Irish Food Restaurant for Rehearsal Dinner?

[funmarysf]

My fiance is Irish and his family wants to have our rehearsal dinner at an Irish Restaurant or Pub. Is there something in San Francisco that is Irish and serves good food and has nice atmosphere. This will be for 20-50 people, so a private room would be most preferable. Also, this is a pretty nice crowd... the wedding is big and very formal.

Thanks for any advice in advance!!

[napawinegirl]

Johnny Foleys had a great private room / bar downstairs. Also if you are looking for great food try Libertys out in the Mission - great food and smaller venu.
Liberty Irish Bar & Restaurant
998 Guerrero St
San Francisco, CA 94110
[phone]

[Atomica]

The one on Guerrero is called The Liberties. If the OP liked the formal feel of the private room at Johnny Foley's, I don't predict she'd be impressed at all with The Liberties. I did have an excellent burger there for lunch this week, but the menu in general is very dull. It's a good neighborhood place for a burger and a beer--nothing more.

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Liberties Irish Bar & Restaurant - closing
998 Guerrero St, San Francisco, CA 94110

[Calvinist]

Atomica is right about The Liberties. It's a quite nice neighborhood place -- handy for a good Sunday brunch alternative, but not too fancy. It's a bar with good food.

[NoeMan]

Any verdict?

[funmarysf]

Nothing for sure yet... but we did go to look at the Private Room at Johnny Foleys and loved the privacy and more formal feel of the place. We'll have to go try the food at both Foleys and OReilly's to see which we prefer.

[NoeMan]

Did you see the Holy Grail ?? Not O'Reilly's Bar is North Beach, but The Holy Grail on Polk (same owner). It either was a former church (or funeral home) with beautiful stained glass. To me you can't get more formal than that. But I love Foley's too, I just think the food at the Holy Grail will win you over. Pls keep us posted, it will be good to hear how things go either way.

[Joan Kureczka]

The stained glass came from a church in Ireland. The space was formerly Maye's Oyster House.

[NoeMan]

I knew about Mayes. What was it before it was Mayes ???

[weem]

Wasn't it some sort of Italian place for a while? Or was that Mayes? (The Mayes sign is still on the building.) I remember dining there just before it was O'Reilly's' when it was some sort of Ethiopian establishment, and they'd obviously changed the menu, but not the decor, so there were still photos of Frank Sinatra and so forth on the wall.

[grishnackh]

I was at O'Reilly's Bar a few weeks ago and the food has gone seriously downhill. I would not recommend it.

[NoeMan]

Not recommending the bar (which is in North Beach) but the restaurant Holy Grail on Polk Street

[barndog]

For our wedding we had our rehearsal dinner at Johnny Foley's in their private room, and it was perfect.

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Johnny Foley's Irish House
243 Ofarrell St, San Francisco, CA 94102

[wolfe]

link
http://www.johnnyfoleys.com/
I have a little problem with the menu. They have fries at least 4 ways but no colcannon

[wolfe]

You're welcome

[funmarysf]

thanks... edited...

[NoeMan]

I'd go for O'Reilly's Holy Grail. They'll reserve for a private event and the atmosphere and food will be excellent.

http://www.oreillysholygrail.com/

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O'Reilly's Holy Grail
1233 Polk Street, San Francisco, CA

[chutney]

i second o'reilly's holy grail on polk street - food is excellent with modern twists on traditional!

[wolfe]

And O'Reilly's does have colcannon on the menu.