O’Briens Irish Pub

O’Brien’s is a great place to stop and have a quick drink, or a great Irish meal of bangers and mash or fish ‘n chips! Then again, it’s a great place to start playing darts and really tie one on, too!
This particular trip to O’Brien’s was a yearly celebration of life for my father who LOVED to go here when he would come into Tampa visiting me and the fam from Illinois. We had alot of fun, fuzzy memories hanging out with some of the local guys like Sam & Bert! (Hi guys!!) Always drinking Crown and a beer chaser… at least for me! :-P
We ended up having the pretzel sticks and beer cheese which is amazing! Then we shared loaded fries with Irish gravy and some fish and chips all around! They are thicker chips/​fries with Guinness gravy that you could drink. Then, the fish is fried without TOO much crust-​just the perfect amount. Not the crumbly kind of crust either-​the yummy thick kind that leaves the fish all protected and moist!
Mmmm! Time to go back and play some darts! Oh! In case you’re a dart snob – no electric boards here – only the true Irish boards!

Nice pub! First of all the sliders are amazing! We also had nachos and it was a lot of food for two. It was enough for four but it was so good! We had lunch on a Saturday and I can imagine that Friday and Saturday nights are pretty busy, they have room for music and a great bar.

Great local bar. Always great service. Great prices too. Fun atmosphere. Laura and Pete are phenomenal bartenders. Ask for them if you can. Always great service.

The 5 stars is based on the type of establishment! This is a five star gastropub! Let’s start with service… I have been here 5 or 6 times and never made it 5 steps without being greeted. Once seated a server or bartender makes contact instantly letting you know they see you and will be right there. The last few times we have been there we just sat at the bar with Tigger (Yes meet her and you will see the name fits!) Tigger was speaking with a guest and at the same time advised us she would be there. While taking our drink order she greeted another customer, confirmed another round for another guest and nodded to the food runner that she saw the food dropped off. All of which was handled and we got our beers in less than 2 minutes!
Now on to the food. We love the blue cheese chips to start! This time we both had burgers and they were big and very flavorful. We also ordered an Emerald Isle turkey to go. That too was very good!
Tigger called everyone by name and NEVER let our drinks get low without checking up on us.
Summarizing: If you are looking for Burns type cuisine this place is not for you… if you are looking for a great casual place to eat, hang with friend and listen to awesome live music, it is a must see!

We went to O’Briens with some family and were planning to have a few drinks and some eats. Having been to this neighborhood bar many times previously, we were surprised by the commentary of the gentleman leading trivia. In fact, we were embarrassed by his political rants over the house speaker when be vehemently endorsing Donald Trump for president. The food and service were average, but the atmosphere left too Koch for us to be desired.

LOVE THIS PLACE! My fiancé and I go here very regularly since we live right next to it lol never disappointed when we come here. Food is great, prices are great, they have awesome deals on beer pitchers and the vibe is great too.

Cool place with live entertainment, good drinks and good food! It’s very spacious inside and outside, including an outside bar. I don’t come here often, but it’s nice knowing there’s a bar, such as O’Brien’s close to home :)

Such a great time at this place. Awesome burgers and live music!

We had a large group to celebrate mom’s 75^th birthday! We had Reuben potato skins, garlic wings and Pittsburgh beef sandwich. All was good. This is a fun place to bring family. The band starts at 9:00pm. They even have a 5.00 off Unilocal check in coupon. That’ll work. Our waitress tiger took care of 15 of us. Good food and good atmosphere!!! Lots of tv’s to watch sports! I recommend it

Holy cow! if you are a steelers fan this place is amazing !! Great food service and a whole lotts steeler nation love

«I love this bar». When relocating our family to Northdale/​Tampa from middle Georgia, we were looking for culture and options when it came to dining etc. We have found it here in Northdale! Our very first day in our new home my husband and I decided we wanted to «go where the locals go» so we Googled O’Briens. We took our 12 year old daughter with us to lunch but have also been on weekends and sat at the outside patio bar for «adult» time. Everything we have tried on the menu has been great and the staff and management are wonderful too. We have found our local hangout spot!

O’Brien’s is consistently impressive. The staff as a whole is friendly and they treat the guests like family. The food is better than «bar food»: THE BEST spinach artichoke dip I’ve ever had, served in a bread bowl with toasty garlic bread pieces. I bring out of town visitors here and they have all loved the food and the atmosphere. LIVE music is enjoyed at least four days a week. The covered patio is large and relaxing. I can’t say enough about this spot; best bar/​restaurant in Carrollwood, if not Tampa!

LATE NIGHT FOOD WITH SIDE OF ENTERTAINMENT
In seeking a fun, late night place to eat as well as grab drinks while getting entertained by live music, reviews led us to O’Briens and I’m so glad we went.
LATE NIGHT FOOD
No typical sports bar food here. The food was crafty and presented well. The Spinach and Artichoke Dip came in a fluffy Bread Bowl which held up until the last scoop. The Bleu Cheese Steak Flatbread was a party of different flavors come together: creamy Bleu Cheese against the Beef and Bacon with a slightly tangy Balsamic glaze. Sweet Potato Fries? OMG – with a dallop of Marshmallow fluff on top. Great texture and flavor. Other items like the Calamari and Fried Pickles also delivered.
PARTY ATMOSPHERE
We started out in the patio – even on a humid night we were comfy over there. Televisions with different games everywhere. Lively conversations but nobody rowdy or annoying. But once we finished eating and went inside to hear the band… I don’t know if O’Brien’s always has a band this good (local group named Souliz) but they had EVERYONE’s attention captured AND many dancing in their seats or on the floor. Again – nobody annoying or rowdy.

O’B’s… What’s there to say. It’s a great neighborhood bar, where the staff knows your name and the service is always above par. The other food is usually good! All around a great hangout!

In the back corner of a strip plaza across Dale Mabry from Northdale entrance and behind CVS. This is really a bar with inside and outside eating. They have darts — its a bar! My server was absolutely excellent, both friendly and helpful. She brought me a taste of a type of cider so I could decide — very nice. They carry 2 ciders on tap: Angry Orchard, a full bodied hard cider, and Magners, which tastes more like a light cider. The draft cider was outstanding. I tried the wee versions of the shepherds pie and the chicken pot pie and both were excellent and very true to taste and traditional Irish recipes. As an appetizer to share try the homemade potato chips with blue cheese and bacon. For a yummy twist ask for balsamic vinegar to drizzle on top — Wow! There were distinct crowds around the bar, darts, inside seating area and patio bar so you can probably find your group in the mix.

A friend and I went to O’Briens last night out of desperation. The place that we had originally planned on attending was having an event and wouldn’t be open until later.
We pulled up to the strip mall off of Dale Mabry Hwy and found a space in the crowded parking spot. As we walked in, my friend and I were ID’d by a bouncer at the door. We found two seats at the bar and an older gentleman came to take our drink orders. We both asked for vodka sodas, as they had a special on Smirnoff at the time. He came back and told us that they were out of regular but we could have a flavored vodka, which was fine by me. However, my friend has an allergy so she had to get something else. I think it would’ve been nice to be offered something similar at the same rate, but that did not happen. I thought my drink tasted fine, but my friend said it was tonic water instead of soda water. She asked for a new drink and the bartender haughtily threw one together while slamming everything possible in the process.
It was a Saturday night so the place was slammed. My main issue was the age difference. I would say this bar is aimed more toward an older crowd. I probably would’ve given O’Briens a higher rating regardless of the poor customer service, because everyone has a bad day every now and then. However, I really just did not enjoy the experience very much at all.

I have not been back to obriens in a while since I received extremely poor service from the female older bartender that works days. My friend was really in the mood for some Irish food hesitantly I went. Chris the bartender really blew me away. He was so full of energy so funny and a great people person. The food was amazing and the drinks are nice and cold. Thanks to chris I will return.

Great local bar. If you’re a long time O’Briens veteran who remembers the old location from years (and decades) ago but hasn’t been back, this one is much better. The old nasty bathrooms have been replaced with modern bathrooms that are often (I wouldn’t say always lol) clean. While I do miss the outdoor tiki hut, the new outdoor patio is FAR larger. Many of the same bartenders remain, such as Trish and Gino.
So the normal review for people who’ve never been; great menu for a bar. Yes they have all the typical bar crap like loaded nachos that you’d expect, but they actually have some not bar food options too. The apple pecan, cobb and farmhouse salads are very reasonable. Quesadillas are of course commonplace at any bar or restaurant, but theirs have decent sized chunks of chicken and don’t taste like they were microwaved to melt the cheese. The club sandwich is large, but they go a bit heavy on the mayo so you may want to ask for it on the side if you’re not a mayo fan. Corned beef sandwich is very good. Finally, angus burger is great too.
Drink prices are run of the mill, tend to be a bit high for premium booze but if you’re cool with well drinks, normally they’re cheap and strong. Good happy hour prices, and good beer prices during NFL games.
Inside, there is no smoking. There also tends to be live music on several nights per week. The complaint about inside is it’s a concrete floor and tiled ceiling, and it gets VERY loud in there when there’s a band playing since there is nothing to absorb sound. It’s easily possible to leave with your ears ringing if you’re in there for longer than an hour when there’s live music. They have darts and golden tee along with a bunch of TV’s.
Outside, unfortunately neighbors complained about noise so they had to add these plastic curtains around much of the outside patio area. This has had the bad side effect of making the outside pretty smokey around the bar. There is some seating outside of this area on either end of the patio but those seats go quickly, so it’s hit or miss on getting seats. They do allow cigars as well as sell a limited selection, although I wouldn’t buy a cigar there, the humidor is basically just a glass box sitting behind the cash register, so you don’t really want one of those.
Service is typically pretty decent inside or outside. It is kid friendly during the day.
This bar is a hangout for UF Gators games and NFL Steelers football, so if you hate those teams, better not go on a day they’re playing. :-)

I recently went to O’Bians Irish Pub, for a social gathering. This was my fist visit since they moved from Main Street area off Dale Mabry.
I did not eat, so this is just about the establishment as a bar and social venue.
It is actually quite large inside with a bandstand and dance floor. There is also an outside area for smokers and nature lovers.
The estaishment easily held our 150 people and room for more.
The acoustics were good as was the bad and the dance floor was big enough, not to be tripping over people. Stop laughing, yes I got out and showed them a few moves.
The seating is hard and uncomfortable, but it is what it is. The staff was great and kept everyone fed and watered, without much of a wait. I only had wine, so can’t tell you about the cocktails. Staff was pleasant and efficient. I thought it odd that around 11 PM our server left and we got a new one, she was also delightful and they handled our crowd well.
It was an enjoyable evening stepping out. I would and will return to try their food.
What’s a girl to do? Gotta get out and dance from time to time.

So, I don’t live in Carrollwood, however, O’briens is my go to spot for St. Patrick’s Day. There is a ton of space and they always have great Irish entertainment on this day.
On any other random night, OB’s is still a great place to grab a beer with friends in a laid back environment. I used to be somewhat of a regular here, but have stopped going as much. O’briens will always have a special place in my heart. If you are looking for an authentic Irish pub with lots of space with a laid back daytime environment or a rowdy night time environment, look no more!