Hennessey’s Tavern

Definitely NOT going back there again. Plenty of other ale/​pub’s in that area that have better service that’s worth the price. Had an early dinner and drinks here. The drinks were a little bit expensive as was their fish and chips. I don’t care if they are beer battered, $ 15 a plate is crazy! I could get that way cheaper for half the price in San Clemente, seriously, and they’re more upscale.
Parking is always a pain on any beach location, so it’s not exactly the tavern’s fault. Next time I’m catching the bus to PB and MV so I don’t have to put up with 30mins driving, fighting for a space

«Service is unbelievably awful here. There was one waitress working (most of the time) and three standing there chatting like customers didn’t matter» from a previous reviewer. I SHOULD HAVE READ THE REVIEWS BEFORE GOING IN!
pros;
Eye candy walking the streets
cons;
unattentive service
kinda go out there way to avoid eye contact
Super small servings of slider Meat
Waitresses just chilling and talking in the back.
Price for value is not connecting what so ever.
⁴⁄₁₀
p. s. Near the end of happy hour, the servers hide out till 7:01 when the special is over. LOL

pretty good deals on some of the days
nice lay out
really good location but tough to find parking
the food was great and so were the drinks
sometimes it took a long time to get our drinks
the food was pretty good! i loved the appetizers but my club sandwich wasnt anything special you could find it anywhere
all in all a pretty good spot

Funny place to stop for a beer or three. What do I mean by funny? It’s a people-​watching-​thing. I was there with a friend after dinner at Bare Back. A regular, took a shining to us so we joined her for some grog. In a matter of minutes we were playing «kiss, kill, fuck» with her — a hippie who changed the game to «kiss, beat up, fuck» for ethical reasons.
We stopped by again the following night to find a gaggle of drunk women in black dresses baring ass and falling off stools. Remember what I said about people-​watching?
It’s an old school large Irish pub. It’s a place to go drink, talk, laugh and be social. Don’t expect too much and you won’t be disappointed.

Drunk Staff, expensive drinks, Horrible service
I ordered an $ 8 burger, only potato chips, no substitutions!
I was just watching the staff take shot after shot and complaining about other customers, the burger tasted like they bought it from the frozen section of costco and a beer is $ 6. I could see them staying open preying on tourists but there are so many better places to eat in PB, it amazes me they are still open.

I came here on a Sunday and spent probably 6 hours here watching football games and was able to try a few things…
The veggie burger was delicious, the earth wrap was much too sprout-​y for me and definitely wouldn’t recommend it. I had a delicious strawberry dacquiri and some kind of root beer shot that I really liked. It’s a pretty cool place for breakfast and hanging out for all the football games. I would love to come back next time I’m in San Diego.

Last night in San Diego and got to hook up with an old friend. We decided to go out for drinks then dinner. When we walked past this place, all I could smell was the aroma of good burgers cooking. I told him, make sure I don’t nosh much while drinking because all a girl wants to end her week in San Diego is a GOOD BURGER!
Well, the burgers did not disappoint. There’s all kinds on the menu. Even turkey burgers and portabella burgers for the vegetarians. What Great burgers!!! A good time with a Good Friend :)
The band was just an added bonus!

We came here for breakfast because the lady at the hotel we stayed at recommended it and gave us a buy one get one free coupon.
Reasons I didn’t like this place:
1. $ 7 mimosa — the most expensive drink I had in San Diego was a tiny flute filled half with oj and half with house champagne.
2. The waitress said the oj was fresh squoze. WTF? It’s squeezed.
3. The breakfast potatoes tasted like stewed potatoes. Breakfast potatoes should be crispy.
4. Even with eggs, spicy sauce, and cheese on top of these potatoes, my meal was still pretty boring.
Reasons I liked this place:
1. Walking distance from my hotel.
2. Buy one get one free coupon.
3. The bacon was balanced perfectly between chewy and crispy.

Been back a few times after my last post. Mainly to drink, but sometimes to eat.
Bartender (Froggy?) is a great guy. Personable, nice… kind of what I’d hope to find in an Irish bar back east. Food is good, not ridiculously great, but still solid. Prices are reasonable, no complaints there.
Crowd is usually mellow, but that’s ok too. You’ll get random families looking for a place to bring their kids who are under 18 and girls from LA who are lost off Garnett Street.
With Dirty Bird’s just a few steps north, it’s in good company.

I guess I’m going to say it was more of 2 and ½ stars. The beer selection isn’t great… but they had Stella so that works. I ordered the bleu cheese bacon burger which comes with chips. Ehh chips? How about fries? Oh, you have to order that separately. The burger was pretty good though… except for the fact that I ordered it medium and it was well done. In fact, all of our burgers were well done when I think we all ordered medium or medium rare. The bleu cheese and bacon mix they put on the burger did make up for that for me though, so I didn’t mind that much.
I’ve heard they have decent specials on other nights like buy 1 get 1 burgers, which might be the only reason I would decide to come here again.

Okay, I’m not really writing a review of Hennessey’s. I just wanted to rant about the UFC fights I watched there last night.
First — Hennessey’s — decent place to watch the fights. There’s no cover, we got a booth, and our waitress actually looked like The Waitress from It’s Always Sunny. Somehow we racked up a 120 tab between 3 people in 3 hours, and person number 3 didn’t get there until hour number 3. I think I was drinking more than usual to try to make the fights entertaining. It didn’t work.
Okay, the first fight we saw after the satellite came back on was pretty good. Kendall «Da Spyda» Grove versus Mark Munoz. Lots of very acrobatic jiu-​jitsu. Kendall’s always fun to watch, and Munoz ended up winning with some pretty impressive ground-​and-​pound.
So that was good. But the three main fights were some of the shittiest I’ve ever seen in my life. Matt Hughes and Renzo Gracie looked like they were just sparring at the gym with no one watching. BJ Penn and Frank Edgar circled each other for 25 minutes, and Penn got the title stripped from him by decision. Now, I’m not saying he should have retained the title after a string of pretty lame fights (see Penn v. GSP, Penn v. Sanchez, etc), but it sucked to see him lose it to someone who didn’t really win it.
Now, finally, the main shit-​show of the night — Anderson Silva v. Demian Maia. What the fuck? Anderson Silva is a goddamn embarassment to the sport. I have never seen someone act that disrespectful to their opponent, with the possible exception of Ken Shamrock pushing Kimbo Slice while his back was turned during weigh-​in for a fight that never happened. And the worst part is, he just pranced around for five rounds clowning Maia, taking the occcasional shot. If he thinks he’s so fucking great he shouldn’t have to win by decision. I want to see him get his ass kicked so freaking bad, but it doesn’t seem like there’s a single fighter in the UFC who can even begin to compete with him.

This place isn’t as bad as the reviews I’ve read. It is more of a family-​friendly restaurant/​bar right in the heart of Pacific Beach rather than a true Irish pub/​tavern, so I understand people’s complaints regarding the drinking section! For me and my family of 4, it was a perfect place to grab dinner just steps away from our hotel.
If you go between 4 – 7 pm, they have dinner specials for $ 10! I had a sirloin steak (juicier than I expected), and my husband had blackened tilapia (fresher than he expected). As for the alcohol, the Hennessey Sweet Tea w/​vodka was only $ 5.00 and their Irish Energy Drink over vodka was 2 for $ 12.00. Maybe it’s the Happy Hour that did it for us, but this place is certainly more than reasonable for being in the heart of PB.

Came here for St. Patrick’s day lunch and expected some good Irish fare. Fail.
$ 8 for a Guinness… who charges $ 8 for a beer in PB??? That’s just crazy talk.
Saw a plate of corned beef past by and didn’t look any good, so I skipped the Irish food and ordered French Toast (I had a craving…)… ugh, it was stale.
Tried some of my friend’s Shepard’s Pie… way too salty and flavorless otherwise. The best thing about that plate was the side of broccoli that it came with.
The waitress was completely incompetent. She had no idea what was going on… every question we asked her, she had to go ask someone else for the answer. And she offered us a Whiskey Taster, which sounded good so we ordered it, but she came back and told us that they didn’t have that anymore.
Oh, and NO GREEN BEER on St. Patrick’s Day… boo!

If it weren’t for the Two Timin’ Tuesday, I would have given this place 2 stars, or possibly even 1 star. Allow me to explain:
1. If this is an Irish themed bar, why is no one drinking? Trust me, I’ve been to Ireland, & I ain’t never seen no bars like this there.
2. The cheapest beer they have are Bud Lights, Miller Lights, & other crappy domestics, for $ 4.75 a PINT! That’s mondo ridiculous. Their happy hours aren’t much better either, only like, $ 1 off :(
3. No fries with their burgers! I’ve never heard of such a thing at a restaurant, only Islands used to do that, but they’ve since changed their ways. Here, they serve you potato chips. & not even the fresh homemade kind, I suspect they are Ruffles knock offs.
Despite negative Unilocal reviews, I had to come try their Two Timin’ Tues deal, 2 for 1 burgers or 2 for 1 breakfast (before noon). The bf, our two friends, & I headed down at 8pm to get us some burgers. We got there & it was pretty dead, so we were seated immediately. Service was ok, not especially friendly or memorable. I had the Moo Cluck Oink Burger, which is a burger with bacon, cheddar, & a fried egg. To my enjoyment, these burgers come with no added condiments or sauces directly on them (they’re on to table for you to add yourself), +1 star! They were also of decent size, a pretty thick patty, almost real restaurant quality burger, +1 star. We also ordered a big basket of fries for the table, which was a good amount for 4 people, but they were steak fries (my least favorite fry shape), bleh.
The other star is awarded to their TV program choice. They were showing Gaelic Football, a funny sport I have never seen before. I consulted the Blackberry to explain, it’s a popular spectator sport in Ireland which can only be described as a mixture of soccer & rugby. +1 for introducing me to something new.
If not for a Tuesday, I’d probably never come here. But $ 25 to fill up 4 people (& half a burger for lunch today), can’t complain!

Monday night madness! So much fun with the Flair contest!
the DJ is obnoxious but its a good time!
$ 2 u call its and tasty snacks!
unusually full, fun, and awesome on Flair nights!

Breakfast: 2 for 1 TUESDAYS! How can you NOT love that???
My usual: Veggie Omelette: filled with mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, bell peppers, and onions. Not the freshest looking ingredients but tasty, nonetheless. Got it with a big ol’ side of fruit. Yum.
The bf’s usual: Corned Beef Hash: real corned beef, kind of on the small side though. Potatoes were amazing! Not over-​cooked or greasy, just perfectly crispy.
Wouldn’t come if it weren’t for the 2 for 1 deal we – way too expensive otherwise. But, I must say, service was definitely on par, which it should have been seeing as we were one of the other 2 tables there. Who goes out for breakfast on a Tuesday morning if you’re not on vacation… or retired… or a beach bum… oh wait, that seems to be everyone in PB.

I met a friend here some months back for a beer. I had assumed that they would have a decent selection of drinks, but I was wrong. When I asked the bartender what beers they had, she said «Oh, we have a ton of beers.» I then asked what kinds and she said «Guinness, Corona, Bud Light, Pyramid Hefeweizen…» and I just stopped there. «Any IPA?» «No.» «How about an Imperial porter?» «Ummm, no.» «Okay… I’ll have a Guinness then.»
A $ 10 Guinness that wasn’t even poured well. Screw that.
This just seems like yet another downtown bar pushing scantily-​clad «bartenders» to unsuspecting clubgoers. No thanks.

They’re lucky I love a decent deal or else the star wouldn’t even mean anything.
Two-​Timin’ Tuesday is the only reason to even bother going here, and even then the burgers aren’t all that amazing. I’d never pay more than $ 5, but when it’s buy one get one the price is right.
Service is unbelievably awful here. There was one waitress working (most of the time) and three standing there chatting like customers didn’t matter. Those three included a person dressed the way the manager would be dressed, though I don’t know if he actually was the manager. Even the waitress that was working was slower than molasses. It took about 10 min. to get a beer, and we were one of four tables. With that many people working, and so few patrons, I expected more I guess. Our waitress also forgot to put our french fry order in (not a big deal really).
Anyway, apparently the Gaslamp location is much better so I’ll give it a shot and try there. Seriously though, don’t visit the PB location unless you really want two burgers for the price of one and it’s Tuesday. You’re much better off going next door for wings, or across the street for a burrito or pizza.

My man and I are on a quest, one so simple, yet so epic that it will likely span across both of our lifetimes: to find the perfect egg benedict.
After yet another rough night downtown, the BF and I decided that a delicious egg benedict and bloody mary was the highest priority for our soon to be lazy Saturday afternoon. After having been to Firehouse, Crest Café, and Kono’s more times than I would like to say, we opted to throw caution and habit to the wind and check out Henessey’s Tavern. Though the server was a little unenthusiastic, I would say I had a decent breakfast experience and will likely go back. True, the eggs were overdone and the celery in the bloody was so bitter that it made me gag, BUT the hollondaise sauce was delish, the corned beef was some of the best I’ve ever had, and the bloody blew my friggin mind.
Hennessey’s, you truly did provide an A-​Ok breakfast experience. I’m glad you were part of my egg benedict quest.

Decent selection of beers on tap. And a good selection of Irish whiskey although I have no clue on what it is.
I don’t know how much I paid for a Miller Lite draft but it was over $ 4. I’m not going to lobby my congressman but $ 4 is a bit much. Why? You are in PB and you are at Hennessey’s.
Some places in PB have the right to charge $ 4 for a Miller Lite, like JRDN. Some places in PB don’t have the right, like Hennessey’s.
But I want to come back sometime and try the food.