Midtown Happy Hour: Ye Ole Blarney Rock Pub

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so every week our Happy Hour Correspondent “Mamacita” will post about a different bar in Midtown that fits the Midtown Lunch mentality: unhealthy food, not lame (unless it’s lame in a cool way), and most importantly… cheap.

In my wanderings around midtown recently I ran across Blarney Rock Pub. This easily confused lush initially thought, “Hey it’s another Blarney Stone!” Then I got a hold of myself and realized, “oh wait, this is Rock not Stone.” Established in 1969, Blarney Rock is very different than its similarly named pub on the eastside. This Blarney is more of a local sports bar then a greasy griddle dive for aging alcoholics and OTB aficionados. Unlike Blarney Stone and its cafeteria like seating, this pub is more open with a long dark wood bar and plenty of stool seating. TV screens abound and this is a fine place to go to watch a Rangers game or the Knick’s –if you are feeling especially masochistic. The sign outside reads, “Good food, good drink, low low prices.” How could I resist.

Blarney Rock’s happy hour is seven days a week, 5pm to 8pm. Draft beer is poured into Imperial pints, $4 for domestic, $5 for imported, and buffalo wings are $.50 cents. When I stopped in I had already devoured a late lunch, but one of guys at the end of the bar was digging into some wings that looked pretty good.

They also have lunch specials for those that crave some pub grub in the middle of the day.

The locals are a very laid back bunch and team jerseys, stone washed jeans and faded t-shirts are the usual attire during the day. In the evening many blue collar workers make this their watering hole before heading to the station.

The Plus + (what someone who likes this place would say)

  • Imperial pints
  • Watch sports without elbowing up to frat boys
  • Weekend happy hour
  • Prime spot to meet up after work and next to the subway lines to get you home,
  • The Minus – (what someone who dislikes this place would say

  • Older crowd may turn some people off
  • I don’t watch sports and who are the “Rangers?”
  • Confirmed mullet sighting
  • Blarney Rock, 137 W. 33rd St. (btw. 6+7th), 212-947-0825

    11 Comments

    Leave a Reply

    You must log in or register to post a comment.