Kildare’s Irish Pub

I am sad to see that they have closed their doors. I walked down this past Saturday for bit of Irish food indulgence to find it was no more, the walls barren. It was never the best Irish Pub in town but scores better than the previous «Irish Pub» at the same location McFaddens. I am not shocked they closed since it seemed always dead during the day and they were always out of the beers I seemed to want. When the taps were not empty they had a very decent craft beer selection. Perhaps we will have another Irish Pub open again in this location… it will probably fall victim to the same fate as it is Campus and draws certain crowds that drive many away.

This place finally closed there doors. Never had a chance. The owner is a rude, poppas ass who is extremely cheesey and tries to screw his whole waitstaff by texting them all late at night saying «I can fly you down to Philly tonight.» Dave Magrogans bars all deserve to flop like this. This place was ran like a joke. Good Ridden!

Note: See «Amanda K.‘s» review below. I had a shockingly similar experience.
I usually use Unilocal just as an observer, rather than a reviewer. To give you an idea of how bad this place is, I made my first review ever right here.
The food is fine (but you will be disappointed if you expect a real Irish pub) and the drinks are priced similarly to surrounding bars.
However, Kildare’s also serves as a late night hangout spot for many undergraduate students. You can smell all kinds of nasty stuff if you go there to eat on a weekend (at least I did when I went).
The current manager is extremely rude, as well. He ran into me (considerably more than just a nudge) while walking by and literally got up in my face when I spoke up. He treated me as if I were a college kid who had drank excessively and physically harmed him. He then proceeded to come up behind and choke me as I walked away from him. My companions informed him of how rude he had been afterward, and he refused to speak to them. I attempted to contact the owner multiple times about this issue with no success. I will be contacting the police in regards to this man if the manager does not get back to me shortly.
I will never return to Kildare’s at this location. I would not suggest that anyone else subject themselves to this aberrant manager, either.

We dipped into Kildare’s for dinner before seeing Tyler, the Creator at Newport Music Hall. The building looked interesting, and how can you go wrong with an Irish pub? I definitely think we made the right decision. It was very quiet for being near dinnertime, but I’m not complaining as we were seated and got service almost instantly. There is a downstairs and an upstairs, and from what I took away from it, the downstairs is more for meals and casual conversation while the upstairs is more for a party-​like crowd. The only bathroom in the pub is upstairs, which is strange for the people who are only there to eat. Kildare’s has a nice atmosphere/​food.
After browsing through their extensive menu, I finally decided on one of their burgers – the mushroom Swiss burger to be exact. It was a tough call as there are so many delicious-​sounding burgers, but I believe I made the right choice. The mushroom Swiss consisted of sautéed mushrooms, Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, and onions, all loaded on a yummy onion roll. It was a great combination of flavor and I was very pleased. Each burger comes with fries and a pickle spear. The fries were crispy and plentiful and the pickle spear was certainly right up there with some of the best pickle spears I’ve had. Each burger is around $ 10, so it’s pretty reasonable in terms of price. Their beer menu is also decent. I ordered a Young’s Double Chocolate Stout, and also tried ordering a fruit beer, but they ran out halfway through the pint, so they gave me the half pint for free, which was nice.

A campus bar that occasionally masquerades as an Irish pub.
I’ve been here a few times — mainly because of someone else’s insistence. Let’s be clear-​it is insanely busy late at night. Before then, it is DEAD and the workers will be surprised if you come in to drink when there isn’t a crowd there. And they always seem to be out of every liquor I want to drink.
I’ve done the irish breakfast — it’s not bad, but Fado’s still beats it (I suppose walking distance for college kids, but still).
It’s just… a college bar. Period. Irish food and drinks and décor does not a «untypical college bar» make.

Stopped here after the Freedom to Unilocal event. The guy (owner/​manager?) had a table set up at the event with some pretty good pulled pork and let us know that on Thursdays everything behind the bar is half off. He made sure to tell us «we’re not a typical college bar». Since the event wrapped up pretty early, we decided to check out Kildare’s, right across from the Film Center.
8:30 on a Thursday and this place was DEAD. For having drinks half off all night long, I expected it to be a bit busier. Their menu boasts a pretty impressive list of half-​n-​half beers, so I decided to try a Black Velveteen (my first), which was half Guinness, half Hard Cider. It was okay. Started tasting weird by the end but maybe I’m just not a fan. I promptly switched to Lagunitas Lil Sumpin’ Sumpin’ when I saw they had bottles. Awesome that they have this! And at half off, a super great deal. Also, the bartender was more than happy to hand out pretty large samples of their draughts, so that was cool.
We were going to eat here but nothing on the menu really screamed at us and we were a little weirded out by the lack of people, specifically no one eating. We stuck with beers.
The manager came back, recognized us from the Unilocal event and started selling us on all of their frequent visitor programs. Kind of too informative when all I wanted was to relax. I ended up getting a free card, tried to register it online and it didn’t work. So… thanks?
I guess we had been sitting at the bar, backs to the door, for a long time. I headed upstairs to the bathroom (quite tipsy at this point) and realized it was PACKED with college kids dancing, grinding, and basically just being 19. When did these people even get here?! We immediately decided we were too old to be here on a Thursday, paid and left.
Would get two stars, but for 8 good beers totaling $ 24 because of their half-​price Thursdays, three stars it is.

Stopped here after the Unilocal event across the way. The bartender, Jess, was great. She gave us a few samples to help us decide on drinks (during which I discovered Timmermans beer and fell in love)
Seemed like a nice atmosphere with really nice staff. I enjoyed my 20 – 30 minutes there :)

We walked over for the Thursday drink specials. I like the atmosphere and the fact that there are two bars with plenty of seating was a bonus. ½ price on all drinks Thursdays. I didn’t try the food. Service was not super attentive but alright. I’m willing to come back.

I really want to love this place for the sheer fact that it’s literally right across the street from my place.
Pros: (The very few there is).
— Cool Irish décor, and pretty good drink specials during the week.
Cons: First and foremost the worst service of ANY bar/​restaurant I’ve been to on OSU’s campus. I have literally had one half way decent bartender in 7 or 8 visits. None of them want to have anything to do with you at all unless your ordering a drink. After that, you are ignored for the evening.
2^nd, while me and a good friend from high school were in last night, the 2 bartenders spent WAY more time on their cellphones then interacting with anyone in as customers.
3^rd, 5 minutes after the new barkeep clocked in, she proceeded to spend more time with a friend that had stopped in then with any of her customers. Keep in mind, it’s not difficult to chat up the people paying your bills a little while there’s only 6 people in your place.
I really doubt I’ll be going back anytime soon!

Simply put: the bouncers here are some of the rudest people you will meet. Unfortunately, because it’s a college area bar they think they can talk you down like a child. If you dont stand for it they will get physical. Don’t go to this bar unless you want to be treated like you’re a child.

Great casual spot. It’s hard to find a place like this near campus. They have excellent brunch on the weekends as well as good food any night of the week.
Reason I rate this 5 stars is due to the fact that every time I go, the service from both the bar and tables is very friendly and efficient. The décor is authentic (a lot was imported straight from Ireland) and creates a cozy, pub-​like atmosphere.
I was afraid this was going to be another iteration of the lousy McFadden’s, but it is not. Truly an outstanding restaurant in an area that is typically not thought of as having commendable food! Try it.

I was so excited to have an Irish pub on campus, but was disappointed within minutes of setting foot in this establishment. This was one of the worst experiences I’ve had at an OSU bar/restaurant…ever.
Upon walking in the door I was immediately offered a $ 2 bomb or bottled beer (which was awesome), but when I declined and asked if my friend and I could go eat on the patio I was answered with an awkward pause followed by «yeeahh.» So we snagged a table on the patio and waited for the waitress who was a couple tables over to come take our drink order. Nope, she ignored us and went inside. She returned a few minutes later, spoke with the table directly next to us, annnd then immediately went back inside. Finally, after this same thing happened yet AGAIN, my friend went inside and asked if someone could come take our order. The woman replied «Oh, I don’t know, maybe. I wonder if any one is still here to work out there?» Umm… then why did you tell me 10 minutes ago we could eat out there?! Anyway, someone eventually came out to take our order. She wasn’t rude, but she definitely wasn’t friendly either. Obviously, her shift was ending soon and all she cared about was going home.
The drinks weren’t bad. The rum lemonade concoction I had was super tasty and was less than the $ 10 I was expecting it to be, so that was a fun surprise. The cheap bombs (that occasionally would magically end up in front of me) were one of the few positives, too. Food was standard pub food, really nothing special about it. I had the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich and my friend had a burger. Neither one of us was very impressed and it was nothing I would go out of my way to eat again.
With poor service and mediocre food, don’t waste your time or money at Kildare’s. OSU is full of quality bars and restaurants that won’t make you want to keep knocking back drinks to forget how awful of an establishment you’re in.

Since it’s opening… and my rave review of the place, it has gone WAAAYYYYY downhill. Place is falling apart, literally.
The floor is cracked and broken with missing pieces all over the place. Seriously, ridiculous. If you want to be located in a student area — know the upkeep that requires. We rage. HARD. Not to mention scuffed up chairs, banged tables. I mean, this isn’t just general wear and tear, people…
Oh, and the service. Ehh, sit at the bar and it’s great. Sit at a table and it’s laughable. Not to mention when you sit on the patio, be prepared to have a dirty ash covered table on a dirty trash covered floor. Really, the hostess could have easily taken a rag when sitting us and cleaned up all the gross cigarette ash and dust from the table.
Monday/​Wednesday are now $ 1 Yuengling bottles ALL DAY. Score. Tuesdays are .40 wing night, $ 2 Yuengling pints, and $ 3 LIT’s. Still a score.
Other than that… ehhhh, quality of food is going down and definitely the quality of the place. Over it.
Oh yeah, and to add… I’ve had friends there get charged drinks full price on ½ Thursday’s and close a $ 30 tab just to be charged $ 75 — with zero help from management. Sketch.

This place is cheesy. They’ve taken every aspect of a stereotypical Irish pub and tried to cram it down your throat. When you walk in, they ask you which theme room you want to sit in and offer you a tour. It feels like Epcot Center’s countries.
The service was mediocre. A bunch of college kids who don’t really know what they’re doing. They’re nice enough, but they’re slow.
The drinks are exactly what you would expect. If you want a Guinness, well, they have it.
The food is okay. Not bad, but nothing to write home about.
Probably a good place to go hang out for St. Paddy’s Day if you’re 25 or under. Otherwise, you probably can do better.

From the point when we walked in and had to wait while the hostess argued with two servers as to who got my table, I knew they hadn’t worked out the opening bugs yet. That unfortunately set the mood.
We were seated and the server rattled off something about what «section» we were seated in, but honestly everything just seems mishmashed together. We were seated directly under a speaker that was blasting the background music making it near impossible to have good conversation. My wife was seated with her back to an aisleway that was too narrow and was constantly bumped by passing servers. She ended up moving anyways, as a late afternono sun blasted her in the face due to the lack of shades on the windows. The décor is fairly cookie cutter (although someone really duped Gene M, because a lot of the stuff looks like reproduced stuff from china), and the overall vibe is that the place is just too big to be an «authentic» european pub.
The food was good, but honestly it’s overpriced. The beer was a proper pour and temperature for Guinness. With three beers, two entrees and tip, it set us back a bit over $ 50, not sure if there was any happy hour special, we were there around six and there wasn’t a discount on our bill.
Not a good first impression at all really, no reason to go back with the other area options.

This really is for the pour only. If you want a «perfect pint» look no further! I would go so far to say it is better than Fado. We hung out here after catching the number 2 down from worthington. We were there during Saturday afternoon. a ton of Columbus Crew fans were just dispersing. We sat at the brewery side of the bar and were poured 3 lovely guiness by Greg. Can’t speak to the food as we drank our lunch but this is my new go to for a excellent guinness.

Overpriced and poor service. Waited an hour for a dry over cooked burger. Offered our whole table three coupons to spend 10 more bucks for free nachos to make up for the bad food. I’ll give this place 3 months before it takes a nose dive.

care for a beating with your beer? if so, then kildare’s is definitely the place to go.
forget everything i once said. except for the part that the service is pathetically bad. i am completely horrified at what occurred at this sorry excuse for a bar/​restaurant. three neanderthal bouncers violently assaulted a calm, sober patron, including choking and punching him. it was disgusting, and despicable. after they were done, he was asking for the manager, and he never came. i hope this place goes out of business. fast. this is the last type of establishment the OSU campus needs.

Two starts is generous for this place, in my opinion.
First impression: confusion. There were signs everywhere — including on the menu– saying «Kildare coming in January 2012» yet we were sitting in the restaurant. Were they just doing a half-​hearted early opening? Was it still McFadden’s in transition?
We ordered drinks and although the beer list looked impressive, the beers on draft were not anything exciting. I ordered an Octoberfest (server didn’t know what October fest it was…) and was surprised to receive what was very clearly a Summer Shandy. I informed the server and she insisted that the bartender said it was an Octoberfest. No. Also, my hubs-​to-​be received his Coors Light beer in a can. At a restaurant. You can’t charge $ 11 for a sandwich and serve beer in cans, even if it is Coors Light…
Wings were mediocre and my pretzel sticks were fine. His sandwich, though, was terrible. Canned salmon on bland pita bread with cold fries. Not delicious.
Everything took forever to come out, too, including the cans of Coor’s light.
I would LOVE to see an Irish pub… or even a severely Americanized-​Irish pub in this place. The significant non-​undergrad population near Ohio State needs something better than what’s available. Maybe that’s what’s coming in January. But right now, this pub needs restaurant makeover from Robert Irvine terribly.

Brand new place that holds a lot of promise for those of us who did not enjoy McFadden’s.
They’ve got 11 import beers on draft and specialize in layered pints. They have daily drink specials making some of it more affordable. We went and enjoyed our $ 3 Jack & Coke’s and our complimentary appetizers — a large chicken fingers & fries platter and a spinach artichoke dip served in a pretzel bowl. The fries were average, chicken fingers were good, and mustard and bbq dipping sauces were impressively tasty! The artichoke dip was way too cream-​cheesey and I probably wouldn’t get it again — but the presentation in the pretzel bowl was great.
The atmosphere was a great improvement. The music wasn’t obnoxious and it’s 21+ after 10, so it was not the madhouse that McFadden’s was. Overall, I enjoyed the whole experience and I look forward to trying more of their menu items — like $ 5 burger night on Mondays! It’s new, and it’s gonna need a few more weeks to get that extra star or two, but I think it can do it.