McArdle's Pub

McArdle’s is an Irish dive bar on a side street in the Southside with surprisingly—no smoking. It still has that dank smoking feel to it. If we hadn’t known it was non-smoking now, we would not have guessed. In all honesty we could just leave it right there. The space is almost entirely occupied by a giant rectangular bar. There is a pool table in a back room. The lighting is very dim, which is nice. The drinks are cheap. They have a very small draft selection, two of which were plastic cupped when we were there.

Recently, A had a friend in town for a few days to put up a show at City Theater. He was in from Philly; yes, you can hold that against him. A was excited to show him the joys and wonders that a rejuvenated Pittsburgh has to offer. But where did A’s friend want to go? McArdle’s. Why? Because it was close. Out of all the bars in the entire Southside, he chose McArdle’s. So for two nights in a row, A went to McArdle’s with theater people. Of course that was not on official blog business. We had tried to go there to review it a couple of times only to find it closed, but we finally made it recently.

When A was there for unofficial business he saw some of the same faces that were there when he went in an official capacity. We are assuming there is a little community that exists there, which is nice. Probably some locals who don’t want to deal with Carson Street.

We love a good dive bar and this one is fine, but it is not somewhere you would go out of your way to go to. Or, you know, be the main bar you hang out in when you are visiting a different city.

Address:	1600 Bingham St, 15203	Games:	Pool, Darts
Façade:	Scary	Scene:	Irish Dive
Parking:	Wear Walking Shoes	Patio/Outdoor:	No
Kitchen:	None	Cleanliness:	Normal
Smoking:	None	Jukebox:	Internet Crap
Hours:	5pm-2am  (seem to be closed Sun-Mon)	Cig Machine:	Yes
Drink Prices:	Dirt Cheap	# taps:	10
Bathrooms:	Sit	Specials:	None
Live music:	Never	Riley Factor:	$6
ATM:	No	Cash Only	No
TVs:	2	Size:	Normal