Rugby, soccer and Guinness go together like corned beef and rye at these boisterous Irish bars in St Pete and Clearwater serving up traditional fare and Harp’s. Go for the blarney or the beer, you’ll be o’happy you did.
Where the rugby and soccer fans hang, both for the Irish beers and gravy drizzled over fries as well as the best bloody Mary downtown before or after the Saturday Market nearby. Darts, trivia, beer and food specials plus corned beef poppers, basket o’chips with Guinness gravy, poutine (fries with gravy and melted mozzarella, banger brats, corned beef, Reuben and more shepherd’s pie.
The Tampa original is very much in the jig of things in both SOHO and here in downtown St. Pete where the beer and shot specials, karaoke Thursday, open mic live jam Wednesdays and all the sports you like to watch (EPL, La Liga, FA Cup, Champions League, Europa Cup soccer, finals). Try out the Gaelic chips (crumbled blue cheese, Tullamore Dew BBQ, malted vinegar fries, Mac Reuben and Bangers & Mash.
The place for Saturday college football and rugby games, with dozens of Irish beers, whiskey selection and service are top-shelf. The food is delicious, from the meatloaf and dry wings to the burgers and Reuben. Don’t miss their famous drunken Chicken sauteed with Irish Whiskey and Reuben Roll appetizer. There’s a trivia night, blues jam Thursday and live music Saturday night, even a comedy night once every six weeks.
Mickey Quinn’s
The Irish beers on tap are icy cold (Smithwicks, Guinness, Harp’s), the casual fare yummy and the games are always afoot (billiards, darts, arcade) with lots of TVs for watching sports. Each Mickey Quinn’s has its own lunch and dinner menu with specials, but I particularly like the wings and fish n’ chips at both locations and the shepherd’s pie poppers and bangers and mash at the Seminole pub. The old location on the beach is now the Dog & Parrot Beach Pub and Grill, still a good place to hoist a few.
Irish all year round, the Tavern goes wild on for three days during St. Patrick’s celebration week and is home to one of Florida’s largest St. Patrick’s Day parties. With live music & dancing, over two tons of fresh corned beef and plenty of green beer, you gotta go at least once. All year round, you’ll find traditional Irish dishes such as an Irish breakfast skillet, Guinness meatloaf, corn beef sandwich) and seven-course Irish dinner (six drafts, one boiled potato).
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