so get over it!!! Â
The service is great! Â The food is standard Pub Grub! Â What else can you expect from an Irish Bar!! Â Great fish and chips special on trivia night! Â Everyone is super friendly and accomadating! Â
Patrick (trivia guy) is wonderful! Â He is always open to suggestions as to what catagories should be better on trivia night and which ones were ridiculously difficult.
All in all, as long as you are not looking for an up-scale Georgetown experience, O'Sullivan's is a great choice. Â It has become our Cheers- where everyone knows our name!!!
We came here last night for trivia and I thought it was generally well run. Â It wasn't supposed to start until 8:30 which in the past has meant 9, so I was pleasantly surprised when it started at 8:32. Â I was also surprised that the entire answer sheet situation mostly because all it consisted of was four 5" by 7" note cards. Â Usually it's a bit more complicated and involved than that, but it worked for them. Â I also was happy that there were only 4 rounds. Â I'm an old lady - if you start trivia that late please don't make it over 5 rounds. It's past my bedtime.
Those are pretty much the main positives I can think of. Â Everything else wasn't that great. I didn't get food, but from what I saw on others plates, the meals seemed inconsistent. Â Some enjoyed and some hated. Â Trivia man was nice, but his movie quote round was ridiculous. Â The server showed up rarely and when he was around, he usually brought things no one ordered. Â The smoke was overwhelming and my roommate looked at me with disgust when I got home saying, "Right, you went to a place in Virginia." Gross.
Best thing about O'Sullivan's was that I only spent $3! (Simple trick: Order something you don't enjoy at all which is very very cheap, say a Bud Light, and then you will barely touch it all night! It'll last a long time!)
Welcome back to Virginia...
This might have been the first thing that came out the boy's mouth when I dropped by the AMSA office after trivia here: "Hm. Â Smoky." Â Yeah. Â That pretty much sums up O'Sullivan's. Â I could smell the reek of it all over myself for the next couple hours while we both kept working. Â Gross.
Okay, so outside of the fact that it smells like ew in there, the food was pretty spectacularly disappointing. Â With a capital D. Â How do you screw up fish 'n' chips?! Â Seriously. Â Purchase edible white fish. Â Bread fish. Â Fry fish. Â Serve. Â Not rocket science, right? Â I don't know what horrors went on in the kitchen, but the order that Alicia and I shared was startlingly bad. Â
If I hadn't been trained by my parental units to always finish the food on my plate, I would have given up after two bites. Â Instead, I think I killed my piece of fish. Â The crust was -soggy-! Â Soggy! Â And it didn't stick to the fish at all... in fact, part way through using the side of my fork to chunk apart the... food item, the fish slipped entirely out of the breading pocket. Â Hell. Â Oh. Â And the cole slaw was bland and boring. Â With... again... soggy cabbage. Â No crunch? Â Bleeeehhh. Â The upside? Â It was the deal of the day, so it ran something like $5 or so.
I don't know what possessed us to try something else after that awful experience. Â Oh wait. Â That's right. Â Alicia was still hungry because she consumed even -less- of her fish. Â So we got the nachos. Â Again, hard to jack up - right? Â Purchase chips, put melted cheese, meat, and dips on top, then serve. Â Right?
Remember how I raved about the nachos at Tryst, and how there was -just- the right combination of chips-to-toppings? Â Yeah. Â None of that here. Â There may have been two whole jalapenos sliced up for our plate of chips. Â The toppings... -only- on the top layer of chips... went along with that top layer. Â Leaving a mound of toppings-less chips left. Â Sad.
Oh. Â Oh! Â And I haven't even -touched- on the trivia yet. Â Or how ridiculously challenging it is to flag down a server and get them to stick around for more than five seconds to take an order. Â Y'know what? Â I'm not even going to bother.
Veto.
Just 3 stars now... My friends and I came here for our weekly happy hour on wednesday and to check out the trivia. Â I actually had to leave for a soccer game before trivia began, but I heard that it was only so-so. Â But I can't vouch for that personally.
However as for the happy hour experience it was pretty meh. Â The only beers on specials were bud and bud light-- wait, did I miss something? Â Isn't this an IRISH pub? Â We got there around 7pm and the few tables were already taken, so we grabbed the nook in front of the restroom entrance which had bar stools and a small surface to use as a table. Â
The bar seating area was about half full and I realized that there was alot of standing room. Â I think that is a great thing for weekend nights, but on a weekday night, it makes the place look pretty empty, since not too many people are just standing around in the middle of this open space. Â
Oh well, I'll probably still stop by here on a weekend night, but will go elsewhere with better beer specials during the week.
I managed to get here early enough on trivia night to secure team Yelp a decent sized space... early arrival is a must if you're thinking about trivia because the place is small and definitely got packed (think standing room only) over the course of the night. The one advantage to arriving early, is you get a shot at decent service (because all chances of that were lost once the masses piled in). The fish I got was decent, hot, crisp, and for $5.50 I wasn't complaining... Unfortunately the fish dinner seems hit or miss because some others in the group didn't have quite the same experience with theirs. For drink specials, $2 Bud... tempting, right? But hey, at least the price is right.
Service, as mentioned, started out well. But as Alicia G mentioned, as the night wore on, it did become a guessing game as to what the waiter would bring next. More than once he went to each person at the table asking if the item he had was for them to no avail, since no one had actually ordered anything. But he did remain friendly throughout, which is more that I could have probably done, so he gets points for that.
Trivia was interesting... mix of easy, hard, random, answers written on plain index cards... throw in the host singing the 'guess the song' round... definitely entertaining. Not the best, not the worst, but I think it could have moved at a little faster pace. Probably won't be making the trek out here regularly for trivia, but it was fun for a night.
If you take the trivia from O'Sullivan's and mix it with the food from Ventnor Sports Cafe, you'll have a cute trivia night baby. Not perfect, just cute.
Kevin and I arrived just as they were getting to the 2nd or 3rd question. The Yelp group was lucky enough to score a long table by the front window and we squeezed in on the end. The trivia didn't seem to be too bad but when we ordered food - that's where it all tanked.
$5.50 for fish 'N chips (for you, Jeff) was the special as well as $2 Bud Lights. Kevin and I decided to split the fish and each ordered a water. The waiter returned with 2 Bud Lights and 1 water. Uhh perhaps we stuttered. Okay. Try again. "2 waters, please." And then we got 2 Blue Moons. Sigh. This should have been our first sign to give up.
The fish 'N chips arrived pretty quickly. Served with a wedge of lemon, some sauce in a cup and cole slaw. I was really hungry as I had just come from the gym so I dove in. "Chips" were meh but passable. The fish was not so great. It was overly battered and soggy! Soggy fish 'N chips...wtf? I ended up just eating the fish and left the breading. Sadness...I was expecting hot, crispy fish that the others at the table had experienced. The slaw was also disappointing. VETO!
Still hungry, we somehow managed to get a menu to check out their fare. We put in an order for nachos with chicken - thinking this would fill the void that the fish did not. Hah! Ordering them proved to be difficult as Kevin found himself waving and practically shouting to the server to come back so we could place the order. When they came out, they were served with sides of guac and sour cream and were covered in sliced jalapenos, fresh tomatoes (+), chicken and melted cheese. It all seemed so promising until we ate the top layer and found it just to be a huge pile of chips. Awesome.
The trivia was alright but not the greatest. It got to the point where some of us (my end of the table) were more entertained by guessing what our server would bring us next or if we could somehow get a photo of the guy standing behind us wearing a striped jacket with suede elbow patches and bbm message it to Kathleen. The singing round wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. I only knew one of the songs and I was pretty proud of that.
All in all, not the worst trivia but the service and food options are deplorable. You can cross O'Sullivan's off your weekly trivia rotation. No thanks.
While O'Sullivans does seem to be a step up from the typical fake irish pub, it still could use some improvements. Â The menu has a variety of irish fare, and a lot of it sounds great. Â I'd love to come back at an off hour and try some of their irish specialities. Â I got to try the fish and chips, which was decent, but a bit too bready. Â Fries were of the typical frozen bag variety. Â Others, however, were not so lucky with their fish. Â Another order that came out was soggy and lukewarm. Â Nowhere near the hot, crispy fish that I had. Â Nachos were also kinda of a waste with a ton of chips topped with the lightest sprinkling of cheese and chicken I've seen. Â I also didn't understand why they had Bud Light on special, but at least it was cheap. Â
Service was also horrendous. Â Our waiter was so bad it started to become a joke as to what he would bring out. Â A simple order of "fish and chips and 2 waters" was mistranslated once as "one water" and another time as "2 Blue Moons". Â Also, we practically had to throw one of our empty plates at him so we could make room for trivia.
Trivia wasn't particularly scintillating either. Â The host was personable, and efficient, though the time between questions started to drag on. Â The singing round wasn't that bad, but if you know a melody better than the lyrics (like me) it will be a bit of a challenge. Â The questions were also kind of dull, with most apparently focusing on history. Â Not at the top of my list for trivia needs.
I'd consider returning to O'Sullivan's to try some more of their unique Irish specialties. Â Probably won't be returning for trivia any time soon, and would certainly steer clear on a busy night.
I think the best team name from trivia night sums this place up pretty well "Bud Light's are a special at an Irish Bar?" Â For an irish bar, it sure didn't feel that way.
While the only thing i consumed were a couple fries (gross but the dipping sauce was ok) from Jeff's fish and chips, two diet cokes and a water, i was able to make keen observations about the food. Â Fish and chips, while cheap, looked completely unappetizing. Â Pretty big pieces but looked heavily battered, fried and just plain gross. Â Plus someones looked like it was still swimming in the water! Â I also sampled some nachos which were like a pile of corn chips a sprinkling of cheese and a whole crap ton of jalapenos. Â Not a fan
Trivia was allright. Â I did like the singing of the music rounds, but the rest kinda sucked. Â Not ONE science/math/technology question so i was virtually useless. Â And the movie quotes were so freaking obscure. Â It was just not fun. Â It took FOREVER between questions and rounds and the place was loud and crowded
It was also really smokey. Â Even my underwear smelled like smoke! Â
But i will give it one extra star because the bathrooms not only had the irish words for women but also said "Ladies" underneath. Â There is nothing that annoys me more than restaurants that try to be cool by using the "native words" and a confusing picture. Â One of my biggest fears in life is that i will walk into the wrong bathroom so thatnk you for helping me with that.
The bartenders always seem friendly. Â I've met the owners through a meetup group and they are very nice (I've hosted a few meetups at this place because they are so accommodating. Even the kitche is with substituting food items to make them veggie friendly).
I like their Happy Hour specials. My favorite day to go is on Wednesday when they have 1/2 price fish & chips, and $2 Bud Lite. But, don't worry they have a lot of good beers too (I just don't mind cheaper ones). Â Sometimes, I'm surprised to find myself still there for trivia on Wednesday night...
This bar can get crowded on the weekends, and during the week when karaoke (Tues) Â & trivia (Wed) starts, but since I usually go during Happy Hour [and stick around] I can get a seat.
This is my kind of bar. Â Not pretentious, plenty of room to move (that might not apply on St. Paddy's day), good choice of beer on tap, friendly servers.
This was my first time at O'Sullivan's and I was pleasantly surprised with what I encountered. Â Long ago, in a land far far away, I had "my bar." Â It was where I used to go on a regular basis, to get consistent service, chat with the bartenders, and have a few beers. Â I think O'Sullivan's might just fit this bill and fill a void that's been open for far too long.
Now, this place certainly isn't fancy, and it's just beer, but there's something about the atmosphere that makes O'Sullivans a much better option than Ri-Ra, or even Liberty Tavern around the corner. Â It's just a neighborhood bar.
I like it that way. Â O'Sullivan's (I think I will henceforth call you O'Sully's - it's shorter and I like nick names), you and I will become good friends. Â I can feel it.
I was lucky enough to walk through the door of O'Sullivan's, grab the waiter's attention and be diving into a plate of 1/2 price fish and chips and a Guinness within 5 minutes. Some people I was with weren't so lucky and had to wait considerably longer to get service from the only waiter in the whole place.
I was starving, but the fish and chips were still very good and the Guinness... well, I'd have burnt the place to the ground if they screwed up a Guinness at an Irish pub.
The trivia questions were ridiculously easy and there were absolutely no prizes for the winners, turning this into the pub quiz equivalent of making out with your sister. Sure, it feels good to score at first, but when all is said and done you're left unsatisfied and wondering why you even bothered.
I was disappointed in O'Sullivan's. Â The bar atmosphere was great. Â The people who frequented the bar were really nice. Â Someone even bought me a whiskey shot and I had only been talking to him for about five minutes. Â Who does that? Â I really enjoyed the small bar feel, but it didn't really meet our groups needs for trivia.
Trying to save seats for ten in here is almost impossible. Â When trying to save seats for ten, you're actually reserving a fifth of the place. Â If you're going with a group, make sure you're going early. Â The second worst thing about O'Sullivan's is that they only have one toilet in the men's room. Â One toilet? Â You have got to be kidding me. Â This is the only place I have ever been where there was a line for the men's room.
They have some awesome specials for trivia night. Â Half priced fish and chips was definitely worth it and two dollar Bud Lights were great as well. Â The trivia itself was severely disappointing. Â The questions were easier than most places we've been to so far. Â The announcer was decent, but if you're going to have a music round don't sing the songs yourself. Â To top it all off, they don't give any prizes (or swag). Â No prizes? Â What was the point? Â Bragging rights? Â Pfffffft. Â Very cool trivia guy, horrible game.
This is a cool local bar, but don't go for trivia. Â Time waster.
The minute I walked in to O'Sullivan's for trivia I realized I had been there before. It was obviously a pretty forgettable experience. I also noted that this place used to be Molly Malone's, which my sister and I have always pronounced with a Spanish accent because they forgot to put the apostrophe on the sign. It's probably funnier when I explain it in person. I swear.
The bar is pretty small, just one room, but they manage to make it work. There are a couple of TV's spread throughout but they don't overwhelm the place, which I like. Trivia didn't start till 8:30 but the place really started to fill up around 7, so be sure to get there early if you've got a  big group (thanks Craig!). On Wednesdays they were offering $2 Bud Lights and 1/2 price fish and chips. I got a chicken club sandwich that was HUGE and could easily feed 2 (in fact, it did).
The service was okay at the start. A little snippy, Â but nothing too bad. It got progressively worse as the night wore on. There was one server for the entire bar, which was ridiculous. I felt bad for him, but at the same time he was super slow and didn't write anything down. The Bud Lights got progressively warmer, which is when I was "forced" to switch to Smithwick's. Rough.
Trivia was also okay, but not great. The announcer was nice and Irish (yay!) and the questions were good, if not a bit too easy. It wasn't as much of a challenge as past trivia nights have been. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie quotes round, but the music round was awful. He sang the lyrics. He was not a singer. He could not carry a tune. This is when you plug in your iPod, dude!
All in all it was an okay experience, but not great. Will I ever be back? Ehhhh... I hope I don't find myself in that part of the world too soon, as with the metro delays and stupid busses it took me nearly 2 hours to get there from Georgetown. Ick.
I've heard people refer to the Clarendon area as "Little Saigon," but honestly, calling Clarendon "Little Dublin" would be a far better appellation. I mean, how many Irish bars can actually occupy the same stretch of road?!?
Four or five, actually. And truth be told, I haven't been to any one of them. Mostly 'cause my impression of Irish bars is that they're, well, "gimmicky." Like if any one of them ever did a television advertisement, you'd see an animated leprechaun saying "Aye, get along wit ya now to Patrick McShaughnessey's Public House, where there be so much charm, tis only proper we cram fun up yer FOOKIN ARSE," and then the camera focuses on the bar, where four or five gents in Donegal tweeds start dancing a jig. Kind of like a Pollo Campero ad, only Irish, and not hawking chicken.
At any rate, I decided that I'll try one of these establishments every week or so to see if there's any "best of class," or for that matter, any difference among them. First up, O'Sullivan's.
O'Sullivan's occupies a weird stretch of Wilson Boulevard. If you're heading towards the city, it's at a funny angle perpendicular to the street. If you're heading west on Wilson, you'll very likely not even notice it. Specifically, if you're walking towards the Clarendon Ballroom, you'll see the Liberty Tavern, and from that vantage point, think you've reached the last bar on the block. Which explains why I was only the second person there when I arrived a little after 5pm.
It's a much smaller establishment on the inside than the exterior lets on, and they don't go crazy with the interior decorating. It has more of a homey feel than other places which OD on the Irish charm. Two barmaids with an Irish brogue invited me to have a seat and promptly took my order (fish and chips and a pint of Miller Lite).
While it's really hard to have a "best in show" competition for something as simple as fish and chips, they werent' bad, and I've had far worse. An order of food (Wednesdays the fish and chips are half off) and two beers set me back $13. Not bad at all. Service was polite and efficient. The barmaids made their rounds every so often to make sure everyone was okay, but didn't hover over you.
It's funny. Usually I can't stand going out to places where you're standing up against someone else's armpit, but I think the extreme is equally uncomfortable. While waiting for my order, I kept sending up silent prayers that someone, anyone would stop in. I need at least a little vibe goin' on. Granted, 5:20 on a Wednesday isn't the busiest day of the week, but I couldn't help feeling that their location was also responsible for some of the emptiness. I think that's why I handed the barmaid a $20 and told her to keep it.
The verdict: not a bad place, and certainly nice enough to stop in for a pint or two when you've got some free time. The food selection is limited, but the prices will make Irish eyes a'smilin'. Â I'll probably try to stop back later on when there's a bit more of a crowd. If the proprietor is reading this: Buddy, invest in some advertising, pronto. There are several other Irish bars in walking distance, and they all have the benefit of being in more visible locations. Your bar has a certain charm, and I'd hate to see it disappear for lack of customers.
Oh, and bonus points for keeping a rack of Tayto-brand crisps behind the bar. It's a potato chip straight from Ireland.
What was once Molly Malone's (named after a fish monger) is now O'Sullivans (named after the owner). Tiresome. I had such high hopes long ago when I saw this horrible corner on Washington Blvd building what was clearly going to be a restaurant of some sort. Something new and different? NO. Another Irish pub. Yahoo. When Molly Malone's sign was down one day, my hopes soared again....could we possibly be getting a non-Irish establishment in our already Irish saturated area? NO. O'Sullivan's took root as of Sept 15 and it is EXACTLY the same. The black-and-white exterior with the red door is still intact, as is the teeny tiny interior with its faux cobblestone flooring and poor acoustics. As far as I can see, the only addition is maybe a new app or two to the menu (like the dringlee dots - fried potato skin balls). Otherwise there are no surprises. The specials are even still the same:
Monday - 1/2 price burgers
Tuesday - 1/2 price shepherds pie or chicken pot pie
Wednesday - 1/2 price fish n chips
Thursday - $8 guinness burger or guinness stew
Friday - 1/2 price apps at the bar
Sunday - 1/2 price wings
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