In a No-Brainer, McGillin's Named One of the Best Irish Bars in the Country
In a no-brainer, McGillin’s was listed first in a Travel Channel slideshow of America’s best Irish Bars:
Me walking into McGillins on a Friday night pic.twitter.com/nBi69QSeOu
— Vincent A DiGeronimo (@vincedige) March 2, 2024
I love McGillin’s. It’s a bar’s bar. It’s the only place in the city that I can take someone who’s from out of town and know they’ll have a good time. I wish you could bottle up the feeling of getting a table on a crowded second floor, loading up the TouchTunes with songs everyone can belt, and drinking your face off as the fastest servers in the business replenish you with pitcher after pitcher. If I could sell that feeling I’d be a billionaire!
It doesn’t even serve Guinness. Why? Because fuck you that’s why… and there’s also this via IrishStar.com:
McGillin’s was opened by a couple from Co Mayo and Co Tyrone and the current owners, Mary Ellen, 71 and Chris Mullins, Sr, 75, and Christopher Mullins Jr, 48, have stayed true to its Irish roots, especially in the month of March.
There is one famous beverage that is not on the list, though, and that is Guinness. Why?
“Rather than serve beer from a massive corporate conglomerate, we serve O’Hara’s Irish Craft Beers, the only Irish stout sold in America that is exclusively brewed in Ireland,” a McGillin’s spokesperson explained.
It’s been able to keep that cozy vibe while being the most popular tourist bar. Probably because none of the bartenders ever leave. I feel like the door guy has been there for a decade. The only thing they’ve changed since I’ve been going there is the carpet on the second floor. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And after 150+ years it still isn’t. It’s survived Prohibition and a pandemic and plenty of bars have come and gone around it in the last 20 years and it still has people spilling out the doors on a weekend. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen a fight at McGillin’s. That’s how happy people are to be there. College kids love it, cube monkeys love it, and athletes love it.
Jason Kelce, Claude Giroux, Spencer Hawes, Matt Rhule have all graced the karaoke stage:
Jason Kelce is at the greatest bar in Philly! pic.twitter.com/eetVKSH89p
— Crossing Broad (@CrossingBroad) December 27, 2022
Congrats to the best bar in the world!