I heard that things have changed at the Great American Pub so I had to go back and re-review the establishment.  What I saw was quite impressive though many of the problems that I had with it in the first place still existed.

The establishment, itself, is broken up into different areas.  As you walk in the door there is the bar.  In the back are tables and booths where you can get a good meal.  Upstairs is another floor where you can hang out.  The bar area is very tight and on good nights it's wall to wall people. 

The tight space of the bar area was what we stated needed improvement on our last review and this is what has changed and caused me to go back.  From the rumor mill at the pub I was told that they purchased the next door building.  What they did was punch through the wall at the bar area and have a large overflow room with a couple of smaller more intimate drinking areas.

The new room contains a bar, a large open area, and more bathrooms.  Off of the main room are smaller rooms with tables that provide an intimate drinking area for your party. This is great when you want to get down to some serious conversation and do not want to have all the normal noise pollution and people jousting you as you are trying to drink.

The Great American pub does carry good beer.  Before Guinness was popular, the Great American Pub was one of the few pubs to carry the Irish Stout.  They still have a fairly good selection but after a couple of rounds the only beer on the list that I can remember is New Castle.

The main problem that I had with this pub before is still there, the patrons.  For some reason the Great American Pub seems to attract the most arrogant patrons in Philly.  The guys are just bastards and the women think they are all beauty queens.  Give it up people, you are humans just like me!  For example I was there the night before Thanksgiving—the most busy bar night in the U.S.  As expected the Great American Pub was crowded, very crowded, the main bar room was literally wall to wall people.  For minutes at a time you could not even move—could this be a . . . I don’t know . . . FIRE HAZARD!  Well I just came from the Boat House and the 20 yard walk gave me a ravenous thirst, so I needed to re-supply our party with drinks.  I am a pretty tall guy so normally I can fill a hole in the crowd or press through the crowd depending upon the situation so I was the ideal candidate.  I saw a place at the bar where I could squeeze into but Fat Bastard (very similar to the Austin Powers villain) was in my way.  I tried to get around him but he was just too big.  I tried excusing myself and trying to get through but Fat Bastard just ignored me.  So I worked my way around him and tried to get past his huge ass but I was stopped by a wall of people.  I tried leaning on Fat Bastard to make him step up just a half a step but Fat Bastard would not let me by.  Now this is incredibly poor bar manners, no matter how packed a place is, so me being me tried to move the mountain.  I pressed my full 180 lbs against Fat Bastard but this mountain did not even budge . . . it was inhuman.

So I have a major problem with the patrons of the Great American Pub.  If they are not mannered they’re rude.  If they are not rude, they’re ignorant.  If they are not ignorant, they’re pretentious.  In any case they are not nice people to be around.

Overall if you like crowded pubs this is the place for you on the weekends.  If you are like me and appreciate conversation, try visiting in the middle of the week.  They have good food, good beer and their CD selections are also quite good. And if you tire of the crowd or loud music, head a few doors down to its neighbor, the Boat House.

-Review by the Nutty Irishman

Above: Nice front facade

Above: A corner shot of The Great American

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