It was dark and kind of creepy in here.
It was bound to happen eventually. After weeks of new places
and fantastic results, I found myself a pretty uncomfortable stinker of an
experience.
After a few recommendations by folks on the Universal Hub
forum, I decided to give Kelleher’s Bar & Grill in Roslindale a shot. I was
looking for a place to grab dinner with some friends, and none of us wanted to
go far. Kelleher’s wasn’t far, so we went.
The strip of Centre Street where Kelleher’s is resembles a
lot of the street in Jamaica Plain, but a bit more suburban in feel. The bar
itself has parking out front, and very little in the way of windows to give you
a clue of what you’re getting yourself into. My party entered to find a large,
8-bit zero shaped bar, half a dozen TVs on a few different sports channels, and
about fifteen of the eighteen people in the bar suddenly staring at us.
We went to the left, looking for a table, and from that
side, noticed a semi-hidden section on the right of the bar that had tables for
more than two people. As we looked over there, the bartender (a pleasant enough
but very direct woman) yelled across the room, “you can sit over there, but
there’s no waitress!” Okay. We’d do that and order from the bar.
I opened a tab, we ordered a few beers, and decided to order
off the specials menu. Pizza was $5.95 each, and wings were on sale, too. We
chatted at the table until our food came out – two store brand frozen pizzas and
a plate of wings. Not a problem – it was tasty enough and cheap. We watched the
locals chat about baseball and Rush Limbaugh while we ate.
After eating, I went back to the bar to get the bill. Two
20-something guys just stared at me with “what are you doing here” eyes. The
bartender gave me the check, and I tried to get her attention to point out that
she had my card. A few minutes later, she looked back at me and said “is there
a problem.” I said, “you have my card.” She said, “oh, right” and ran it.
The other problem, which I noticed after she ran the card,
was that she charged full price for everything, despite the place being covered
with signs and even screens advertising the specials. It was only a few dollars
– not worth another few minutes of getting stared at. I’m not sure it was done
on purpose, but it definitely didn’t help the overwhelming feeling of
unwelcome.
Experience Rating:
1-5
New Experience: 3.5 –
I’d never been to Kelleher’s, so technically it was new. That said, I’d been to Kelleher’s a million times in
every incidence of stumbling into a locals bar.
Others Can Do It: 5 –
You can do it any day. I have no idea why you would, but you can.
Enjoyable: 2 – It
wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever done, but it certainly wasn’t good. Cold,
unfriendly clientele, staff who was inattentive at best and hostile at worst,
and food you could get at a convenience store is not my idea of a good time,
even on a Monday night.
Kelleher’s Bar &Grill is located at 1410 Centre St., Roslindale, MA. It is open until 1am every
day.
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