Tom Bergin's — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Hands down, one of the worst, unnecessarily tense, borderline racist, and uncomfortably irritating dinning experiences of my life. I'd like to give this place the benefit of the doubt that is victim of poor management in choosing (and tolerating) an embarrassingly pretentious, entitled waitstaff who treats the bar like their own personal club house. I almost forgot about my experience at this place until I was driving down Fairfax the following week with my family on the way to the Petersen Automotive. They were curious to try out the restaurant and quickly changed their minds after sharing my experience.

During my visit, I walked in to see if I could score a quick, happy hour meal during my 30min break while working down the street. Being a part of the service industry, I respect my fellow waitstaff by treating their businesses with humility. Beginning with me walking inside and waiting to be sat rather than feel entitled to take a seat anywhere I want. I literally made eye contact with two of the three bartenders present and neither of which even bothered to say hello or let me know that I could sit anywhere. I quietly made my way to a corner of the bar and waited for one of them to approach me. Nothing. It wasn't until a tattooed female bartender walked past me to approach what I assumed were some regulars at the bar that were sitting next to me. With time running out and my belly asking for something to fill up. I greeted the bartender myself and asked to see a happy hour menu, if any. She gave me the only bar menu available, which is understandable, but, again, no communication on her part. No etiquette whatsoever to signal that they have no happy hour menu. As if to say: "This is what we have. Take it or leave it." While I browsed the menu (which, admittedly, contained a few budget friendly options that were delicious), she reached over for my half empty bottle of cold brew I brought with me and said: "Can I take care of this for you?" To which I responded that I still working on it, but, thanked her regardless. She gave me a snide glare of disapproval like I was clipping my toe nails over the bar while people were eating. (Sorry, I'm sleep deprived and didn't want to buy a drink that would make me sleepy. Or, get me in trouble at work. Is that ok?!) Didn't return the uncouth gesture and just placed my order. When I did so, she asked if I wanted to open a tab. Since I was only eating one thing, I thought it would be a good idea to close the tab. But, occasionally, co workers ask me to pick up something for them to save their trip and enjoy their breaks longer. So, I chose to keep it open. When I told her that I only have my phone, she said that she needed a card and that she needs to close the tab as I go each time I buy something. Never. NEVER IN MY LIFE, up to this point, have I ever been asked to close as I go when I make a purchase at a restaurant or bar. Too bad for the "bartender of the century" because my ticket could have easily climbed to $40 to $60 if I had ordered some food to go. Guess my money is no good here.

I shouldn't have tipped the "bartender of the century" working the counter, but, again, out of respect for my fellow industry members. I left a 20% grat' on a $20 purchase. Apparently that wasn't enough, because, after I requested a glass of water with a lime. She proceeded to make her rounds greeting her friends around the bar. Completely ignoring my request that I ended up having to ask the food runner to help me with. I can't recall his name, but, he was nice fellow who shook my hand and introduced himself after I thanked him for being so gracious. The rest of my meal consisted of more snide glares from the bartenders occasionally glancing my way to expedite me to leave. And, frankly, I would have left this miserable place early if not for the fact that I was hungry and short on time. To this place's credit, yea, the food...

Sunday Night Bar Review

Valet parking is limited and stacked within the lot. Street parking's available, but watch for the streets that requires residential permits. No Happy Hour, hopefully that will change in the near future.

Big Island bar area with 3 small booths (fits a party of 4) at the end. Reservation seems difficult to honor where we made a 6pm reservation where the party didn't get situated till 8pm. There's fault on both sides, but a two hour difference seems a bit extreme. Luckily, Tom Bergin's cares about their customer service and provided some appetizers for us during our wait.

There are plenty of variety of whiskey here that average out about $8 for a glass of neat. The cocktail average out about $10-12. The most famous drink here is their Irish Coffee; didn't get it since I'm not a big coffee drinker. What I did try was their Cooper Union, QUALITY and worth the $12. The drink includes: Red Breast, St Germaine, Orange Blossom, Islay Scotch. It's easy to sip even for a non-whiskey drinkers.

Fish and Chips: 4 star - 3 piece of crispy fried fish on top of a basket of thick fries. The fish tasted fresh and the fries were crisp...flavor and texture was in this order making it one of the best fish and chips I had in Los Angeles.

Shepard's Pie/Mushroom Pie: I ordered both pies, which was quite similar. One was with chunks of beef and the other one was with mushroom. The dish was more soupy than expected and quite small. Imagine a soup with either beef or soup and topped off with a thick layer of mashed potatoes. (3-stars)

Guiness Float: Sorta gross since the ice cream tasted bitter and old. The dessert drink came in a small taster glass. It wasn't expensive ($5). (1 star)

Coconut Cream Pie: Out of the ball park good and I don't even like coconut (5-star). The cream and the crunchy flakes of coconut was a great balance along with the tasty crust. Enough to share, get it!

Bread Pudding: Tasted overcooked...the pudding was dry and lacked creaminess. Wasn't impressed (2-stars)

Vibe: Crowd is from late 20s to 50s, a good mix. Very Casual and what you imagine what an Irish bar would be like; background music and 3 bartenders on a Sunday night. Overall, food had some hits and misses--service (3 1/2 stars). Till next time I crave for some...

This place is my "local" and I'm grateful every time I walk through its dark doors that a place like this not only still exists, but seems to be thriving. The details of its interior are incredible, and well--cared for, from its copper bar and the hundreds and hundreds of paper shamrocks with handwritten names on its ceilings, to its hammered-glass windows, iconic neon sign and actually-vintage bathroom fixtures.

Food is damn good for a pub of this sort, with a particularly good chicken sandwich. Good cocktails, especially the house Bobby Burns and the barrelaaged Old Fashioned. They do a proper Guinness pour, and always have cold classics like Harp on tap, too. The crowd is generally pretty low-key: it's a good place to sit and read a book in the early hours, and gets slightly more buzzy around happy hour and on weekend nights, but never too rowdy. Good place to take a small group of friends, or to have a good chat with a friend at the bar, or to take out-of-town guests.

Bartenders are chill, exactly the kinds of friendly faces you want to see in a bar like this. Music playlists are hit or miss, sort of a grab bag, but even if the music on a given night isn't great it's always a good vibe. Sometimes they have live performances in a little tent outdoors that was put up during covid.

We're lucky to have a local like Tom Bergin's and hope it stays exactly like it is for...