JJ Foley’s Fireside Tavern

smells AWFUL, creepy weird Bartenders with no personality. way better bars in town then this place.

This place wreaks like a mixture of piss and windex when you first walk in and it gets worse. I was with a few friends/​family members and the bartender got really creepy with us. Also I hate that a lot of Boston bars are cash only and yes this place is one of those. Save yourself and simply do not come here. There’s a great place up the road called Jeanie Johnson’s…and they have karaōke on Saturday nights whereas jj foley has no karaōke and is also very cliquey and also it seems quiet for a bar on a Saturday night.

When one walks off the street into JJ Foley’s, one gets the feeling that they just walked into the basement of a VFW. There is a huge peninsula bar, open linoleum floors, and the mood is set with bright fluorescent lights.
You shouldn’t care though, because JJ Foleys has $ 5 mixed drinks and $ 2 Bud drafts. They also have a World Cup ’94 pinball machine that screams from a dusty corner, «Remember when the US hosted the World Cup?» You can’t? Well pull up a stool, throw down some $ 1’s and maybe one of the crusty regulars will tell you a yarn ’bout the good ‘olé days.

i live up the street and never have a horrible time there. Between Darts, Buck Hunter, Boobie game (damn chuckles) and great prices you really cant go wrong. pbr, bud light, and bud drafts are all 2.50.
smells like moth balls, but that will go away after 1 drink. the bartenders can be rude at some point, just make sure you tip them well and they will be attentive.
during the week you never know that will happen. during the weekend you know it will be a shit show. the party wont start until 12am, and if you are lucky they wont kick you out until 2:30. Everyone is nice there and the customers range from 20 something hipster, 40+ dudes and their biddies, and the thugs that will only sit on the right side of the bar!
a must, because its hilarious. meet me there!

They have Big Buck Hunt! Go to the bar and shoot things! :) Decent drinks, staff is usually friendly, and a good mixed crowd. Parking kinda sucks and no food, which keeps it from 5 perfect stars

Everybody in this bar reminds me of my dad except they don’t try to talk to me about, like, the role of umbrellas in the battle of Guadalcanal or something. In fact, they don’t try to talk to me at all, which is kind of fine by me even though I’m a bit of a social butterfly.
Cheap enough beer. Some TVs I guess. Maybe a Buck Hunter but who knows.
Intensely brightly lit. In case you really want to see… something.
I would return with neither reservations nor enthusiasm.

Good things come in more shapes, sizes, flavors, odors, and neighborhoods that you can shake a stick at. Going to the Fireside is like an old man ranting out loud ‘Take that Jamaica Plain, you good-​fer-​nuthin pile of what-​have-​you’. When you decide to go to Fireside the following will likely be true:
1. you do not need a fancy dinner, a slice of pie from down the street or a bag or three of bar chips will do
2. you know where you are headed, your friends couch
3. you care not for making a bartender make a fancy drink
4. townies do not scare you
5. you have a hight tolerance for tomfoolery
6. you enjoy not being overcharged for drinks and swill beer
7. you swear like a truck driver or at least don’t mind if those around swear as such
8. the last time you read a fashion magazine you were in a dentists office in the 8^th grade
9. you will have lost your hat, gloves and or wallet
10. you are not against playing horribly at darts or Big Buck Hunter, loudly, in front of a crowd
Miss you Fireside. Wish I had you in my life beyond Friday nights.

A hidden gem in JP.
Different atmosphere to Foleys downtown, but a fun place for a couple of cheap pints and some darts. Lots of booths, and Dave will play chess with you too.
Also, if you don’t normally read the newspaper, or only read the Boston Globe, there’s always a copy of today’s Herald for you to read, and see a different political point of view.
Nice TV set up with a round bar for casual TV watching.

Are you walking home from the T late at night, already drunk, and you think, «Man I need another drink?»
Do not show your sorry self at some self-​respecting bar and lay down money for a drink you’ll barely taste anyways. Just go here. Have your PBR and then drag yourself home. You’ll be glad you did in the morning.

Came in here to escape the storm. The bar was completely empty, but we found out we were on the wrong side, the restaurant side.
After waiting a while to order food, we decided to go to the bar side. There were quite a few people there.
There is no service in the bar area. So you have to go to the bar to order or ask for the check, typical of many bars.
They have a Jukebox. So you’re at the mercy of other people’s tastes unless you pay up.
The fries are fresh cut and delicious. The burgers are juicy and the bun is the perfect texture, not too hard and not too soft.
I’ll definitely go back.

Solid 4. We were at the Dogwood one sat night and were falling asleep in there so we decided to get some darts and drinks going. What a fun place — throw some money in the juke and get twice as many drinks as bars downtown — cheap beers 2.25 PBR drafts. Fun folks playing darts and definitely regulars are the ones whe make the bar stools so worked in.
I’ll be back — for shiz.

I guess I’m old.
I read great things about this place, and felt pretty confident about choosing this place for a quick after-​party drink in the neighborhood. Plus it shares a name with one of my favorite old-​school boilermaker spots in the South End.
They do not deserve to use the name «JJ Foley’s».
I mean, don’t get me wrong — it’s no Parotta’s Alpine Lodge (do a Unilocal search, you’ll see what I’m talking about) but it’s not far off. Oddly, it shares one other important characteristic with that sleaze parlor — two of the words in the name of the business are lies.
The atmosphere was imported, brick by brick, from a decomissioned VFW hall. The surly bartender is straight out of «Surly Bartender Monthly». It smells vaguely like a burning shoe.
And it’s full of f*cking hipsters.
Yeah, you can buy a PBR with sofa change here, but you can do that almost anywhere these days.
Coincidentally, «almost anywhere» is my answer to the question «Where would you rather drink than JJ Foley’s Fireside Tavern».

eek!
I live 500 feet from this place and I’ve been unfortunate enough to stumble in after early evening binge drinking with my roommates. It seems like a good idea when you’ve had a couple beers already but any other time and it’s an easily avoided mistake.
I mean, if you really love the smell of bowling alleys (yeah, don’t ask me why but that is what it smells like in there) and the company of a riveting crowd of 3 men in their 50’s at 11 30 on a Friday night, then maybe you really would like this place. It’s just not for me. The cheap beer isn’t worth it.
Also, this midget guy named Ed tried to pick a fight/​hit on my girlfriend/​annoy the shit out of me when i was there. He actually tried to lure me away from my girlfriend by asking me to come outside with him. He was a super creeper.
But to be fair, the bartender is a nice guy.

The bar itself is pretty freaking cool. It is like walking into a time warp and the drinks are pretty damn cheap. Not much of a selection, but who cares, as long as you get drunk.
The problems with the Fireside are with the clientele and the bartender. The clientele is half pathetic old alcoholic men who start drinking at 9AM, half dbag hippsters who think they are so unique even though they appear just like everyone else in JP. The bartender, Dave, tries to hard. He wants to be everyones friend. I am sorry, when I am in here with my friends just trying to have a drink I do not need an old dude asking me personal questions.
So to sum things up, 2 stars.

no food! flat PBR drafts. Used to have a killer jukebox with the bartenders own mix cds in it. now they have one of those electronic pieces of crap jukes but it’s cool cause Dave gives me money to play his Cyndi Lauper songs. 2 dart boards, bowling video game (more fun than it sounds), foggy washed out, projection tv the size of a flat bed truck (no high def BS here!) Letterman on weeknights, SNL on saturdays and every redsox game during baseball season.
A bar is what you make it. Been reading so many piss poor reviews from people saying the fireside is either depressing cause of all the old drunks or too trendy cause of all the hipsters. well which one is it guys? I havent been there in a while but i never remembered hipsters hanging out there, unless a hipster is a 50 year old dude from hyde park wearing an «I’d rather be sailing» trucker hat and a pack of marlborough reds rolled up in his sleeve. oh my god, i think i just had an epiphany.
Bottom lime. Fireside is cool. All ages, all races, all types of people, drinking $ 2 beers and playing electronic bowling game in harmony. If you want an apple martini, go to the south end or applebees or better yet, go kill yourself. Also not «sketchy» so move back to brookline or whatever lame ass town you’re from. who uses the term «hot mess» anyways? gross.

too many hot mess hipsters trying to make this an awesome place. I’m sorry a bar that opens at 9am w/​a line of old men to get in deserves to be re looked at.
every time i walked past here on my way home it ranked of piss and beer and old men would stare at me w/​their alcoholic eyes, hoping someone would save their soul.
What is our society thinking.
I’ve seen way to many girls pukin’ and chain smoking outside of this joint… sometimes i wish it went away and turned into a cute little breakfast diner…

I’m writing this on the eight-​year anniversary of my move to Boston. If you’ve spent that much time here, think about what’s changed since 2000, in JP especially — the bars I learned to drink in are mostly gone, the people I drank with then have long since moved away. (MOURN U TILL I JOIN U TRIPLE DS ;_​;)
But the Fireside? The Fireside will outlive us all. Dave will outlive us all. The two guys intently shooting dice for two hours the other night? Assuming one of them doesn’t end up stumbling into Klassy Kuts bleeding to death over a big cee-​lo loss, those dudes will outlive us all too.
If you’ve got a problem with bars with $ 2 drafts and a working phone booth, you’re either lying or wrong. You get the sense that if they had a kitchen, they’d still call them «freedom fries.» I’m totally okay with that.

This place smells like your grandmother’s basement – kind of a mixture of age, dust, and unseen mold. When you walk past the front door, the scent drifts onto Hyde Park Avenue; this, among other things, is the reason I lived in Forest Hills for almost two years before setting foot into JJ Foley’s. What a mistake! In no time at all, the bar has become one of my favorite places in JP for five very good reasons: Dave (the best bartender in the universe), darts, well-​poured Guinness, low prices, and an awesome location.
JJ Foley’s is definitely a no frills sort of drinking establishment… or, to be less politically correct, it’s just a dive. They don’t serve food (other than little bags of chips and pretzels); 50% of the crowd, even on weekends, consists of super friendly neighborhood regulars who are often wasted by 4pm; the décor is out-​dated and definitely resembles a Knights of Columbus; and there’s a fake fire place. It’s probably exactly what you’d expect when walking by. Only, somehow, a great time is always had by all.
Foley’s is a wonderful place to hang out with friends, meet your neighbors, listen to some great music (they have juke box, so you can take control if need be), play a few games of darts, and throw back a couple of pints.
I never thought I’d say it, but I really like this place. Maybe even love it. Kind of a lot.

Barry Melrose would fit in here.
Lots of awkwardly used open space — Great for high kicks and fist pumps.
Fake Fireplace — Great for putting the moves on that thing you’re talking to.
Telephone Booth — Call someone who cares, townie!
Peninsular Bar — You could have every patron in the bar lying horizontally on the bar and still have no problem getting served. Thinking of J.J.‘s patrons horizontally is frickin’ gross, by the way.
Cheap Beer — Drink Up, Throw Some Bucks, What the Fuck!
To sum up in 3 words: «Romp Room Bar».
Oh and I really liked it.

It’s time for another list review.
1. If you are a girl you will have to ask for a key to pee. I do not understand why bars do this. Why can dudes just walk in and piss all over the place but those of us blessed enough not to have a hideous appendage sticking out of our crotch have to use a key to take a fucking piss?
2. This place reminds me of Northglenn, CO’s Moose Lodge #2166. I had my first job ever there– serving prime rib, rocky mountain oysters and burritos to old men that would say, «Hey sweetie pie, can I get some more decaf?» and tip me $ 0.50 for my troubles. Judy, the cook, would chain smoke in the kitchen and swear like a sailor. Best. Job. Ever.
3. Naked. Lady. Hunt.
4. Period. Full Stop. Period.
5. Husband (Alex R.) is always, without fail, wicked pissed when he is here. He usually cannot stand straight after leaving.
6. It is very hard to catch a cab. I’ve walked all the way down Washington St. to Egleston Square from this joint. I can tell you it is neither amusing or fun.
7. Cheap drinks. But don’t expect much selection– there is no cider. No wine. Nothing I really drink except tequila and vodka. Not that I’m complainin’.
8. Unflattering light. Do not bring a new date here. Wait at least a year before allowing people you want to have sex with to see you in this light.
9. Cash only!
10. Pink hats and yah-​doods need not apply. I will personally kick your ass if I see you there. Just do us all a favor and stay at Gypsy Bar with your own kind.
11. Fake fireplace. Awesome.