It's a great plan for a pop-up pub in wintertime: get everything running smoothly in January/February, get some press, crush it on St Pattys day weekend, then profit.

Who cares about the decor? It's a bar. And, it's a pretty decent bar at that. The fact that it's "Irish" really doesn't play into the equation. They needed a theme. Irish might be cliche, overdone, or even hard to do right, but it doesn't change the fact that is leagues nicer than Taps. They have a great wing menu (25 kinds) at a very reasonable price. They've got enough TVs to make it a great game destination. It's a pleasing addition to South Baltimore, giving alternative to the choke of Cross Street and making a nice circuit between Don't Know, Reserve, No Idea and Idle Hour. I'll give it the credit it deserves and call it by it's name, Delia Foley's (or whatever they might change it to down the road).

I fully support more Irish pubs but what Baltimore really needs are German bars.

I was questioning Delia's authenticity until I read Tom's post. Nothing screams Irish like 25 kinds of wings...

"Corkboard" was historically a feature where bar owners/patrons could openly shill for their establishments.

For example, "Where's the best place to eat stale peanuts and pick up tourists?" or "Where are the best specials for President's Day drinking" or whatever people are currently talking about so that people promoting special events weren't clogging up other posts asking about/promoting specials.

Throwing "Corkboard" in front of a regular blog post doesn't make any sense. Don't use an old feature if you're not going to keep with the function of it.

Now for a comment on the actual content here... Delia Foley's is pretty banging. Their impressive, unique & cheap wing selection warranted more than a throw away line at the end of the review, because it is something that sets it apart from other Irish bars. Sorry that didn't fit into your thesis. I second all of Tom's comments and I definitely plan on frequenting Delia Foley's (not New Taps).

I agree there are way too many irish bars in this city but I don't patronize a bar because of the theme - if the service, prices, food, location are good the theme doesn't matter that much.

*of course all those thing can be trumped if the establishment is generally full of D-bags.Say Milan for example

I couldn't care less about the theme. Is the service and food good and is the beer cold?
The answer is the beer is cold but the service and food is average at best. You've been open for a couple of weeks your traffic should be high. Make sure the tables are properly staffed they aren't. The food is just food. Nothing great nothing terrible. Would I go back? Not on purpose.

I think Delia's is a great addition to South Baltimore. With Blue Grass around the corner it can help to enhance the attractiveness of that neighborhood.

Was the writer ever in taps? No similar vibe or feel at all.

Decor does not an Irish Bar make. There are plenty of neighborhood places that are more "Irish" in that they are unpretentious neighborhood gathering places with reasonable food and decent prices. Muir'sTavern up Fort Avenue from Delia's is more Irish than Delias will ever be.

The question shouldn't be, do we need more Irish bars, it should be, why can't we get some better ones than the theme parks that pass for Irish now.

Ditto what Mobtown said.

I've long said that "a hot dog doesn't taste right without a ball game in front of it" (quoting Charlie Brown in "Peanuts"), and "a pint of Guinness doesn't taste right without a session in front of it."

An Irish pub is supposed to be where the community (Irish, or at least broadly Celtic in heritage or aspirations) gathers as a common den or living room. You don't call yourself a true Irish pub; rather, the community appoints YOU, and you encourage them. It's not decor or branding, it's the "scene" that you attract and which chooses to return again and again. (This same rule applies to many other themes--sports-team bars, gay/lesbian bars, beer-geek bars, singles bars, "d-bag bars," drug-dealing bars, you name it.)

When I talked to the managers at Delia Foley's, they told me they had in mind encouraging local Irish folk and acoustic musicians to play sessions there, or folk bands playing. Right now, that's only seen at J. Patrick's in Locust Point and at The Cat's Eye in Fells Point (the latter shared with jazz, rock, etc.). It remains to be seen whether the Baltimore Irish-American community will embrace Delia Foley's the way they have Mick O'Shea's and J. Patrick's (and, in decades past, the Gandy Dancer near the B&O Museum).

1. Basing your review on a Friday night, when it's crowded and "young" makes about as much sense as basing a review solely on a weekday night when it might be empty and asking "so when's this place gonna fold huh?" (like Alewife.)

2. The move to sell the establishment to the highest bidder doesn't give any indication that some new owner would come along and rip out all of the new furnishings and rename the joint, it's a *turnkey operation* which is already demonstrably profitable, only an idiot would press the reset button.

3. To refer to Delia Foley's as "Taps with a new paintjob" might generate some negative buzz, but to say that's disingenuous is an understatement - especially considering it's physically impossible for you to have ever gone to Taps in the first place.

4. I realize it's a bar review but giving essentially no recognition for the menu aside from a number in parentheses...

5. Since Sean Bolan's went away, that area doesn't really have any specifically Irish joints. If you asked anyone in the area whether they'd rather take a cab/circulator to Mick O' Shea's or Patricks or James Joyce or MaHaffey's or J. Patrick's - or walk to Delia Foley's, I'd say they'd probably just walk, unless they really wanted to avoid a weekend crowd.

6. I totally agree that it should have been a German beer hall.

Oh, yes, I forgot: The classic song by Eric Bogle:

He's just a plastic paddy, singing plastic paddy songs,
In a plastic paddy pub that's called "The Blarney Stone"
There's plastic shamrocks on the walls, there's Guinness and green beer,
And a sign in Gaelic above the bar which says "God Bless All Here!"

His guitar sounds like a wardrobe, and it's out of tune at that,
His singing voice it ranges from F-sharp to F-flat
He's just desecrated "The Holy Ground", ripped apart "Black Velvet Band"
Sang, "Seven Nights Drunk" and now he's sunk "The Irish Rover" with all hands!
He's just a plastic paddy, singing plastic paddy songs,
In a plastic paddy pub that's called "The Blarney Stone"
The publican's a Proddy Scot by the name of McIntyre,
Who does not allow collections for "The Men Behind The Wire"

***There's more to the song; do your own research for more laughs so we don't violate copyrights......

You give a rough review of a bar that so far I have found to be pretty good. Yes, it's themed, but I don't think that detracts. Have you tried the wings? I've had 7 different types so far and most were very good. My one complaint is their Guinness is too cold for an irish pub (I prefer around 55 degrees, not 40) but everyone has different tastes for stouts.

What a terrible problem for a city to have, too many Irish pubs.

An Irish pub in Baltimore that serves 25 different kinds of wings? Yeah, I'd say the owner has this city's demographics figured out pretty well.

Yes, Baltimore does need another Irish Pub: Liam Flynn's

Just to clarify for everyone, Delia Foleys is not for sale (although as jason zink always says, for the right price everyone is for sale). After all of the money put in for renovations that were not originally in the plans, it would be senseless to sell.

Larger bathrooms are already in the works as well.

Cheers

@Ryan: Chris Reda, one of the owners, clarified this for me when I spoke with him in December after several for sale ads appeared on Craigslist: they will sell if the right offer comes along.
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/midnight_sun/blog/2010/12/catherines_pub_the_new_taps_li.html
@Drew: Ive been looking forward to Liam Flynn's since I visited it last year.

agreed with everyone on the german beer halls. lets get working on that - the one in dc down on H street has been a huge success and have you ever been to max's for their german beer fest?

i have yet to visit delia's so i will reserve my opinion til later.

Mick O'Shea's
MaHaffey's
Delia Foley's
Tipsy McStagger's
Wifey McBeaty's

*YAWN*

Wake me up when something exciting happens...

I just put a ton of money into Don't Know to make it nicer and it is still for sale. please:) Everything is always for sale, sometimes more active than others.

PS new floor, new paint, new draft lines and tv's= still for sale.

Foley's looks great and is great but the owners aren't going to pass up a good deal like 425k, please!

I love this place. They've soccer on one of the big screens every time i stop in. It's so packed it's kinda difficult to get a drink at some times but considering; they're very attentive. I love the bright green paint job and exterior lights they put on the place, they've made that corner and intersection seem so much nicer than cruddy, Taps. The neighborhood really needed an irish themed place and this'll do fine. Wish it was a little bigger though and the draft i tried there on opening weekend tasted like the plastic or rubber tubes that pumped through - yuk. Draft quality control is a big problem in fed hill with low turnover beers especially. Need to alert these brands that the bars are souring people's images of these brews w cheap, faulty or dirty draft setups. Bars should know better - they're bars!!!

"have you ever been to max's for their german beer fest?"

Yes I have. All of them in fact. While those festivals were wildly successful, I'm not entirely sure a full time German beer bar could sustain that kind of popularity. However, I have noticed that Max's now routinely has on tap at least 5 or 6 German beers, which I don't think they did prior to the success of the German fests. On the other hand, other than the stuff from Schneider (Aventinus, their hefe and eisbock), sales seem kind of slow for German beers there (they have 3 on tap right now that I think have been on for almost a month now).

I don't mean to disagree with you, as I'd like to see a German beer bar/gasthaus in town... I'm just not sure how well it would do here.

For a good beer hall you need a beer garden with chestnut trees, and they are hard to come by in Baltimore.

Delia Foley's is not for sale. The owners were going to move the license out of that block because neighbors disliked loud bars. Delia's is awesome for just putting windows and storefront back in . There are few pubs in Baltimore City that look as nice inside or out.

I am just happy the corner looks good and is clean. As a neighbor and patron that block was filthy all the time as well as many blocks around there.

As for the food it's great. Why do you have to have Lamb Stew to be Irish. Irish food is lousy! Delia's food is very good. What's great about Irish bars is THE BAR. They have 24 Taps that change every week (most of them)and great service. (hot girls too boot)

Delia's is there to Stay. I know the owner. AGAIN-It's not for sale. They said they wouldn't even consider 1 million dollars. The Sun is wrong! 500k?? They will have spent that when renovations are complete.(plus the cost of the building) Why can't reporters actually report?? The Ideal of selling in August was for the neighbors. Neighbors welcomed a Irish Pub so they stayed.

Oh If you want a German Bar why don't you open one?? instead of complaining about someone investing in Baltimore City.

Timmy

@Timmy: this isn't a matter of opinion. The bar was listed for sale on Craigslist several times after Reda and his partners bought it in August. The ad read: "Exceptional opportunity to purchase a two story bar in the Popular Federal Hill Prime district! Liquor License Included! Turn Key Operation in a great location! Call Chris for More Information." Listing price? $525,000. I reported the sale back in December. Reda himself confirmed it. See the link above for confirmation.

@Timmy I wanna say 17 taps but, us floggers can never report anything right. Million bucks and I bet you can have your own German Beer garden with chestnut trees!

I have to say, I was skeptical at first. Yeah, yeah, I get it, you take a knee when certain fiddle songs go on and sell me some bangers and mash. Great.

I will say though, I've been into this place twice, and really think it fits well in the neighborhood. That's number one.

Number two: this place seriously has some of the best wings in Baltimore, next to Kislings. I am a Western New Yorker and an admitted wing snob. Further, because they have a smoker on site, the area surrounding the bar smells frigging (I cannot think of a word so I will make one up) scrumtrulescent.

Number three, as a beer geek, they have a killer draught list. When I walked by on opening night, I saw a goose head tap which indicated to me that they had Goose Island....aaaand I proceeded into the bar to order one.
BTW, didn't take the time to read the 28 comments before mine, so if anything was repeated, my bad.

As played as Irish pubs may be, I will say that ANY concept done with good execution is better than a great concept with piss-poor execution. Witness Taps.

Good on ya Tipsy McFlanigillicutty's.

@timmy - i didn't realize i was "complaining about someone investing in baltimore city" when i agreed with evan on the idea of a german beer haus style bar, so sorry if you got that impression.

signed-
"too boot"

Let's face it. You can't have enough Irish bars.

The Irish like to drink in bars. The Italians like to drink in restaurants. And the Germans like to drink in France.

@BaltimoreLiquid - oh my, that's a good word. Almost as good as Match Game '75!

I must confess, I jacked that word from Will Ferrell and his impression of James Lipton (along with the phrase, I cannot think of a word to describe it....so, I will make one up)...I believe referring to Dustin Diamond's performance in Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style.

@BL - indeed. match game '75 was the show ol' james lipton applied the word to (i think)

Erik,

Your review is based on the assumption that “Delia Foley’s” could be a fleeting name and concept for the location and so, instead, you continually refer to it as “New Taps.” While Delia Foley’s is definitely “new,” there is nothing “Taps” about it. (And, had you ever visited Taps, you would have better understood that.) When I visited Delia Foley’s for their opening weekend, and on every subsequent visit, I’ve heard the bar’s patrons and residents of the neighborhood remark over and over again that Delia Foley’s is unrecognizable from Taps.

And as for “all the name changes?” Delia Foley’s opened once, with one name. Regardless of what you think of the Irish concept, the décor, or the length of the bathroom lines on a busy weekend night, you could at least (as Tom commented) give it the credit it deserves and call Delia Foley’s by its name.

You responded to other comments (@Ryan) about the possible sale/change of ownership by linking to an article that you posted on December 14 in which Chris Reda discussed the possible sale. I’m sure you are aware that it is now mid-February. Did you bother to contact Reda and reconfirm the plans for the bar? It would have let to a more accurate report for everyone interested.

Your final question: does Baltimore really need another Irish pub? Delia Foley’s isn’t just a Baltimore bar, but more specifically a Federal Hill bar, and is isolated from all of the other Irish pubs by car or cab ride. Federal Hill definitely needed, and WELCOMES, Delia Foley’s.

How is this even a discussion or news? It's just another bar in Federal Hill. It's like getting mugged in Druid Hill park... all too common.