I've been walking past O'Neill's for months now, patiently waiting for it to open. At long last it has opened, and wow, what a great bar! This is just what the neighborhood needed - a regular bar, not a brew pub, not a bar attached to a restaurant, but a good, solid bar with a great jukebox and a cool, local crowd. O'Neill's is very neat - lots of Irish decor, including hand-painted murals on the walls, and awesome, energetic, friendly bartenders. It's a spacious bar, with plenty of seating including a cool little nook of a room with its own fireplace. (Plus, the bar stools have backs on them, so you don't have to feel like you're constantly slouching.)
It's the kind of bar where you want to stay and keep drinking even though you know you've had enough, but it has such a good feel, you just don't want to leave. One caveat: the prices are definitely ballpark prices: $5.75 for a pint of Murphy's, and a whopping $14 a shot for Jameson 1780 (!!! please tell me that's a mistake - the same shot is only $8 at Johnny Foley's near Union Square!) They also only have 2 single bathrooms (one for men, one for women), which may pose a problem on game days (the bar is only 1/2 a block away from the ballpark).
Final verdict: this is a dangerous, dangerous place to have a mere block and a half from our apartment. I almost feel that I should hand over a portion of my paycheck to Mr. O'Neill right now...
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