The Blarney Stone

This place was great for st. Paddys, but is a college bar and serves it purpose of being there when you need a drink. I had forgotten we stopped by until I saw that I checked in here anf hadnt reciewed yet

Came here for a feb club senior event. It’s definitely a typical college dive bar, but it was still fun! Not great price deals for a feb club event though, kinda pricey for such a dive bar, and selection isn’t large, but the buckets (especially the panty dropper) were delicious. Food was okay. Go to smokey joe’s for cheaper (and better) drinks and bigger crowds. Overall, this place is just a classic college bar for fun and to hang out with friends. Small, dark interior but also pretty spacious dance floors

The only reason I’m not giving it 5 stars is because the DJ (who had a soul patch) tried to do butt stuff to me. I’m a man.

Indecisiveness. I left my wallet in my back pocket, sitting on it, my right leg is tingling, going numb. Let it. I am trying to go numb. To numb the numbness. So here I sit. Indecisive. The crowd grows smaller and louder as the night passes.
The bathrooms are strange and remind me that I, a human, am just an animal, a series of biological processes frantically hurrying towards dissemination and dissolution.
Seems to be trying for an Irish bar vibe? Not sure.

Chill on Tuesdays for Quizzo… otherwise super fratty and crowded. Good prizes and a funny emcee. Also some cheap fries, quesadillas, stuff like that after 10pm.

Awesome college bar, always a great time. 50 cent drinks on Thursdays and karaōke Saturday nights. Drinks are real cheap, highly recommended!

One of my favorite bars on campus, simply for how comfy and defining of my college experience it is. I only regularly come here for Tuesday night quizzo, which is probably why I’m rating it so high since I wouldn’t know about the super crowded weekend nights– not too crowded, but lively at the same time to have a great time with your friends while also being able to hold a conversation. Great late night deals on food (I recommend the onion rings, although you can’t go wrong with any other of the fried, greasy, drunk food) and good selection of beers, although I’m not a huge beer person.
The quizzo questions are just challenging enough to keep you interested and motivated, with great prizes ($ 60 tab for 1^st place, $ 30 tab for 2^nd place, case of beer for 3^rd place, and usually something really cool for the last place winner). The announcer is really nice and friendly, and the bartenders are usually college students so they tend to know what kind of service we like.
They have gotten stricter about carding– implemented a scan machine and also asks for a backup ID.

Dive bar. College students. Karaōke Saturdays. Enough said.

why are people Unilocal-​bitching about blarney? its awesome cause it is what it is and the bartenders are the shit.

Definitely the typical penn «college bar». Staff was friendly when I went, but the place it’s self can get extremely crowded for the space they have. Majority penn student crowd also.
Prices were good being a college bar, and bathrooms were a mess because of all the people coming in and out. Understandable though.

I love Blarney for quizzo on Tuesdays. So that’s what I’m going to review. Because otherwise, it’s way too crowded in here and I don’t even bother.
But anyway, back to quizzo. I like its laid back vibe (not too competitive/​intense) and the food/​drink specials are amazing. $ ³⁄₅ long islands that will get the job done and those chicken fingers/​mozzarella sticks/​fries… All the drunk food I need. The prizes for quizzo are also pretty good so I’d recommend going!

Typical Penn bar filled with typical Penn kids. The beer prices are reasonable although the selection is not exactly vast. It can get quite crowded on the weekend and Thursdays. Basically, it’s a decent if unspectacular college bar. If you want to hang out with Penn kids, this is the best place to do it – certainly a far better option than Smoke’s.
Of course, the above raises an important question: Why would you want to hang out with Penn kids?

A lot bigger than it looks, some pretty good local brews on tap. Oh, and very very college-​y. But not in a horrible way, I guess.
But I’ve done this all before — in Ithaca. Kinda past that scene, personally. But, for reasons I won’t go into right now, I found myself in this place with a group of my younger friends, getting shitfaced on a Thursday night.
Anyway, being the only one with a job, I buy us a round of shots. They were stupid cheap at like, 4 or 5 bucks each. I don’t remember. All I know is by the end of the night, I’d only spent about 50 bucks. That probably made me a high roller in the joint.
Despite that, the bar staff is incredibly patient, surprisingly knowledgeable when it comes to «old people» drinks, and really quick. I suppose they’d have to be to survive the daily onslaught. The beer special that night was «crappy light beers for a dollar,» but the main bartender offered to just upgrade me to a bigger cup of Yuengling or Kenzinger at no extra cost. I think he recognized that I was a little older than the average college student. Thanks, guy!
Also, this place is cheap as hell. Which I suppose is why there are so many students every night.
So, congrats to you, Blarney. You were a lot better than I expected. I might even go back when there aren’t so many students around. Summer’s upon us!

This place is the prototypical dive bar that caters to rowdy locals and rowdier students. It’s surprisingly a favorite for a lot of schools that aren’t nearby, like Temple and Drexel, but if you go to Penn, don’t be surprised to see that fat girl you hooked up with last weekend crying on the curb outside. Cheap, dirty, and kind of fun. Lots of people throw up here; it’s that kind of place.
Their men’s bathroom is hilariously devised to prevent anyone from taking a shit (unless you’re shitting in the urinal, which HAS HAPPENED). Diabolical.

This place leaves much to be desired… But for an authentic «traditional college bar» experience & a cheap pitcher — you can’t go wrong.
There’s sometimes karaōke or a DJ, or people dancing on the pool tables. Other times I’ve been here and it’s completely dead. You never know what you’re going to get. One thing is certain — the service isn’t very good, and you’re better off drinking out of a disposable cup.
Will I return? Probably… but only for $ 5 pitchers or $ 1 wells. ha ha.

If you go to Blarney on a Saturday night, here’s what you can expect:
— to pay a cover.
— to see trashed undergrad girls in cocktail dresses and heels falling all over themselves and anyone who gets in their way.
— to pay in cash, as the credit card minimum is $ 20.
— to hear terrible karaōke (this part is actually fun).
You shouldn’t expect to:
–have space to move around in. It’s pack from the front door into the back room.
–to have easy access to the bar. The first Saturday night I was here, I didn’t even get a drink because I physically could not get to the bar. However, I am only 5 feet tall, so I couldn’t muscle my way through a wall of frat bro.
Bottom line: this is a Penn undergrad bar, so if that’s your scene, go for it. I personally don’t like getting dolled up to go to a dive bar, so I take my t-​shirt-​and –jeans clad self to Drinkers’ West, Blockley, or Cav’s, all of which are way better, in my humble opinion.

My review is very much like Scott F.
I was only here for Erin Express. From what I remember it’s a lovely place. not bad but I’m hardly ever near this bar so I don’t imagine this being my go-​to bar in University City.
However, probably best bar in the area.

I’ve only been here for Erin Express. And I will ALWAYS go here for Erin Express.
Oh wait, I was there one other time. And I don’t remember it. So, good job Irish dive bar.
Can’t wait till next week.

When I think about my grad school experience, I’ll probably think of Blarney Stone before the building my actual classes were held in.
Here’s what I love about Blarney (and oh God, there’s so much to love, if you’re the type of person who knows to avoid it at night on Thursday through Saturday, when the undergrads invade and if you’re the type of person to appreciate a good dive bar):
— Grilled cheese and tater tots. And sometimes tomato soup if I want to mix it up. Sad that I think of this before beer.
— Wifi. A bar with wifi is just genius. This is where we go to write our syllabi, to meet about the course we’re taking or teaching, to study for our comprehensive exams. Come midday, and you’ll have the place to yourself.
— Super friendly, non-​intrusive staff. They notice when our beers are getting low and come over with another round. They don’t bitch when you move tables around. Every time a friend has had an issue with the food, they’ve been really quick to respond and have been super apologetic. I wish I could say that we never have issues with the food, but it is, after all, a dive bar. On that note, don’t get the wings.
— Blarney’s rules, which include «no douches» and «no icing bros.» Also, curiously, «no bare feet,» which leads me to wonder who would go into a dive bar barefoot.
— Completely reasonable prices.
It’s one of those bars that you’ll miss when you move away.

It’s a dirty dive bar where I only go because all my friends are there. It’s cheap and spacious, although it does get crowded on the weekends. Go after midnight and there’s no cover — and often no bouncer to check IDs. They’re usually open late too, not kicking people out until like 3am.

The Gator Guzzle rolled on and we arrived at the Blarney Stone third. What a college bar. This place is the kind of bar that reminds me of places in Gainesville or some other college town. What a great time. When I first walked in, I didn’t realize how big this place was. But during our pub crawl, I explored the whole place and it was pretty huge. I bet this place gets crazy on a Thursday or Friday night. Fortunately, I wasn’t there for that.
Instead, we were singing the UF fight song (it was on the Jukebox) and «We are the boys» after the third quarter, er, um, I mean bar.

Not bad, an Irish pub to the NW of campus and clean, fun, and cheap drinks. Decent tap beers, and they have pool tables.
Bathrooms are the downer. you have to go upstairs (weird). There are multiple levels. Not exactly handicap-​friendly.
Staff is friendly and the place can get crowded. Better on a quieter night, unless you like being packed in with a loud crowd of students during the school year.

ok