MERCHANT MARINERS READ: I'm a merchant mariner and was trying to buy a round of beers for a couple of my shipmates. The doorman would not take my federally issued captains license as ID (even though legally and quite nearly visibly it is usable as and identical to a passport) Â which was fine. I walked back to the boat and then back to the bar with my drivers license. Upon arrival the doorman said I gave him to much lip about the other ID so me and my shipmates went to a more sailor friendly establishment. This was all unfortunate considering this bar was the ships "go to" bar up until this point. Keep in mind this bar is literally an eighth of a mile from one of the oldest working wharfs in the country. Sailors, go somewhere else that appreciates mariners.
Review Source:This place is awesome. Hands down, easily my favorite place to drink in boston. Whenever i walk in the staff is attentive and friendly, and in many instances remembers my drink of choice! My boyfriend and i discovered this hidden gem outside of all the fanuiell hall dooshyness. Any one whose been downtown on the weekend knows what a tough area this is to be a girl and drink in.
The bartenders make the place, working in the service industry you appreciate going to places where people recognize that you want to be treated with prompt service in a casual atmosphere. The place has cheap drink specials, a cook who takes his work with serious pride, and overall a great atmosphere to drink downtown without havng to deal with all of the downtown ridiculousness.
We come here at least once a week. Cant say a bad thing about the place. Steve the bartender is awesome and hilarious. If you want to get obnoxiously drunk, go to coogans. If you want good service and good people, definitely come here.
What we have here is a clear case of a damn good dive bar! Â They have 1 and 2 dollar draft, 2 dollar bottles and a pretty nice and tasty menu for the little kitchen they have. Â The food is good. Â They get a nice lunch and after work crowd in here but at night you get a nice collection of people who want to drink their faces off and do it for cheap!!! Â Family owned, nice bartenders everyday, and they don't bug you either.
If you don't like dark and divey.......don't come here. Â They have a really nice haddock, very buttery. This is one of the few places where you can go out drinking hard all night, wake up, and still have some cash in your wallet. Â Keep an eye out for KMac
------Julius, T.O.G.M.
Boyfriend and I stopped by An Tain for lunch because we had LevelUp credit.
It wasn't very busy, but it was noon on Friday, so I didn't really expect it to be. The woman who took care of us (I think she was the bartender) was super nice.
The food was better than expected. Boyfriend got the clam chowder and I got the house made chips with spicy ranch. He and I were both pleased. I feel kinda bad for getting such cheap food (it's Christmastime, I'm broke), but I will be back for a full meal eventually. I also want to see what it's like when it's busy.
Also, Angry Orchard on tap. Got half a star just for that.
Would NEVER have gone here on my own. But when a good friend just broke up with his girlfriend of 5 years and it's his 24th birthday and he's too drunk to get into Coogans next door.... you end up here.
The bouncers were friendly (read: generous). They let my friend in and he behaved himself. (read: fistpumped til he could no longer hold up his own arm.)
Yes, a girl poured a drink on him because of some undoubtedly sexist/ tacky comment he made about her rear end. Yes he danced with the same 3 girls over and over (thinking each time they were fresh meat).
This is the place to drink 2$ bud lights and watch your friend make a fool of himself. Or maybe you will be the one spilling your drink, dancing to Thriller and not remembering it the next morning....
It's an OK place. No real complaints.
Just probably won't be back until his next birthday.....
Why FIVE STARS?
Where else can you go in the Financial District and see a drug deal go down at 5 o'clock on a Friday perpetrated by the dude who was clearly the inspiration for Dave Chapelle's crackhead character Tyrone Biggums? An Tain.
Where else can you get overserved before 8pm? An Tain.
I don't have anything else to say.
A great place to grab a drink with a friend. Â Who can say no to $1 Coor's Light or $2 Longhammer IPA? Â This place is a student's dream. Â
The bartenders are prompt and attentive.
The space is nothing to write home about, and the bathroom is fairly clean. Â
I'm definitely going back.
This is a different bar depending on what night of the week you come. I am coming from a bias of loving dive bars.
Saturday: $5 cover, decent DJ. Crowded with college kids, 2:1 guy:girl ratio. Chill crowd. Men's bathroom smells like a men's bathroom. This place is better than a lot of places on Saturday, but not the best
Sunday-Wednesday: This is where An Tain shines in glory. Bring your buds and enjoy the $1 miller drafts while catching whatever game is on. After showing up regularly at the same time several weeks running, the bartender even let us play Wii on the projector. Which is fucking awesome.
Overall, this is my favorite bar in Boston. If I lived near it, I would have a serious drinking problem by now.
In general, this is a great bar to watch the games at, cause it has lots of TVs and will project.
Love An Tains. It's a no muss no fuss place where I can go and have drinks in Faneuil hall without having to dress up.
Clientele varies from yuppies to the after work crowd to average Joe's (I think I fall in this category) and even the occasionally harmless homeless person towards the end.
I've gone there at 7 and stayed until they kicked us out at 2 am having dollar drafts (!!) and sitting at the window seat watching all the people walk through Faneuil Hall. They even let us bring in a pizza from Regina and eat it inside.
They have a DJ on some nights and are always showing whatever game is on. I've been there on nights they set up games.
Always a good time and cheap.
A note to those who don't like having to converse with strangers at bars: Â This is not the place for you! Â Â It's a little bit sketchy, a little bit crazy. Â But the drinks - well, they're enough to make you ignore the not-so-pleasant stuff. Â The drinks are large and in charge. Â
Interesting tidbit: Â this place sells Sparks! Â For those out there who are Sparks aficionados like me, this is a wonderful thing to know! Â Sparks is sold few and far between in our fair city, so any place that has Sparks available gets extra points from me.
I don't think this place knows it's a dive.
I'm a member of a small crew of Dive Bar touring socialites. Â We've got our list and we are trying new ones every week. Â I was excited to try An Tain because of the location and cheap drinks. Â However, we were first met with a cover charge... for what? Â OK it's only $5 that's not breaking the bank just confusing.
Drinks are relatively cheap and they even had a good DJ. Â However, the 5 girls in our group were 5 of the 7 girls that came into the place the whole night. Â Even if you aren't on the hunt you have to appreciate a good ratio of company. Â We spent most of our night keeping creepy dudes from annoying our girls. Â
I'll give it a second shot some time and maybe change my mind, but I won't be rushing to do that.
If you want cheap beer in a divey atmosphere, this is your place! Â The bartenders are always nice and will often recognize a face. Â I've been going here for years. Â Last year I introduced the bar to a bunch of my co-workers, and now they're all fans too. Â Here's the rundown of so pros:
1. $1 Miller Lite drafts
2. $8 pitcher of Bud Light
3. $12 pitcher of Stella
I would not recommend getting liquor drinks here, however. Â They tend to be tiny and over-priced.
Superfab if you are looking for a dive bar to drink dixie cup-sized 1 dollar miller lights.
We had a lot of fun and the place was empty = lots of room to dance and no flashing the bartender to get a drink...
Overall a great place to go out and get some cheap beers...and to hide from the faneuil hall crowd
This place is alright. It draws in the typical Faneuil Hall crowd, an odd one to say the least.  It's not very big or nice and the music isn't great, but they redeem themselves with  $1 Miller Light drafts!!! You can have a decent time, and actually leave this place without spending a ton of money.
It's a total dive bar, but if that's what you are looking for, Â go for it!
Probably the best dive bar down town. This place always has something going on. This is a bar where rules seem to not apply, you can drink more than your fill, talk crap to anyone and they will listen / argue/ agree with you. This place rocks in all fairness. Don't bring a date here-you will end up going home alone! It won't impress her-unless she is shit cool and loves dives bars!
This is an alright after work bar where you wanna get your drink on. I haven't tried the food and probably won't-it's not the cleanest of bars. A place like this, doesn't need to serve me food, just 1$ beers!
This place wasn't bad, just OK. It is on the better end of the dive bar spectrum because it offers dollar beers (less than a can's worth, but hey, just drink more of 'em). They also had a small cover band jammin out and a decent crowd for what the bar is.
This is a place to grab a table with a bunch of friends and crush grossly underpriced domestic light beer. I believe Miller lite is the specific libation that gives you the now-unheard-of buck price. Regular Bud Light pints were $3.
This is just one room with old wooden furniture and a low ceiling. But if you're in Faneuil a little early, why go pay 6 bucks a beer to start things off? I say go here, get your $10 credit card minimum's worth and then bounce to a more spacious locale.
Oh and never bother calling your friends and trying to tell them the name of the bar. They keep wanting the title to be actual words and it just gets frustrating. Stick to texting and they'll figure it out. Bottom's up!
I love dive bars. Â I love cheap drinking. I love that no one knows were An Tain is, and I love that I know how to pronounce it. Â I love listening to my friends play cover songs and dancing the night away with no fears because it is pretty much just us in the bar. Also Billy the bartender is awesome.
Review Source:+1 Star - $1 Miller Light Drafts
+1 Star - Order the chicken fingers and add a WHOLE BASKET OF FRIES for 99 cents
+1 Star - For the sign that says "Absolutely no Yankee Hats allowed"
- 1 Star - Putting on the music at a deafening level at 6:30pm
- 1 Star - Turning up the volume EVEN LOUDER to play the Celtics intro music for the entire half hour before the game started.
BIGGEST! SCORE! EVAR!!!
cheaptime dranks ($1 miller lite drafts, probably only 8 or 9 ounces but who the eff cares, it's a dollar!)! good fries! burgers cooked to dive bar perfection! tasty bbq chicken breast sandwiches with BACON (i said breast and my dog doesn't know it was really bacon)! blue moon on tap! whoa!
i like dives. i like dives in this location. i like the bleachy smell of the bathroom cause it lets me know they got rid of any diseases before i came in. i like the cool regular guy that comes in every day after his paper route. i like that my friend was there in her scrubs and didn't get a dirty look. i like that there were some ya doods there, but they were just cool guys stuck in ya dood costumes.
we had beers beforehand that we paid for separately, but for two dinners and 4 beers we paid $22. then we went to an event at the hard rock cafe and spent that much on 4 beers. eff. give me another chicky sammich.
don't go here and make it all popular, okay?
An Tain is good for a couple of reasons. Â The most obvious is that the beer is incredibly Cheap. ($1 Miller Light drafts 7 Days a Week at all open hours).
The other is that it is close to most other top quality bars in boston.
The place is just a big open dark room, which a bar and a couple of TVs. Â It is not a nice place whatsoever, but if you go with a large group of friends and aren't looking to meet people, definitely check it out. Â No frills drinking - It's just a bar room.
There is something special about An Tain.
It's got the feel of a good dive bar when most of the competition in the area is just classless. Â The place is fairly small but they do have an area that they try to keep open a bit for "dancing". Â
Inside it's dark, the servers are fast enough and don't expect anyone to be too polite. Â On the right nights they have a bit of a crowd going on and you don't notice anyone trying to show off.
Best thing is the drink prices. Â I swear it's one of the only places in about 5 blocks that doesn't charge you at least 5 bucks a beer. Â If you want to have fun and keep below the radar roll over here.
tip - don't stay too close to the bathrooms...smells tend to circulate into the room.
Small place, chill atmosphere
Went for after work drinks - people smoking outside and the breeze meant no fresh air for anyone
Group of annoying dudes kept sending their (underage looking) brother over to send messages to the girlfriends I was with on their behalf
Cheap drinks.
It's ok if you're looking for an after work dive, but that's about it.
An Tain's is probably my favorite bar in Boston. Â Why? Â $1 Miller Lites seven days a week, total dive bar, good music (by good I mean not techno) and almost no one has ever heard of it. Â Well, of people I know. Â It's like some mystery bar with dollar beers that no one knows where it is. Â
Me: "It's two doors down from Coogan's on that street with the clocktower facing Jose Mac's" Â
Everyone I know: "Huh?? Â I know where all that is but I have no idea what you are talking about."
The people who do go there are mostly meat-head-y type guys, with much fewer girls, but maybe that's just cause I go on busy nights... and random Tuesdays. Â Gotta love getting very drunk, getting my tab and it being $7 for the night. Â Call me a lush, or call An Tain's the best bar ever, your decision.
Dollar Miller Lite drafts allllll niiight long!!! Amazin.
I love this place. I've been a fan ever since Andrea M. brought me here.
Such a dive with a typical crowd includes work peeps trying to hit on other work peeps, older retired folks that have fun stories, college kids who think that the dress code is abercrombie and fitch outfits, some shady characters from southie and at least one homeless person by the end of the night. It makes for a good time, believe me.
If there's not a Red Sox game on the DJ is playing the usual top 40 stuff that is in rotation. And by the end of the night there's usually some drunk chicks making a scene on the tiny dance floor. See Andrea M. for definition of "some drunk chicks making a scene".
Kitchen closes waaay too early, especially since beers and drinks are so cheap. You can usually see me running around in the streets with a Sausage in my hand from one of the carts down at the corner or harassing the employees of Store24 for food (flashback to the time we stole so much food from there. LOLLLLX).
I highly recommend stopping in to An Tains.
One of my absolute favorite bars (if not my very favorite) in Boston for many years now. I don't even know what the one dollar draft is these days because I just order it by name. There's nothing fantastic besides the cheap beer... but seriously, cheap beer and good friends are all I need to have a good time.
Review Source:Total slimey dive. I think I've seen a homeless guy here but he was behaved and looked clean.
This is THE place to go in Fanueil Hall and get drinks early. You don't need to pregame a night out so long as it starts here. $1 miller times, its the only place around that has that deal on Miller Lites (thats i-t-e-s).
I have literally only ordered one item and that is Miller Lite Draft from this bar.
Its not open all the time though, dont show up at like 5 on a Saturday.
An Tain should get 5 stars for their prices alone, but the reality check for An Tain is the less than clean, less than edible food that comes out of the kitchen. Â You'll have a good time here rest assured, if you're here for the dirt cheap pitchers, just keep in mind you might want to bring your own glass as you'll be drinkin out of a plastic cup, which I abhor!
Awesome place to get a big crowd to meet at since it's usually not that packed, cheap, and a great location to get loaded up for the night. Â Am I an alcoholic?
$6 pitchers all the time, except Saturday nights, where there is a $5 cover and ONE DOLLAR beers. Â Pretty hard to find an affordable place to drink around the Financial District and Fanieul Hall so this is a great place, almost hidden away. Â Music is a bit loud on Saturday nights and during happy hour, watch out for drunk guys playing darts...
Review Source:An Tain has a great happy hour right after work. I usually show up around 4pm to meet my friends and the place is busy, but not very lound or uncomfortably pack. The beer is very cheap ($2 specials on Miller Highlife, or $4 Sparks, etc....) and sometimes the staff will come around and give free shots out in conjunction to whatever liquor they are promoting that week. The food, as was mentioned before, is typical bar food, but I have to say that their clam chowder is pretty durn good.
I definitely dig An Tain. Just beware of the influx of popped collars that you will encounter come 6pm or so.
Absolutely love this place. Cheap cover. Dollar Miller Light drafts on a Friday night.... nice. :] Food is meh, typical bar munchies, but then again, when you're a few (or 12) in, nothing really tastes THAT bad. :P
DJ plays decent stuff & takes all sorts of odd requests. Usually by the end of the night there is a small crowd on the dancefloor.
Not overly crowded, yet not a lame crowd either. I've met all sorts of people here.... financial players, college crowd, 30 something creepers looking for younger girls, I even met a chick and her crew on the night of her bachelor party. Relaxed atmosphere, casual dress.
The bartenders will do a shot with you upon request. Gotta love that!
Definitely recommend this place to my friends. I try and make it out once or twice a month. Good times for sure.
I can't believe no one has reviewed An Tain yet! Â I will school the rest of you fools on this little Financial District pub. Â It has cheap ($2) beers (Bud/Light, I believe) and half price appetizers, so it's basically the perfect Happy Hour spot. Â Or, the perfect Happy Hour spot if you plan to be absolute garbage at work the next day, anyway.
The food is basic bar food -- it's not amazing, but it gets the job done and is a good value.
I gotta go there again sometime soon ...