Man, so many Irish pubs look the same, with the same interior, mediocre food, and clients that’ll make you drink hard until they look good. It’s exactly our sort of place! Today we’re gonna take a quick look at two San Diego Institutions: The Field Irish Pub and McP’s Irish Pub.
Supposedly, the Field was shipped piece by piece from Ireland and later reconstructed in San Diego. While we may be going out on a limb using it as our first noted location—nothing truly extraordinary about the spot—it is the birthplace of several BarWarrior stories. Like moths to a flame, it seems like all sorts of sailors were drawn here the moment they arrived in SoCal.
In fact, some rascals claim the brotherhood of BarWarriors began at the Field . All we know is all sorts of folks ended up here. One EOD buddy learned about it from his instructor in Florida. After receiving orders to San Dog, ole’ instructor Anders gave him $40 to buy the Field’s owners a round of drinks. The owners weren’t there, but the staff was. And they afforded our young EOD tech a damn good time. After several Jamesons and Guinness’s, the night ended with a girl who had raptor toes and drove a red convertible, which we’re all pretty sure she shouldn’t have been racing to Coronado, ending the night at McP’s Irish Pub.
Legend has it, McP’s is where American Sniper Chris Kyle knocked out Jesse Ventura (that nerd later sued and settled with Kyle’s estate). Do we know what the f*k happened? No. But the place was and is full of Frogs, Frog Hogs, and a few dorky tourists from the Hotel Del. Fancy folk also like to go there for unfancy food—and that’s just fine by us. Speaking of fancy, turned out that Raptor Toes was some Admiral’s daughter, and all she really wanted was two cheeseburgers. That’s the main lesson here. Raptor Toes will spend your last $40 and eat both cheeseburgers.
We’ll always love McP’s—it’s a fine Coronado institution with an awesome outdoor drink spot. But if we had to choose between McP’s and The Field, crowning only one as San Diego’s best Guinness spot, our vote is The Field. Mostly because a few of us are still worried that we’ll run into some damn BUD/S instructor at McP’s. But that’s our problem, not yours. Be sure to check the place out the next time you’re in Coronado.
Our winner, The Field, is located in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter and is known for its dismantled then reassembled décor, dishes like Guinness beef stew and corned beef (not that we tried it. We never ate anything more than nachos and wings), and a variety of whiskeys, Scotches, and beers (we had all of those). It has a great St. Patty’s day party and is a generally great spot to start out the night without running into Frogs looking for a fight—you’ll probably only find Marines looking for a fight. The place will always have a warm spot in our collective hearts. But beware of raptor toes. She’ll eat all your fries.
Be sure to check out both of these great spots the next time you’re in San Diego:
