Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Kelly's Pub

Quiet neighborhood bar in Old Town serves up cheap eats.

Around the invisible barrier where Old Town starts getting seedy, or at least unglamorous, sits Kelly’s Pub (619-683-3200). It’s got a pretty good juke box, two dart boards, two pool tables, a parking lot, and a crowd that tends towards middle age.

Kelly’s also has an affordable menu of decent bar food and plenty of space to eat and drink in peace, which can be in short supply some days. The food comes courtesy of the Fried Locals, originally a catering outfit from OB, who man the kitchen Monday through Saturday until eleven, five on Sundays.

If you want to get away from the scene (whatever your scene is), you couldn’t do much better. It's not the kind of bar that poetically embellishes the menu with the buzz words of the moment, tacking a couple dollars onto the price of otherwise unremarkable food.

The kitchen whips up a surprisingly good half-pound lamb burger for $8. Asking another dollar for the privilege of adding cheese and $2 for fries is a bit of a hustle, but it’s still cheap-ish after the surcharges so the complaints don’t hold much water. A regular hamburger is just $6, although the same surcharges apply. The real trick is to sneak in for happy hour (everyday from 11-7!), when a burger, fries, and a pint of Bud is just $7.50, which is almost Mickey D’s cheap.

The daily specials are on point as well. Wednesday is lamb stew for $8.95, but the real winner is the Friday night special: prime rib with veggies and a baked potato for $12.95. Sure, it’s not the finest or thickest cut of beef, around and it’s the polar opposite of fancy, but the chef is a friendly dude and adding the beer of the month ($3.50) onto the tab gets you in and out with a prime rib dinner, a brew, and change back from a Jackson. That’s not too shabby.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/apr/09/43428/

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Filmora 14’s AI Tools Streamline Content Creation for Marketers

Next Article

The Fellini of Clairemont High

When gang showers were standard for gym class

Around the invisible barrier where Old Town starts getting seedy, or at least unglamorous, sits Kelly’s Pub (619-683-3200). It’s got a pretty good juke box, two dart boards, two pool tables, a parking lot, and a crowd that tends towards middle age.

Kelly’s also has an affordable menu of decent bar food and plenty of space to eat and drink in peace, which can be in short supply some days. The food comes courtesy of the Fried Locals, originally a catering outfit from OB, who man the kitchen Monday through Saturday until eleven, five on Sundays.

If you want to get away from the scene (whatever your scene is), you couldn’t do much better. It's not the kind of bar that poetically embellishes the menu with the buzz words of the moment, tacking a couple dollars onto the price of otherwise unremarkable food.

The kitchen whips up a surprisingly good half-pound lamb burger for $8. Asking another dollar for the privilege of adding cheese and $2 for fries is a bit of a hustle, but it’s still cheap-ish after the surcharges so the complaints don’t hold much water. A regular hamburger is just $6, although the same surcharges apply. The real trick is to sneak in for happy hour (everyday from 11-7!), when a burger, fries, and a pint of Bud is just $7.50, which is almost Mickey D’s cheap.

The daily specials are on point as well. Wednesday is lamb stew for $8.95, but the real winner is the Friday night special: prime rib with veggies and a baked potato for $12.95. Sure, it’s not the finest or thickest cut of beef, around and it’s the polar opposite of fancy, but the chef is a friendly dude and adding the beer of the month ($3.50) onto the tab gets you in and out with a prime rib dinner, a brew, and change back from a Jackson. That’s not too shabby.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/apr/09/43428/

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Downtown: Sliders in Salvation Alley

Next Article

Eating burgers in boat country

Fresh fish isn't the only option, slipside
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader