Hennessey’s Tavern

This place is great for brunch and for late night terrible-​for-​you snacking. They have lots of outdoor seating: a patio in front, and also one in the back that’s partially covered. The one out back is my favorite because it has its own separate bar.
The atmosphere outside, and in the back is great. On the inside it has kind of a dingy feeling to it. But the décor is without a doubt Irish pub style.
Irish nachos were super good — soft fresh chips with sour cream and cheese? Perfect late night drinkin food. Spinach dip was okay — very thick and almost gritty, but the flavor was decent. For brunch I really liked the spinach scramble. Mmmm cream cheese.
Drinks here have always been pretty consistently good and bartenders provide good service. The servers for meals, though, haven’t been the best. Pretty slow and not very attentive. I don’t come here for meals too often anymore because of that.

This is the only bar I have found a really well made Irish Coffe, other than Buena Vista of course! Very nice bartender too.

Friendly and personable staff, quick service and tasty drinks make this joint a great go-​to for a fun night out. Order their delicious Irish Nachos and the signature lemonade. Also, they’ll clap for you real hard on karaōke night, even if you don’t do so hot (Beyoncé is real hard to sing).

Travis came up to us in a sweatshirt asking for our ID and was very rude about it. Horrible service I have been here for over 4 hours and he comes up and questions me and my girlfriend that have been drinking for hours. It seems like they want to kick people out. Horrible service I will never be back and I am a carlsbad local.

Absolutely outraged by how someone dressed in sweatshirt came over and racially profiled me wouldn’t accept my ID and then began to demand 4 other forms of ID. I was already okayed by my waitress and I was not drinking I never ordered any alcohol. terrible service from Travis.

So this all started out on st Patrick’s day. I was getting off work early to head to o’sullivans, which btw is fantastic. Well it ends up being too packed, we all know why, because it’s good.
So we head down to Hennessy’s. I will say, I’m glad we were treated nicely and had a place to sit, but man this is not an Irish pub. The corned beef was the worst I have ever had, and I’m not kidding. The Guinness was being served, and poured like it was coors light, out of a cooler keg into plastic cups, and not poured correctly. I am a certified Guinness pourer, from the factory in Dublin. I know; and these guys were not pouring correctly lol. On top of that, they called them «jumbo» Guinness, and charged 10 bucks a pop! These might not even have been a pint!
Long story short. Place sucks, I will never come back. O’sullivans is 100 million times better.

Hennesseys is right next door to both my house and my business so they’re an easy-​go-​to for great salads and awesome Tuesday burger deals, now with a sweet potato fry option! But even if they weren’t so close, I would support this business for their support of the community. They’re involved with the local non-​profits and are always generous with donations for silent auctions, helping programs and causes right here in the Village. They’re also part of the Carlsbad Dine 4 kids efforts, helping the Optimist club provide scholarships for kids at Carlsbad High School. A true community business, helping put dollars back into their community. Even though they exist in several communities, it’s great to see them locally involved wherever they are. I highly suggest their California Citris Salad and their new Gaelic salad! And of course, their sweet potato fries! YUM!

Excellent local tavern and eating spot. You can’t beat the sliders and a cold beer on the patio — and the big surprise is the breakfast, easily one of the best in town. I come here regularly, and we had our St. Patrick Catholic School golf tournament meeting here awhile back and enjoyed a truly top-​notch experience. The staff is friendly and helpful, and the food is definitely worth a visit — much, much tastier than your average bar food! Highly recommended — in fact, I’ve gotten myself all worked up and now crave some sliders for lunch.

I love Hennessey’s Tavern! Being born and raised in Carlsbad this has always been the go to place for any age group. I spend every sunday there to get (in my opinion) the best Bloody Mary in the village at the best price. The bartenders are always on point and the service is done with a smile and detail to attention. They even have a life size Jenga set you can play with on the back patio. This is a local spot for sure and I can not express enough how awesome this place is. LOVE LOVE LOVE HENNESSEY’S!

Love this place. I stop in there once a week. Fair prices, clean, great atmosphere, and a friendly staff.

Definitely time for a Hennessy’s re-​review.
I rarely go here because the food went way downhill (see my previous reviews) and there are so many other bars in my neighborhood. The only times I usually stop here is when my fun running group or one of my charities has an event here.
Neither of those will happen again thanks to the personal insults from General Manager Jon Wantz, who says these people «dress up in little fairy costumes and run around,» and made a bunch of childish threats. Jon’s all whipped up into supporting a locally-​despised political cause and needs a reminder that insulting customers and related juvenile behavior results in people spending their money where they’re welcomed.
For the real Irish bar experience, I recommend O’Sullivan’s right around the corner. Friendly, fun, great Irish bands (Tony on Thursday nights especially), good food, and with a nice patio for me & my dog.
We may reconsider Hennessey’s for events when an adult runs the place once again.
**** UPDATE 2÷17÷16: GM Jon Wantz has attempted to retaliate against my fair and honest Unilocal review by copying it to public social media, throwing further insults, and egging on others. I won’t be intimidated; actually, I appreciate the wider audience it’s received. I stand by this and all my reviews 100%, and I’m sure as hell not advising anyone to patronize a business whose GM tries these tactics. More updates, screen captures, etc when I have more time. –Erik ****

I’ve been hitting up Hennessey’s since college. Pretty sure I had shots here for my 21^st birthday 7 years ago haha. So this place will always hold a soft spot in my heart. Good memories here. I usually only have drinks here, but this past Saturday, I came here for brunch and it was pretty good!
We ordered:
— Eggs Benny
— Cap N Crunch French Toast
— Home Fries, extra crispy
— Greyhound (fresh grapefruit with vodka, $ 5)
Yum!!! The Cap N Crunch French Toast were so good! Not busy whatsoever, but the food was actually good!

Went here with the bf to catch the football games on sunday. Food was ok. Fries were pretty good. Calamari was kind of soggy… would not recommend.
Funny story… we ordered calamari and burger sliders and the waitress came over and brought chopsticks and put it in front of me (the asian). Only 1 set… for the Asian apparently. It’s an Irish pub so why do they have chopsticks anyways?! (Note: the bf is white so maybe they didn’t think he needed chopsticks.) Anyway we tried to think of all the in instances in which this would be acceptable and not weird. but couldn’t really think of anything. So this happened and I’m not really sure how to feel… offended I guess. Our waitress also complained the whole time about how she was having a terrible day and service was rather slow when it wasn’t that busy.
Overall, racism aside it was still a mediocre place/​experience. I gave it 3 stars and feel like I’m being pretty generous.
[update] another waitress contacted me and said they normally give a chopsticks for calamari which i accept, but still just 1 set for 2 people is kind of weird to me. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and maybe our waitress miscounted… or maybe they typically only give 1 set of chopsticks for an entire table to share…

It’s not a-​ok in the category of pubs. I would consider this more of a sports bar than a true pub. There’s tv’s everywhere with whatever game happens to be on.
The drinks are a mix of the irish/​english beers on draft, along with a number of local brews. they offer a few cocktails and house wine. Be sure to ask for low ice on your cocktails– they seem to fill it up with more ice than beverage.
Food is a mixture of traditional pub comfort food and california style cuisine. (of course they have nachos!) On my last visit I had the shepherd’s pie– it was basically ground hamburger with some vegetables in a sauce. I’m not expecting haute cuisine in a pub, but I’d like to see more authentic, freshly cooked offerings.
It would be nice to see more of the traditional pub atmosphere– with quizzes, darts, table games, etc.

Went during the Nov. 1, street fair, bought 2 beer garden tickets, went inside in the OUTSIDE bar area to watch the Charger Game and got kicked out… They would only let us sit there if we ordered food. We were welcome to sit there at first, until they decided if we were not going to eat, go out side, no way to watch the game from there!
I have been going to Hennessey’s for years! I have never been treated this way and will not go again, but will also spread the word! If that was the case, then they should have reserved seating or something! After 20 min. I went back in side to use the restroom, and they had just sat someone down! Where was the emergency to kick us out of the back BAR area? We weren’t the only ones, they where leaving to go to another place as well! BOO!

I came here last night for a quick drink with my friend. It’s the second time I’ve been here, and both times have been somewhat «generic.» I’m not exactly sure the best way to describe it, but it’s not really a place to go with high expectations.
The bouncer guy we got was SO severe about my friends ID. I was secretly super annoyed because the picture looks exactly like her, and he was being a little over the top about it. The other bouncer came over and said «just let them all in.» Thank you! God.
I get it, people hate smokers, but it’s a bar. Nope, can’t smoke on the front or back patios anywhere. Must go outside by the gate to smoke. I don’t care that much, but it is bothersome…
The place is kinda small but spacious enough. Needs to be renovated for sure. We went to the front patio because I can’t hear anything anymore, and it’s pretty cute. Basic, but cute.
Not sure how the price is since my friend insisted on paying, but the bartender was friendly. Didn’t seem like much of a beer selection though.
The music was hilarious because it was a Scottish band, but out of all places in North County, why pick a tiny bar to blare your bagpipes in? They were all cool, don’t get me wrong… just way too Damn loud.
Overall, decent place but I probably won’t come back by choice

It was a beautiful day outside!
My friend suggested this place since I was craving breakfast at a later time. We went here and the service was kind of slow it took a while to get served. The server was extremely nice though, and responsive after she greeted us. Food came like 15 – 20 minutes afterwards and my plate wasn’t really hot, my food was luke warm and potatoes kind of cold – which is disappointing. I literally enjoy my food steaming hot. I know it’s freshly made that way. Besides the fact that my food wasn’t hot, it still has nice flavor and some potential.
Got some delicious IPA to wash it down. Entertainment was outside and I liked the jamz definitely upped the atmosphere.
Perks: they have drinks, nice patio seating, extensive menu, and allow dogs!

2.5 just for the sweet potato fries.
The patio is great & I bet this spot turns into a rely fun place– but I’m strictly reviewing the food and service.
There were 3 tables out on the patio that our waitress was waiting on. We came last Sunday around 6pm so it was pretty quiet.
The waitress must have been friends and/​or dating someone from the other group that was on the patio Bc she was dying to be apart of the group (she even sat down at the table with one of the guys)
Very poor service, she seemed put out with us and we had to basically beg to get our water refilled.
Food:
The potato skin app was pretty decent.
Corned beef sandwich: very disappointing. I thought going with this would be a home run since it’s an Irish joint but the corn beef was thin and stringy.
Ahi poke: this looked like a bad idea from the start. The ahi was chewy and scaley– looked super sketch
Pork Sliders: these were also pretty chewy and all 3 dishes had very poor meat.
I def will not be returning.

It is on all accounts a tavern. They have your typical bar faire with the addition of a few Irish options. Burgers, sandwiches, fried food and a few light salad options. Food is decent. Nothing extraordinary.
I got the Frisco burger which comes with lettuce tomatoes, 1000 island on Parmesan sourdough sliced bread. Fries were def frozen and dumped from a bag into the fryer. The only thing above average was the pickle. It was giant, super crisp and tasty.
I remember the drink being a better deal. Or maybe you just have to hit up their happy hour for deals.
They remodeled over a year ago and it just doesn’t seem as inviting. Their used to be some nice fire pits out front and now its just square tables packed tightly on the front patio.
One bonus is they let my dog hang out on the front patio.
Service was friendly and they were all wearing black yoga pants so don’t worry about dressing up when you come to this place. Its super casual.

I am very glad I did not write a review for Hennessey’s until today. If I had written this a year ago, I would have a 4 or 5-​Star review on my conscious and I hate writing follow-​ups.
But, yeah … this used to be my go to place for a great, non-​fast food burger for a great price, with every style I’ve tried being consistently top notch. It’s a nice little bar, been around for years, and still stands as a favored spot for an Irish Car Bomb after a long day of doing anything from hard work to hard sleeping. But coming last night after a few months hiatus we found a number of things that made us balk.
First, the prices have gone up quite a bit. When we got our bill at the end of the night, my girlfriend was shocked to see a cost of $ 3.50 for her iced tea. Just a few months ago this only set us back less than $ 2.00. She noted that if she had realized the huge increase, she would have settled for water just on general principal. And where you used to be able to get a burger for around $ 8, now they cost about $ 12 apiece. On Tuesdays, when you get two for one, this was once a pretty good deal. Today, not so much. Especially after we realized that the burgers seemed to be smaller than the way they used to make them.
Then there was the kid’s meal. Our son had the Mac n’ Cheese with fries which consisted of a small bowl of less than Kraft boxed variety and some cut potatoes that are tough to tell if they are fresh or frozen. This too felt small; for a similar price elsewhere, for the $ 5.00 we paid here, you can also have Kraft macaroni, but you get enough to take home and last your toddler another day or so. Everything together ran us close to $ 26 after the free burger was taken off. Before, a similar meal would have been between $ 15-​$ 18.
Sure, the flavor is still there, but mix everything into one pot, the higher cost, less beef, pricier drinks, and it all kind of left a bad taste in the mouth. Even with the two for one special in account. Makes me glad I still have Habit to fall back on.