Tommy Doyle’s

Cambridge, United States

2.7

20 reviews

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Telephone:
+1 617-864-0655
Website:
tommydoyles.com
Address:
96 Winthrop St, Cambridge, MA, 02138
Harvard Square
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
200 ftEliot St @ Bennett St
210 ft16 Eliot St
360 ftJFK St @ Eliot St
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Today

Today –
Local time (Cambridge) 16:26 Monday, 23 June 2025

Business hours

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Tuesday –
Wednesday –
Thursday –
Friday –
Saturday –
Sunday –

Description

Specialties

Located on historic Winthrop St., Tommy Doyle’s is the Square’s most versatile pub. With function space from 3 to 300, a vibrant menu of comfort food, burgers, and seafood, live music 5 nights a week, DJ and Dancing Thursday-​Saturday, and 20 screens, there is always something going on at TD’s. We’ve hosted Weddings, 21st Birthdays, graduation dinners, bachelorette parties, and everything in between! With 60 different beers and three floors to choose from, we hope to see you soon.

History

Established in 2005.

Tommy Doyle’s opened it doors in 2005 in the building that once was the original «House of Blues.» It has been a popular hangout, eatery, live music, sports, and dancing establishment ever since. We boast three floors each with something different to offer our diverse clientele. Our downstairs lounge is ideal for private and semi private events, as well as a quiet alternative to the fun that often takes place upstairs.

Our pub floor is home to some of Boston’s best and friendliest bartenders. Enjoy dinner and drinks with friends, play Big Buck Hunter, or watch the Sox, C’s or Pats.

«The Loft» at Tommy Doyle’s is home to great live music nightly, DJ and Dancing four nights a week, and 17 TV’s including our 110″ HD projector.

We have sister locations in Kendall Square, Cambridge, Hyannis, MA, and Newton, MA, all sporting their own local identities and traditions.

Meet the Manager

Garrett T.

Manager

I’m a lifelong Cambridge resident and manager at Tommy Doyle’s for nearly four years. I helped hang the pictures, sand the bar, and was there when the front door was unlocked! It has been a great experience for me, meeting new people every day and I’ve developed life long friendships with my staff and many regulars and patrons that have come through the doors, that is certainly one of the perks of this business. I’ve always loved music, sports, and people, and I get to be around all three every day so I have a pretty good job.

I also enjoy listening to what our guests have to say and especially love their critiques, as it drives me to work harder, improve our product and operation, and continue to provide a casual and fun environment for the area.

Tommy Doyle’s — CLOSED also recommends

Grafton Street

622

reviews

American (Traditional)

,

Pubs

Garrett T. says,

«Great table service and a relaxing atmosphere.»

Nearby

Near this location:
60
ft
Om
92 Winthrop St
80
ft
Shake Shack
92 Winthrop St
80
ft
The Red House
98 Winthrop St
80
ft
Rieder Carolyn A Psycholgst
106 Winthrop Street
90
ft
Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ
16-18 Eliot St 2nd Fl
100
ft
Takemura Japanese Restaurant
18 Eliot St

20 reviews of Tommy Doyle’s

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Place rating: 2
Cambridge, MA
Pros:
1) They have a gluten-​free menu.
2) They are conveniently located.
3) They have two floors.
4) Sundays are pretty dead.
Cons:
1) The food is very over-​priced.
2) Sometimes they run out of things they have on the menu.
3) It can get very loud, especially when mini-​reunions happen here (they do often).
4) The drink selection is not as vast as I’d like for it to be.
Meh.
Place rating: 4
Allston-Brighton, MA
I started going to TDs because they sponsored the Sunday kickball league I played in. Needless to say, the place was kind of a shit show but the super friendly staff was always on top of things and took good care of us.
They would have 5 stars, but one night this summer I played Call Me Maybe on the jukebox and they skipped the song. I realize it was a ridiculous choice, but it’s my money and I should be able to play whatever the jukebox has. Plus, those jukeboxes have filters to prevent unwanted sounds…
Place rating: 3
Boston, MA
Well this is the final goodbye to Tommy’s in Harvard Square. Whatever the reason for it closing down, management has confirmed it will do so on December 22nd, 2013.
I can’t say a lot of good things about the food, drink selection or atmosphere of Tommy Doyle’s. Let’s face it, it looks like and smells like a college bar. Or in many cases, a bar for rowdy people who pretend they still can drink like they are in college.
Regardless I love Tommy’s. It’s the place for the last year that I have celebrated more birthdays, engagements, athletic achievements, the best complaining of my life and tragedy. I have never experienced a management or staff more willing to step up for a group of people in my life. They are the true meaning of #bostonstrong.
I have a unique experience to the place. Fact is, Tommy’s has changed a lot over the years and I’m not a huge fan in some of their tactics to class the place up because again it’s not about the atmosphere but the people. And if you are ever taken on a date to TD’s in the next two weeks, I’d probably leave the guy or girl at the door.
Place rating: 2
Cambridge, MA
If you’re looking for food, go to the Tommy D’s in Kendall or just go somewhere else. This is not an eatery so much as it is a bar and loudery. There isn’t much seating for food in the basement or first floors so we headed up to the second floor where we had to chase down a bartender just to get a menu. It didn’t seem like they even had waitstaff on duty, which I thought was weird because it was 6pm on a Sunday. Not exactly a party night, you would think. In this case, you would think wrong. It was deafening on the lower floors and only slightly less so where we sat.
Ordered the truffle fries which came with invisible gruyère cheese and a garlic aioli the potency of which is unmatched anywhere else in the world. I used it extremely sparingly (a tiny dip every other fry) and after emergency doses of Altoids, the garlic remained at a 95% concentration on my breath. Echoes of it this morning.
I also tried the potato pancake appetizer, which was nast. Nast to a T. Just… gross. Don’t order it. It was gross.
My friend is a vegetarian and she said this place has the best veggie burger she’s ever had which is why we came here in the first place. It’s made of beets and chickpeas and I had a bite to check it out. I was different for a veggie burger, but I felt sort of relieved that it wasn’t trying to pretend it was meat. It’s not meat, but it was good.
I got the «corky pig burger» with bacon, bacon jam, jalapeños, bleu cheese (I subbed vermont cheddar) fried onion, and rashers which are kind of like canadian bacon but less processed and fattier. So I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised by how greasy the burger was. That didn’t ruin it for me though, I bravely chowed through half the burger before it’s massive size defeated me.
As a last note, I would recommend the sweet potato fries. They’re hand-​cut with no coating on them, but thin enough that they’re still crispy, and lightly dusted with some kind of cinnamon tastiness.
Overall, the service was bad and the food failed to impress me enough to come back to this specific location, although I hold no grudges against the one in Kendall Square.
Place rating: 3
Somerville, MA
Oh man. This place is always sticky, wet, and crowded. I like this one marginally better than the Kendall location, and it’s only because there are several floors. Which, I don’t know, adds some intrigue?
I’ve played trivia in the basement, watched a Celts game and ate some subpar nachos on the ground floor, watched a Bruins game, sang karaōke, and saw live music on the top floor. So, it’s a pretty multi-​functional space. I sound like I’m selling a banquet hall or something.
Food is pretty gross, IMO. Beers are whatever you’d see anywhere else, which I don’t know, interpret that however you want to. I never feel a need to go to Tommy Doyle’s but somehow end up here a decent amount. I’ll just blame that on friends with poor judgement.
Place rating: 2
San Francisco, CA
Blah– its ok.
$ 5 cover on Saturday. Shouldn’t be $ 5. Should be $ 0.
The music was a mix of stuff.
Free refils on cranberry juice.
Saw a few ppl from jr. high (all grown up now).
That’s enough to not make me become a regular here.
Place rating: 4
MA, MA
I really love Tommy Doyles.
I do realize that the bar scene is a bit crazy; it get’s way too packed and a person’s visit there could be really lame because of that, but, that being said, their food is actually really good and they have a good selection of beers and drinks.
They are not packed at all for lunch during the week so that’s a great time to go.
Their Irish food items are really tasty!
I recommend them for their food for sure.
It’s a good 5 oclock spot too!
Place rating: 1
Boston, MA
This place needs to be hosed down with a Costco warehouse worth of Purell. I’ll let you use your imagination.
My friend asked me to drop by to say hi once, and it was like watching a bunch of really wasted, trashy people knocking into each other, followed by what looked like a whole lot of middle schoolers sucking face like their lips were Dyson vacuums.
It almost made me vomit a little in my mouth. Many times over.
Place rating: 3
Cambridge, MA
Came here on a Thursday night. My neighbors invited me to trivia and I thought it would be nice to be a little less anti-​social once and a while and go out on a school night. So we got here 45 minutes ahead of time as the consensus was that trivia nights are super popular so we’d have to stake our space early. However, when we got there they were having a function in the basement so Tommy D’s wasn’t seating anyone until 10mins to 8pm.
This wouldn’t have been much of an issue but basically there was a bunch of people standing awkwardly in the middle of the bar waiting to get their trivia on. When we finally got downstairs they were still setting up. No worries though as we were there early so all of our party got seats. Trivia itself was pretty fun. Lots of random useless knowledge questions.
Most of my group ordered drinks and food, all of which was pretty good. I myself enjoyed their Foxbarrel cider and originally didn’t plan to order anything else. But when I tried someone’s sweet potato fries I just had to have some. They were delicious and even though I ordered in later half of the game the guy serving us had no problems and came with a piping hot bowl promptly. I had a good time. It’s not my scene food wise but for a bit of trivia I’d return and have a drink and some fun.
Place rating: 1
Boston, MA
I was kicked out of this pub.
Mind you, I was in the men’s bathroom stall, minding my own business and pissing, when some angry guy barges into the bathroom and stomps his foot against the stall door, cursing loudly. I try to finish peeing quickly, so I can get the hell out of there, but I’m confronted by this little angry Irish man, who curses and asks how the floor is covered in an inch of water. Clearly, it’s not my fault, since the water is gushing from a busted urinal, not the stall that I was just using. He brandishes a butter knife at me, threatening to «cut my throat» if I didn’t get the fuck out of there! I’m angry, my piss has been rudely interrupted, so I yell back, «Clean this shit up, you shitface! I didn’t do it!» And he runs at me with his knife, fist on my shirt. We explode out the bathroom door, I fall back against a table, and instantly I’m suppressed by three guys and carried down the stairs. I’m screaming that I was attacked by a guy with a knife, and they tell me that he was the MANAGER.
I’m in shock. No manager should kick down the stall door of his patron. No manager should threaten a patron with a knife. I understand that you’re pissed because the bathroom floor is covered in crap and water, but be calm and LOOK AROUND YOU. The water is coming from the urinal, not from the stall! So, Mr. Manager «Shane». You need to learn some manners.
Apart from being attacked by the rude manager with a knife and being tossed out by three bouncers, it seemed like a decent place to be. I paid good money for food and a couple of beers that I never received. I assume it would have been delicious, but I will never fucking know.
Wish me luck, I’m going to court soon. Hopefully he’s replaced by a better manager.
Place rating: 2
Cambridge, MA
Tries so hard to be a college bar and sort of succeeds. Almost always crowded Thursday-​Saturday. Be prepared to get elbowed and shouldered while ordering your drinks, while moving across the room, while climbing the stairs, and so on. Crowd management on each floor seems to be an issue, so be careful — if you’re upstairs and then go downstairs, you may not be able to get back upstairs. This bar seems like it should be cheap, but it has a way of creating surprisingly large tabs.
Weeknights they’ve got stuff like Karaōke and Trivia, which may be a more relaxed experience, but Tommy Doyle’s primary business is partying. The space just isn’t quite right for it.
Place rating: 2
Boston, MA
Drunken. Abused. Bad tasted. Met friend here for random w/​e lunch. Whoa Tommy! Immediately apparent from walking in door this place serves one purpose and one purpose well: dispensing mass quantities of alcohol to 20something party monsters, preferably during a sports game or other excuse to get ridiculously abused and sloppy. Smell of dried beer still in the air. Food was downright terrible (some sloppy BBQ briquette sandwich I would or wish on my worst enemy). Yet quasi-​redemption courtesy draft Harpoon VT Spruce Tip on draft (what?!). Place is huge, with two floors of drunken possibilities, and a huge projector upstairs. Come here for a game, with your game, and a strong mission for mass alcoholism and you might just have the time of your life. Come here expecting good food and a clean floor and, well, not so much.
Place rating: 2
Los Angeles, CA
Came for brunch. The waitress didn’t give us a brunch menu. We had to ask for it and she spent ten minutes looking for one. Sure, they were busy, but our bunch lasted like three hours because the service was so shabby. The food was ok, but it’s so hard to mess up pancakes, eggs, and potatoes.
So I ordered a side of scrambled eggs, which came on the bill as a ham and cheese omelet. When I asked the waitress about it, she said that sometimes the side orders show up as something different, but it’s the right price. I told her that $ 8 for a side order of eggs seemed rather steep. THEN she finally changed it to $ 2 for eggs.
Super rowdy and unfriendly atmosphere. Will not be returning.
Place rating: 1
Cambridge, MA
The first time I came here with a friend on a Friday night, the first floor was almost empty, but we were completely ignored at the door for quite a long time. We tried talking to the bartender, but failed to get his attention, so we left.
I went again last Thursday with another friend. Since she heard good things about it, I decided to give it another try. It took forever to get a beer and a neat scotch. It took forever to get our waitress’ attention. And then… I got a flat and warm beer…
I’m pretty sure I won’t come back.
Place rating: 4
Boston, MA
I came here last weekend with my mom for brunch on a whim. We were just driving around the barren Kendall Sq. and came across Tommy’s and it looked promising…(there were actually people sitting outside). As you can tell I am NOT a fan of kendall sq. soo dead.
Anyway, I got the corned beef hash, eggs, toast, and homefries. SO good, I really liked the corned beef hash. My mom got the chocolate chip pancakes and they were actually some of the best we have had. They were crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, perfect amount of chocolate chips. YAY.
Our server was this younger girl with long dark hair, I don’t remember her name, but she was the only one working. She was very relaxed and so sweet. She was really attentive, I wouldn’t have even guessed she was the only one working. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the patio. I loved the lights. If Kendall Sq wasn’t sure a bore to look at it would have been amazing.
I would be interested to see what it is like here at night with the live music. The inside was cute and I liked it a lot. I would recommend this place if your looking for a nice spot on a Saturday morning. Super relaxing and yummy food =) !!
Place rating: 3
Austin, TX
We went here last night around 10PM for a friend’s birthday. The trip was a bit impromptu, and the bouncer was nice enough to only charge $ 50 for our group of 25. This definitely beats paying $ 5/​person — Great business move because that’s why we decided to stay :)
Drinks are good and well-​priced for the area, and the band playing upstairs was AWESOME. The speakers were seriously *way* too loud, though. If I’m at a concert, sure, that’s fine. In a bar/​restaurant… it’s a bit much.
We wanted to dance, but dancing downstairs didn’t start until midnight — huge bummer since the T makes its last Harvard Square trip at 12:20.
Tommy D’s was fun while we were there. Nothing amazing, nothing bad. Solid three stars.
Place rating: 2
Conshohocken, PA
Meh. I’ve experienced better.
Exactly. Why you charge cover at midnight when band is gone?
I was the designated driver, so I can’t say I was impressed with drink choices either. I had Pepsi.
Overview:
The location was very convenient.
The staff was very friendly.
The shamrock plants on the table were very nice.
But the bathroom was absolutely filthy disgusting, I think I came away more uncomfortable than I went in…
I wish T.C.‘s was still around.
Place rating: 3
Boston, MA
On Thursday nights, I sometimes hit up Tommy Doyle’s after watching some men’s league basketball (thrilling, I might add). It’s usually the highlight of my evening as I get to snack on apps, drink Magners and watch horrible karaōke.
On the list of my favorite apps, definitely the Celtic Nachos (nachos made with kettle chips rather than tortilla chips… so good) and the chicken fingers. Back in the day they had half priced apps on Thursdays which made it even better, but alas, the last time I was here, that deal was a thing of the past.
Everyone here (bartenders included) have been really pleasant to me so I can’t speak to the reviews that state they have received poor customer service. I haven’t been on the receiving end of that.
Place rating: 5
Woburn, MA
My friend and I, bought a Deal Now on Sunday for Brunch.
We had the Greek Omelet and the Irish Breakfast Roll; they were both rocking! The home made fries were great, too. They’re a combination of sweet and regular potatoes, I don’t even like sweet potatoes too much but these were yummy!
Also, you get a free drink if you order anything from the brunch menu! We had a mimosa each, and let me tell you it was great and big, not your usual 4onz champagne glass, think more 8onz delicious mimosa!
We also had a a couple of other delicious seasonal drinks, which names, unfortunately I can’t remember but they were very strong, large and fruity. I was buzzed by 2pm nuff said :-)
They have Live Irish music playing Sundays, Tuesday and Thursdays from 12noon — 2pm, the guys are great too.
This place does well capturing the Irish culture. It can get a bit too loud at night because the acoustics isn’t the best but, it’s a great place for brunch.
Place rating: 4
Boston, MA
I love this place. Great music (when it’s not hipster «live music») but actually hip hop and fun dance music. Drinks are cheap, bathrooms are decent for a trashy bar scene. I love this place.
However, ladies — be warned… the black guy dancing with you is trying to steal your stuff. I got my iPhone and my digital camera stolen on Friday night of Halloween weekend and am so upset. But it happens however if I had been less focused on getting my grind on and more focused on holding onto my stuff this would have never happened.
There are major sketch balls here. DO NOT BE FOOLED.