Kehoes Pub — Restaurant in Dublin

We’d heard great things about Kehoe’s — a lovely, traditional Dublin pub — and were excited to visit. We were lucky to find stools right at the bar, or so we thought. It was busy, and the two bar staff were clearly working hard and efficiently.

My husband ordered a Guinness while we waited, but we couldn’t help overhearing the older bald barman make a rather unfriendly comment to the younger female barmaid about another customer who’d just left. They were stood right in front of us when he said this. It felt unnecessarily negative, but we carried on regardless.

A little later, I ordered an Irish Coffee from the same barmaid, who began preparing it in front of us — fascinating to watch, especially as I’d never seen one made before. The older barman then took over and, out of nowhere, snapped at my husband with, “What are you looking at?” He seemed genuinely irritated and continued muttering about people staring at him all day. It was rude, intimidating, and completely uncalled for.

We would normally enjoy a bit of banter, but his tone and attitude made the atmosphere really uncomfortable. I actually felt embarrassed for the younger barmaid, who stayed professional throughout.

Thankfully, a couple of other barmen later came on shift and were far more pleasant, but the damage was done. We stayed for a few drinks but felt uneasy for the rest of our visit.

It’s a real shame — Kehoe’s is a beautiful pub with great character, but one miserable barman’s attitude completely spoiled the experience for us. €40 for three pints of Guinness and two Irish Coffees shouldn’t leave you feeling like you’ve done something wrong just by being there. We're not strangers to Dublin, so know that this is not normal behaviour from Dubliners. Embarrassing, that man...

This place is honestly one of, if not, the best pub in Dublin. Every single member of staff are the most friendliest welcoming people you will ever meet, I’m not familiar with their names just yet but honestly they’re all amazing, the atmosphere is always great and my partner always states it’s the best pint of Guinness you’ll ever get! & trust me, he has tried a lot of places and a LOT of Guinness 😂 They have a fabulous New Zealand Savuingon blanc (and I’m very fussy) 11/10 on drink quality. Although this isn’t the closet pub to our home we travel that bit further and have made this our new local as it’s just a great place to be! Plenty of TV’s for matches, cosy and intimate snugs, Tosties served daily, Great selection of drinks, place is always clean (including the toilets which is rare for town!) they have a little seated smoking area outside too with heaters! The prices are more than reasonable especially for town! Great value for money and the quality is amazing. I don’t understand any of the negative reviews here, especially towards staff, people writing these need to give their heads a wobble. 10/10 all round but especially the staff you honestly couldn’t...

Probably a victim of its own success at this stage. Great atmosphere amongst the clientele on a sunny sunday afternoon, but while some staff members are incredible, managing the bar efficiently when it is busy, others are outright rude bordering on ignorant to customers who are polite and appreciative of their efforts, even when the bar is not that busy. Most customer's understand and acknowledge that during busy periods staff can get flustered and overwhelmed, and make mistakes. Its the same in every Job and is part of the experience. But taking your frustrations out on polite and considerate clients is inexcusable. One young barmaid seemed to take issue that i asked for 2 glasses of water along with the round of drinks. A barman was very rude to 2 ladies seemingly because they were not men. One when politely pointing out they were served the wrong drink was told to take it or leave it. Another, the barman continually ignored her as she waited to give her order. Such a pity , i really hope this was a blip/bad hair day , and not a trend as this is still one of my favourite...