Roach & O’brien

What they lack for in craft beers they make up in food quality and value. Smoker friendly.

went there 2 wks ago for my 50-​yr haverford reunion. place was packed every nite, rightly so: except for the prices, it coulda been 1963, and the prices are still affordable. lotsa beer, plus burgers, an analog jukebox and a dart board that looks like it’s been there since, oh, 1947. an astute fella reunioner found that the db gets changed every three wks but always with the same model. this is not a fancy place – eg, i don’t recall ever seeing a menu. in 1964 i asked the father of the present owner for a cheeseburger and a coke. he said, «this ain’t no restaurant, kid.» if you’re near there, go. if you’re almost near there, also go

Best old time shot and beer bar on the Main Line. Huge burgers, chicken salad sandwich is very good, and how do you beat $ 2.00 pints of beer?

Dive bar.
Smoking permitted.
PBR on tap.
Cool bartenders.
I like this joint.

I only went to this bar once, and it was to drive my neighbor to the airport. he told me to be ready at 4am, and his flight was at 7am. i checked the math, and it made sense, so I said OK. it turns out his airline had not accounted for some type of cloud formation, you know like stratus or nimbus or some shit like that. so when got to the airport, his flight was shutdown.
Instead of going home, he said he had to stop by somewhere. well it turns out Roaches was the place we had to stop by. its an elegant little joint, sprightly perched on the troves of Lancaster ave. i figured my neighbor had been here before, because everyone there knew him.
the beer was cold and served quickly. it was actually bustling, as Roaches opens at 6am or so to serve the night crew workers. i had a great conversation about one guy who is saving up to buy the internet. he said he heard being online was awesome, and I got going about Unilocal,and it was just pretty awesome.
you may want to keep an eye on your wallet, as a few less-​then-​savory characters were present. this was about 10 years ago when I went. i remember because it was around the same time as Y2K bug. that was a bad time in my life.

I like roaches mostly because i can get a cheap beer and their bacon cheeseburgers are pretty damn good. Now if your looking for something other then a dive bar you can smoke cigarettes in then keep on walking.
Its the kind of place that still has the softball trophies from the early 80’s hanging out all over with some antique radios and a god damn phone booth in the middle of the bar. i shit you not… a freaking phone booth with one of those big phones you put change in. Who has change anymore? Its probably the only stand alone phone booth on the whole main line. Get this… I come to find out that it is the bar phone too. Hello Roaches… payphone. haha.
Old school dart board with real sharp darts. Fun. Now onto important things
The jukebox. This is the most technology that has entered this bar in 20 years. The still have tube TV’s…no flat screens… and the 2 TV’s aren’t even in front of the bar. You have sit with your head turned sideways… anyway, back to the crazy future music box.
The jukebox has a decent selection and if their is an artist you like but the song you want isn’t on the list… you can download it right there. Cool. So I put my money in, choose a song and blammm!!! The music starts screaming out of the sides of the Jukebox. Yep… not a single speaker through out the bar. All the sound and power is flying out of the box. Now try having a conversation while sitting next to that. It was difficult and comical at the same time.
Roaches is about cheap beer and experiences… and every-​time I’ve been there I’ve had some kind of experience. Either from 1980 or the FUTURE!!!

Roach’s — what a fine establishment! This place is definitely a dive, and a legendary one among all Main Line college-​aged students.
In fact, the legend of Roaches was first passed down to me by my dear Mother, who happened to frequent the bar herself, way back in the seventies (Mom recommends the sandwiches.) Don’t be scared by the dingy bar, the kitchen is excellent. Any place that serves food good enough to be memorable 30 years later must be pretty great, right?
When I was finally, ahem, old enough to check the place out for myself I was horrified. THIS is where my friends were hanging out? It was a hot mess. Hot and dank and dark and moist with spilled beer that was served to us in plastic cups, but what the hell, let’s get drunk! Let’s shout our conversations across the table at each other until the sketchy girls at the table next to us interrupt us to offer $ 2 for a cigarette — oh, desperation. Oh, Roaches. You make me feel good about myself, ’cause so many of your patrons are bigger losers than I am.