Sláinte! Vienna’s best Irish pubs

The craic: A wee little man wearing a paddy cap and smoking a pipe told us that the entire interior of this very popular Irish pub in the 1st district was shipped over from Ireland. Ok, it may have been the owner that told us that, nevertheless, the place is clad in dark wooden panelling under dim lighting like any good Irish pub away from home should be. Their Guinness is rated one of the best in the city.

While through the week it’s a good local pub for quiet drinks or some typical pub food (burgers, cottage pie, steak sandwiches etc.), passing through the pub on a Friday or Saturday night when live music draws a crowd is like squeezing through somebody’s intestines. The staff are a friendly bunch, and largely responsible for the regulars that line the bar most nights. It’s also said that if you kiss the bald head of the barman, Chris, it brings good luck in love – to be surrrre.

Highlight on the drinks menu: O’Hara Irish Pale Ale
Pub quiz: yes

We also recommend you try… one of the regularly changing guest craft beers.

The craic: Having matured with new branding and a prettying up in the recent years of its almost 20 year life, Charlie P’s has remained a favourite Irish watering hole for a long while. While its upstairs bar possesses all of the typical traits of an Irish pub abroad – dim lighting, wood panels as far as the eye can see – we particularly like their cosy booths that make you feel like you’re in a little closed off tree house. The range of beer is generous, with the typical suspects on the menu – Guinness, Kilkenny, a couple of ciders – there’s also a hand-selected collection of craft beer.

Its makeover in recent years has seen a part of the pub transformed into a handsome dining area, serving up a kick-ass kitchen of fancy pub grub – from fish and chips to rib-eye steak and burgers. There are some crazy, messy drunken antics and fun happening at their infamous funk and soul party on Friday night, Get the funk out Friday, and the pub quiz is a favourite in town.

Whisky selection: (over 67 whiskeys/whiskys to choose from)
Guinness-o-meter:
Irish pub grub (food):
Service:

Our drink of choice: One of the impressive range of craft beers
Pub quiz: yes

The craic: This vast, sweeping place is a favourite on the expat circuit, and one of the first places that fill up when there’s rugby or football on the television. It’s made up of the bits and pieces of an old pub that used to live in an Irish town, and it shows. Its summer garden is a nice spot to down a pint after work, while the long bar inside is welcoming. A range of whiskys can be seen behind the bar that are all fairly priced, as is the rest of the drinks menu.

Our drink of choice: Lagavulin single malt whiskey (16 year old)
Pub quiz: yes

The craic: This uncomplicated, honest pub defies all expectations – set in an outpost in the 3^rddistrict on the corner of a main intersection, no normal place would survive in such settings in lazy Vienna. But this is no normal place. Having won over a regular crowd lining its bar from the nearby businesses, it’s charming Irish owner, David, and his team grew it from that as it became known for it’s high quality kitchen. It’s said one of the best fish and chips can be had here.

The atmosphere possesses all the warmth of an Irish pub, minus the kitsch, and the sports on the television, actually there’s no television to be seen. The small place can be like a smokers lung around the bar, but its part of the charm. The walk-in, wood panelled fridge is part of the décor covered in tin beer plaques, while the BP petrol bowser behind the bar adds random character. The windows open the pub right up, and sitting by them can be one of the best spots in the house we reckon, as you can look out to the world outside with your pale ale safely wrapped in hand. The dining area is separate and pleasant, like a pair of old leather pair of slippers with a whole in the big toe is pleasant. The beer list is bountiful and the whiskey list is predictable. But we’d strongly suggest you eat something while you’re out here.

We recommend… also coming for one of their quality breakfasts, or the freshly baked cakes and breads that are available daily.

The craic: This pocket of a pub, tucked away down an alley in Vienna’s old city center is big on character. With all kinds of shit and memorabilia hanging from the ceiling and walls – enough to send any cleaning lady into a breakdown – Bockshorn is the oldest Irish pub in Vienna. It’s also where you can arguably find the best pint of Guinness in town – if you can find space in there, that is. When we say this place is small, we mean standing room only, excusing yourself for brushing your crutch up against a big, burly looking guy’s ass accidently kind of small. Scoring one of the stools wrapped around the bar – which take a running leap to get onto – or at one of the two tables in the place, is a privilege, not a right.

It seems that once you’re swallowed by the sparse orange lighting of the place, you’ll start quoting Beckett, acquire bloodshot red eyes, and start telling stories of the high seas, or some other tale told by a weathered storyteller – it’s just of that kind of place.

The drinks list is spot on what you’d want in an Irish pub, and they really know their whisky with around 150 on offer.

Our drink of choice: you can’t go past the Guinness or a nicely aged whiskey here.
Pub quiz: no