The Castlebar

Sadly the bar closed for good on August 1 :(

As far as dives go, this is the archetype. While small in space (a corridor-​esq setup with the bar along the left wall and tables along the right) this spot packs all the right elements into the mix. Cheap drink prices (yes, in Boston), great beer selection, friendly bartenders, jukebox, buck hunter, golden tee, and your standard bar event fare (trivia, etc). No food here but feel free to bring your own grubbin’s or munch down the occasional jar of goldfish found on the bar counter. By far my #1 neighborhood place in the square to pull up a stool for a casual pint.
Between the locals in the décor it may even lean a bit more towards the Boston Irish crowd that a standard dive. Stick around for the late night scene to see some Guinness-​inspired hilarity that strikes some similarity to The Last Drop.

This bar has BY FAR one of the best ladies room bathrooms I have ever been in, including the bathrooms at some nice restaurants. Not only was it really clean, but there was a nice little table with a vase & (fake) flowers next to the toilet. I was so pleasantly surprised and this is one of the main factors for my decision to make The Castlebar one of my favorite bars in the area. You judge a place on its bathrooms, and this place gets an A+

Love Thursday Quiz nights at this place. Challenging, but its good for teams and for people just looking to have a good time. I even won a prize my first time out! (ok it was the last place prize, but it was a jar of pretzel sticks, so I held that up with pride).
It’s a dark bar, like they never turn on the lights, and the clientele are mostly older people from the area vs. The Last Drop, which is where the younger guys go. I like Castlebar more because its closer to me, so I can get a quick cold pint or a Whipped Creamsicle martini, which is quite tasty, even if it is kind of girly. I like the fact I can easily get a game of darts going here or watch the game, (and I can bring food in).
I guess I can be a regular here, after all, one must have a local bar they can go to where the beer is cold and the camraderie is friendly.

I came to the Castlebar for Thursday night trivia. I really enjoyed the format of the quiz with just 20 questions and music played to give enough time for answers. The bidding system was also a great idea after I understood it.
I sat at the bar all night and was able to watch the NFL and baseball, even though we had quite a few drinks the tab only came to $ 26 (without a tip) very reasonable compared with the London prices that I am used to. A great place for a night of drinks!

A true 5-​star Sports/​Dive bar. Bring your own food, which you can order at the bar from a binder full of menus. Beers are fairly priced, service is friendly, and it’s an all around good bar!
Definitely would recommend for night of drinks.

This place is awesome! It a small place, but has a great atmosphere– went with 3 other people. There aren’t a lot of tables, so I sat at the bar. The bar tender was awesome, bringing us cold glasses for the pitcher of beer that we got which was pretty awesome. I wish there were more tables though! It was hard to talk to my other friends sitting at the bar

Came here last night for the first time and I was very impressed! It’s a really nice place to have a couple beers with friends. The staff is super nice and accommodating. The bartender was handing out goldfish throughout the night and the service was excellent. The ambiance is really nice as the bar is on the darker side and pretty on the inside. Another plus: the bathrooms are beautful! I would highly recommend this place.

Wow, I’ve never rated Castlebar? I guess at least part of the reason for that could be that the last two times I’ve been there I’ve been frigging hammered. About a year ago, a friend and I played hooky for my birthday and ended up there toward the end of the day. I was hitting on a chick who I think may have been lesbian, but I was hitting on her in what I thought was a pretty mild-​mannered, non-​sexual way: helping her out with the Sunday Globe crossword.
The other time was after a Sox game when some friends from Watertown and Belmont wanted to meet up after the game. We drank a lot of beer, and my friend who went to the game with me barfed in the men’s room after someone (not me!) had the bright idea to get Johnny Walker blacks all around. Yikes!
Anyhow, we’ve done trivia here too (our team came in second one night!), and if I needed a local, this would be my local, but I don’t, so it isn’t.

This little dive bar is like a hidden gem — it’s fun, cozy and the drinks are cheap. They even have drink specials to die for — last time I had an orange creamsicle martini (I know, right!!!) and it was quite the pleasant surprise for a place like this — love it!

An awesome place to go, have a beer and relax.
Pros: drinks are cheap, trivia night is enjoyable and the music is nice.
Cons: none so far. Only been there once but enjoyed it thoroughly. Will come back for sure.

For years I avoided this bar for fear of sketchiness until a friend dragged me in. I am not sure why I waited so long to try this place? The martinis are awesome and a total shock for a local bar. Drink prices are average, but the fun bartenders make up for it. They try and create fun event nights to get people in the bar such as ugly sweater parties and trivia nights. Despite the activities, we have never had a problem grabbing a seat and drinking the night away.
Don’t come here if you are looking for a pretentious place to be seen. Instead come here if you want a casual atmosphere to share some beers with friends.

Divey, in a great way.
Don’t feel like dealing with a crowed, wanna just kinda chill, play some buck hunter and darts and shoot the shit with some locals?
here is your spot.
There is no food. But did you really want any? yeah, then walk down the street and grab a slice from two doors down).

+ The stunning ladies’ room that totally makes you forget that you’re in a «dive» bar in Brighton.
+ Dave, the amazingly awesome bartender.
+ Dave’s incredible margaritas that are at least 85% alcohol with a splash of lime.
+ Those margaritas are only 7 bucks for a HUGE glass and two knocked me on my ass.
+ Chill atmosphere, which is not really divey at all.
I stopped into Castlebar to meet my good friend Leah (the mayor!)for a drink before going out to dinner. I got there around 7:30. We saw no reason to leave for dinner (not even extreme hunger!) until almost midnight. At that point I was trashed and happy due to Dave’s awesome margs.
The only minus? Castlebar, you’re too far from my apartment.

Castlebar is one of my favorite little hangouts. It may look a bit divey from the outside… and even when you first open the door, but it’s actually a very fun place to hang out with a laid-​back atmosphere, good prices for drinks, and (as Lauren alluded to) the nicest ladies’ room I have every seen.
They don’t serve food, but you’re permitted to bring in your own and, with so many options for food in the area, it’s really not an inconvenience at all. Actually, it’s kind of cool! You can have whatever you’re craving and not have to smuggle it in like a creep!
It’s also clean, which can be refreshing in the Allston-​Brighton area, though it is quite clear that it is an older facility and could use a little TLC.
I would definitely be remiss if I didn’t mention the fun that goes on in the function room. The second Wednesday of every month you can catch the (FREE) Very Nice Comedy Show with Andrew Mayer and Rick Canavan and through the month, the room is book with improv and other comedy shows. You have to check it out.

Cast-​lah Bah, as Karen my friend’s GPS would say, is a decent Irish pub I used to frequent when visiting friends in the area. It’s not my favorite bar, but it serves its purpose.
I like that they have a jukebox with a decent selection (though I think it has the search function so really its selection is endless). My friends and I used to play darts here a lot too when we didn’t feel like fighting for a spot at the infamous Silhouette. Dart board is kept in good shape too, I should add. This is also the first place where I got into playing trivia — they have it every Thursday night at 9, and a good sized crowd usually seems to show up.
Overall it’s a good, cozy place. Paul the owner/​bartender is a great guy, and most of the other bartenders are pleasant enough. You can bring your own food too, as others have noted (I recommend Sweet Pepper a block or 2 down the road).

This place was a solid irish divey pub, nothing fancy, and features team trivia on thursday nights. the trivia jockey was a little difficult to hear, but otherwise the vibe here was what you’d expect from virtually any non-​descript local irish pub.
as some of the ladies have already mentioned: the weirdest part of the bar was the ladies bathroom, which looked like the bathroom of a medium-​to-​upscale hotel. i’m not sure why they invested as much dough in the ladies bathroom as they did in the rest of the bar combined, but i sure won’t hate on it.

When I lived in Oak Sq I’d often pop down to Castlebar for a proper pint. Good bartenders with a proper brogue; great place for a girl to have a Guinness and listen to some Johnny Cash without being disturbed by drunken suitors. A good pour at a good price.
They lose stars only because I’ve literally seen someone «foreign-​looking» walk up to the door only to be told by the 4 or 5 Irish smoking outside «I think you’re in the wrong place, mate.»
Meh. Racism sucks.

I lived a stone’s throw from this place six months before going in. And I only went under duress. The crowd of sometimes-​skeevy guys smoking cigarettes outside literally all the time was a turn off.
But when the power went out and it was 90 degrees and we found out that they still had power at Castlebar, in we went.
So, I guess, in an odd way, I owe the evil NSTAR for my newfound love of a dive bar. Which isn’t even all that dive-​y. Cheap drafts, friendly bar tenders, and a relaxed atmosphere make this the perfect spot to stop in for a drink or two after work. I am most definitely a fan!

Legend has it that Castlebar used to be a total dive, and a really divey dive at that. According to friends that have been living in Brighton Center for way longer than I have, all that changed a few years ago, and now it is a totally respectable Irish pub.
Actually, it’s more than a totally respectable Irish pub. Castlebar has turned into a fun place to go to play some trivia, try your hand at darts, and enjoy some well-​priced (cheap) beers. You can also impose your musical preferences upon the rest of the bar via the jukebox in the corner by the bathrooms. Speaking of bathrooms, they have the nicest ladies’ room I have ever frequented! There are fresh flowers in there!!!
Anyways, now that I’ve sufficiently geeked out over the toilet, I should probably mention that Castlebar also has a nice function room right off of it. I’ve been there twice to go to a comedy show (Castlebar Cagematch) that is based there. I’ve had a really good time every time I’ve gone here, and I’ll definitely come back, even after I move from Brighton!
Oh, just a note: Castlebar does not serve food, but it does allow you to bring food in, which, you know, I think is pretty considerate of them.