Merrion Square Pub — Restaurant in New York

I live right near this place and have always ignored it… but one day I decided to go in here to give it a shot. I went on a Thursday at 6:30ish with the intention of just eating… I'm not a big drinker.

It's a small place and it wasn't very crowded. Food and drinks need to be ordered at the bar and there is a sign on the table stating so. Which was nice, so that way I wasn't sitting at the table like an idiot for an hour. The menus are already on the table though so no need to retrieve it at the bar. Sit down, find what you want, then walk up to the bar and order. They did bring the food and drinks directly to us however. I did have to go back to the bar for refills and to get my check though which was no big deal.

But the staff was very friendly and the food was AWESOME and affordable. A burger is $14 (15 with cheese) and it comes with fries. And they have a variety of different kinds of fries to choose from including waffle fries!

This place is truly a gem and I'm glad I opted to stumble into this place. I can't speak to how the drinks are though they seem to be a standard bar that doesn't "specialize" in any particular drink. I could be wrong. But like I said, I went fairly early on a Thursday so it was not a big crowd or anything which I liked. I can't speak to if this is a "go-to" bar on a Friday or Saturday night.

But if you want a small quiet place to eat (it's mostly just regular pub food… chicken fingers, burgers, mozz sticks etc), I highly recommend it if you're in the neighborhood.

And for what it's worth, this spot is directly across the street from the Q train… like literally a 50 foot walk. So easy to commute to if you choose to do so. The M96 bus stops super close...

Loved the atmosphere, the selection, the pool table, and was excited to hear that it was a great Eagles bar (go Birds!)… but didn’t enjoy the loud side commentary by the bartender/owner(?) about us as we we were playing pool.

It was a Saturday night and we were celebrating after an event nearby, and I guess we were ruining the typical Saturday (chill?) vibe? It was interesting that we were bringing in business (we were about 10 people and we got several drinks), but he was saying things like “what is this, an adult chuck-e-cheese?” and making very loud sarcastic comments about us to the folks sitting at the bar. When I asked him when the bar closed and when the last pool game was to get a gauge of things / make sure everything was ok, he was pretty mild-mannered.. but then the sarcasm only continued once we weren’t face-to-face. I’m guessing we were being too loud when we were celebrating some shots at pool? But then again … are people normally silent when playing pool?

Kudos to the guy for giving no shits (I mean, maybe he has much more freedom in his life than any of us—good for him).

I can see this being a great local bar, and maybe this guy just wanted to scare away customers he doesn’t like. If so,...

This has been a favorite place to visit when I want a beer while I stayed in the neighborhood. They have an excellent selection of craft beers on tap, and friendly and helpful staff on the other side of the bar. The craft beer selection is mostly American breweries, but reflects a spectrum of styles, including a number of sours. Some minor negatives for me, which you are not likely to care about: there style designations on the menu board are occasionally wrong (an American Brown with obvious American hops was classified as an English Brown, for example); and they, along with nearly every other pub in the area, has absolutely no traditional UK ales other than Guinness Stout. I know, that doesn't worry you. You certainly should go for a visit. You, like I, will feel...