Reviews of The Bards Irish Bar (Restaurant)

Christian Darabos

Cheap beers and large tables.

David M. Cullen

I think this place is a hidden gem in Philly. Good food and a nice beer selection. The atmosphere is nice and I have never seen it crowded.

Elizabeth Harris

Visited on Fri I believe. Service is consistently great. The place has a great atmosphere.

Derek Brown

Great authentic Brit pub. All the right ones on tap

Nicole Smith Daniels

This place is good as long as you don't order liquor. According to the bartender who served me 1oz = 1 shot (should be 1.5oz).

Web Reviewer1

Average place, sometimes good and sometimes not. When I sat down at the bar there was a bleach odor. Also they don't serve food in the afternoon, I think not until 5 pm.

Patrick Sample

Great food, service, and classic Irish atmosphere!

Anthony Rai

Rittenhouse authentic and approachable pub with great food, great Guinness and great people.

Kalie Nurnberger

Good beer, fun staff.

David Cain

This is the best place for authentic Irish American food in the city. The decor breathes old pub, the bartenders and wait staff are top notch, and they're a Philly Union affiliate so you can watch all televised games.

giovanni borroto

My old watering hole. Great spot to enjoy a pint or a round of darts

Joseph Moreno

Nice relaxing environment great for a bite to eat and drink

Bob McDevitt

Good food and great service

Sam Nicolary

good food and drink

Kyle Pace

Great little bar, surprisingly good food!

Jacob Schultz

Kind and respectful service. 好喝 好玩 好吃

Joseph Morreale

Cool pub and bigger than I expected. Nice center wood bar and a decent selection of Irish whiskey to pick from.

Robert McCormick

Easily my favorite bar in the city. Great beer selection, never too crowded, friendly service, late night food. Perfect for a first date or a regular hangout. Ignore the Irish pub, come to a real pub.

Michael Ditzel

Good food and drinks.

Samantha Berry

Cozy bar but EXCELLENT weekday happy hr specials !!! Lots to do in the surrounding area too. Sparse on staff but they are all extremely congenial and efficient.

Thom Wall

Came in off the street on a whim and was definitely not expecting to have one of the top burgers in the city here. But then they served one of the best burgers in Philly. Unreal. Bravo to the cooks!

William Schaeffer

Good dive for a drink. Pub style food.

Kevin Regan

Great service, decent food. Would love some more vegan options. Thursdays with Johnny Goodtimes is quickly becoming my regular thing!

Dom Bonanni

A bit pricey, but otherwise pretty nice.

Rachel Katzmann

Closest thing in Philly to my favorite pub in Dublin during grad school at TCD. Slainte!

Joseph McShea

Guinness poured correctly

Scott Xavier

Very good food with none of the Philly pretentious attitude. Friendly staff with good drinks.

Kimberly Barber

Work holiday party after party. Great place!

zeldazackman

Great food and great drinks, always stop by whenever I'm in town for their shepherd's pie.

Zebby Clark

Cool spot, went here for happy hour!

Patrick Cannon

The Ruben eggrolls are delicious

John.crann C

Good....not GREAT!

Ryan White

Staff was attentive and polite. There were some candles on the tables, and ours went out/we accidentally blew it out several times and they came by to relight for us without complaint. Didn't have the food myself, but my friend says it was good. Beer was great, glasses were clean, tables were wiped down. It got sort of busy near the end of the night which made it a bit cramped, but nothing you shouldn't expect in a small bar in Philly.

Anthony Roberts

Love it, the atmosphere is delightful. Drinks were great

Anthony Malopolski

The real Irish pub. Great food and drink in a relaxing atmosphere. Staff is awesome

Peter Jewell

great place. pretty quiet. Used to go there with some friends occasionally for drinks after class. A bit far from Drexel's campus, but if you live toward center city (really around 20th and chestnut) its the perfect spot. Good food, decent beer selection, some old guys who i think are there all day every day and have some fun stories they like to tell.

James Rathz

Great trivia

Kai

I used to love the fish and chips from here, but lately it doesn't taste as good. Great place to hang with friends.

Philipp Wendler

Waitress was a little rude (I think she was overwhelmed by the big crowd we were in) but good beers!

Floyd Woods

Sunday funday

Betty Davis

Nice quiet spot at the time. Good drink

Kevin Pettit

Good draft selection, food. Quizzo Thursdays is always fast and fun.

Ted Voltolina

Great food & drinks

Jim Davis

Food is well above par, not your typical mediocre pub food. Great beer specials for the work crowd if you go for lunch. The general manager, Colin, is great.

John Guastavino

Great small Irish pub

Stephen Landis

Meh

Alex Daniels

Ok spot. They serve very weak drinks.

Jan Klincewicz

Good little Irish bar. Pours a nice Guinness.

Carolyn Dawson

Nice place! Food was great!

Renee S

Good late-night food

deon Garrett

You must try the corn beef egg rolls and the Bavarian warm pretzels.

Jack Sarick

A happy little place that serves good beer well

David Rice

The night I went I had to explain how to make a basic mixed drink and what a bubble was. They were nice though. Atmosphere was okay.

Corey Fischer

Great happy hour and solid beer selection. Good food too. Nice quiet spot.

Josiah Martin

Guinness was phenomenal, service was fast.

William John Ross

A cozy bar, good beer selection.

Matthew Christ

Five stars for bartender/server. 1 star for the sandwich. Tasted good but someone please tell management to put some meat on the Rueben. More like a grilled Swiss cheese with one slice of meet. I recieved less than subway portions of meet, meanwhile my buddy had an entire chicken on his sandwich. Other than that good spot.

Chante Hawkins

Great waitress very friendly and makes sure she checks on u. Made good drinks with a smile. Will go again

Danielle Bronson

One of my favorite bars in the city. You get a good mix of people it attracts, the drafts are always solid, food is good, and the staff are all fantastic. This is also a great spot to go to after work if you're in the service industry. I've met a lot of cool people who work in the area here.

Joshua Riley

The best damn stout I've had. Better than any Guinness!

David Lee

Solid place for happy hour. Usually relatively quiet.

Sean K. Rinko

Good beer selection and dart boards

Rojyar Ghavami

Great spot

Daniel Griffin

Love Bards. Great, authentic feeling Irish pub unlike the frat house bar next door, inaccurately named "Irish Pub"

Denis Bartley

Best Guinness in Philadelphia. They also have amazing wings.

Kayla Bardales

Had an amazing time at karaoke night!

Joe Turner

Great bar, quiet, with good beer selections. WAY better than Irish Pub, don't even consider going next door.

Lisa Piron

Cute small bar to hang with friends

Joshua Love

Great food and beer

Molly Summers

May 2012 The food is sub-par. The service was bad before (slow and unresponsive waitstaff) but the last time I went here, it was the worst I've ever had in my entire life! I've never seen a waitress move so slow and care so little -- she was incredibly rude and unhelpful. The drinks are overpriced. This is probably the WORST bar I have ever been to! Never again will I come to this place. They have lost my business for good. ------------ UPDATE: October 2012 We returned to try this restaurant again and we had a very positive experience. We went on a Monday and they have a very good deal for their happy hour. We both had a gluten-free burger and the burger itself was pretty good, not the best I've ever had, but it was pretty good. The gluten free bun on the burger was really good. They have a nice beer selection for the happy hour special. We will definitely return here for Monday night football.

Lovell El

Great place & great food

Akshit Kawatra

Great place for beer lovers. Guiness on tap available. Great atmosphere just as any other Irish pub. Would prefer this over Irish pub next to it.

Stephen Kane

Great place to stop in for a beer and a drink in the afternoon. Love the shepards pie

Paul Valas

Great food, great staff and they show the Newcastle United games.

Bidisha Mukherjee

Fun place. Less crowded so enjoyed more

Karly Soldner

Nothing special, but sometimes that's exactly what you're looking for. Friendly and accommodating staff.

Courtney Bagwell

This place was perfect. Great prices and great service. This bartender (molly) was really helpful. She gave us options for beers/food and was able to carry a conversation. It truely made the experience that much better.

Oliver Miller

Good spot for late night drinking and darts

Andre Geffen

Its my favorite bar in philly because they have such friendly staff, great food, and have my game on.

bob garboman

Biased b/c I've been coming here 23 yrs. Go for soccer matches and local sports. Avoid quizzo and darts crowds. Too many crazed Bernie Bros wandering around. Also closeted creepers hitting on Penn and Drexel kids out of their age range and league

Drew Garvey

Decent beer and cocktail selection. Fairly small but clean and modern decor. Be cautious about going on a Thursday night, however. They apparently play Quizzo that night and it is extremely loud and hard to hear other people to have a conversation. Otherwise, completely enjoyable.

Jeremy Eakin

Food was delicious and bartender was helpful about offering us the best deals the bar offered.

Harsh Jog

My group's favorite go-to bar. Super friendly bartenders, great location, not expensive, good draft selection, and good food. They also have 2 dart boards, for the enthusiasts!

Bryan Collier

My type of bar. Smithwicks on tap... Excellent. Played some darts, didn't win. My friend James schooled me! Bartender was friendly but slow to start. When I sit at the bar, water and a coaster is not how I want to start. With that being said... I will definitely be back for a few rounds on my next visit to Philly!

alex courtney

This was a cool bar that has a huge circular bar in the center of the room which I love because it maximises the room for people to get drinks which cord down on wait time which it's the quotes party of all bars. It had a good crowd and fun atmosphere, I'll go back.

Jeanne McGuire

Owned by an Irish couple, this pub is feels like a pub in Ireland, instead of like a silly American version of what some may think is "Irish". Has a dart board, modest selection of beers, very good bar food and a very long happy hour.

Jay Newlin

Better by far than its neighbor, named literally as an Irish pub. The food and service and atmosphere at The Bards are all great (and better than the neighbor)!

Jason Vreeland

Good food and drinks. Reasonably priced.

nicole puha

Excellent service, delicious bar eats and ALWAYS good music

Matt Davis

Had a good time watching March Madness on a Sunday night. They had a good happy hour special, for both food and drink. The people there were mainly regulars but it had a good vibe for just a relaxing drink. Bartenders were attentive and had good suggestions about the menu!

Ayush Shah

I have never been here to eat but it is quite a fun place to drink and watch a few sports on the multiple screens that they have. It was relatively empty for a Friday night.

dre dre

Darts. The toilet water swirls the opposite way

Antonio Marques

Always have a great selection of rotating drafts. Great food and service

W C

Cozy Irish Pub - great food and the best pints of Guinness in Philadelphia!

Jeanne Bartow

The panini was great!

Emily Cashin

Great place if you know the staff. Food is solid too!

George White

Good service

Ryan-Patrick Ridgeway

Great local pub and awesome happy hour. Food was great

Ryan Patrick

Cool pub great prices

Sean McGinnis

Quiet place to chill

Justin Ferri

Cozy hideaway in the noise and glam of Rittenhouse. If you're a pub-goer in center city, stop by. Pretzels are definitely up to Philly snuff. Welcoming staff and company.

Marguerite Ferra

Good food, reasonable prices, excellent, friendly service. Good atmosphere. Like the Irish Pub decor, kind of classy, not corny. Highly recommend.

Kayla Simon

Great happy hour and really dug the chill atmosphere.

Frasier Family

Great place

Michael Zammuto

Outstanding. The place was transformed this year by a new GM and chef. Best bar and one of the best restaurants in Rittenhouse. Best wings, fried chicken sandwich, beef stew in the city. Lots of standouts in the specials. Quiet pub-atmosphere most days but lively at night. Excellent crew especially servers and bartenders. All friendly and great service.

Matt Byrnes

Freshest Guinness in Philly. They buy slightly less than Fadó, which is 4 times larger. They typically tap a keg a day minimum. Truly one of the best Guinness drafts I've ever had, outside of Dublin. Food is very good, more Gastro pub than Irish pub food (they do have Irish classics that are awesome). One of the few places I've found a true Irish breakfast (white and black blood pudding). If you're around Rittenhouse Square, it's worth the 2 block walk!