Irish Rose Saloon

Unfortunately they allow smoking inside… Oh well, would be an awesome place otherwise. Never would come again rather go somewhere else over here any day

Would give it more stars if it was non smoking. Great place with decent prices, but the second hand smoke kills it for me.
They are open super late till 4am so that’s cool but you’ll smell like an ashtray

GREAT PLACE ,
GREAT PLACE, Day or Night
5 star music (LIVE AND JUKEBOX)5 STAR drinks Never a bad time
Sundays are great Football Days there and Dart Machine is outta sight

How in the name of all that’s rational does this hellhole have an average of 4 stars? It’s a one star bar. I’ll throw an extra benefit of the doubt star on there due to the good fortune of them having that wonderful Breakside IPA from Portland, but aside from that I can only recommend this joint if dismal experiences are to your liking.
There’s a big no smoking sign at the bottom of the stairs, yet you can smoke to your heart’s content upstairs. Air purification or no air purification, it smells like an ash tray inside.
Unacceptable.

Drinks were good and so was the band, but what gives it 2 stars is our waitress. Don’t come here expecting to catch a buzz and expect a nice friendly waitress. I’m pretty sure this Unilocal will be kicked out but ours was a B?+{H! She thought she was being funny but she was extremely rude.

First impression: moped gang outside, sketchy characters, crowd double my age, oh please no are we seriously going in here?
Up the stairs, find yourself transported to a different era and location. You are temporarily leaving Hawaii for this. They had a live band playing 60’s style «shout» with a packed dance floor complete with a women doing the full Irish jig all the way to the ground. I tried to do the dance when I got home and wow, let’s not do that again, ouch! The décor was interesting and along the top wall near the ceiling had a row of little red rider tricycles. Random?
The staff was friendly and the drinks priced right ($ 5-​$ 6). They allow smoking inside and that’s not my fav. But it wasn’t as bad as other pubs I’ve been in. The overall atmosphere was fun with a mature crowd. But everyone was having a good time together. My guests visiting the island liked it so much they came back the next night to continue the party.
Also, out front they had a hot dog cart. My friends got one and it looked pretty good, fully dressed. It was so spicy she started tearing up.

This may be borderline inappropriate but. just not my crowd.
There’s a lot of «gangster”-looking people and biker gangs, etc. 95% men.
As a petite female, it was a little uncomfortable. I’m used to fun-​loving asian bars! Haha.
I did get good service! LOL. ;)

This is hands down my favorite bar on the entire island; good music, sports games, great drinks, and I can enjoy my favorite cigars without the looks from da kine that hate when people try to enjoy themselves (you can find a bunch of them below giving 1 star (s)). I come here with friends, out of town business people, and sometimes on my own. I always find a friend or a good time. Keep doing your thing Irish Rose! You’ve got a happy customer for as long I’m around these parts

Pat is the awesomest ever, great jokes and works well under pressure. And wubba Libya dub dub because Unilocal thinks this review is too short, so f them in the a, those jerks. Pat is awesome and that’s all that needs to be said so forget about character requirements because this is not a crappy undergrad paper.

My new thing will be random Irish pubs in tropical locations just to drink a Mai tai. We’ll see how this works for me later in life.
This upstairs, smoke filled, locals bar delivers strongly poured drinks. Friendly locals, Dean the bartender was incredibly friendly (dude…your photobomb of my Mai Tai didn’t take… super bummed!!). Smoke doesn’t bother me, my (then fiancé) didn’t mind it either, which is huge since he complains about casino smoke. The drinks were cheap, and for a tourist town (or tourist state) is a great thing.
Apparently they have local bands, but since I was there on a Monday morning, we didn’t get to enjoy that.
If smoke doesn’t bother you, it’s worth checking out!

Great place with the right band. They (I don’t know their name) have been on a roll with those song selection. I came here on the fifth of September. Service was decent. Only negative is all the smoke but it didn’t really bother me. Super fun place

One of the most fun nights I’ve had! Drinks were great, mine is a simple drink but they weren’t too strong or too light just right!
Band was the best part! Singing a mix of rock pop and some good old classics! They get he crowd going!
Dart boards and shuffle board in the back to keep you busy while you drink! All in all! Great hole in the wall we will go back too!

I was recently in town for a business meeting and a coworker recommended this place.
A bunch if us went there and had a great time!
Friendly bartender, great band and a fun crowd made it a night to remember.

In recent months many bars in Waikiki have closed leaving only the super-​touristy and expensive ones. The Irish Rose is a rarity in Waikiki– a bar offering affordable drinks, dart boards with plenty of space, a large dedicated dance floor, live excellent music, and personal freedoms to enjoy yourself. Note: if you don’t appreciate other forms of legal drugs, best stay away.
The staff is super friendly and helpful, even on the busiest nights. The saloon gets a lot of business as well– it’s a lovely place to people watch. It’s frequented by local regulars and tourists alike, so it’s an interesting mix. My favorite band that plays here is Elephant, fantastic crowd interaction, selection of cover songs, and quality music. The large dance floor has plenty of space to let loose. The Irish nature placates to whiskey and dark beer lovers, which is also hard to find in our tropical paradise.
Restrooms are usually clean and well lit. The bar itself is large with plenty of seating at stools and high top tables. The high ceilings keep the smoke up and air moving. Take a look at their calendar for special events and the music schedule. It’s rare lately I enjoy going out, but this is always the best place to spend or end an evening!

Isn’t smoking illegal?
We wanted to enjoy this place, but there was so much smoke that we didn’t even finish our beers before leaving. It’s too bad that the owners refuse to follow the law. If they don’t respect simple laws like no-​smoking, I’d hate to think what other procedures they feel are below them.
Avoid this place unless, it sucks. Go next door to Chibaken happy hour, then walk to Waikiki to end the night.

Hard to believe that I have not reviewed The Rose.
First the bad, they have a ‘smoke at your own risk’ policy. So as a non-​smoker I will leave smelling like smoke. The owner feels that it is not the establishment’s responsibility to enforce the indoor smoking ban and has been quoted in the news saying: «I can’t make an income without customers so it’s not my business to throw customers out of my bar,» (
)
The good points are Elephant, a local 80s arena rock cover band which plays most Saturdays. They really seem to enjoy playing and interact well with the crowd. There is also a large dance floor. There is never a cover charge and the bar has many beers on tap and a full-​array of liquor. They do not have a kitchen but there is a food cart in front on most weekend nights. The staff is always friendly and mix drinks rapidly given the high volume of people.
The bar seats about 20 people and there are many tables with cocktail service.
The Irish Rose is a great place for a cheapo night out.

It’s terrible that I smelled smoke just opening the door not even making a single step inside. It is illegal to smoke inside the bar but they are doing somehow? I needed a bit more drink after Chibaken so. decided to try this Irish bar but no thanks. I’m
not a smoker and I hate it so I can’t breathe no way! Why can this kind of business exist doing some illegal thing? This is just not for me?

came here last night (Saturday night) with my boyfriend and his work friends. it’s a hidden gem at the beginning of waikiki: its right next to 7 – 11 on kalakaua, located on the 2^nd floor. there’s some parking reserved for this pub.
its not too crowded and omg, the band Elephant was AMAZING! they played a great variety of genres from alternative music to rock-n-roll…they even rapped to Macklemore’s Thrift Shop haha. and what’s great about them was not only did they have a soloist, but their drummer, bass and guitar people also had songs where they sang solos. but ya, their lead singer had an awesome voice and had lots of energy! they entertained the heck out of us. and if I wasn’t so sober and lame last night (I was DD), I probably would have danced the night away lol.
the only reason why I didn’t give them the full 5 stars was mainly because of the smoking allowed inside :/​I’m not a smoker and I hate the smell of it. I felt super gross coming out of there and nauseous from the stinky smell of smoke!!!
other than the smoking part, my boyfriend and I had a lot of fun at this dive bar. they also had dart boards & pool tables near the bathroom. if you don’t mind the smoking then this is definitely a place to check out. I believe Elephant is playing again next week Saturday, so be sure to check them out!

Oh boy. Where do I begin?
I’ve got to admit that the place seemed a little sketchy when we rolled up on it. You enter from the street level make a hard left and head up the stairs. It started feeling even more stretchy as we headed up the stairs and the smell of cigarette smoke started to hit us.
We made it to the second floor and I was pleasantly surprised by the bar. It’s nice sized, well set up and has a killer live music stage. Plus there is an air filtration system that for the most part cleared up the cigarette smoke we smelled in the stairway.
The bar maid was super friendly and on top of her game.
It’s was a Monday night and the bar was for the most part empty with the exception of regulars who took their seats at the bar. It was like a crazier version of Cheers. There was an intoxicated lady who kept yelling at the band as they set up to play «Hotel California», like 30 times. Another guy who was very chatty but only spoke is a shouting voice even thou it was relatively quite at this point. Another drunk old hippie dressed similar to a postal carrier put it wasn’t an official postal uniform. I could go on but I don’t want to sound mean because these people were all full of heart and very inviting. They were quirky.
Now the band was also a pleasant surprise. Being a former musician myself when the band setting up, I thought to myself these guys are going to really suck. The drummer was on his cell phone and seemed disconnected from his band mates. The bass player sat on a bar stool, this is a rock band. The guitarist looked like an older rocker that had places to be. The singer was this big guy, looked like a former football player past his prime.
These guys rocked with great energy. The drummer had excellent timing, the guitar player knew his stuff, the bass player sitting on the bar stool was highlighting the songs in some cases better than the original versions and the singer, the big guy, was not only spot on in key but was an excellent show man.
The first song was of course «Hotel California» and the dance floor quickly resembled an adult day care. These crazy locals did everything but tradition dance moves. Words can’t describe the dysfunction we witness. Than a make shift slam dance broke out towards the end of «Hotel California». If the moment was right somebody would start, what I’d call a sloppy drunken robot and that would turn into an unorganized robot line dance. Good times.
Great people here at Irish Rose Saloon. We had a great time.
Moral of this story is never judge a book by its cover.

I love Irish Rose but the last time few times we have come here have been really questionable… We used to be every weekend customers but as of lately we will stop in maybe once a month, this past Friday we learned our lessons to stick to coming on Saturdays because really no live bands compare to Elephant! THEY ARE AWESOME.
The time before last we had a question about our bar tab because a type of drink that NONE of us drank was on it but the bartender didn’t want to hear us out because we «only tipped $ 10 on $ 100 bill»… meanwhile we were tipping cash with EVERY DRINK we ordered. I understand you can’t keep track of every patron in the bar but to be that rude to someone who has a simple question because you probably assume they’re wasted is extremely unprofessional…
Other than that I love the Irish Rose. The drinks are strong & the memories had here are awesome