The Bards

Best chicken pot pie in the city. Also the wait staff is pretty fun and it’s definitely a great place to frequent in the city or to stumble upon.

Best nachos in Philadelphia? Totally worth the hype, the Bards brings it! Ask for Michael!

My favorite Irish bar in Philly!!! Delicious food and wonderful staff. Wednesday is late night happy hour and their beer selection is superb!!!

Hovering between a 3 and 4. The food isn’t great but happy hour specials until 8? SOLD.
If you’re looking for dinner there are lots of other options in this area but service and drink specials are the real draw here. Super reasonable in a sea of hoitie toitie bars and restaurants.
Got loaded fries of some kind and deviled eggs. They weren’t bad but they weren’t great either. A couple drinks in they tasted pretty good. Service was awesome and that more than makes up for a variety of ills.
Great for delayed happy hour or late night drinks.

The bartenders are always so kind and welcoming. I go a lot by myself, and they are always up for a chat, but are also happy to let me be when I bring a book and just grab a beer and read. The food is good, and the drinks are cheap. Eddie the bartender especially was so great and offered to let me try a few beers so I could expand my horizons. This is a great spot and always a good time.

Cheap beer, plenty of seating, decent bar fare.
A waiter named Alexander single handedly made the experience pleasant and easy. Thanks man.

It’s a classic pub. Pub food and cheap beers. Plus darts!

Cheap beers and large tables. The atmosphere is A-​OK and pretty quiet.

You know why I know that this place is top-​notch? Because I walk in, looking for food (a credit card minimum cast off from the despicable joint next door – see my other review) and the bartender helps me find food. Not at his place, mind you. His kitchen was closed. But, he tells me the only bar in the quadrant selling food at the late hour, inviting me to spend my money elsewhere. He gives me directions.
I stayed. Attentive service. Felt like a human being. Is there ANYTHING more one can ask from a bar?
No.
Besides the great atmosphere other reviews detail, I review the personality. That’s what makes a joint.

Beers is good. Food is good. What else do you need? Highly recommended the Bangers and Mash. Been coming here every now and then since 2012 and the food is consistently good.

Pros: Excellent service, super laid back atmosphere, not bad prices (we spent ~$ 35 for 5 beers and some pretzels), good happy hour (Wed late night happy hours are great for those wandering around CC after sips!), clean bathrooms (!!) and great options on tap
Cons: Questionable cheese sauce that came on the side of our pretzels, questionable broccoli that also came on the side of our pretzels, seemed a little dirty (but it is a bar after all)
I would happily return for some happy hour pours when I’m in the mood to relax with a beer and some good company.

A pretty standard Irish bar that is woefully underrated — great atmosphere and excellent pours make it stand out from others in the area.
I love Irish bars — that homey atmosphere, random Irish stuff on the walls, chatty bartenders and excellent Guinness pours. So it’s no surprise that I absolutely adored the place; for happy hour, a half & half was only $ 5, an absolute steal for Guinness and Harp. Our bartender was attentive and friendly and created our beers like a pro. I’m not sure what all the complaints are about — this place strikes me as a low key legitimate Irish bar, and you can’t beat that. Overall, the combination of happy hour specials and Irish charm, you really can’t go wrong.

The bards is by far my favorite place to have a beer and relax. I have to say that the weeknight bartenders are smart and funny and remember my drink choices. Always a good time is to be had at the bards!

This place is great — except for this particular anecdote. I came in this evening with some industry friends and asked for a Russian Imperial Stout (priced at $ 8). They were out, which I understood and was then presented with a Russian River Damnation. I was happy to drink it, but was confused as to why my bartender went from a RIS to a Belgian. that cost $ 17 dollars!!! I’m not sure if he doesn’t know beer, if he was trying to sell me, or what. His service was good, but he needs some work.

We stopped in for a quick beer before Valentine’s Day dinner, and have been there plenty of times before. It’s an Irish-​style pub, similar to the appropriately-​named Irish Pub, which is practically right next door. While, not as nice, or as large, as the Pub, it’s a lot quieter with (in my opinion) friendlier and more helpful staff. When deciding between here and the Pub, we typically go with the Bards, and are perfectly happy with our choice.
TL;DR: extensive Irish influence, friendly staff, calm ambiance — nice, relaxed place.

We went for Quizzo and apparently they don’t know how to plug into the speakers or maybe we should have sat closer in order to hear better. The beer was cold and the fried pickles were pretty good. This place is loud. Everyone talking over everyone else. I will give this place a try on a different day other than quizzo. Perhaps my opinion of their noise level will change.

The Bards happy hour goes until 8pm. It’s located in Rittenhouse. They had me with the extended happy hour, but you can’t beat the convenience of the Rittenhouse location.
The specials included $ 4 house wine and bar food around $ 5. There was more to the happy hour menu, but that fit my fancy. Neither the house Chardonnay nor the bar food was that extraordinarily awesome but the price was right and the atmosphere was fun. The soft pretzel was warm and buttery, with a mild cheese dip. The wing platter was pretty good. The wings were meaty and plentiful with probably 8 or so wings. The spicy BBQ sauce really wasn’t hot but it was tangy and had a nice flavor.
It’s actually kind of funny because the Bards is an Irish Pub located on the same block as the Irish Pub. They have totally different feels though. The Bards seemed very cozy, complete with a fireplace. It was still a pub but on the slightly more upscale side.
The bartenders were great! They were friendly, attentive and enjoyable to be around. I didn’t catch her name, but one of the female bartenders makes a great cinnamon toast crunch-​like shot.
Fun times, fun place, good deals. No reason not to return.

The Bards might be my favorite Irish pub in Philly. A lot of that is because it’s not just a sports bar with shamrocks, if you want that stumble a few doors down. It’s a really down to earth place, with good food and good beer.
The front of the house is done up to look like a farm house, with a stone wall and well pump bracketing several tables. There’s a ramp up from there to the main bar area, with a long bar on one wall and a row of tables on the other. There’s a dining room with a fireplace behind that.
They have a good mix of craft beer and Irish classics on tap, and can pour a Guinness correctly. The food menu is a good mix of modern pub fare and some traditional dishes. They do a good job with the bar trifecta of wings, quesadillas, and mussels.

I consider Bards the Irish Pub’s next-door’s red-​headed stepchild. This seems like its the Irishmans’ Irish bar. Seems to be a place where a lot of Irish expats congregate. They have a good beer selection, and their food’s pretty good. They have a pretty good fish n chips, Irish/​British style, with mashed green peas. They also don’t have too much for vegetarians/​vegans, except for onion rings, fries, chips, & a veggie burger.
Unfortunately, this is where the spillovers from Irish Pub right next door tend to gravitate to when they’re packed. You can tell when it’s filled with them, you can just smell the douchebaggieness. Other times, which is most of the time, it’s just a regular CC bar, except with more selections of Irish whiskey & beer. Oh, and they might have cricket or football (soccer) on the tv. Finally, there’s no toilet in the men’s bathroom. Just fyi.

I get a little giddy when I find a really good happy hour spot: enter The Bards! You can’t touch a 5 – 8:00 happy hour with half price drafts and pub food. The real surprise was that the draft list AND the food were both well above average. Troegs Dark Rye and Curious Traveller for $ 3.00, yes please.
From a food perspective, the quesadillas for are excellent and the buffalo/​gorgonzola hot wings were great. I also appreciated that our non-​bone loving friend asked for and received her boneless tenders tossed in the buffalo sauce without any issues.
Service is very friendly and the vibe is relaxed. You can watch sports or just hang out here, and it’s a nice break from the upper crust Rittenhouse establishments all around it.