McDermott Bar

The best meal of our trip! (and I’m a foodie hard to impress!)
We arrived in Doolin on our first wedding anniversary, and planned to have a nice dinner out at one of the few formal sit down restaurants in town. We were very disappointed to find out that due to being a Monday, all the restaurants were closed. «But the pubs are open!» Exclaimed the owner of our B&B. So we strolled through town and found our way to McDermott’s by her suggestion…
And man, oh man are we glad we did! What we thought was going to be an ordinary meal (thinking we would just have our anniversary dinner on a different night in one of the big cities) quickly turned into a lovely dining experience we will not forget!
It was several hours too early for the live music, so we thought we may just eat and come back later because we were too hungry to wait. But, we ordered a salad appetizer, and it was AH-​mazing. beautiful fresh greens, lovely goat cheese and perfect balsamic and roasted tomatoes. The type of quality and care you would expect from a high end restaurant.
My husband and I looked at each other, looked around, and agreed: «This is our special anniversary dinner. And we are staying a while!»
We ordered another beer. I ordered the Irish stew, he got the chicken curry. You guys– I did not want this meal to end! Best stew I have had in my life.
We ordered a flight of whiskey.
Then we ordered dessert… a wonderful fruit crisp.
More people started to pile in. Locals and tourists alike. A great mix. We ordered a pour of our favorite whiskey from the flight, and about 2 ½ to 3 hours after we first walked in, the music started. So we stayed a little longer. And we loved everything about this cozy gem of a place!
The staff was helpful, but did not rush us. The food was delicious but not pretentious. The ambiance was just as it should be.
Thank you McDermott’s for making our first anniversary so special and memorable!

Came here for lunch, ordered the bacon and cabbage special, no drinks. So take this review with that level of interaction in mind. The bacon and cabbage special was good, solid pub food, but nothing out of the ordinary or special.
The service was slow, though it wasn’t busy (late lunch). I asked the bar tender whether I should order at the bar (to make it easier, was happy to do so), and he said that he could take my order at the table. Sat down, waited, no dice, so ordered at the bar anyway. For the same reason, ended up going up to the bar to pay as well. Not a big deal, but if it’s easier for a patron to order at the bar, don’t set the expectation of table service.

Went here on a whim. There aren’t very many places to chose from in Doolin — I’m sure they’re all great!
McDermott Bar: very friendly staff, incredible live music, love the ambience — just not a fan of the prices.
Doolin attracts a lot of the tourists who want to see the Cliffs of Moher. It’s a miniscule town that I believe is kept alive by the tourists that stay here, so I understand the raised prices.
Food was delicious. I had this incredible chocolate cake for dessert — yum! Ordered fish and chips and ooooh the fish was soooo very fresh! Nice portion sizes too.
We sat at a table right in front of the band which made the experience even better. Fish and Chips, Guinness, and live music. It was great :) Very laid back evening.

Visited Ireland about a month ago, amazing experience. The live music at this bar is amazing. The highlight of my trip (along with the cliffs), incredible talent! I will make sure I return in the near future.

I usually don’t post, and cell signal was weak, but had to make sure I posted about this place.
We are from the USA and we’re looking for a place to eat and have a pint while we were visiting the cliffs of moher. Just a short drive 5 minutes maybe.
We had the fish n chips… pure delicious.

Went for takeaway fish and chips. Really loved it. The place was really packed to capacity. The attendent was really helpful and friendly. Good service.

Nice place full of character, with nice staff — didn’t try the food but live music at night would be worth returning for.

Nach einem sehr anstrengend Trail über den Black Head des Burren kamen wir ausgehungert hier abends um 19.30 Uhr an. Den Tipp hatten wir von einer Irin, welche circa 2 Km mit uns den Trail gelaufen war und uns zur Stärkung nach der Wanderung explizit den Pub empfohlen hatte. Von außen ist der Pub schon etwas zwiespältig, da auch gerne alle Busse vorbeikommen dürfen, aber anonsten war es irgendwie total leer.
Das änderte sich komplett bei Eintreten. Die Räume waren fast gerammelt voll, die Theke in Zweierreihen belegt, das Personal flitze nur so durch den Pub. Wir bekamen trotzdem schnell einen Tisch für 2. Als Vospeise hatten wir die sehr, sehr vorzügliche Sea Chowder Soup, als Hauptspeisen das Guiness Stew (sehr, sehr lecker, bis auf die etwas zu wenig gegarten Kartoffeln) und einen Salat der anderen Art. Die Stimmung in dem Pub ist riesig, die Speisen fanden nicht nur wir lecker (reichlich Touris wie wir aßen dort), alles kam ziemlich flott auf den Tisch. Das Personal war trotz des Streßes immer freundlich — Wahnsinn.
Einziger Wehrmutstropfen — irgendwie wollte keiner von uns Geld — Spaß beiseite, es dauerte ewig mit der Bezahlung. Bis eine Einheimische, die das mitbekam einfach einen der Barmänner anpfiff :)

Busy place with great food.
The best pub food ever tasted. The beef stew in Guiness was delicious (quite spicy) and the lamb burger of my wife was full of fresh vegetables. This pub is packed with great atmosphere.

What a wonderful experience! The atmosphere is fun and welcoming. The food is delicious — honestly, the best chowder of the entire trip — and fantastic live music in the evening. The staff was really friendly and made us feel so at home. Definitely one of my favorite places! Thank you for a terrific time!

We stayed in Doolin for 5 nights back in 2006, and we went to McDermott’s every single one of those nights. I had the chicken curry over rice every time, and I still have dreams about it. I’ve been trying to contact the owners for the last 8 years to ask for the recipe, but to no effect. I swear I’d go back to Ireland just for one more plate of that chicken curry and to listen the glorious traditional music.

McDermott’s pub in Doolin was the closest one to our B&B and one where we spent the majority of our first evening in Doolin.
Most of the tables were taken up in the main room when we walked in but we found some seats at the bar. There were a few bartenders working and they were all busting their ass and providing some awesome service to everyone. We had plenty of drinks and awaited the traditional Irish music which started up at 2130 or so. While I still maintain that it isn’t really my thing, it was fun enough and my parents really enjoyed it. On the weekends it will be packed to the gills so get there early if you like sitting.
If you are staying on this end of Doolin then this is the pub I suggest.

McDermott’s Pub in Doolin, Ireland was an awesome experience! I took my mom with me on this adventure and she loved it. We both sat down and had a Guiness beer with a corned beef and hash sandwich. The live irish music was going which made it even better. The pub itself was very clean and decorated with everything Irish. The McDermott family still runs this pub and my other half is McDermott so there was some type of relation to these Irish pub owners. I highly recommend this pub for your Doolin visit!

Oh Doolin oh Doolin how I love you so. The night we stayed in Doolin during our two week trip of Ireland perhaps was the best. Doolin is a VERY small town on the western coast of Ireland. It is thought to be the birthplace of Irish music (O’Connors). We went to McDermott’s Bar for dinner and I must say, their seafood chowder was among the best I had during my journey. I also had the fish and chips and the portion was humongous. My girlfriend had the steak baguette which was also great. We came back later for Irish music and had such a wonderful time. When the staff found out we had gotten engaged the day before, they went out of their way to treat us like royalty. We met another couple who were from the UK and a few locals and we drank the entire night away having the most wonderful time. I remember them mopping around us at 1:30 in the morning hahaha to close the bar after everyone else had left. I can’t wait to return to this place. Try the Irish Flag shooter!

Really more like 3.5 stars. The most «boozy» of the Doolin pubs, you can expect large crowds and sometimes stag and hen parties at this family-​owned watering hole. The front room has a lovely performance area for musicians and listeners, all within close proximity to the bar. The back room is where more of the locals and workers within the tourism industry hang out.
On my most recent trip to Doolin, I managed to catch a night of «Foolin in Doolin,» three trad musicians who play on Mondays at McDermotts (also known as McDiarmada’s). The most charismatic of these musicians is uilleann pipes player Blackie O’Connell, whose facility and energy with that instrument is bound to take anyone’s breath away! There were a number of drunk and uninhibited women who proffered general invitations to the audience to dance with them by the end of the night. And by dance, I don’t mean Irish dance. I mean dancing that’s universal to Grateful Dead and Phish concerts in the free-​flowing liturgical sense. For a Monday night, there was no better entertainment in Doolin! Don’t miss out on McDermott’s while in Doolin.

This place gets my vote for honesty and service. I went there for dinner and whilst I was paying requested some cash out and everything was processed but the bar tender forgot to give me the cash. I called up the next day and they checked the CCTV and gave me the € 100 as well.
The place is a nice place for a good pint, food is also quite alright and the atmosphere is pretty nice. I had the beef and Guinness pie and that was quite good.
The desserts I cannot recommend as it was too sweet for my liking and looked store bought. But the rest is fine. Will happily come back here again.

CROWDED!!! It was Saturday night, and there were hen parties and a bus load of birthday partiers… Did not eat, just in for pints and the music.
The session players were all very talented, and had the crowd really going.