O'Brien's — Restaurant in San Diego

Was a 5 star review.

My wife and I have been consistently going to this bar for the past 2 months since we live 5 minutes down the road. We enjoyed the atmosphere and the beer selection was great. We even bought shirts to rep this place.

15MAR2025, we showed up to watch the SDFC game, looking forward to enjoying the game as we always had in the past here. We felt lucky we got a seat outside in front of the big TV. Ordered food and beers. Food is a hit or miss, this day is was comparable to low budget casual dining. We asked the bartender (older lady) if we could get the MLS game and she said she'd work on, no problem. We saw the TV changed channels, then got turned back to a college out of state basketball game. We checked the time and notice the game has started but wasn't on the TV. Went back inside and saw they were showing the game on a couple screens inside, maybe 2 tables watching. Asked if we could get the game on the TV we had outside (which was always the place to be for the past watch parties) the younger bartender said it's not possible since it's on a subscription or whatever. We decided it's alright, not a great night out so far but we get another round of beers anyway and move to a corner with a 32 in tv that we could watch the game and gave up our spot. 20 minutes in, the game the big TV was now showing the game and no one was even watching. Having been lied to, we decided to close our tab and leave at halftime to start our hunt for a new bar to frequent on SDFC game days.

For the TLDR, this place is only good for:

the long time regulars, they seem to get the better service that makes the whole bar a good place to be (trickle down good service?).

If you aren't part of that crowd and they aren't around, it's good for a quick beer but don't expect it to be your regular drinking pub. We definitely learned that this weekend.

If you skim over the other reviews on O'Brien, you will see my review is echoing the same points on other 1-3 stars reviews. This place could/should have been the bar where sports fans could create a community (see...

Music instead of a game in an Irish Sports Pub???........Bad treatment and attitude from a larger blondish bartender, good service from the smaller brunette. They were playing music when I walked in for lunch on a Tuesday with only about 6 people in there. and asked it they were planning to put on the a World Cup qualifier match (Spain v France) and if they were going to turn on the audio. She says yes to both. Great, so I order $13 worth of food at the counter and leave $2 tip, a go sit at a table. She puts on pre-game but not audio. I wait till after game starts to politely remind her to turn on the audio also, and she does. 20 min later after the food arrived and I took 2 bites, she comes by and says she is sorry but they want to turn the music back on and therefore would like me to move outside to watch the game with audio. I said I didn't want to because it is in a parking lot with plastic patio chairs and lots of glare on smaller tv. She said sorry but the other people wanted to listen to music. I said isn't this a sports bar, and asked out loud if anyone wants music or the game? Two guys say "game", rest say nothing. Bartender says she talked to her manager on the phone and he said to play music. I politely said fine than give me my money back and I'll go to a different pub. She said I"m not giving you a refund. I reminded her she told me she would play the audio and that is why I ordered food and stayed. She said to stop causing a scene. I asked to talk to the manager, she says NO I'm not bothering him (this is after she already bothered him to ask if she could turn music back on). It became apparent that she wanted to listen to music instead of the game and didn't care what I wanted. I sat out front on plastic chares

Unbelievable in a Irish...

I'm updating from 4 stars to 5 because their response to COVID-19 made me feel safe and welcomed. Tables are distanced, masks are required for ordering and going inside to the bathroom.

They have also done some renovations that make the bathrooms nicer and the overall look is a bit better. Their food menu is AWESOME! Hubby had a spicy burger, I had a vegan Delux Veggie Melt (no cheese, change to wheat bread). Lots of options to please any palette: Carnivore, Vegan, Gluten Free, Pub Food, literally everything tastes good.

Also, great prices! 😍 Our tab had 6 beers, 3 food items, and the total was $67 (before tip). You wont find these prices at the local brewery or beer bar. Come to O'Brien's.

Original Post - O'Briens is a San Diego must-see. The staff is friendly, the owner is present and active, and the beer list always impresses. Good food, great atmosphere. An overall awesome bar...

Also, my old review said that the beer was a bit foamy, but I think they've cleaned everything because the beers came out clean and bubbly, not...