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Location: South Street Area
Phone: (215) 625-9500 Overall Rating (1 to 10): 6 What I’d Do To Improve the Place: It's a bit touristy for my blood. Ah, but everybody who comes to Philly manages to visit this place at one time or another. All ages entertained here.
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| Downey's has always struck me as having an odd dual personality. Sure it's got all of the typical Irish Pub accoutrements: green and beige facade and Irish Brews like Guinness and Harp on the tap; but it always seems to be over-run
with tourists and thirty-somethings from the 'burbs.
Admittedly the place is a great looking establishment from the outside, and interior is equally well taken care of with gen-u-ine wood paneling through-out. It's like a ski-cabin. If you are going to Downey's for just a few pints on a Friday or Saturday Night, it's likely to be a SRO situation. The area around the bar is tiny (maybe 8 spots at the bar) for such a large building. The "rub" of Downey's is that the place is 80% tables and chairs. For instance during my past two visits, our group of 4 wound up standing in the bar area for a good 30 -45 minutes. We were sandwiched between the joe's who bellied up to the bar and the lucky bastards who snagged upright/bar tables. The bad part about this is that every 2 minutes we were in someone's way: the hostess trying to seat people or someone trying to get a brew from the bar. It looked even worse that there were empty tables mocking us as we sipped our Guinness. We took that one dry. When we finally got a seat, we had a nice, long wait before the food arrived. The prices for the Raw Bar were a bit high for this rent district - it's South Street for God's Sake! The correct move when you enter Downey's is to give your name at the door, requesting a table. The primo tables overlook South Street - it's just nice to watch the passersby. Or if there is a live act playing upstairs - try to angle for a spot up there. It's a crapshoot on the live act, but it's usually a 3 or 4 piece band playing on the Glenn Miller/Tommy Dorsey/Big Band tip. Another bar awaits you upstairs, equally as ornate as the one on the first floor. Yes there is a small dance floor up there, but they only clear out the tables and chairs when a live act is playing. If there isn't any live act upstairs, it's going to be dead up there. Downey's is in a great location at the corner of Front and South Streets. Around the corner on Second Street is the Dicken's Inn and The Artful Dodger. This is prime fodder for a pub crawl, but my vote would be to meet at Downey's and when the group assembles, roll on to the other pubs and leave the tourists behind.
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