Bar: O’Connell’s Irish Pub
Address: 42 Dayton St, Savannah, GA 31401
Score: 8.4/10
This is definitely not the typical bar I review. Yes, I have reviewed some Irish pubs before, but primarily try to focus on dives. Irish pubs are just far too similar to truly review them properly. An exception to this is when an Irish pub executes everything to perfection. This is the case with O’Connell’s Pub in Savannah, GA.
Never did I think I would stumble upon one of the best Irish pubs in Savannah, GA. Savannah does not exactly scream Irish, like Chicago or New York. Fun fact though, Savannah has one of the largest St. Patrick’s day celebrations in the U.S. I bet this is an absolute blast. Anyways, back to the review. From the outside of the bar, I knew it was going to be a hit. The green facade along with the checkered awning screamed authentic Irish pub. When I walked in I was greeted by the sound of traditional Irish music, which really set the mood for the bar. Although it was 90+ degrees outside, the atmosphere of the bar took me to a cozy, rainy day, in the middle of winter. A great mood for day drinking.
This bar did not try to get cute and deviate from what an Irish pub should be, they executed all the “musts” according to my book.
- Traditional Irish music. If not all traditional Irish music, the bar must mix in songs on occasion.
- Close quarters, for most bars I want a ton of seating, in Irish pubs I personally prefer a darker, cozier atmosphere, with limited seating.
- Soccer flags, almost every Irish pub I’ve been in has a good amount of soccer flags displayed.
- A damn good Guinness pour. You can fuck up everything above, but you better have a great pour of Guinness and this bar did. You can tell the guy behind the bar was no rookie. He has poured a Guinness or two million. He was a seasoned vet, which made the experience that much better.
All of these boxes were checked by O’Connoll’s I was pleasantly surprised. The only thing I would have liked to see is more mahogany wood at the bar. I don’t think you can have enough dark mahogany wood in a bar and O’Connoll’s lacked in this department. I really did appreciate the bar set-up itself. It had some stained glass and almost window-like sections at each chair. It was weird, so I’ll upload a video of it.
Savannah is a weird, yet awesome city and truly one of my favorites. I will be back to this bar and add it to my short list of bars to visit in the city. Just goes to show an authentic Irish pub does not need to be in just Boston or New York, it can be anywhere.
Price: $7 for a pint of Guinness, pretty standard from what I’ve seen.
Decor: Authentic decor, was just missing wood.
Service: Great service, you could tell it wasn’t this guys first rodeo.
Atmosphere: Atmosphere was done just right. I went during a weird time, so not as many people at the bar.
High Life Bottle?: No, did not see any.
Bonus Points: No.