Thursday, January 29, 2009

it wasnt great. it wasnt terrible

So after a long hiatus from the happy hour scene, I decided to over indulge yesterday.

The journey began on a Wednesday afternoon after a rough day on the job full of meetings and presentations. My friends and I had been busy working hard all day (by busy working I really mean chatting on gmail) so after work we decided to relax a little by sippin' on a few brews at Nob Hill's favorite step child, O'niell's. It started out sounding like a wonderful idea until I arrived.

As I turned from Central onto Washington my hopes were building with anticipation. I could tell right away that the parking lot was full and I was beginning to think "Hey, this place could become my new favorite bar." I parked my car, checked my hair, splashed on too much cologne and swaggered my way inside. This place was hoppin...with dudes on the border of their midlife crisis and chicks approaching menopause.

I arrived before the rest of my entourage(expected since they are all chicks) so I sat in the only table that was available in the back corner of the bar. The waitress was very punctual in arriving to ask for my first drink order. I asked the very stupid question of "Do you have any specials?" I guess I guess got the answer I deserved when the waitress rudely answered "Its happy hour" and then spouted off 4 or 5 beers that were on special. After hearing the minimal specials offered, I was trying to figure out why everyone was there.

My friends slowly started trickling in making me look like a pimp(or homo) and their orders were taken in a timely manner. We all ordered a $2.75 pint of beer from the happy hour specials cuz that's about all that was offered. So as were were all sitting there, we began to take notice of the people around us. Its pretty safe to say that the average age was 40+ and consisted of about 70% men and 30% women.

I didn't order anything off the food menu; however, two of my amigas did. One ordered the fried pickles, which sounds absolutely disgusting to me, but from what she says they were delish. Spenatalie ordered a $7 Cesar salad that resembled a side salad from the dollar menu at Wendy's rather than a salad you would get at a restaurant. Needless to say, she was disappointed with her decision :(



O'niells definitely has some entertaining people watching. There is nothing like watching Santa work his game. There were two women at the table that was diagonal across from us. One of them had been giving me the eye the whole night and the other kinda resembled a principal. Well, they were chatting and over strut TWO men who resembled Santa Claus. I guess they needed some help in the North Pole and were trying to find a Mrs. Claus. That was probably the highlight of the evening at O'niell's.

Some of you might be wondering about the ambiance y todo. Well, it is supposed to be an Irish pub. However, in my opinion nothing about it resembled an Irish pub. The lights were bright. The floors were sterile. The decor was lame. There is one painting that I did appreciate. It reminded me of Charlie the Unicorn.

The bathrooms are situated in a poor location. They aren't in a secluded corner. They aren't very private. Its almost like they are the focus point of the main dining area. There is a table that is placed in a very unfortunate spot right next to them so whenever the men's door opens the patrons can see right into the mirror that reflects the urinals. Its pretty terrible really.

In conclusion, I wouldn't go out of my way to go back, but I also wouldn't stay away forever. It wasn't great but it wasn't terrible. The staff and the people watching were sufficient but the specials and the ambiance needed some help. I hope for O'niells sake that the patio really brings in business during the summer because I doubt anything else will.

Moral of this bloggg-Go to Chama River on Wednesdays because it is $2.50 pints for their delicious brews.

2 comments:

  1. a. i did not order a $2.75 pint, i did not want to dampen my feet in those dirty water excuse of specials and stuck to my $3.75 for fat tire. not bad for a fat tire, considering a lot of places (like garduno's) charges $4.25.

    and well... there is no b-z, but i can cook something up if you're feeling nasty.

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