Grogans Castle Lounge

I love this pub. Good pints, good company and good location. I can think of little better than sitting outside Grogans at 2 O’Clock on a Friday afternoon in summer with a full pint of Guinness. I recommend this boozer highly.

Perched outside of Grogans on a sunny afternoon is without doubt one of my favourite spots in Dublin. Being located on the corner of the pedestrianised Castle Way makes it a first class location for people watching.
Inside is more shabby and less chic but it’s your typical old man pub with sticky carpets and the most horrific toilets you could find but you wouldn’t want it any other way. It attracts the most eclectic mix of people from flat cap wearing old men to artists and writers and of course the hipsters love it (Grrrrrr). They do a great no frills toasted sandwich that goes down great with a pint of Guinness.
Also check out the great art on the walls — All by local artists

The Good:
+ Probably had the best pint of Guinness here. Long Hall is a close second.
+ Very classic feel. You’ll finally understand where the term divey comes from.
+ No television in here so just focus on the conversation and the sights and smells around you.
+ Cool and interesting artwork and memorabilia.
+ Excellent toasties to keep your tummy happy between pints.
The Not So Good:
— Service can get a bit hectic. Service is also very no BS and no frills. They are kind of mean and standoffish but that just comes with the territory.
Bottom Line:
The ideal place for a proper pint in Dublin. The Guinness is poured perfectly, and laid to rest for the exact amount of time. Its magical.

Well this is one of Dublin’s best known pub exteriors; everyone in Dublin having sat on the chairs outside at least once in their lives or at most twice a week. Drinking a pint and staring longingly at Gourmet Burger Kitchen across the street.
Only a select inner circle of patrons know what the inside looks like or what beers they have on tap.
One account by a Dublin resident who wishes to remain anonymous, described the interior as «An oddity of economical horror that remains every bit as chilling as the day it was first opened»
I pressed for more information and was given this stark and unsettling account.
«Cobwebs lye upon each old stool. Dark stains are apparent among the upholstery of many of the booths. Like stale wine, stout or blood. Although seemingly too black to be either of the former options. Almost otherworldly black. Vantablack. Strange portals that disorientate and distract from some of the more obvious irregularities.
An empty pint glass sitting on a small draped circular table with an inscription „Quis est iste qui venit“ Latin for „Who is this who is coming?“
Tracing my finger over the inscription, I felt a chill pass over my shoulders and heard the sound of flapping sheets. Upon turning around, I saw the figure of a spectre pursuing me from the furthest corner of the room. Immediately I ran, towards the nearest exit, knocking over some brittle furniture and hearing the smashing of glass as I tripped out through the precipice of the doorway. I slammed it behind me without looking back.
Stunned in terror I walked to the steps of the Powerscourt Centre, threw on my sunglasses and had a smoke.»

Love this pub. On a nice day especially, love sitting outside, always a great buzz and nice spot to people watch. Inside as well could not be more authentic.
Their toasties are amazing too.
Must visit when in Dublin for a real Irish pub experience.

Great pints, excellent service and outdoor seating — what more could you want! I’ve yet to try the toasties, but I’ve heard they’re great.

One of those pubs in Dublin that’s hard to describe until you’ve visited.
Go for the pints and the relaxed chat, stay for the excellent toasties!

I always loved Grogans and always will but the fact that they have started selling GF daura and MacIvor cider recently made me just fall in love with them over and over again!

This place is so awesome! Grungy, local vibe. Definitely a place to go if you’re looking to escape the rowdy drunk tourist scene. We sat at the bar, had some pints and at grilled cheese/​tomato sandwiches.

Great boozer. Added bonus of no TV. Propper ham and cheese toastie to fill you up in between pints of pints of plain.
If you are a visitor to Dublin. This place is definitely worth a visit

Grogan’s is what it is and is getting the review it’s getting because of the atmosphere, vibe, smoking area and relatively good Guinness.
I have been coming here for years and years. A bit of an institution around that part of Dublin. I like the mix of clientele. Hipsters to old men. Well less of the hipsters please! But I guess what I am saying is this is a Dublin pub. A good Dublin pub should be able to bring every type of person in through it’s doors and for them to enjoy the experience.
Grogan’s does just that.
Staff are very friendly. Décor is as a Dublin pub should be. Divey!
Toasted sandwiches are not amazing when sober. But amazing when drunk. I think people get a little too over excited about the sambos. But they are good soakage nonetheless.
Day time is my favourite time here. Bring your laptop, newspaper or book. Order a Guinness and a sambo and chill for a couple of hours.

This place reminded me a lot of The Laurieston in Glasgow — like your nanna’s house, but a little bit more beer-​stained and smelling like cabbage. We headed in on a Friday afternoon and found it surprisingly packed — inside with old guys, outside with hipsters. My glasses aren’t quite big/​square enough to be classed as hipster, so we stayed inside. Some old gents made way for us to squeeze in beside them and we enjoyed a couple of drinks — mixed berry Kopparberg for me and a Guinness for him.
While ordering drinks I’d spied a wee bar-​fridge packed with ready made toasties and knew I had to have one. Ham and cheese, or cheese and tomato are the options and they’re cooked fresh for you, and served on a paper plate with a jar of mustard. We seemed to order at peak toastie time so had a wee wait but it was worth it — nothing beats the comforting tasty of white bread and delicious ham and cheese (especially with a cider).
Staff were super friendly and we were soon made to feel like part of the family. This is a great pub in a good area of Dublin that’s worth heading to when you need a break from shopping — as long as you can actually grab a seat, that is!

Sat in for a pint on Sunday afternoon and all was going well. Conversation was flowing and cares were soon forgotten. It felt good to be back in Grogan’s dated but amiable lounge. Until… the smell of toasted onions began to permeate the room as people ordered that most curious of house specialities: the Grogan’s toastie, — a simply assembled cheese and onion toastie that typically arrives heavily charred and reeking of, well, onions! Bloody stinking toasted onions that were impossible to ingnore and ruinous of a generally pleasant ambiance until that point.

Really like this bar as I always have an enjoyable time here. Bottles of stout available and pint is good also. Toasties are a must. Great place to bring tourist friends who are visiting the city. Better than any TempleBar nonsense. Staff can be a bit stressed here when busy but just take it as it comes. This is not a fine dining restaurant. Always a good atmosphere, they respect their long time locals at the end of the also which is nice. Quirky art gallery interior too. All that is missing is a thick dense haze of cigarette smoke like in times past.

One of my favourite Dublin city centre pubs. It just has an old world feel to the place.
The location is great, and there are a lot of seats outside facing South William Street and Castlemarket, Georges Arcade.
I really like having a pint here during the day anytime of the year– even in December when it is not raining.
The prices are standard for city centre. They also do nice toasted sambos. But they are pretty plain so I wouldn’t plan a dinner here!
The one thing that I do find a bit off putting sometimes is one of the barmen has a bad attitude at times, especially if you ask for a toasted sandwich at the wrong time and he tells you where to go! That is the only reason for not giving 5 stars!

One day somewhere on the cyber-​sphere someone told me that Grogans had «the best toasties evurrrrrrr», so I waited with eager excitement for the perfect hangover to strike and venture over.
Well, what a disappointment.
I can only imagine that the person in question must have gotten confused with their vocabulary that day and when they said «best» what they really meant to say was worst.
The outside bread was slightly burnt but the cheese was still unmelted, a cardinal sin in the toastie stakes. The presentation was pretty crabby too –plastic cutlery is such a turn-​off. Nothing about this toastie would ever lead me to fathom why someone could rant about its positive qualities?!
As such I’d say go for the drinks and ambience outside, but leave the second you feel the munchies coming on, lest you get duped into ordering one of these delicious-​toastie-​impersonators

One of the best and coolest spots in Dublin. On a sunny day you’ll find everybody driving here and a night a very eclectic mix of various persons. Inside they’ve art on the walls and the style of the place is just Dublin.
The Guinness is amazing over of the top rated places in Dublin!

Gute Pub in gutem Stadtteil, in dem Locals (und wenig Touristen) Ihr Guiness nach Feierabend bestellen.
Abends proppevoll. Genial!

I have a sneaking suspicion that this pub is a place that grows on you. Like an itch you just can’t scratch, it probably hooks its regulars back again and again for imperceptible, lovable and eclectic reasons.
For those of us dropping by for a one-​night stand, though, it’s not a fabulous experience. It’s (dare I say?) verging on dingy and tacky inside. In the warm weather it was so packed that the large majority of patrons were spilling out the side door onto the street, standing around smoking and chugging away in the early evening sun. Was it unpleasant? God no, it was fun to immerse ourselves in a largely non-​tourist crowd and to feel the electric, pulsing LIFE of Dublin… but I can’t say that the pub made us want to stay for another pint.
Grogans, I’m sorry I never gave you a proper chance. I have a hunch we’d have had a rollicking romance.

I have to give special props to a pub that is as matter of fact as Grogans Castle. When you walk in, you see a mix of business people just off their day jobs, old dudes complaining about the young kids and then a small fridge and a toaster. It only takes moments for you to realize that this place does not serve food, they serve toast and cheese sandwiches.
The toaster is pretty legit. It’s got four slots which means they can multitask, unless of course someone orders 5 sandwiches. Not a fantastic craft beer selection. They mostly have the Dublin pub standards with a couple O’hara’s thrown in. I like this place strictly for the vibe and because, they make cheese toasties. As a tourist, I was happy to escape the normal traps in Temple Bar and I’m glad we stumbled in here.

Hmmmm. I feel a little curmudgeonly giving this place a four star rating. Reason being that it genuinely used to be my pub of choice in Dublin, the one place I absolutely adored going to. It felt like a little slice of the wesht country right smack bang in the middle of South William St.
Flann O’Brien, one of Ireland’s great novelists, mentions this pub in his novel At-​Swim-​Two-​Birds, when one of his characters says; «That same afternoon I was sitting on a bar stool in an intoxicated condition in Grogan’s licensed premises.» Grogans is indeed a bar unaltered for decades, unaffected by the Celtic Tiger and the mess left in it’s wake. It’s not uncommon to see lone patrons set up for the day in here, book or pen and paper in hand, no doubt soothed by the comfortable mellow surroundings.
As many reviews before me have mentioned, they do a great ham sandwich, serve the pints fast and well, it’s the cosiest of cosy pubs, and it’s right in the heart of Dublin. They also support local artists by displaying their art on the walls which is quite a cool touch.
The seating area outside are the icing on the cake for this old school boozer. Come rain or shine, these tables & chairs will generally be filled up by the young trendies that seem to be taking over this place.
And herein lies my gripe. It really isn’t the fault of the pub, but lately, it seems to have become a victim of it’s own success. After my last visit, I thought about giving it a three star rating, disappointed as I was with the changed ambiance in the place. But, no that wouldn’t have been fair, as they haven’t changed a screeb, and have been doing the same thing for years. It’s just that too many people have cottoned onto it. (Read: Hipsters!) Somewhere in the last year or two; shiny newness has become considerably ‘out’, and old-​fashioned, ‘vintage’, rough around the edges, has become considerably ‘in’. You will not get a seat in here anytime after 4pm unless you’re very lucky, and if you do, you may need to bag yourself some thick rimmed glasses or a copy of Ulysses to fit in.
Curmudgeonly? Me?