About wine: Happy Hour at Johnny Foley’s Irish House

To round out our layover in San Francisco, the Husband and I wanted to get a local San Fran beer in the city before heading back to the airport. Back in downtown, we plugged in “beer” into google maps and found Johnny Foley’s as a spot not too far away from the BART station.

Once we entered, we went through the door that said “bar” (I think the other was for the restaurant) and were greeted with a host stand advising that we would be seated by the host. He asked us if we’d be having dinner. Since we were only having us a drink, he seated us at a “bar.” However, this bar was merely a shelf, near the bathrooms, with three stools in front of it. Hmm.

We took a look at the beer and wine menu and were disappointed to see that they had only one local beer – Anchor Steam. The others were the more traditional Irish brews or American beers (which makes sense for an Irish bar, but with a great beer selection in San Fran, we were hoping for more diversity). The Husband decided to go with the one beer (even though he’s had it before – he was hoping to try something new). None of the beers were speaking to me, so I decided to order a California wine. I went with the BV Century Cellars. (Looking at the online menu, I’m so disappointed the menu in person didn’t match! I would have gone with one of my fav Chardonnays – Toasted Head).

Blah! This wine was not my cup of tea! I rarely dislike wines I try, but this one had a watery first taste, and then an aftertaste I didn’t enjoy (I couldn’t pinpoint the flavors). I ended up barely drinking half before we left :-(

Overall, we were unimpressed with our experience at this bar. If there were happy hour specials, we didn’t know. Our waitress barely gave us the time of day, since she “knew” from the beginning that we’d only be having drinks. Who’s to say we didn’t plan on having multiple drinks? That could have easily added up to the cost of a dinner. But we weren’t given the chance.

The only positive of our experience was the decor. Lots of things for me to play with the DSLR on. Particularly in our corner (where lighting was poorer), I got to play with more settings attempting to make better photos (definitely not great photos). So, if anything, check out this pub for its decor.

One last tidbit to add to our mood, although not the bar’s fault, is a “fee” added to our bill. A 4% service fee for a “healthy San Francisco?” Really?