Sweeney’s Bar

Sweeney’s is a great dive bar that I wish we had here in Orlando. But I know there is no way that the Jameson or Guinness would taste as good.
We ended up here twice on my 3 day trip in Dublin. With 3 levels, it’s easy to grab a drink even when it’s busy. Only complaint is that it seemed like everyone hung out on the main floor and it’s no fun to be upstairs where no one is! But the vibe is chill and cool.
Jameson and ginger became my new favorite drink thanks to Sweeney’s. At 5 €, you can’t beat it. Great place to grab a great quick cheap drink and head to the next bar!

Decent pub. Cool stuff on the walls and the service is usually pretty good as well. They also have good music playing and multiple floors to choose from. The mens room does make me wonder if its ever been used to make a horror film. If not it would make for a great creepy horror flick where bad things happen in the basement men’s room.

I have been there before but it had a different name by then… Anyway, it is a nice place but they have a poor beer selection. Upstairs is where things actually happen, like musical presentations etc. Some useful sofas at the back of the room in case one of friends decide to pass out drunk

I like Sweeney’s. As big bars go, it’s actually got a really nice small bar kinda feel to it. Divided up over three floors, it’s got a nice cosy feel, friendly bar staff, and always pretty cracking music. Sunday is a good day there, with live jazz happening on the main level.
They do some good deals on cocktails too — try their whiskey sours or mojitos.

Pubs with so different ambients, nice people and good music! What else?

Sweeneys is such a good lil pub. I was only here twice and I really like it. It was pretty busy Friday night with a good mixed crowd (no pretentious freaks) which is always a good thing. Just as we were leaving I could hear some cool reggae tunes from upstairs so will defo return for some more of that. Good mix of live music, good staff, good booze. Boom!

Sweeney’s is a staple of mind around Dame Street as a preferred stop on Friday nights. It’s a nice spot to grab a late lunch and early drink during the day– cocktail specials and soup/​sambo specials are on the chalkboards daily.
I like stopping in here with friends for a visit with table and sitting room by the windows or main floor. Sweeney’s usually has a cool buzz and mix of people about the place as the night goes on.
You might fancy some music from upstairs as the night gets started. There is an added cover charge for the music venue upstairs, but for mingling downstairs it’s on the house.
The drink specials range from 5 – 10 euros and the pints around around the same.

This should really be a review of Dame Lane, the lane to the back of Sweeneys, as that’s where most of the bar patrons end up. It’s not just for smokers but for anyone seeking fresh air and conversation.
The lane is well paved and nicely lit by twinkling fairy lights. Delicious smells of Iskander’s and Malone’s waft through the night air. On busy nights, which are most nights, the air stays warm with the mass of bodies and narrow lane-​way keeps in the heat. A number of other bars also have entrances onto this lane which makes for a vibrant atmosphere.
Inside you can get a pint of Sweeney Mongrel for € 4 or a Jameson and Ginger for € 5 as well as the usual diageo stuff. There is free live music most nights of the week, on some nights all three floors are open. The music is eclectic much like the patrons. I’ve seen funk, folk, reggae, blue grass and 80s metal bands. Upstairs has a spacious seating area under a beautiful stained glass window, the ground floor is cosy and a nice place for a quiet pint before the evenings music begins and the basement is a sweaty hot mess but has the best space to view a band.
You can check their facebook for listings or drop by any night for great local music and good company.

There have been a few occasions that I was at this place two nights in a row. It’s always good fun here. The location is convenient. The music is great. There’s Paulaner. The smoking area at the back is huge.
On Sundays at 7PM there’s a lovely jazz sextet.

So after dinner last night, a mate joined us for a few drinks. A few hours and several establishments later we found ourselves outside Sweeneys. Not having been there since it became Sweeneys, we all gave it a try. There appeared to be a lot of hipsters but also a lot of people diggin’ the pretty good music. You have to like a place where the music is good and the people can’t help dance (or even just half-​dance) regardless of where they’re standing. Pretty good selection of beers too. I’d definitely on for makig my way back there.

Not a bad spot it has it’s choice of music starting in the basement and getting livilier as you go up. Reminds me of bars in Greenwich in NY if you know what I mean.

A very nice spot in Dublin. Chilled out jazz/​blues band, Totally a funky vibe for chill out sessions. I really enjoyed this bar!
I really enjoyed the music!!!

Aragh Feck ya Slim D. its not that bad. As a travelling ‘plastic yank’, I thought this place was OK. Though maybe it had more to do with the quare crowd of Unilocalers I was spending my night with more than anything. I did enjoy the quiet after the fecking mentalness at the Mezz I have to say. We landed downstairs there for a couple of quiet drinks cos you know, we are getting on in years and the auld hearing is not so great anymore. There’s three (or tree as they say in Dublin) levels of madness here. We chose to start off at the lower level and had some quiet drinks with a backdrop sound effect of an absolutely fabulous poet who made me think of rapping back in the late 80’s. I’m sorry I didn’t get his name. He was really quite good.
Anyway, great place to go if you don’t want to hear what anyone else has to say except for the person directly beside you.
OK for us. We just came to be together, take pictures, have drinks and be goofy fuckers. I love my Jennifer S.

As part of an event called Dublin Buccaneers Treasure Crawl, organised by my friend Karl, I was stationed here to help out the wandering Buccaneers make a fool out of themselves for a clue to the next bar. Even though the barstaff at Sweeney’s weren’t told it was going on, they were friendly and had no problems about people doing the ridiculous things for the next clue! The girl I talked to even tried to apologize for her apparent rudeness afterwards, even though she couldn’t have been friendlier!
When each team came through, and I gave them their challenges, most of the other customers had no problem about helping them out! They were all very relaxed and I think enjoyed the interaction with the pirates! A group of lads had no problem letting a team of girls beat them arm wrestling — too bad the girls were on the move as soon as they won, lads! Better luck next time!
The only drink deals they have is with their own microbrew, which is pretty nice anyway! The background music is cool and laid back, and they usually have a live band playing downstairs whenever I’ve been here — I’m not sure if it’s every night though — and they’ve usually been fairly different each time, so it’s definitely a very musically eclectic bar, which is always a plus!
Overall, I would reccomend Sweeney’s bar if you want to go chill out with your friends and listen to some great musical talent!

Sweeneys is a nice little spot — renamed a while back, formerly known as Le Cirk, it attracts an ahem… eclectic crowd to say the least! For me, that is part of the charm though. They have live bands playing every night, and the music ranges from rock to punk to bluegrass!
Staff are bohemian, student-​types, but overall quite friendly, and Ive never had to wait too long for a drink.
They also do food, which I havent tried, but having peeped at the menu whilst having a sneaky puff, it looks pretty appetising and very reasonable.

Great little spot, quite liked the addition of the old school desks out the back in the smoking area. The food is very good and resonably priced. Not much available in the way of cheap drinks though but their thing here is quality live music. At night the place really gets going, it is split over three levels with something different on each. Quite strange to move from live rock band upstairs to reggae beats in the basement.

Probably the only reason nobody has already reviewed this bar is because… well. frankly, if you haven’t been there yet, you’re not missing much. If you’re a tree-​hugging hippy who likes bars which look like they’ve been thrown together in a week and a half, then this place is perfect for you! Dubing the day, it’s so exciting, that the odd person actually lifts their head up from the Mills & Boom novel they’re reading to cough!
On the upsaide, it does have it’s own little live music scene which sounds quite… erm…nice. It opens out at the back to dame lane which is a lovely area, I must admit. It also has a downstairs but I valued my sanity far too highly to risk it. If you ever end up going through the doors of Le Cirque, keep walking till you go through the doors on the other side.

SO, I was in here last night and I vowed to my friends on the way home that I would write a review about it this morning when I woke up. Here it is dearest friends and other interested parties!
We were a group of about 10 and had booked tables and some platters of food previously in the week, all good! Anyway we walked up to the Dame lane entrance door at about 6 o clock shivering from the cold and we were welcomed into a warm cosy bar with four trad musicians playing away in the corner, it looked perfect to me!
Our tables were upstairs so I unwillingly left the musicians behind and went to find our tables. The décor is really lovely in this place, big comfortable leather couches and funky chairs are dotted around the place. Deep reds and dark woods cover other surfaces giving a warm intimate feeling to the place despite the spacious room we were in.
The platters of food we ordered arrived, well, some of the platters arrived and we all dug in. The food did not disappoint at all! Spring rolls, sausages and wedges were served in dinky little bowls surrounding a centre piece which was a cake stand adorned in mushroom vol au vants and brown bread and salmon, very tasty indeed! We were satisfied with the food we had so when the waitress asked if we wanted more we politely declined.
The room started to fill up eventually so we decided to ask for the bill. Our jaws dropped when it came. They had charged up for more than we had actually gotten, after a bit of battle with some staff our bill was reduced a small bit but they insisted that because we had pre-​ordered a certain amount of platters we had to pay for them.“But we didnt even get the other platters” we exclaimed! «The waitress didnt bring them to us!» It Didn’t matter, we still had to pay! Big fat boo to Le Cirk right there! Minus two stars straight away!
Other than that I actually quite liked the place! The mix of people is incredible you have men with an abundance of facial hair and some with no hair on their heads at all, others wore those irish tweedy caps at a jaunty angle! The girls were varied, there were funky ladies with those straight short fringes and red lips or there were a couple with dread locks and then there were just normal looking girls, watever normal is, who ever you are and whatever your style you are going to fit in here.
The music, well I actually asked my friends last night how they would describe the music in Le Cirk and we were at an absolute loss, thinking about it now with a more sober head I think that the mix and style of music is reflected in the type of people you find there, varied and eclectic and full of an «anything goes» kind of attitude.

I popped into le Cirk for a quick lunch the other day, mainly because I was in town and had heard good things about this place. The waiter was very friendly and even though a cheese sandwich and a coffee don’t sound like the most exciting lunch ever I felt like I’d made a good choice. The bap was pretty fresh and the tomato and lettuce count as one of my five-​a-​day. The coffee was surprisingly good and so was the price– just over 7 Euro. It’s also nice and quiet, with a relaxed atmosphere so I might have to come back soon and try their dinner as well.

I had the pleasure of eating at Le Cirk with a visiting friend and his parents. We walked into the empty restaurant and were greeted promptly by a very attentive and friendly waiter. I had a hard time choosing from the short but excellent menu and decided on the fish and chips — made a little more interesting with pea purée and salsa. The food came out quickly, as you would expect because were were the only patrons and was tasty enough. I can’t say I was wowed, but I loved the pea purée and the chips were thick and yummy. The «salsa» was just diced tomatoes. Fail. It was overall a nice meal though. They have a great wine list too, very reasonably priced bottles, which we drank a lot of.
Maybe it was because we were Americans and, in addition, he could sense that my friend’s dad is a very generous tipper, (he could smell that 30% tip a-​comin’ is what I’m saying) but our waiter provided really excellent service all night.