Kells Irish Restaurant & Pub
| Address: | 530 Jackson St, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA |
| Phone: | +1 415-955-1916 |
| Site: | kellsirish.com |
| Rating: | 3.9 |
| Working: | 11:30AM–12AM 11:30AM–12AM 11:30AM–12AM 11:30AM–12AM 11:30AM–2AM 5PM–2AM Closed |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 9
A
A Private User
"If you cant visit Ireland come to Kells." Yeah, right. Are you kidding me? The only thing that was even remotely Irish in that place when I went was the friend I brought with me who is from Tipperary. Bartenders are not Irish, patrons arent Irish, and I dont mean the ones who claim, "My great-great grandma was Irish and came to the US during the potato famine!" There was no authenticity at all in that place. The Kells in San Fran is definitely not as good as their Seattle branch, but not too bad, as bars go. Went there last Friday and at first it was kind of dead for being a holiday weekend, but around 11:30-12:00 things picked up quick and I started feeling a serious club vibe. They DO charge a cover on Friday nights for the men, when I think women get in free. Yay ladies! Sorry guys. But when you see that the women are outnumbered nearly 3-1 in that place, I cant blame the establishment for trying to give women a greater incentive to come. Similar to the one in Seattle, there were not a lot of minorities who seem to frequent the place. I think I was the only black gurl there in the downstairs, and it was very disappointing that I was the only one who was dancing while everyone else was just standing around staring at me bobbing around with my blond afro, or just standing around NOT dancing. I mean, the music is fantastic, come on, DANCE people! As many other people noticed, it is quite a "meat market" down there. If I wasnt with my huge Irish (male) friend, Im sure I would have gotten hit on a number of times as the guys wasted no time approaching when he went for more drinks or to the bathroom. The crowd was down a little bit I heard from usual weekend nights because of the holiday, but normally I heard that one cant even walk in there on a usual weekend night. I had that experience at the Kells in Seattle. Music was good, but since Kells isnt technically a club, there is no dj. What really annoyed me that all of the music streamed through an ipod and the bartender kept having to run up to to change the songs to keep the music flowing. Apparently he had no playlist for random club hits, so he had to do everything manually. Often times this led to there being longish periods between each song which kind of dulled the mood and the excitement a bit. Thats kind of a downer. I will check Kells out again because I had a pretty nice time, and I would like to see what its like on a normal evening. Pretty nice north beach spot, though I think I prefer Maggie Mcgarrys or OReillys when it comes to Irish authenticity.
MI
Mike Nay
Im not sure how to describe this place. Its like a mix of everything you dont want an "Irish pub" to be. It really does give Irish bars a bad name. Id be shocked if everyone inside was 18 let alone 21. And quite a few were acting their age. The music was strange. There is nothing Irish about it, at least on a Friday night. I stayed because I had friends that were there and I paid a cover because Im a dude. Girls dont have to pay cover. So out of spite for all this bar stood for, I refused to buy any drinks the whole night although I desperately needed some for myself to deal with this pedicament I found myself in. The music was just from speakers and seems to have been curated from someones itunes list. The sound got loud then soft then loud again from song to song. And in between each song there was a 5 to 10 second pause that effectively killed any dance vibes that had been established. You can expect a mix of 90s rap and r&b and hip hop you kind of remember from 2006. A few karaoke classics at least where you could enjoy belting it out even if you werent enjoying "dancing". Also the downstairs was small and crowded and I spent more time getting bumped and shoved by people going back and forth from upstairs than I spent actually dancing. The drinks (that I was given) were average. Nothing to make up for everything else that was wrong about this place.
BE
beankell77
My name is Kell and my family history is Scottish. That should really say something about how badly I wanted this place to be awesome... or adequate like Kells Irish Brewery or the Seattle bar and restaurant. It was neither. Last Saturday evening I was there between 7:30-8:30PM with two friends for a late dinner and a drink or two. The shepards pie was adequate but not baked well enough on top and the fries were way past their hold time. They were out of the corned beef and cabbage... The calamari was crunchy, a bit chewy and totally unseasoned, but the potato skins were actually very good. The beer list is an embarrassment and has only Guiness as a remotely passable Irish-like option. The restaurant seems to focus on house cocktails (how very Irish). The service was okay, but holy crap... the music was INSANE loud. It was some sort of random mostly modern mix, but we literally had to yell at each other across the table. It was utterly destructive to any kind of conversation and killed any possible hope of decent ambiance. In short, theres virtually nothing Irish feeling about the place, the ambiance stinks, the food is best defined as edible and the service is mediocre. If you want to check the place out, Id do it now because I dont think it will be around long term.
CO
Corrie Davidson
Quaint patio tables outside lead into a dim, Irish bar that resembles an old world Italian restaurant in some respects. They have a comedy club (The Purple Onion) downstairs. The cocktails sound good but we werent impressed. The cushions in the booths are well worn and ripped in some places. Its a comfortable place and low key. Flat screen TVs show the games while business travelers swill booze at the bar.
SH
Shannon Sweetser
This spot is a weird mix of things: part Irish bar, part Italian restaurant, part neighborhood bar. I asked the waitress which drink to choose, she pointed me at three and I settled on the Kentucky Lemonade. It was watery and strong; next time ill opt for a beer. Friendly service, a comfortable energy and no-pretenses vibe make this place.
MA
María Fernanda Orduña Audirac
este lugar es increiblee con salas con diferentes tipos de musica, hay mucha gente y nunca te aburres porque andas de un lado a otro :D lo amaras
DA
Daniel Gadala-Maria
Came in late one night for some beers. Was a nice enough place, but the beer selection was quite boring... seems a trend with Irish pubs. Decor was what youd expect. Bartender was nice enough. Overall, an ok experience. Im curious as to what was going on downstairs, though... looked like some kind of frat party
FO
Fogarasi Gábor
Something changed, loved the place for over a year, been there every week and suddenly they got a problem with our service dog. Repeated humiliation, truly ruined the evening twice - havent been there since. Is it really wise to treat people badly, especially on Monday evenings when the place is half empty?
MI
Mitchell Lee
Theres nothing especially striking about this pub - the atmosphere is about what you would expect and the food is decent. They do have a good sized downstairs section where they sometimes host comedy skits (we went for one and really enjoyed that), but it still feels a bit cramped and dark in there.
