Bridie O’Reilly’s

Moving in just around the corner and having an empty fridge, Bridie’s $ 4.50 Wednesday parma and chips deal seemed too good to be true. And while it’s an extra $ 2 for salad, and the special price is only with any drink purchased, ordering a pot of fat yack and a parma only came to $ 10! Pick a perch, take your boomerang buzzer and as the kitchen is pumping out the parmas it is ready in no time! I’d heard rumours they were small. But I thought it was actually perfectly sized. A touch dry it could have used a bit more sauce, but perfectly adequate considering the price!
The bar itself draws a varied crowd, and gets notoriously trashy on weekends and St Pattys day. But getting in early on a midweek for a quick and super cheap feed, she goes ok!

I stopped in Bridie’s last week on my way to drop some visitors from the US at the airport. We had a few hours to kill, so we grabbed some grub and a pint.
I really like the layout of the place. It’s a large pub with lots of seating options. From high tops, to booths, standard tables, and fun nooks and crannies with couches and upholstered chairs. There’s also ample outdoor seating under cover.
The beer selection here was good, with several obligatory Irish options, plus some local craft brews and the usual commercial fare. The bar staff was very friendly and knowledgable about the selections.
Nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to food, it’s mostly traditional pub eats. However what I had was very good. I ordered the Caesar salad, which was great and I had a few bites of my friend’s Parma, which was also very tasty. I would definitely give this place another go.

Great place to watch the footy if they can fix the sound before the final quarter… Plus Kilkenny on tap which is a huge plus.

New owners. New staff. New nightly specials. Still the same ol’ sticky floor!
$ 4.50 parmas (with any drink purchase) on a Wednesday night!
So this is your typical wana be Irish pub. There’s a few areas that say I’m from the Euro-​zone. Like multi glass wine sizes on offer. Confusing as all heck but there’s a fairly decent wine list on offer.
The new management team have put a lot of effort into hiring and training their staff. Which has really paid off. The staff were well presented, friendly and very efficient at clearing tables and generally being excellent bar staff.
Wednesday night is parma night and Friday night is $ 5.95 steak night. There’s a few catches. You need to purchase a drink and salad is an extra $ 2. The venue here is huge. When we arrived at 7pm it was nearly half full inside and out. There’s an odd mix of people that have come to exploit the $ 4.50 parma. Families, singles, sporting groups (big fav with the uni students and uni sports clubs), old school punks, new school goths and hipster boys with tight tight jeans and no socks!
To help keep the food flowing you’ve given an annoying buzzer. But considering how many parmas are pitched out during the night it makes a lot of sense. The parmas (and schnitz for me) were pretty darn good. Nice basic pub food done well.

A Great place for party and food i am there on most Saturday nights and have a fantastic time with my friends.
The band stand and deliver rock all the old 80s tunes, and you can easily send the night dancing away to the band and DJ who gets the party started.
Also l am glad you can not carry a drink on to the dance floor, it’s for dancing not drinking.

, relaxed bar atmosphere, they need a cleaner to clean toilets as they stink. Good service at the bar. Improvements would be to hire a decent cover band which plays modern covers using instruments, not just an 80s singing band that doesn’t use instruments. Music needs improvement. Good taxi rank. Good security. Drinks too pricey though as it’s not a classy venue it’s bridie oreileys

Let’s face it, cheesy Irish pubs are great for their relaxed atmosphere and a bit of a laugh. This explains why my friend decided to arrange a group meet there for his 33^rd birthday. Oh that and the fact that he had heard there was an 80’s covers band playing that night, and thought we were in for a bit of a dance.
So we were all a little surprised when the bouncers on the door acted like we were entering an inner city nightclub and made everyone queue in a non-​existent line so they could I.D. everyone and give them the ‘wanker bouncer stare’.
Anyway we all got inside, only just mind you, and proceeded to listen to the absolute best and cheesiest 80’s cover band I have ever heard. They were fantastic. That is until I decided to go get my first drink and head for the dance floor. Because apparently at Bridie O’Reilly’s you aren’t allowed to drink and have fun — no beverages are allowed on the dance floor.
What a way to make a shit pub even shitter in every way. Definitely not worth a visit, because let’s face it, if you look like you are having fun the overbearing bouncers will just tell you that you are doing something wrong. I say go to one of Brunswick’s many many other awesome pubs. There are plenty.

Ugh. I could end there but I’ll give you a few substantive reasons not to go to Bridie O’Reilly’s in Brunswick. If only in case you get invited to this paean to public house mediocrity and need some ammo. I feel that it’s my duty.
I went to a birthday party at Bridie O’Reilly’s in Brunswick not long ago. I think it was arranged in jest. Or at least I hope it was. I’d like to maintain a modicum of respect for said friend.
Bridie O’Reilly’s is the kind of pub that Kiwis and Australians flock to in London because it’s just clean enough not to be one of those scody — but much loved and infinitely more interesting — locals and plays top 100 hits and the occasional bit of Holly Vallance.
Bridies is kind of like O’Neills in Earls Court but slap bang in the middle of Melbourne hipster central Brunswick. Incongruous much?!
The night I visited Bridies an eighties cover band was playing. I like to think the ID demanding bouncers at the door — hello, I’m 27! — were trying to stage an intervention against questionable covers but I doubt it. I think they were just being tools.
Aforementioned covers band actually turning out to be quite good — in a bad way — we wanted to dance. Aforementioned covers band being an eighties covers band, we wanted to drink. Heavily. Enter conundrum.
Because at Bridie O’Reilly’s, you’re not allowed to take your drink onto the dance floor. You’re not allowed in without ID. Too many rules, not enough atmosphere. Bridie O’Reilly’s sucks.