O’Rourke’s Tavern

This bar is somewhat fun. They have a good selection of beers on tap and good specials even on a Friday night.
Unfortunately, one of the bartenders (short blonde female) is extremely rude. We weren’t causing any trouble and she berated us and threatened to throw us out over an empty beer can that had been carried over from an art gallery on First Friday. Obviously, you shouldn’t bring an empty beer to a bar, but there wasn’t a trash can between the two locations and no one wanted to litter. It really threw me off to be spoken to like a criminal when we were clearly paying customers.
If I were the owner of this bar, I would definitely fire this bartender for her inappropriate behavior.

Cool towny type sports bar in Lincoln! With a smoking room! I don’t smoke but my buds we were meeting there sure did, and they like to do it chain smoke style! This was a good spot to get an afternoon brew! Tv’s for sports watching and all age groups represented!
Not your typical college town sports bar!
I dug it, but man if your not into smoke don’t sit in that smoking room, I felt like I was re-​filming the movie, «Backdraft»!

My first time in this bar this past weekend. Had a good variety of beer and the prices were good especially for a Friday night.
My only complaint was that when I put $ 5 in the jukebox, the bartenders skipped all but a couple of my songs.
Mystified, I politely asked if there was an issue with the jukebox (I thought it was malfunctioning)
Bartender immediately yelled at me that because I with a man who was a known «jukebox manipulator» that they skipped my songs. I could not get a word in edgewise with the barkeep. I am one to not start conflict so I walked away, finished my drink and left because I did not feel welcome.
Extremely strange experience for me, won’t be back.

I’ve only been to this place once and I think that might be enough. It smelled like piss and the patrons looked like they had seen better days. This is very much a dive bar in my books. I’d rather go to the Watering Hole (before the renovations). They do have pool tables and an arcade game or two. But I don’t plan on going there again.

This bar will always hold a special place in my heart, it was a Sunday staple for me when I lived downtown. There’s something very unique about the atmosphere that I can’t identify. Maybe it’s the soft subtle Jazz music or the abundance of people who appear to have lived a rough life. Whatever it is, I like it.
My main reason for starting to come here was for the free pool, every Sunday from noon to six. It’s not really the price that makes it so great, but it’s more about the consistent quality of players who frequent the place, and will always give you a good game. If you suck at pool you might not want to waste your time. It can get pretty busy back there, I have see columns of names waiting on the blackboards.
Music is weird here, but that’s not a bad thing at all! I love hearing old stuff that’s new to me. I’ll never forget this one time when a kid pumped some money into the jukebox and turned on some rap music. The bartender Rick came out and unplugged the machine! Awesome. You’ve been warned.
As far as drinks are concerned, they make the best bloody mary in the world (I have tried a lot, believe me) and on Sundays you can get them for $ 3 and that’s a steal because they are not little. The long islands here are also delicious, but very dangerous so watch yourself. When you purchase a pitcher of beer, it is custom for them to give you a card. Save five cards and you get a free pitcher!
Annually on Super Bowl Sunday they have a chili cook-​off, and of course they celebrate St. Patty’s day with the best of them. This place isn’t for everyone but you should definitely check it out!

The place was dead and smells like raw sewage.

Funny story. Some friends and I almost had to beat on this old roughneck who wanted to challenge us to a game of pool… claiming he won the last round, walking over from across the room and after we’d put our money in.
Anyway, belligerent pool sharks aside, this place is alright. Prices are about what you’d expect at a lot of other places, like 4 bucks a beer or something like that. There’s two pool tables in the back, and they serve free popcorn.
Nothing exemplary other than that, but it’ll do for a weekend.

Full disclosure: The only time I stepped foot in this place was 2006, and, minus the circumstances below, it’s a pretty solid bar’s bar.
Also: My last name is O’Rourke.
Picture this: I’m driving down O Street after entering Lincoln for the first time. I’m moving slow, taking in the sights. Then, I see it. Glowing like the Pearly Gates in green neon, at least in my mind, is O’Rourke’s, a bar almost at the dead-​center of our country that’s named after my people from the Old Country, possibly by a not-​too-​distant cousin I never knew.
I was excited, to say the least. I checked into my room and got settled, cleaned up and got ready to go. A bar called «O’Rourke’s»? In Lincoln?
My dad used to get free drinks at O’Rourke’s in San Francisco in the 1970s, and I’ve heard of a classic downtown Chicago bar with the same surname as me, but I had never seen a place that so literally called out my name.
I walked in. Smokers out front, which was perfect for me at the time. Neons, a juke box, the classic swill station accouterments. I loved it.
I saddled up to the bar and ordered a beer. I tried to make small talk with a couple of patrons. I got mostly blank stares. I told them I was from California by way of Oregon. They offered some insults and tough words, in that order. Two, maybe three beers in, I realized the vibe wasn’t getting any better, so I asked a bartender if they sold T-​shirts or other souvenirs.
«My name is Tim O’Rourke,» I tell him.
«So?»
“My last name is O’Rourke,” I say.
«So you want a shirt with your name on it? Why?» he said, straight-​faced.
«Uhhhh, it’s my last name. I guess I think it’s cool.»
«You’re going to walk around with your name on your shirt? he said, turning away and shaking his head.
I sat mystified.
He walked to the back and brought out a couple of shirts about three sizes too big for me and tossed them on the bar. It was all they had, he said, so take it or leave it.
I took one, and it looks good hanging in an O’Rourke’s garage.
Bottom line: If your last name is «O’Rourke» and you’re in Lincoln, make sure you do yourself a favor and grab a cold beer at Duffy’s.

awesome bartenders and I like the atmosphere

Probably my favorite bar in Lincoln. And the only bar I’ve ever been kicked out of. Old enough to remember the original O’Rourke’s, where I really was a regular. Still has the best juke-​box in town. Always has.

«BRIAN DID NOT OBSERVE THE SABBATH ON 5÷2÷10»
Part II (Bar #2)
Memoir:
Did I just walk into the wrong bar? There were about 20 patrons present: 19 men and a lady in overalls.
Anyways, even by strict dive standards, this place was divey though I wouldn’t label it a true dive bar.
The locals seem to be drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon, Bud Light and Coors Light. I stuck with a Bud Light and paid just $ 2 for it! It wasn’t even a special but the regular price! What a deal (compared to San Diego).
Complimentary popcorn: Get a bowl, scoop a bowl of it yourself in a huge, industrial popcorn bag.

Another Lincoln favorite that hasn’t changed much in 20 years. It’s the first place I knew of that had a CD juke (now digital); for a time in the 90’s they had off-​sale liquor, but now it’s a smokers’ «beer garden» that’s practically indoors anyway. The beer prices will take you back in time too, there’s always a board out on the sidewalk listing the day’s drink specials.

As you enter, you will pass by a glass-​paneled «beer garden». I like to call this the «nicotine garden». Since the smoking ban passed, O’rourke’s has outdone any other establishment when it comes to accomodating nicotine addicts. My smoking friends like to get here early, before it fills up (O’rourke’s is a famous meeting point during last call — they wait a little longer to cut everyone off).
The people in the beer garden are usually wearing knit hats and army coats, or else thick spectacles and a mangy beard (it’s that kind of crowd). It’s the kind of crowd that will make you feel at home, then challenge you to a cut-​throat game of darts. Be careful when waiting for a pool table: this bar is teeming with pool sharks, and if you don’t sign up to play, on the blackboard, then you are likely to get a cue shaken at you.
As it is an Irish bar, St. Patty’s is the best day to visit O’rourke’s. In fact, the all-​you-​can-​eat buffet is probably the best buffet I have ever eaten inside of a bar.
One of Lincoln’s best.