The Dubliner

I went to the Monday Quiz Night here this evening with the Expat Meet up Group in the attempt to meet new people and get outta the house for an evening.
The quiz was a lot of fun, had a good laugh and answered some good questions :)
The bar itself was grand. Being Irish i can say it was decorated to suit but it lacked the personality that comes with the Irish dude behind the bar pulling the pints. the nearest to this was one of the guys calling the questions. Being the first Irish bar I’ve been to here in Stockholm, I think il continue my search for a slice of home but il defiantly return for the quiz nite.

I wish I liked The Dubliner. I would like to like The Dubliner. But I don’t.
In the past I would have given the establishment two or three stars. I’ve been there a few times and there’s nothing remarkable, but nothing horrible either. They have live music regularly and that’s always a plus.
But it’s also crowded (even when there aren’t many people there — layout is weird), and very loud. And the food is mediocre. If you’re hungry, sure, go for it — but you’d be better off choosing something at Kungshallen. Not even the fish and chips is that satisfying.
But what really brought it down for me, what stole additional stars and prompted me to write this review, was my experience at a recent pub quiz.
It was actually my first pub quiz experience, and all of my horrified friends assure me that this was not the norm. It started late, but that’s not a big deal.
The pub quiz, which was three rounds, lasted 3 hours. The hosts were slow as could be, would draw out the questions and make bad jokes, and then have long pauses so they could go get shots or more beer.
But it was their attitude, and the questions, which were absolutely terrible.
One of the questions was «What is a Norwegian Steam Roller», and as the two men read the appalling multiple choices, they couldn’t stop laughing. The answers, by the way, were very demeaning to women — involving rolling up a woman’s neck in a car window so she can’t escape and duct-​taping a lit cigarette to her mouth. They seemed to think it was absolutely hilarious, despite the awkward silence from the audience.
Another question was relating to the film American Psycho, and they showed a clip — a clip where a girl is being chased down the stairs and a man drops a chainsaw on her. The men were still laughing. And after the clip one of them said something along the lines of, «If you need to get rid of a hoe, that’s the way to do it.»
Not OK. Seriously. The evening continued like this, with the two rude, tipsy old men making derogatory comment after comment.
I will not be returning to The Dubliner. I don’t know if that ‘humour’ is accepted in other places, but I find it absolutely appalling and extremely disappointing.

GIMME THE GUINNESS
The location is nice, as is the layout of the bar; outdoor seating, indoor seating and a room offering big tables for groups along the windows. This room also has a library. We tend to like divey, relaxed pubs, so we were comfortable here.
A group of women sat at one of the big tables next to us and broke into song, which we thought was cool. They appeared to be locals and part of a choir. It just added to our experience.
It wasn’t very crowded when we patroned this establishment, but the service was non-​existent.
The beer, of course, didn’t disappoint.

I don’t know if it an overall Swedish thing, the bouncers at this specific bar or a combination. Long story short, they wouldn’t let me in to meet my wife who was inside. We were in Stockholm on vacation from New York and split up for a few hours in the afternoon. We agreed to meet at this bar before midnight mostly because it was a short walk from our hotel. I suffer from really bad seasonal allergies and they were particularly bad in Scandinavia. Bad enough where I was taking double my usual dose just to be able to breathe and not be completely miserable. Well apparently having allergies will prevent you from entering bars and clubs in Sweden. The bouncers stopped me at the door and said the place was closing in 15 minutes, I pointed out that the bar hours say open till 3am and no bar closes at arbitrary times like 11:35pm. After calling their bluff they told me I’ve already drank too much, which I hadn’t so I asked how can you just assume that if I’m not slurring, stumbling or showing any signs at all, just having an articulate conversation with them. They then accused me of doing drugs. They said they are experts and can tell by my eyes how many drugs I’ve done and how many drinks I’ve had. LOL! So I asked them to tell how much I had if they are experts which of course they had no answer. I don’t do drugs, EVER, and I had 2 beers all day, because well I’m on vacation but was in no way inebriated! After a while all they would say is «Swedish law.» I asked if they ever heard of allergies, not a good move. I had to go back to the hotel and text the wife that I couldn’t get in. Her feedback was that the place wasn’t really all that and a bit over priced for what they offer. After telling her the story she told me she was chatting with other visitors and one of them was kicked out of the bar by the bouncers after barely starting his second beer. Apparently he was just sitting quietly minding his own business but the bouncers «looked at his eyes» and decided he needed to go. So beware, don’t let the bouncers here see your eyes, it’s the medusa curse apparently.

Been here a couple of times now. Twice during the works cup and then Liverpools opening match in première league. Although the place doesn’t have the Irish charm that normally attracts me to the Irish pubs, I still fairly like this place. Maybe it’s because «my» teams always win when I come here.
Anyhow, if you wanna find a good establishment in this part of town for watching football, I would say the dubliner is a good options. And there seems to always be a lot of people showing support for their respective teams which builds to the atmosphere.
I’ve had the fish and chips which was a very delicious meal that left me full and satisfied. My friends tried the burger and pie and were also happy with their meals.

The waitress was VERY nice but with a fairly full restaurant and only 1 server, how can you get anything but lackluster service? I asked for a bloody mary and was told the bar was too busy to make that right now. Again, she was super friendly about it and it’s not like I was annoyed but shouldn’t you hire more people? We went here to watch a Liverpool match on a Sunday afternoon (not my team, let it be known) and they did have a big projector in front of the stage which about 30+ supporters were watching on and then another regular sized TV towards the entrance. It was fine for the game, minus the difficult service. And if you were a Liverpool fan, at least on this day, it was a good atmosphere with people really into the game (this was the season opener so).
I ordered the All Day Breakfast and while it could just be that I’m not that into the Irish breakfast, I didn’t finish it and that is something that basically never happens. My friends got the chili nachos and they didn’t really love it but that’s just standard for Stockholm. The nachos here are some of the worst. The girls asked for Pepsi in a bottle and were told there was none and got fountain Pepsi. My other friend ordered a diet coke at the bar and got Pepsi in a bottle. Who knows.
There’s nothing particular wrong with this place. If you come with some friends to sit and have a beer, it’s fine. And I’m sure you can meet plenty of Irish and English speaking people hanging out here at night if that’s what you’re looking for. But I would much rather go other places and I just prefer the atmosphere in Gamla Stan where there are several other Irish pubs.