THE MOST AUTHENTIC IRISH BAR IN NEW YORK CITY
FAILTE (pronounced falcha) means “welcome” in Gaelic. Pete and John welcome you to Molly’s, established in 1960 and the most traditional Irish bar in New York, complete with sawdust on the floor and a log-burning fireplace. Renowned for its Shepherd’s Pie, hamburgers, and steaks, all for reasonable prices, Molly’s is a long-time favorite with locals and a destination for newcomers.
MOLLY'S PUB AND RESTAURANT SHEBEEN, which stands at 287 Third Avenue, was first established as a bar in 1895 (name unknown). During Prohibition (1920-1933) it operated as a grocery store, and in the mid 1930s, following the repeal of Prohibition, the retail space once again began to serve alcohol and the building’s three upper floors became a rooming house for transient workers. The bar was constructed from Honduran mahogany which, together with the original wood- burning fireplace, is still in place today.
In 1964 the business was purchased by the Purfield family from Dublin and Galway, designed by Stanley Franks in the Tudor style that exists today, and named Molly Malone’s after a popular Irish folk song. In 1991, Molly Malone’s was taken over by Peter O’Connell from Co Meath, who renamed it Molly’s Shebeen (a shebeen is an illegal drinking establishment). In 1995 Peter was joined by John Ronaghan from Co Monaghan, and together they manage Molly’s, serving traditional Irish and American pub fare to a loyal and much-appreciated Gramercy neighborhood.
Monday
Lunch: 11 am to 4 pm
Dinner: 4 pm to 11 pm
Tuesday
Lunch: 11 am to 4 pm
Dinner: 4 pm to 11 pm
Late Night open to 1 am
Wednesday, Thursday & Friday
Lunch: 11 am to 4 pm
Dinner: 4 pm to 11 pm
Late Night open to 1 am
Saturday
Brunch: 11 am to 4 pm
Dinner: 4 pm to 11 pm
Late Night open to 1am
Sunday
Brunch: 11 am to 4pm
Dinner: 4 pm to 11 pm
info@mollysshebeennyc.com
212.889.3361
“Molly’s is the most authentic Irish Bar in the City.”
-- Gotham Magazine 2005--
“New York’s finest Irish pub.’”
-- New York Post --
“Best pint of Guinness.”
-- New York Magazine --
“Best pub worth waiting in line for.”
-- Metro 2005 --
“Best hamburger ‘The Star of Manhattan.’”
-- New York Post --
“This is the center of coziness, and the center is holding.”
-- Time Out Magazine --
“Like being back in the old country,” this “ultimate” Gramercy Irish pub features “sawdust on the floor,” “toasty” logs on the fire, and “sweet” sons of Erin behind the bar (who’ve “been there for years”); proudly “old-fashioned,” it also pours one of the “best pints of Guinness in the city.”
-- Zagat, New York City Nightlife --
This is a place to have a pint by the fire or, even better, to have a meal in the back under the glow of warm orange lighting from chandelierlike fixtures, and walls with dusty memorabilia that the warm orange lighting doesn’t quite allow you to make out. Shepherd’s pie, fish and chips, chicken pot pie, lamb stew are all served in a homey style that even the most non-Irish person in the world (say, a Bangladeshi farmer) would recognize as comfort food.
-- New York Times --
Describe Molly’s to your friends and you’ll sound like you’re parroting all the clichés about an “authentic” Irish pub: stern but jovial bartender, sawdust on the wooden floor, Irish tunes on the jukebox, etc., etc. But convince them to come here and they’ll realize that Molly’s is the kind of place that inspires clichés (and scores of clichéd imitators), not obeys them. Don’t be surprised if your “just one pint” turns into five or six—especially in winter, when the fireplace is crackling.
-- New York Magazine --
This is the kind of place where middle-aged white men come to sit at the bar and drink straight alcohol alone, and yet.... Maybe it’s the real fireplace, the jazz music playing softly, or the black-and-white photos of Irish writers on the back wall, but there’s nothing depressing about Molly’s. Sink into a wooden booth and lap up a creamy Irish coffee with Bailey’s.
-- Time Out New York --
DINNER MENU
BRUNCH MENU
LATE NIGHT MENU
LUNCH MENU
Gift cards are available for purchase in the following amounts:
To purchase our gift card please visit the restaurant
or call us at 212.889.3361
alive alive oh alive alive ohh
singing cockles and mussels
alive alive ohhh
In Dublin's fair city where the girls are so pretty
I once met a girl named sweet Molly Malone and she wheeled her wheel barrow
through the streets broad and narrow singing cockles and mussels alive alive oh
She was a fish monger and sure was no wonder
so were her mother and father before and they wheeled their wheel barrow
through the streets broad and narrow singing cockles and mussels alive alive oh
She died of a fever and so one could save her
and that was the end of sweet Molly Malone
now her ghost wheels her barrow through the streets broad and narrow
singing cockles and mussels alive alive oh
She wheels her wheel barrow thought the streets broad and narrow
her barrow is narrow her hips are too wide and whenever she wheels it
the neighborhood feels it her girdle keeps brushin' the homes on each side
It's not just her fat but,
it's not only that but,
she's cockeyed and musclebound Molly Malone