Kelley O’Neil’s

This place rocks
4 bands every night
Great prices for a great pour
Be prepared to squeeze in late night

Tonight I was very disappointed by the service I received. A friend of mine was having a medical emergency outside and when I tried to get immediate attention from the staff to let them know what was going, they told me to go to the back of the line because they had drinks to serve. I am so shocked by this response, and will never come back to this bar again. Why a disappointment in service.

Ah yes, another awesome Irish Pub! Kelley O’Neil’s is special. I like the atmosphere, the décor, the menu, and of course the drinks! Like the other big Irish pubs on Oahu, they have a monthly Irish whiskey special along with other great drink specials. The food is good (I liked everything I’ve tried so far, especially the potato skins!). Plus, live music every night! As an added bonus, on weekends you can take the shamrock shuttle van to the other Irish pubs for free! (Don’t forget to tip the driver!) The bartenders are always great, even when they’re slammed. Sometimes there is a very diverse crowd of people in the bar, which makes it fun to people watch. Older people, younger people, tourists, college kids, and other people from all walks of life come through here! This is a perfect place to experience an Irish pub.

I came in here with some friends in September when we had a skip day out. This place had great happy hour prices. I had a few drinks with them. Good drinks and the bartender was pleasant. A few of the people we were with had been here before. I would definitely come back to this place and maybe try food next time.

Found this place wandering around after shopping. It’s a hole in the wall Irish bar but was such a good find! We had dinner and drinks and listened to an amazing guitar player. They had happy hour until 8pm with great deals and the «Phillip» sandwich was a mix between a philly and a French dip and was incredible!

The bartender was great. This is a nice place to get away from the hustle and bustle of Waikiki to have a beer or two.

Date: September 4, 2015
Location: Kelley O’Neil’s on Lewers Street
Reason to go: Happy Hour with new friends
I have passed Kelley O’Neil’s a lot of times when I’m in the Waikiki area. On Friday afternoon it was the first time that I actually stepped foot into the bar. I was in the company of a few new friends that I have met that morning for breakfast.
Our group quickly sat at the bar and we were greeted by the bartender. It seems two members of our group are steady patrons of the bar and they seem to be friends with the bartender. Those two individuals, husband and wife, knew exactly what they wanted to drink. One of my other friends says «I’ll have what he’s having» and the bartender makes it right away. I ended up ordering Tequila Sunrise ($ 3.00 during happy hour) two times before I closed out my tab.
While mingling with my new friends I noticed that there were other older looking patrons enjoying their drinks at the bar. There was one older lady sitting at one of the tables and reading a book. I wonder what book was she reading and who the author is?
Fast and friendly service by the bartender. I have not had any food from here but would love to pay a visit in the future for some food. Hopefully when I do make my way back to Kelley O’Neil’s in Waikiki I’d be able to enjoy some live music as well.

You got to love Irish pubs. You can anywhere in the world (I’m excluding Ireland here) and you walk in and get the same feeling. There’s always a band playing late into the night, and it’s always the perfect place if you’ve got a few drinks under your belt already and don’t mind a loud boisterous good time. And then you stumble out and realise that, that’s right, you’re in Hawaii. Time for a cocktail somewhere.

This place has the worst service in town. Don’t waste your time or money there. The music is to loud to take with your friends at the table and did I mention how shitty the service is. Go across the street for better drink prices and service.

Tuesdays nights are a good night at Kelly’s. Open til 4am.
They let people smoke cigarettes inside.
Late night there is a hot dog stand right out front.
There have been a lot of places: bars & Clubs located at this location (311 Lewers) over the years: THE JUNGLE, was a 4am house techno club last millennium.

My dad is staying in Waikiki and wanted to meet up for some drinks and food, so we met up at Kelly O’Neils.
He asked for their best Guinness on tap, I had a Miller Lite (no judgment please LOL), and my boyfriend had a Sierra Nevada. They brought out the Guiness that must have been sitting for a while because it wasn’t water falling like a Guiness does – and it did not taste good (minus one star for an IRISH bar).
As for food, we started with the whiskey BBQ wings, and the onion rings, garlic fries, and popcorn chicken platter. Pretty standard bar food so two thumbs up. We also ordered The Phillip (cheesesteak/​reuben), beef stew pie, and just a small Caesar salad. Although the Phillip had more bread than I prefer, the flavors were amazing and cooked perfectly! However, the beef stew pie was a let down. It came out beautifully and we were all excited to try it, but I had one bite and one bite only. It desperately needed salt, pepper, and anything else to give it flavor! My father said that he’d prefer the frozen pot pies than what he had (minus one star). Which is really disappointing because we were REALLY excited to try this place.
Overall, we’d still probably come again because they have so many other «Irish» bar food options to choose from and the service and entertainment is great.

It may seem like a typical dive bar from the outside, but it’s the kind of place that grows on you. They have everything the usual Irish bar delivers plus Irish fare during the day.
Kelly’s sports a full liquor bar as well as several beers on tap and numerous bottles to add.
Negative: if you’re aim is to watch a sports game, the TVs aren’t as plentiful or large as some of the other sports bars in the area.

My sis and I dubbed this spot «Conan o Brian’s» — inside joke — but while this really isn’t my scene, I wanted to give props where it’s due.
I usually come with my sis and we always happen to get the same waitress, who is amazingly nice to us. The only other workers I’ve met are the bouncers and since we’re Polynesian, well, you know how it is: we connect fast lol. Always such a pleasure to interact with them. I just want to hug them too, like big teddy bears lol.
As far as the scene goes, I like that there’s a little bit of an older crowd but nonetheless, I can’t seem to escape the young pretentious 20-​somethings trying to out impress each other with their tight clothing and über high heels. This is a bar. Not a club. I find it so weird. Makes me really miss the locals bars in Vegas.
Other than that, there isn’t much else to say. The drinks don’t seem to be watered down. Girls, watch out for creepers though. Always without fail, there’s old creepers trying to take girls home for sex. Keep your eyes out and be with friends who won’t get very drunk so they can look out for you.

It’s really, really rare for me to have a hard time deciding what I like the most about a place. Usually pretty easy to determine what I like the least. Both were difficult at Kelley O’Neil’s. I’ll first say there was nothing I really disliked. So much to love here.
For a Thursday night we were surprised at how many people were in the bar. We arrived around 5 so figured it was happy hour bringing in the smiles, dancing, and good spirits, but the great attitudes continued well over the next hour.
Husband and I just wanted a bite to eat on our last night on vacation, but found great live music, terrific food, & a hard working bartender. The other patrons were a lot of fun too, and we danced and chatted while we devoured a delicious homemade Caesar salad $ 4, 4 crispy potato skins $ 7.50, & a basket of fries, onion rings (the best), & popcorn chicken with two dipping sauces $ 10. $ 3 well drinks were a great happy hour deal also.
Leilani was behind the bar and I right away noticed that she was working the large place mostly by herself. I compliment her at how great of a job she was doing to be attentive to all of the customers. I ended up meeting the daytime bartender, Julie, who was also really friendly and had a lot of great things to say about the place. It made me happy this was the last stop on our trip, and to be supporting such a wonderful establishment. Really felt welcomed by the warm, friendly environment and lively music.

We brought our kids here for dinner, they are 3 and 7. There was only one table in the back that can accommodate more than 2 – 3 people. Felt like we were maybe in the wrong place.
BUT, the fish and chips were great, so we’re the fries, and the popcorn chicken was the best, not the flavor particularly but the size and how they were cooked perfectly. They had great beer with ½ Guinness and ½ kina type beer. The well drinks were chosen eap at $ 3 each.
Cons: water tasted bad, not a kid type atmosphere and typical pub food.
The staff was effective.

If I could give a zero star I would.
Bouncers are rude and think they’re privileged. Can’t get into the bar with YOUR REAL ID all because you got a haircut and are wearing contacts. We literally had to get a cop to get it back and he even said that the bouncers are idiots. Don’t waste your time. It’s Hot. Expensive. And Empty.
Let’s put it this way. The bar across the street had a line that was 10x busier than this place, and with a name like this ON SAINT PATRICKS DAY, that must mean something.
Don’t waste your time

Pretty solid Irish pub, especially for being on a Hawaiian island, so far from anything remotely Irish. Nice whiskey, Scotch and bourbon selection, and even monthly whiskey specials. The staff is extremely attentive, friendly and talkative. The décor is a but dark and provides a great escape from the bright and sunny hustle and bustle just outside.
To me, thus us a must while on the island. There is a shamrock shuttle on the Fridays and Saturdays that makes the rounds from pub-​to-​pub and Kelly O’s is one of stops.

3.5 rounded up
The name may be Irish, but Kelly’s seems more like your neighborhood dive bar. The live entertainment varies during the week, they have everything from Irish folk bands to rock music. It’s quite entertaining to watch the drunk older patrons dance and enjoying themselves.
There’s quite a mixed crowd here. Mostly tourist, but a good amount of locals too. There’s usually quite a bit of military patrons here whenever we go. It’s loud and is usually crowded, sometimes you have to stand around for quite some time for a bar stool or table to open up.
— They did away with their smoking, so you won’t leave this place reeking of cigars and cigarettes anymore.
My friends like to come here for the pau hana drinks whenever we decide to hit up Waikiki. The bartenders tend to have a heavy hand when pouring, bonus points for that.
FISH AND CHIPS ($ 9):
This is what I come for. I think Kelly’s has one of the best fish and chips on the island. Better than Murphy’s and even better than the dry mahi mahi f&c from Uncle’s Fish Market and Grill.
*** For fish & chips, I prefer either cod or pollack because I like my f&c moist and flakey. I also don’t care for that «fishy» taste that the drier mahi mahi tend to have.
— 2 to 3 big fillets of pollack are battered and fried to a golden finish. The batter is thin and non-​greasy. My friends all agreed that these were the best f&c they’ve had yet.
— Their fries are cut on the thicker side, but perfectly crisp.
GUINNESS PIE ($ 8.25):
Beef, potatoes, carrots, celery and onions are marinated and cooked in Guinness prior to being baked under a thin flour crust.
— Huge. About 10 inches, good size for $ 8.
— However, I wasn’t impressed at all with the taste. The «gravy» was watery and bland, a bit of salt would’ve went a long away.
— There wasn’t much beef in there. In fact, there wasn’t much of anything in there except the watery brown sauce.
I’ll just stick to their fish & chips from now on.

One of the strangest bars I’ve ever been to. So from what I can gather, its a traditional divey irish bar that caters to an older crowd that happens to be close to a club that young kids go to pregame at. The result? Drunk 60 years hitting on and dancing with drunk 22 year olds. It was pretty weird.
Lot of live music which was nice, drink prices weren’t bad either. On the other hand, it was a dirty beat-​up bar with a creepy crowd.
Go for the people watching but don’t go out of the way to get there.

That’s right folks! Five Big Stars for Kelly O’Neal’s Bar in Waikiki !!!
This is my fourth update for Kelly O’Neal’s and I am happy and proud to report this news update!
Kelly O’Neal’s management is officially enforcing the Honolulu law that bans smoking in public places like bars and restaurants.
NO SMOKING ALLOWED AT KELLY O’NEALS ! YEAH !!!
History: Kelly O’Neal’s has always fought the smoking ban. I think they felt their business would drop if patrons were not allowed to smoke. So they took the position that it was not their responsibility to confront smokers. Smokers would be allowed to take their own chances on being cited by HPD. I don’t understand why they changed the policy. I haven’t figured this one out yet… but I don’t care!
Venue: Small Irish bar with food, Waikiki Location, Irish beer and Whisky specials daily, Darts and live music nightly and very late night hours.
Music 7 nights a week: Master’s of OZ are the regular band and they are good. An Irish band plays one night a week. Fill in bands on other nights. Small dance floor. A good time is had by all.
Food: Small menu including Guinness Pie, fish and chips, burgers, fries, onion rings, chicken wings, veggie burgers and the like. The food is good and comes out fairly quickly.
The Scene: Irish Bar in Waikiki attracts a wide variety of patrons including locals, military, visitors of all ages. Mostly age 30’s 40’s and 50’s. But, my group sometimes includes our younger co-​workers and they seem to enjoy it. Probably not for the younger crowd in general. There are some old timers who normally leave before 7:30p. There is a bouncer and ID checker after 8pm.
Service: The regular waitresses know me and my friends. It helps when they know and trust you. They all quickly learn about my Guinness and veggie burger and know what I’m going to order.
My reason for going: My friend has a band that plays there twice a month. Me and a couple of other friends always go to see this band. Sometimes there are just 2 or 3 of us. Sometimes there are 20 + in our group. We have a Japanese friend who always rounds up a few of her friends and some tourists and brings them along to join us.
I’ll say it again: NO SMOKING ALLOWED AT KELLY O’NEALS ! YEAH !!!
It’s great! I LOVE IT !!