O’Sheas Merchant

We were directed to this establishment by our taxi driver. I was dead set already on seeing the oldest pub in Ireland across the street so we decided to eat over there and have a couple of drinks at the Merchant. The Brazen Head was absolutely packed with tourists. It was difficult to find a seat over there (about 5:45pm). Anyway… afterwards we came over to O’Sheas Merchant. I opened the door to the restaurant… not a soul in there. Walked a little farther and found the door to the bar. There was one older man sitting at the bar. We sat down had a couple of drinks. Nice place with lots of history and neat stuff on the walls. A couple other folks came in who were obviously locals. We stayed about an hour. It was a nice change from the crowd across the street. I wanted to stay and see the live music, but it was a couple hours away. I liked the selection of beers they had. If we were staying for any length of time we would have a dinner here and come back for the live music.

Went on a Monday night for trad music and had a blast with the added surprise of dancing with some of the locals. It was amazing to watch. Great atmosphere and wonderful times.
We also had dinner; can’t beat stew and a pint for 10Euro. The fish and chips were also delicious.

Was just wondering around Dublin and found this place! For lunch I had the land stew and a Guinness (only 10 € with the special). The stew was good, could use a little more salt though. The waitress/​bartender was friendly, but a little forgetful. I asked her three times for an ice water and never got one. The girl I’m with had the vegetarian curry, and said she really liked it. I’d probably come back again!

brilliant food and pints providing excellent value for money. we had the steaks and the curry, all food was cooked well and the portions were big. the staff were great and we ended up paying around 17 € each for a dinner and a beer, there are specials every day on the menu, i’d definitely return here again.

My husband and I had lunch there and it was great! The bartender was very nice as well! The prices were great as well, a lot more reasonable then the pubs in temple bar.

Ordered the lamb stew and it was great. The portion size was huge, even by American standards and for € 10 it felt like a steal.
The stew was served really hot and was full of flavor. The potatoes weren’t anything amazing (potatoes in general don’t have that much flavor to me personally), but the broth and lamb were amazing.

Maybe this is a great pub, judging by the reviews, but as a hotel this is a pure nightmare. At this time of writing it’s half past midnight and I’ve been trying to catch some sleep for over an hour but my room is actually right ABOVE the live music stage! The music is even louder than yesterday when it went on until at least half past one. Who builds a hotel on top of a concert hall and dares to ask € 130 a night for it? At least give your customers a fair warning in advance…

My wife’s maiden name is Shea so we had to stop here while on Dublin. Prices were good, stew and a Guinness for € 10. Food came out very quick. The Lamb Stew was to die for. Portions are huge and I know I’ll be craving that stew for months!
The bartender was a gentleman and when he found out why we were here, he brought is over some souvenirs to take home!
If we ever make it to Dublin again, we’ll definitely be stopping back here!!!

Great deal. Lamb stew and pint for 10 Euro.
Music by Curragh was very enjoyable, very festive– but not crazy crowd. Many from out of town and many locals. Good mix.
Had many pints with my two oldest sons.
Will go back before we leave.

We liked the food and the atmosphere.

We liked this classic pub more than Brazen Head, which others have said, is just too touristy. Definitely not fancy, and with locals for sure. They were cool with us being tourists but we weren’t obvious or loud, and minded our business. Right off the river. We came here twice and both times we liked it. A good stopping off place.

What a great pub, I just wished they staffed more than one bartender to care for the bar and the restaurant during the early bird special. I felt so bad for the guy, running around frantically. Their special is buy one entrée get another for free, which is a steal in Dublin. We also opted to try two soups and they were both delicious. The burgers that they had were huge and the chips were potatoey and hot. I didn’t like the bathrooms or the scarce help, but I thoroughly enjoyed the food

Im Gegensatz zur Temple Bar waren hier sehr viele Einheimische. Irgendetwas wurde gefeiert, die Leute waren gut drauf und ein Band fand sich per Zufall zusammen. Zumindest hatte es für mich den Anschein. Nach den ersten Versuchen und dem Einspielen erklangen dann die für uns Deutschen typischen irischen Rhythmen.
Immer mit einem richtigen Bier in der Hand habe ich mich hier sehr wohl gefühlt.

Schöner Pup. Wir waren dort an einem ruhigen Tag. Das Essen war einfach, gut und reichlich. Gutes Preis-​/​Leistungsverhältnis. Guiness sehr lecker und perfekt eingeschenkt. Hat uns gut gefallen, ein Besuch lohnt.

We were sent here for the music and stayed for the people-​watching. The Merchant is a haven for middle aged women in sequins and the men who want to hit on them, which makes the whole experience a delight. Drinks were considerably less expensive than in nearby Temple Bar and the bar tenders were very attentive. Be sure to arrive before 10 to score a seat on a Saturday night.

I went here for a mid-​week lunch as the guest of a wonderful group of people. I think we flustered the service staff a bit, they had a hard time keeping track of who had ordered what, and there were several confusing «who has the wine opener» moments.
The food was decent-​I had the grilled salmon salad plate, coffee and apple pie w/​ice cream for desert. The apple pie was more like applesauce in a crust, but tasty, so no stars taken off for stylistic differences of culinary opinion. Prices were reasonable, and the atmosphere was fine for an afternoon.
LOTS of locals eating lunch here, including many uniformed Gardai, which is always a good sign in my view. Nice décor, neither too preciously Irish nor too aggressively low-​key local, and the tables were easily rearranged to suit our rather large crowd.
Bottom Line: If you want a decent local lunch and see what the regular folk are up to, stop in and grab a bite.

The Merchant is a haven for all the country folk living in Dublin, and is especially known for its contingent from County Kerry. Consequently, it is one of the most atmospheric pubs in Dublin in which to catch a GAA match.
There’s nightly traditional music sessions held around 9.30pm during the summer, and regularly (but not every night) during the rest of the year. Set dancing sessions kick off on a Monday and Wednesday.

O’Sheas is located directly across the road from the Oldest Pub in Ireland the Brazen Head so it is often over looked and to be honest it does look a little shabby and like a salty dog seaman bar, but it is anything but!
It is a freaking great place to catch some traditional live music which is always lively and good craic. There are lots of country folk here in the main room and for years it was just these and the locals that you would fined here, but now! oh it is a different story! The cat is out of the bag and this pub is attracting lots of other people too including in the know tourists!
It is nearly packed every night of the week and there is a great small wooden floor reserved for Irish dancing that everybody is encouraged to partake in so bring your dancing shoes!

O’Sheas is a big bar with an equally big character. Located on the corner of Merchants Quay and Lower Bridge Street, it’s size attracts an equally big crowd particularly when theres a big match on.
They’ve a very long bar with adjacent wide seating area, and spacious back area too.
Live music of course and a separate function room, and it’s nicely priced drink and food, with good choice available. Particularly attracts a older crowd, which getting on a bit myself now I like.
I remember one time talking to an English fella called Ben in here who’d lived in Dub for many years, and invariably the topic of women came up and what I describe as my good card players luck with them!
Ben who was a bit of old rogue who’d undoubtedly been around a bit, and certainly never even bothered with cards, eyed a group of shall we say ladies in their prime, and told me with a wry smile that he always liked to sing.
Sure enough within half an hour Ben had these five ladies hanging on his beautiful tenor singing voice, singing the ‘Mountains Of Mourne’ and other trad ballads in the manner of Josef Locke. Their eyes twinkled with emotional delight, I thought better of giving them my ‘Fields of Athenry’, and last saw Ben going off in a taxi with one of them into the night!
I’ve been working on my singing voice ever since!