Kildare’s Irish Pub – Manayunk

It is like two different places on weekend and weekdays. I will start with a weekend. It is DJ with $ 10 a cover If I remember correctly. The music is pop from the 90’s to what’s is on the radio right now. It is clubbing style therefore extremely loud. There are two separate places to dance. It is a big pub and can be crowded on early days of a school year. It is full of young college kids just like Mad river at the other end of Main Street. On weekdays is not as crowded unless there is a special event. The drinks were reasonable priced and service was prompt.

Came back here with some friends on a weeknight for dinner. I ordered the turkey burger and it was AWFUL. It basically looked and tasted like it was thrown in the microwave and heated up. The texture of the turkey burger was weird and I felt like I had to spit it out. Definitely would not order the turkey burger again! The redeeming quality was the sweet potato fries. I knew from last time that they charge extra for sweet potato fries but our waitress never mentioned it when I ordered them and I don’t remember seeing it on the menu anywhere.

If I could only give Kildaires 0 stars, it would still be too many. We decided to go here for dinner on a Thursday night because they have a $ 2 taco special. When we first arrived at 6:30pm, the restaurant was essentially empty with only two other tables of people seated. We were seated in the back of the restaurant in a corner. There were 5 of us in our party with three different seating options and they were all very uncomfortable. Our waitress came over and asked what we wanted to drink. I requested a cocktail menu and she said they don’t have one. I decided to only have water but the boys ordered beers since they were a $ 3 special for the evening. I checked in on Unilocal before ordering my meal and got an offer for a free pretzel tower. I showed the waitress and she walked away without taking our order. When she came back again I asked her if we could please have the free pretzel tower and she said that her manager would come over after our meal. We requested it as our appetizer and she said that was fine to do. We all ordered some combination of tacos since they were only $ 2 each. We waited almost an hour for our food and also didn’t get a drink refill. She asked the guys if they wanted beers but never refilled our waters. Tables around us that were seated much longer after we were were receiving their food and we still hadn’t been served our food. I had to call the waitress over and asked when our food was coming. She said soon but why was the rest of the restaurant being served and we weren’t? I asked if we could at least have the free pretzel tower appetizer and she said it would have to come out with our food. Okay, whatever it’s free but we’re wicked hungry and all we ordered was tacos and we’ve been waiting for an hour. Our food finally came out, but my meal wasn’t prepared so the other four people I dined with had their meals and I did not. We ordered a side of fries and those came but they were warm and kind of soggy because they’d clearly been sitting out for a while. I had to call the waitress over again and asked when my food was going to come out because at this point, my party had finished eating and was ready to leave. A different waitress came over shortly after and asked what was missing from our order. It was clear that my order wasn’t placed, which is strange because I was the first one to order when the waitress initially took our orders over an hour before this. We ordered tacos, people! All that came on the tacos were three pieces of shrimp, lettuce and chipotle sauce. That’s all. Shrimp takes less than three minutes to cook. I would’ve just left and went somewhere else but I was so hungry I just wanted to eat already. I was finally served my food but we still hadn’t gotten a beverage refill… On our waters. WATER. At this point, we’re all kind of uncomfortable and just want to leave because the food was okay but the experience was poor. The manager came over to accept the Unilocal offer for the free pretzels we got for checking in. She didn’t check it off on my phone and walked away. A minute later she came back and said we couldn’t get the offer because we didn’t get an entrée, we got tacos which were a special. I told her I didn’t realize that and the waitress didn’t correct me. She said it didn’t matter and it said it on the offer so we still had to pay. I was very frustrated and uncomfortable by this time so we explained all the things that went wrong with our experience and she said it didn’t matter since the offer said it had to be with an entrée. I told her we’d just pay for it because we are never going to come back ever again and she wasn’t phased. The waitress came over with our check and said she convinced the manager to take the pretzels off of our check, which was kind of her but a waitress shouldn’t have to convince a manager of this and the manager should’ve at least apologized for our horrendous service and didn’t even blink an eye to it. When the check came, the pretzels weren’t included but they added the cost of the pretzels to one of the beers and didn’t think we’d notice. Well, we definitely noticed but we were so frustrated and uncomfortable that we just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. We didn’t leave a tip, which I’ve never done before in my life but didn’t even feel badly about because the service was so poor, the food wasn’t that great and the manager was rude and argumentative. Like my girl T Swift says, we are never ever ever going back to Kildaires!

Service was horrible. It’s dead on a Sunday. My food took 45 min to come out and I got attitude when I asked about it. Don’t eat here. Just drink.
If I could take away my one star, I would… I came with three girls for a couple drinks on a gorgeous night. Service was still HORRIBLE! I must of had the same girl… I went to the bar multiple times to order a drink because she took forever to come back… I gave this place another try… No improvement.

We loved their taco Thursday’s– we go almost on a weekly basis. Recently it seems like they are cutting down on quantity. We normally get 3 decent pieces of shrimp on a taco, now we get 2 pieces a taco, but the price is the same. Not cool. Probably won’t really come here as often anymore. Sad to something great (the main reason we came frequently) get cut back.

We love this place because the food is always delicious and the drink selection can’t be beat if you’re a beer drinker. The BFG wings are simply the best. The burgers are always good.
It does, however, have shortfalls in the service area. We come here often and if you sit at the bar the service is better. If you’re in the dining area I suggest you sit in on the side to the left of the bar. The service is better there in my experience. If you haven’t been greeted just flag a server down. They will get you sorted quickly. If it’s busy expect delays. The staff is not trained to execute a busy shift at a high service level. I think this place would benefit from stronger management and better systems in place for communication. Also in the 10 plus times I have been here I have never seen a manager in the dining area.
They have great specials for happy hour and late night drink specials that are all pretty good deals.

First off, you need to realize that Kildare’s is really more like two bars: weekday Kildare’s and weekend Kildare’s. Weekends are cover charges and DJs and dancing and huge crowds and general craziness whereas it is a chill neighborhood pub the rest of the week. I’m more of a weekday Kildare’s guy, so that’s my review.
The food is always pretty good, and there are decent food specials throughout the week (Monday wing night is great — some of the best wings in the ‘Yunk). There are a TON of craft beers on tap (25+ish), as well as more in bottles. A good number of rotating taps. They offer take out beer and growler fills but it’s overpriced. Take out beer aside, overall the price is on point for the quality.
I’ve been living in the neighborhood and coming into Kildare’s for nearly a decade and what really makes this place stand out for me is the staff. Service is always prompt and friendly, and the weekday bartenders are fairly consistent so you’ll wind up seeing the same faces for months/​years. They do a great job with the neighborhood bar feel — remembering regular orders, great conversation, etc.
This is definitely my go-​to neighborhood place and I recommend checking it out. Oh, and have I mentioned Monday wing nights are the best?

I visit Kildare’s for their karaōke night Wednesday. I love the Wednesday special which is any sandwich for 5 $. This includes the chicken fajita tacos, they are tasty. It can get crowded on Karaōke night so get there early if you want a good seat, last time I made the mistake of not getting there early and sat in a congested area with a stone pillar blocking the karaōke area. I have had good experiences with the bartenders and wait staff. This is a good pub, I give it 3.5 stars.

Enjoyed Kildare’s as the food and service are both good. It could be great, we had a small problem with our order, but it was tasty so no complaints. The server was friendly but needed a bit more detail on the menu when asked questions. Small concerns, but we really enjoyed the meal.
Overall, Kildare’s is a good choice in Manyaunk.

Really enjoyed Kildare’s Irish Pub. Had a few $ 3 pints of Goose Island IPA (great deal on Sunday nights) and a Reuben sandwich that was the best I’ve had in a while. My server Alex was friendly and totally helpful and provided great service. All in all a great experience!

Wednesday night karaōke. Large dance floor. Great music. Awesome beer selection. This will always be one of my go to places. I came here for Halloween and although I was disappointed about the $ 10 cover, I had a lot of fun dancing the night away with my friends.

I told myself I would never come to Kildare’s Manayunk out of principle after the unfortunate Montgomery case last year, but my friends wanted to come and experience the food for our friend’s bday lunch. We came today at 11:45 for the birthday luncheon and were seated right near the door. First, the place reeked of old fermented beer stuck to the floor; the scent alone was unpleasant but we joked how it reminded us of our old house in college after parties. (But you’re telling me Kildare’s couldn’t clean a little better since it’s Halloween extravaganza the night before?)
The place was not busy at all for lunch. It took the server at least 10 minutes to come to us and ask for drink orders — the rest of our party came late and was being seated as we gave our drink orders, but he didn’t acknowledge them nor ask what they’d like.
The service was exceptionally slow and we were treated as an afterthought, even though the hostess was less than 5 feet away and the bartenders could see our annoyance and bewilderment for the lack of good service. We placed our orders around 12:10−15 and didn’t receive our food until 12:50. Ridiculous. I ordered the waffles from the brunch menu ($ 7) and upgraded to the strawberry additions for $ 1.50. Because no sides are offered with that deal, I asked for a side of home fries for $ 3. Ridiculous for a minuscule sids. NOT WORTH IT AT ALL. $ 8.50 was for a cold waffle and literally one strawberry thinly sliced. RIDICULOUS. I even asked the server for more strawberries after waiting 10 minutes for him to even walk by again, and he sent a random hostess another 10 minutes later to see if I still wanted them, and I said to forget it.
My friend ordered a burger and fries, and when receiving the check she was appalled it was near $ 20. The server charges her for the fries — she asked if they were included in the burger deal and the guy mumbles something like «he just assumed she wanted them too.» What? You don’t know your own menu? You got her to add sides on unknowingly, passing it off as a normal menu deal? They were also a mix of hot and cold fries from the kitchen.
Overall, the service here sucked. And the food wasn’t that great. I don’t know if our server was severely hungover from the weekend or personally that inattentive and slow, but the fact that other Kildare’s employees had to get us water and noticed our dissatisfaction just baffles me. All the service staff lacked friendly dispositions and it was more of a chore for us to flag them down to ask for a water refill or a box to take things home in. Needless to say, the server got a very minuscule tip, but now looking back, I regret that I gave one in the first place. Never coming back to this establishment. You lost four customers today.

I went here last night and if I have to be honest I won’t be back anytime soon for any food. I went with a friend of mine and, to start, the service was terrible and it was clear the staff was in shambles. Our waitress could either not handle her volume of tables or she just blatantly forgot about us on multiple occasions since we were in a bit of an off-​beat spot. At one point as well we were delivered the wrong drinks and it took us 5 minutes to even flag anyone down to send them back. We both got 2 large pale ales– not complicated– and when we finished those we just asked for the same again– still not complicated. Somehow we were brought not only two different beers than what we had ordered but we were also both delivered different sizes? Literally one large and one small of completely different beers.
The food was also just not good. We ordered the tomato and artichoke dip as an appetizer and it was just chunky marinara sauce and 4 pieces of bread. I then ordered the Fungi Burger which advertises itself as a burger with mushrooms, Swiss, and lettuce. Instead– if you want to look at the picture I posted– my bun came back smeared with some sort or mushroom paste that was completely unappetizing and in no way what one expects from a «burger topped with mushrooms.» The veggie patty I ordered on the burger though was actually quite good
All in all– I love the atmosphere and fun times to be had at Kildares– but I will not be eating dinner there again.

Great pub in Philly. As clean as a pub can be @ 5pm for a quick bite. All the staff was incredibly friendly, especially our waitress.
I had the roast beef sandwich. It was awesome. The meat was perfectly prepared; moist, pink in the middle and cold. I did SOS as always but the sandwich was so good, it didn’t need it .
My guest had a cheeseburger, said that it was the best burger she had ever had. That’s big coming from a twelve year old!
Great place, if I’m in the area I’d go back for sure… next time for a pint of Guinness.

One of the best bars in Manyunk.
They have great craft and domestic beer and have great specials on weekends!
Great spot!

I’m giving this place 3.5 stars for their Monday night’s all you can eat wings special for $ 10. Wings come in their BFG, teriyaki, ranch, whiskey bbq, firehouse, and buffalo sauces.
First order comes with 10 wings and every subsequent order comes with five. I started off with 10 of their BFG (baked, fried, and grilled) and then ordered some whiskey bbq ones with a side of their fries. The BFG flavor has a hint of spiciness and is pretty good. However the chicken was not as tender as I hoped it would be. My favorite would have to be their whiskey bbq. The sauce was great and really kept the chicken tender. I was also really surprised with their fries — crunchy perfection! As for their menu, I haven’t had the chance to try anything else but this is a pretty good place to come get some wings!

Cool bar with open windows. Decent beer selection. Was very disappointed that they wouldn’t let me use the voucher for a free pretzel tower. They told me I had to sit at a table to get it because their manager was no where to be found. I get pretty excited about receiving vouchers and it’s a bit disheartening when I’m unable to use them.

These guys have stepped it up considerably since the last time I have visited. I had the Guinness Stew, definitely something to write home about, the kid had the Sheppard’s pie, done spot on and her mother is from Belfast so she knows what the good stuff is. Guinness was perfect, even the burger my wife had was good.
What made them attain the 5 star rating is Richard, our waiter. Very personable, spent time to make himself relevant to our experience and answered every question and observed all appropriate wait times in terms of what we needed. Spot on service. He is from Temple, apparently, and explained to us how to pour a perfect pint. We knew how to do this already on the old Guinness glasses, but not on the new Guinness glasses. All those little things on the glass help bartenders pour that perfect pint. We have Guinness on tap at home from time to time and we were eye balling it, not knowing the tricks put in place by Guinness themselves. Great experience, I am going back. Also, when I checked in on Unilocal I was awarded a free pretzel tower, so that was a big plus.
Fellow Unilocalers, remember when an establishment gives you something free, you tip on what the actual bill would have been, not what it actually is. In our discourse with Richard I mentioned that, and he just smiled and said, «Not many people know that, you three are class acts.» It’s good to get compliments and discourse like that from the people you deal with every day. This was a truly excellent experience. It’s my new go to in Manyunk.

If you are in college and looking for a fun, Irish-​themed bar with your standard (strong!) drinks for super cheap: you’re in the right spot. They also have dancing on weekends.
If you’re me and a few years removed from college and that whole scene, you may feel old walking in here. I think this was the first place that has ever made me feel that way.
Highlights:
–Single stall bathrooms separated by different pathways downstairs for girls/​guys.
–The fact that the bartender insisted on addressing me by my name — even after the place filled up – every single time I walked up to the bar.
–The place was generally clean.

This place may have grown on me a bit. Especially the fraternity stink.
Although I can’t give it a 3 or a 4 or a 5 I would like to add on nights that it isn’t busy here my level of comfort is elevated. Also, generally after 1:30 AM you can get in on the weekends, without paying a cover. Otherwise get ready to fork over a 5.