The Irisher by-the-Sea

So. Much. Fun. Loved this bar in Seal Beach. I’ve always been obsessed with little beach dive bars and this certainly is it! Very lively on a Friday night and mellow on Saturday afternoon, I loved the different experiences! We will definitely be back!

I was doing some shopping for a friend’s baby shower on Main St. when I stumbled upon this gem of a bar. The bartender LaLa made me feel like I was back home at Poppy’s in West Virginia. Salt of the Earth isn’t a term I use often, but it applies to LaLa & the wonderful service she provides to seemingly everyone who walks through the doors of the Irisher! I hope I get the opportunity to return someday soon!

Dive bar, no thrills. Drinks kind of expensive. I did not eat anything, so…

The hottest bartenders and great drinks. Biff makes the best bloody Mary’s on the wknd. Have my favorite 805 beer on tap. Strong mixed drinks and and my girlfriend says the best well vodka on main st. And she can get a champagne Chandon split! Winning!!!

fair to good prices, nice comfortable dive bar. They have Touch Tunes, and 2 pool tables.

Walked in on a Saturday, empty as hell, bartender was pouring drinks for the only other customer in there. So my husband and I patiently wait to get her attention. She ignored us. We were right in front of her and waited for a «be with you in a few» or anything to let us know she saw us. She refused to acknowledge us. Yet acknowledged 2 other people right behind that came in after us. We were invisible. We’ve been to dives but this place stunk of sweat, old lady perfume and crap. We walked out and went to Hennessy’ a few doors down. Friendly staff, clean and were so glad to spend our money there. …so the Irisher sucked balls.

stopped by on a Thursday day. Bartender’s name was Freshie I believe. She was great. They provided pizza (for free) from a local spot. It was great.

I am a Seal Beach local and come to this bar and have always had a good time. We show up tonight and have our friend attacked by cops and the bouncer who let our friend into the bar didn’t do a damn thing to say or talk to the cops and let them know he hasn’t done anything. This bar didn’t have our backs or help us at all when they know we didn’t do a damn thing!!!

This place is dirty, the two times I walked in I felt like I was going to get cancer. Its dark in there and I think its to hide the dirt, the carpet looks like something from the 70s. The only cool thing about this placet is they have spuds mckenzie behind the bar

The truth of the matter is that you have the walk into this joint and not pull out the fine tooth comb because you’ll end up find a mountain of wrong. What you should focus on is the fact that the bartenders are friendly (Kimmie/​Kim/​Kimberly) is exceptional, the music for the most part is constantly going and the price-​per-​pour is right on the money. There is something that does need to be addressed and that is the womens restroom. Its terrible… dark, gloomy, dirty, no lock on the stall door and somehow the pleasure pack dispenser is substantially cheaper than the feminine supplies – not that I would dare buy and use, but still, yuck and wtf. Will I come back? Of course!

Let me start off by saying I’m a USMC vet and frequent dive bars. I’ve been to some very «divey» places and never left upset. Comparatively speaking this place is a pretty nice dive bar. Unfortunately the service here is horrible. And that’s a statement because I have very low expectations from a dive bar. I have been here about 3 times, but my latest visit was so bad I had to give them a 1 star review.
Here’s the deal. My friend who lives close by swears this place is awesome and he goes all the time. He always drags friends there when visiting — me being one of them. I think the gal working the bar has something against out of towners. That or she power trips on being a bartender. Whatever the case — it’s a strange quality for a bartender and not good for business.
On my latest visit we all got carded at the door by the bouncer. Pretty standard and usually means you won’t get carded again. Especially when you are only there with 2 other 30 year old dudes. After a couple hours of playing pool and hanging out I went to the bar to order another round. I went to the same gal who had been serving me the entire time, except this time she asked to see my ID. I thought that was strange since everyone was carded at the door and I ordered from her before, but no problem. I gave her my ID. I then spent the next — no joke — 2 minutes twiddling my thumbs as she examined my ID behind the bar. She bent it, flipped it around, and stared at it like it was her first time seeing an ID. She then handed it back and asked to see my friends IDs. Now I’m getting annoyed, but mostly just confused why she is hassling me. I said no problem — how about I just order 1 beer for myself and everyone can get their own beer. She then said she could not serve me any beer. When I asked why she told me because she thinks I will give it to an underage kid… WHAT!!! She then told me I should leave!!! Well I took her advice and gathered up friends to get the hell out of there.
I’ve never been hassled like this at a bar before. It was one of those moments where you just find yourself so confused on what happened that all you can do is laugh it off. That last visit was too much, but I have never felt welcomed at this place and the staff has always been rude. It’s just not a cool place to go. This would probably be a great place to do an episode of Bar Rescue.

The Bar has been here for many, many years, the Bartenders are polite and professional and the clientele are some of the best people you will find in any establishment, occasionally they will have a band but mostly the music is from a jukebox, there is a full bar and thou they do not serve food one can purchases food from any of the many eateries within walking distance and bring it in. There are two pool tables, electric dart boards and golf and shooting games, there is sitting at the bar or at the booths and they have many flat screen TV’s — great place to watch Sunday football games. Parking on the Street is heavy thou there is Public Beach parking a few minutes away, walk from the ocean to the Bar in less than four minutes. there is no Dress code and being by the beach on hot days average attire is bathing suits. I have been there many times and have always experienced a fun time, plenty of laughter and great spirits.

A group of friends and I went to this bar Sunday night. It looked pretty cool with pool tables and was pretty dead. We would find out just exactly why it was so dead. One of my friends (mind you, she is over 40) brought along an ID that expired a few days prior and we were told we couldn’t be served. Ok, that’s understandable. Everyone went outside and me and a friend waited inside to let some friends know what happened who were currently in the bathroom. While waiting, the girl behind the bar have MAJOR attitude. She have us a dirty look and rudely asked «what do you want?» I told her that we were waiting for friends who were in the bathroom. She told us that we could wait outside very rudely. I’ve NEVER dealt with someone that rude, especially at a bar. When my friends came out from the bathroom, she have them dirty looks and made all of us feel extremely uncomfortable. I will never return nor should anyone else. There are a lot of bars that have bartenders who do not have attitudes. It was pretty sad, especially in an area that has many bars. We went to a neighboring bar, which was packed, and realized why everyone was not at the Irisher. It is not worth going there to take a chance to be disrespected for no reason.

Very crowded. Nice people. Having a great time. Shooting pool and they serve a good stiff drink.
Going to shot in the pool tournament tonight. They have two Valley tables, 75 cents to play.
Parking sort of sucks, but your at the beach. 100 feet from the sand.

Chill place with a fireplace! :D

Real decent local dive bar. No frills or expectations. Expect a friendly lil blonde tender named Kim.

I have had so much fun at this bar! My friend Curtis used to live down the street and everytime i came to seal beach this has been the place. The bartender have in the past been hit or miss, but mainly hit. I spent 9÷12÷01 at the bar in the most somber environment with the bar tender at the time and my friend. Spent the entire day drinking two drinks but talking about wha just happened in new york and d.c. — these people make this bar special. The clientel gets alot of military when they are in dock.

The Irisher is a staple of Seal Beach. It is one of the two original bars in the area (the other is Clancy’s a few doors down). It is windowless, dark, crowded, and has two pool tables.
It does have a nice fireplace area (is that a pre-​req of Irish bars in the US?) and the drinks are cheap ($ 6 for a cosmo-​but it was the size of a thimble, so…)

You do NOT go to The Irisher to:
1. Impress a first date.
2. Get dinner.
3. Get any kind of food at all, actually.
4. Feel «Irish»
You DO to to Irisher to:
1. Get cheap pitchers
2. Go to a bar without feeling «underdressed» in those sweatpants
3. Get leered at by older drunk gentlemen
4. Possibly pick up a foot fungus
5. Have an AWESOME time!
Irisher is not what anyone would refer to as a «classy» establishment– but with that being said, it is an awesome place to hang with friends to kick-​start or end a fun night out in this laid-​back beach town. Drink prices are great, the bartenders make great pours, the locals are friendly, there are two pool tables, a dart board, buck hunter, and golden tee, and a juke box with pretty decent selection. Not to mention– the HB «bros» that like to start fights about whose flat-​billed cap or lifted truck is cooler usually bypass Irisher on their way to Clancy’s.
Also– if Ethan is pouring and you’d like to lose all sensibilities (and all feeling in your face), ask him to make you a «Yoda»
All-​in-​all a local gem of a dive bar, and we wouldn’t have it any other way!

Total dive bar.
Dirty and dim inside with carpets that made me glad it was not better lit. Pool and darts. Not very crowded on a Friday night. No reason to call it «Irisher» except to bring people in the door who love Irish pubs. I almost downgraded it to one star because of all the people smoking inside, but at least they had cheap beer (although not a great selection).
My visit to the Irisher was actually the first bar I’ve been to in Seal Beach, and it did not convince me to come back.