In the 1990's the Guinness Import Company developed a relationship with The Irish Pub Company. This company will build anyone an Irish pub anywhere in the world, just provide the site. They've already built hundreds of Irish pubs world wide for individual entrepreneurs. And now this merry band of Philly bars is banning Guinness in their establishment over 11 Irish pubs that The Irish Pub Company built for the Guinness people.

The Philly pub managers argue that they've been supporting Guinness all of these years and now Guinness is funding their competition. Do these Philly pub managers realize how ridiculous they are being?  Guinness is owned by a company called Diageo (ticker: DEO). Diageo has a Market Cap of $32 billion. Diageo also owns Seagram's, Smirnoff vodka, Johnny Walker, Jose Cuervo tequilla, Moet Hennessy and finally Burger King. Are these Philly pub managers going to ban these products also? Where does it end?

Surely anyone can see that this Guinness Ban doesn't make a lot of sense. It's a shame that these Philly Irish Pubs are not serving Guinness: When you go to an Irish Pub that doesn't serve Guinness it's like going to Disney World and not seeing Mickey Mouse. Friggin' ridiculous.

In the spirit of a genuine Irish Pub, Fadó is a "seat yourself" pub. We were visiting for dinner and a few pints. So upon a cursory trek through the pub, we settled in for some pints of Guinness. But we were faced with a quandary: Should we all split up into the 4 corners of the establishment and "cell phone" each other when a table opens up; or just pick a vantage point and wait for patrons to get up and leave. We choose the latter and hung out by the fireplace in the back.

Fadó is laid out with the bar in the center and booths/tables occupying the perimeter and a few cubbyholes. The place has a definite European flair to it. The flow of the bar winds up being broken up by cubbyholes, beer taps and curio cabinets. All of  these obstructions take up a lot of real estate at the bar which makes things difficult especially when you're trying to squeeze your way "in" to order an arm-full of beers.

The food menu is quite affordable for being a Center City resident. One of the most expensive items on the menu is Fadó's signature dish called a Boxty (about $12 a plate). A Boxty is like a crepe (potato pancake) filled with chicken, seafood, steak or veggies. Other menu highlights include: Fish and Chips, Shepherd's Pie and an All Day Irish Breakfast (it doesn't really take all day to eat it, just a whole day for your arteries to recover from the cholesterol overload). I was a little disappointed not seeing more traditional Irish dishes like ham & cabbage or some sort of stew on the menu.

Fadó's Irish appeal attracts people of all ages so it's hard to pigeon-hole the place into one age group. To entertain the masses, there are tv's inconspicuously mounted around the bar. They plan on showing Six Nations Rugby matches starting February 3, 2001 @ 9AM. Ah, it's never too early for a Guinness. The music piped overhead oozes with Irish imports: U2, The Coors, Cranberries and Van Morrison as well as any other act that ever laid claim to Irish roots. 

Finally, the whole "seat yourself" policy really annoyed us. There was a  group that came in after us that snagged a table before us. It was Thunderdome. This policy  might fly in Ireland, but over here Americans like order and hostesses showing us to a clean table. At Fadó, you wind up hawking a table until the patrons leave. Then you're stuck sitting at a dirty table until the hired-help clears away the mess.

Regardless, Fadó is a nice pub, the bar is a site to see. We're definitely heading back for pints, but I think we'll grab dinner elsewhere.

The Fadó Money Shot

Read Up on the Eurosports offered at Fadó Here.