Seamus McCaffrey’s

We stopped for a late dinner when we were staying nearby at the hyatt. It was a Thursday night so it wasn’t crowded. We sat at the bar & had great service.
My husband had a mushroom cheeseburger, which he said was excellent. It came with steak fries which came with also good. I had the garden salad & was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. It was large, had lots of stuff in it, & came with a breadstick.
The drinks were good but my mixed drink was pricey for an Irish bar.
If we are in the area again we will be back though. This place is worth checking out.

This is such a great place to just stop by alone and get a beer or sit with your family and have a wonderful dinner or after work with good friends. Wonderful salads, great staff, and the best iced tea in Phoenix. Did we mention they’re open when everything else in downtown is closed? :]

This is one of those places that I have driven by more times than I can count and always go «I want to try that place» but never do because it’s not near where I’m going. And maybe that’s the only thing that I could consider a bit of a negative, their location is just not the best for us locals. But that seems to be changing as the surrounding neighborhood is beginning to draw more and more reasons to go there.
For me, it was the opening of the new Hilton Garden hotel across the street. Frankly I wish it wasn’t called a Hilton so I wouldn’t have to explain in the next breath that we chose to stay there because it’s NOT like any other Garden Inn … it’s a restored Art Deco building turned INTO a Hilton. And staying there I can’t imagine a better place to wander off to than Seamus McCaffrey’s Irish Pub!
This was New Year’s eve, and the pub was one of the few places anywhere that wasn’t packed to overflowing with revelers. They had a modest $ 5 cover charge in place because there was live entertainment (compare that to $ 50-​$ 100 covers some bars try to sock to you on New Years). We didn’t plan to stay (and didn’t) but just to have dinner. So we got there about an hour before the band started to play.
I have never had Irish Boxty and as soon as I saw it on the menu it sounded great on a cold winter’s night. Mine was the Steak & Guinness and my dining companion had the Corned Beef & Cabbage. Both were humungous portions for only about ten bucks (see photos). Beer, at $ 5 each was cheap as well, especially considering what they could have gotten away with on this party night.
Okay, I admit, even before having a beer I was in love with this place. The first and foremost thing it has going for it is that it’s not a chain!!! Woohoo. I pretty much detest chain (or theme) restaurants, and at first glance I could tell this was not one. It reminded me of my favorite drinking hole (also an Irish bar) when I was just starting out in Chicago, and also reminded me of a favorite (Irish pub) in San Diego. Notice a theme here? Irish bars don’t have to be pretentious, so why make them?
Which brings me to the food. I’m not going to rave about it or use a lot of fancy words or call Guy Fieri and tell him to get his butt over here to try this dive. This is not Cordon Bleu, folks, this is pub grub so don’t get snooty about it. No it wasn’t the best meal I’ve ever had, but it was hot, filling and tasted awesome. And there was a LOT of it on the plate for the price!
The band started, the partiers started partying and, guess what, it started sounding like an Irish pub. Lots of great craic. Lots of people bumping in to each other. Lots of people singing to the music. It is very hard to find places like this in Phoenix, Arizona and I’m glad I finally did. I love this place.

Fun vibe. Drinks were well poured and not overpriced. Décor is fun and atmosphere is upbeat. Good for talking, but hit or miss if you are with a group.

Great location in downtown. This is the epitome of dive bars. The place is old, musty, and actually smells bad. It always has this sewer odor covered by lysol smell. I used to work across the street so it was convenient to come here. But the smell just got worse and worse. Too bad. Their happy hour drink specials were great and servers seem nice.

I stopped in for a quick beer and some food to take back to my hotel. The Guinness was cold, and the shepherd’s pie, hot. The food was decent. Nothing mind blowing. One annoyance– when assured by the waitress that the Jalapeño Poppers were not frozen, but made fresh, I was not pleased to discover otherwise, once back at my room. They were just like every other frozen popper that I’ve come to despise. I was tempted to walk back and return them. When put on the spot about a menu item… don’t lie to me– that’s just annoying as hell. The bar itself seemed pretty cool, and probably pretty hopping on the weekend evenings.

Great little Irish bar! Little divey but the food is stellar! I recommend the steak with Guinness Sauce Boxty! I’ve been here two years in a row for thanksgiving dinner and loved it both times!!! Great friendly staff! Must go when I’m Phoenix downtown area!
Thanks guys!

Great little pub. Has an authentic atmosphere and a friendly wait staff. The food was actually quite good. I had the shepherd’s pie and the wife had the chicken pot pie. I would recommend either one. I would recommend it.

Walked in at around 8 on a moderately busy Friday night. Sat at the bar. Got ignored by the bartender for seven minutes while he walked by a few times, looked angry, and stacked glasses (to be fair other folks got the same treatment). Left. Go someplace else.

Had fun with some good people from work. Thanks for the hen party ladies. Really enjoyed the company and drink.

Came by here for some drinks and food prior to a performance at the theater. Service was excellent, food and drink were good and the people were very nice and friendly. This was an OK place and the prices were reasonable. — I will go back.

Well this bar in a great spot. Past that no thank you. Overlooked fried food and the worst pint of Guinness I have ever had. I think the tap lines were last cleaned when bush was in office. Horrible service and bartender seems to be an old trailer park manager.

My friend and I stopped in here for lunch recently and were impressed. I had never been, and he had never been sober so it was a new experience for both of us. McCaffrey’s is a great place to grab lunch and a beer. It appears they always have lunch specials during the week so prices were reasonable.
What I like about McCaffrey’s is they offer a pretty wide selection of Irish beers. I find it funny that a lot of Irish pubs have Guinness and sometimes Harp, and offer nothing else. McCaffrey’s offers Smithwicks, and a few others I can’t recall the names of in addition to the basics. They also make great whiskey drinks according to my friend.
I had the turkey bacon melt with fries (lunch special), as did my friend so I didn’t have the chance to try any of their Irish fare but what I had was great. I’ll definitely be back for dinner someday to try some of their more traditional food.
If you’re looking for a good, long lunch with Irish beer or good whiskey, I’d recommend Seamus McCaffrey’s. It also looks like it would be a fun place to drink at night, I will be back.

Ugh…
The hype and size of this place is why it is getting 2 stars. Both times I have been here (on a Saturday night) there has been NOWHERE to sit and it has taken 5+ minutes for a beer. If I want a pub feel, I will go to George & Dragon. At the George & Dragon, it is out of the Central Phoenix mêlée, has ample parking, seating for days, and takes at most a minute for a drink.
If I am going to a McCaffrey establishment, I would MUCH rather go to Rosie’s which is bigger and a few miles away. I seem to have come here a bunch recently for bar-​crawls and I will be avoiding this place like the plague. I’ll go to Hannie’s or Cityscape instead, thanks.

Place is great. Divey Irish bar with all the classics. My girl Kate always takes care of me and has my Guinness waiting for me at the bar before I can sit down.
OH! And pours of the Middleton are dirt cheap here, sub-​20 bucks. Amazing.
Recommended for lunch or happy hour if you’re downtown and looking for that olde style Irish pub.

Guinness on tap!
Smelled like someone took a dump when we walked in.

Fu€$ing yes, downtown Phoenix is pretty lame other then for a convention and the standard chotsky sports bats bay the convention center wear thin quickly but I saw this place on Unilocal and gave it a shot and walked into the Sublime version of Scarlett Begonias playing, saw on of my favorite obscure brands of scotch on the wall and noticed the rueban dip app on the menu and it was awesome and got good clean and quick old school bar service, this place is winning

The place seems very out of place in Phoenix, for starters it’s about 50 degrees too hot in Phoenix, and it doesn’t rainall that much. The reason it’s out of place? It feels real, it’s not as pretty as a Ri Ra, meaning it’s not touristy.
The Guinness is good, the décor is a hodge podge of Irish and police patches. It’s a great place for an afternoon out of the heat.

What a cute bar… The bartender was extremely friendly. We went in for a friend’s birthday, got a couple shots (shot of the day… something fruity– 5 $) and the bartender gave us the birthday girl’s shot on the house… you really can’t get better than that… oh, except the shots were extremely tasty! I will be back.
PS the bathrooms are cute and clean :-)

I am so glad that I waited to write this review. When I first visited Seamus I awed by the cozy at home feel that this place gave you. The drinks were typical for a bar and occasionally there was live music. I thought it was a fun place to visit. The décor is typical fun for an Irish pub, love the troll and leprechaun dolls in the showcase.
Now that I visit here more often I am in love with this bar. Brandon is an amazing bartender. I love going here in Sunday’s to enjoy the most amazingly delicious chicken pot pie in town while enjoying the best playlist provided by Randal.
Go for the drinks, go for the food, and go for the fun. Definitely just go to Seamus.