Griffins of Kinsale

Great pub when you want a good beer and no B.S. No TV’s, no karaōke, just the basics done well. Food is good, beer is good, bartenders are awesome.

Best Irish pub I’ve been to. Loaded potato wedges on point. Great customer service. Really great environment and the Irish coffee is great!

I moved into the area back in August and was super excited to be within walking distance of a pub. Brought an out of town friend to check the place out for a drink on a Sunday night and was very disappointed. It was pretty empty, there were only a couple of groups around the bar area and no band playing. That just means more of an opportunity to have a relaxed night?
Nope.
We were greeted with at least 3 or 4 «locals only what the hell are you doing walking into my bar on a Sunday night» stares from those groups. I paid them no mind because this is America and I can visit any establishment I like. The poor bar tender (who looked extremely young to be working the bar on her own with a bar back) was very friendly and took our orders but looked really frazzled and upset. Turns out she was worried about crowd control at the bar because she had to kick out a customer who would not leave. This introduction just left me with a bad taste in my mouth all night about the place. I’ve been one more time since then and still felt that local pub weird vibe and I think its strange that I’ve only seen really young female bar tenders working. Not that I have anything against young women tending bar that’s awesome, the atmosphere around them is a little weird and watching dirty old men hit on them is gross.
Its not a terrible place and the service was fine but the atmosphere is not very welcoming and didn’t sit right with me. Hit up canoe house off fair oaks down the street instead or hop on the metro to congregation house off the filmore stop instead.

Excellent food, service, and atmosphere. Wish I lived locally, this would be my home away from home.

This place left a bad taste in my mouth (literally and metaphorically). The service absolutely blows. I realize there are only 2 servers/​bartenders on duty, but maybe the manager should think about that when trying to garner the business of over 75 guests at a time on a Saturday night. Maybe I’m being too hard, but after I realized there was effectively only one server, I kinda tuned out.
But how’s the food? Let me put it to you like this; when I finished my food, I sat up and said to myself, «I’m no longer hungry.»

Cool irish pub. Love the ambiance and décor. went here on a Friday night and there was a live band!
I would definitely come back here. There is a wide selection of drinks. They also have a food menu!
the bartender was very nice :)

Ordered the bacon cheese burger, it was pretty good, but you only get 4 potato ‘wedges’, which are like the size of thick fries. The price for a 20 oz brew is $ 7 almost seems a little high but, the location is in south Pasadena so you shouldn’t expect a normal «pub» price.

So my gf and I arrived a bit after midnight and the kitchen had already closed. We were famished and so bummed but the owner was kind enough pull strings to whip appetizers for us in less than 20 minutes. So there we were, munching on a big plate of yummy food and enjoying the music and architecture. Folks were good natured and asking about what we ordered! We had the most interesting conversations at the bar! No creepy guys to bother us which was a HUGE plus and the walk back to the car was stress free!

You know that indescribable feeling of falling backwards languidly into the twists and depths of a great adventure novel, steeped in magic and lore… well that is exactly how you feel when you finagle your way into this wonderful lil pub on an evening when the Brilliant Gypsies are playing! We ended up discovering this lil gem at the end of the summer Pasadena downtown concert night when we decided to have a night cap before dropping our friends off at the gold line!
Upon entering in the the dark and welcoming depths of this beautiful pub, our ears were given a warm and lulling embrace by the magical folkish Irish music of our new favorite Irish Band we have ever been fortunate enough to experience live! Brilliant Gypsies can play anything but we love our magical Irish music! They always have at least 3 different instruments in play, they range for guitar, violin, Irish bag pipe, drums of different sorts, cello, piano etc! The main singer has a real Irish accent to add to the authenticity of their Irish tunes! We looked it up and they have been playing here for years and years! Usually Brilliant Gypsies play here on a Friday or Saturday night till about 12am.
Venue
Great décor heavy with pubby whimsy from the windows to the walls and from the ceiling to the floors! They have an epic model ship that greets you right when you pop in!
Drinks
Drinks are of the usual pub bar suspects and if you need something to add a few more hairs on that chest to something to make that dainty pinky pop out, they have it all!
We have been back several times to watch the Brilliant gypsies and hope to eventually move to South Pas and become real local regulars!

Not the best. The service isn’t good at all. I asked for a drink with a certain liquor and the bartenders could not help me out at all. If you’re a bartender, you should be able to think of a drink to fit my needs. We’ve been here a number of times. Over priced. Food is eh. Only thing good is the live music.

I’ll start out by stating that the corned beef sliders were freaking awesome, maybe a little bit expensive, but fully worth it. The shepard’s pie was good, nothing to get super excited over. Also, there was a pretty limited beer on tap selection but whatever. It’s the place to go for hard drinks and appetizers!

Terrible service. Wait staff ignored us. Never checked on us. Food inedible. Had to go up to bar after 20 min wait just for drinks. No follow up. Had to initiate contact to get service. Slim well dressed waitress made attempt but poor at checking in if food was okay. The other was very attentive to male customers. Just rude. So disappointed because I live within walking distance on meridan. Will not stop again or bring my friends.

Good food– try the shepherds pie and bangers with ash– Harp lager and towards the weekend, live music where everyone who wants to join in the singing or band can! Lively jovial and warm atmosphere by the train tracks.

Moved to LA from Florida last December and this is by far my favorite Irish Pub so far. Great warm vibe with your typical Irish pub seating and décor. A band named Brilliant Gypsies were rocking our socks off with beautiful Irish diddies and doodles. We shared some black and tans and pickle back whiskey shots and perfectly ended our night here.
Went on a Sat randomly only because our friends who we needed to drop off at the Mission St train station wanted a night cap before heading back home. We came here after being disappointed at many of the bars in Pasadena area and this turned out to be a pleasant gem. Will certainly return!

This place is nice and the ambiance is really cool. It has a classic pub feel and I enjoy coming here. Their new burger deal is great. I haven’t been the biggest fan of their food before this, its just not really my style (although it was bad by any means), but the burger is fantastic and at $ 7 it is great value.
I love getting a $ 7 20oz pint with a $ 7 burger and fries. I will continue coming back.
One thing that they can improve on:
Please turn down the volume when live music is playing (whether it is the guy and his acoustic or the fiddle/​accordion duo). It is really loud (like nightclub loud) and I cant talk to the person sitting next to me. It makes it really crappy to be in there. When there is no live music, or they are taking a break and put on an iPod, it is really nice. I have had to leave several times become of the volume. PLEASE take note of this as I would love to come more often, but I have friends that don’t want to go back because of this.

So before we depart our beloved SoPas where we raised our girls, sent them off to college one by one… we must say goodbye to Griffins. Alas, a love/​not-​quite-​hate relationship.
We have frequented Griffins since they opened a few years ago now as we really believe in supporting our local economy. I go for the Bangers n’ Mash which are outstanding! The food overall is quite yummy for a small menu and fairly consistent. The place is still dark and loud but relaxed which is nice.
As for the bar/​food tenders… they definitely leave something to be desired. They pretty much only hire skinny, mid 20’s-30’s females in tight tops and push up bras. One wonders if they accidentally stepped into a Hooters. It wouldn’t be so bad if they were at least on the warm & fuzzy side. They’re not… unless you’re a single gentleman who looks to be of significant means. They don’t ignore you mind you, they’re just not «overly» attentive one could say. Getting the bill and then your change can be a challenge but overall, I will miss this little place where nobody «knew» my «name.»

This looks like your prototypical dark wooded, with little lighting, Irish pub. I don’t like these type of bars, so despite my husband always wanting to stop by, I avoided it. However, on Halloween, after dinner & drinks, he finally convinced me to have a drink here. And this time, he proved me wrong because it was a good time. There was a live Scottish band playing, bagpipes, kilts and all. The place was busy, but not too packed because we were able to get a seat right away. I drank a cider and he drank a Guinness.
Today, we stopped by for another cider & Guinness and there were quite a few people there. It was more subdued. So on a typical day, I’d give it 3 stars; but, when there is live music, it turns into a 4 star.

I came here once and I really liked it.
I thought the shepherd’s pie was awesome.
I came here again and got the shepherd’s pie again
And the contents were kind of undercooked.
So, not as excited to go back.
Some Irish beers on tap (Harp, Kilkenney, requisite Guinness)
Pretty much the only place to get a beer on Mission St.

This place has no TV, no Jukebox. This is a place where you talk to your fellow drinking buddy, without any distractions.
The food is ordinary, nothing special, but do you go to a bar looking for gourmet dinner?

Notice the period at the end of the name, «Griffins of Kinsale.», isn’t that odd? Well, I’ve been 3 times hoping for something different, and each time I walk away saying, «odd», and I leave wanting more.
I want it to be better, I really do. Minimal service, a cast of unusual characters, various casual old people, and maybe a gay vibe — I can’t quite figure it out. People either stay all day (and they look like it), or they come in for a drink and leave. I’ve been 3 times, and at the most, 10 other people are there. It’s really never busy.
Marked by an incredible ceiling, although a case could be made that it’s too much /​too busy, it’s rather stark, but has nice tables and chairs — dark wood. The problem, and what adds to it is an incredible amount of floor space with nothing. A small bar is the feature, and it may hold only 12. There’s no TV’s, not really any action.
What’s the best part? The music. Mostly Irish, but it could be The Killers and a little Van Morrison (who’s Irish), thrown in.
In the end, I’ll probably go every once in awhile. There’s a couple of restaurants that I’d like to try across the street and at the corner, and they do pour a mean Guinness.