Golden Ace Inn

Truly a diamond in the rough. Stumbled upon the place on accident a handful of St. Pat's ago and now it's my go-to good time spot if I'm gonna be in area for the holiday. Super friendly staff and cheap drinks. Some of the absolute nicest people in Indy.

A neat cool nostalgic Irish (small) bar. Cash only and definitely a Notre Dame bar. Would go again

Loved the atmosphere, the people and the food. Overall, good experience being our first time inside. We've been to the Golden Ace for their St. Patrick's Day celebration, which is great, but this was the first time indoors. My husband and I both had a burger and their clam chowder. We felt very welcomed. Heard some music from locals too. Customer service was great as well. We will go back. We appreciated the welcoming atmosphere.

The classic old-school Eastside Irish bar. The Golden Ace is an Indy institution.

The best St. Patrick's Day tent party in Indianapolis. This year was the 86th consecutive year for their party.

Great Irish Pub. The wife and I attended a Wednesday night music session, and we felt right at home. Good cheeseburgers and liver-sausage. Live, actually Irish, music. Family-owned. They attract a lot of up-and-coming, great musical acts. Cannot wait to see Derek Warfield at the end of the month!

Great burger. Amazing fish sandwich. The chowder is very good. I personally love the braunschweiger plate with all the pickles and onions and crackers: tasty and energizing nutrition boost. The new outdoor space is very nice but it is hard to beat the bar and lounge for stepping into an Indianapolis time capsule and that takes you to long agos and close to Ireland. This is one of Indy’s finest establishments and when friends and family visit our town I have to take them here to show the town’s best side.

Great hamburgers and soup. Great family run business, just remember to bring cash as they don't accept credit cards. Also have traditional live Irish music on Wednesday nights.

Wonderful family owned pub in Indy! Highly recommend! Food good, and great atmosphere, :)

Staff was extremely rude, avoid this place at all costs. Also the bouncer charges a $10 cash fee watch out for him

If you are talking about a class Act, Jimmy , the owner, is a great guy. My father, who is a regular, is in the hospital. I am from Texas. My dad sent me to get his dinner from The Ace. I showed up, spoke to the guy at the counter, Jimmy. Told him my story and showed him my dad's pic. He told me what my dad regularly ordered. When he handed me the order. Said no charge and made my dad a get well video. If you want a pub where everyone knows your name... Thank you Jimmy!!!

Love this place , great burgers , fish sandwiches , chowder and chili .! Can't wait to try the live music on Thursday nights ! Service is outstanding !

I love, love, love the Golden Ace! This is a dive bar on a part of East Washington Street long forgotten and left to urban decay. For this reason, some people may raise an eyebrow about going there on any day apart from St. Patty's Day. It's been made well known that this is one of the best parties in the country on St. Patty's Day, and it is! They set up a tent outside, bring in a band from Ireland, and the typical St. Patrick's Day libations. Cover is a reasonable $5, and the drink prices are average. Cash only on St. Patrick's. Always a huge crowd, always a good time. Apart from St. Patrick's Day, I still like to stop in on occasion, as they have live music, trivia, and other activities. Even if there's no activity, I like the burgers, the drinks, the family, and the charm of the place. It's like visiting an old friend.

The best place in Indy to celebrate St. Patrick's Day! Reasonable beer prices, cover charge, and a fantastic atmosphere! With live music, a wide range of ages, and decent weather for Indiana in March this place was packed. I can't wait to come back to enjoy more events and try the food everyone says is phenomenal!

Wow! This was the first time I had been to The Ace and their St. Patty's Day tent party. It was super packed but great fun! Servers did a great job despite the insurmountable challenge of serving half of Indy beers. They also had great music straight from Ireland.

When I heard that Golden Ace was ranked as one of the Top 10 places in the nation to celebrate St Patty's Day by USA Today, it became a no brainer on where I would spend the evening. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought this. As we Uber'd up, the right-hand lane of Washington Street was basically a parking lot of cars and taxi cabs with speakers blaring the live music from inside the tent in the parking lot. Even though there was a little bit of a line, we were inside pretty quickly after having our ID's checked and paying our $5 cover to get in. The tent was packed full of people, and it was a little difficult to tell where the bar was. Thankfully my height helped, and I was able to see the beer tables set up in the back corner, so we headed that way. I don't know how many people were in the tent when we got there, but it seemed to thin out slightly after it started getting dark. We found a great spot to stand and watch the bands with easy access back to the beer table. Everyone seemed to be in great spirits, singing along with the Irish band and laughing with friends. The bands that I saw were very engaging and talented, and the beer was fairly cheap and plentiful. No green beer here... but that's about the only thing that wasn't green! A great place to hang out and celebrate St Patrick's Day!

This is everything a bar should be. Cozy, warm, inviting, in an odd sort of way. It's got it's own unique character. The moment you walk in, you know you're not in some corporate knock off Irish bar, you're in the real deal. You'll find lots of (low key) activities here. Jam sessions, trivia night, spontaneous games of Euchre, and friendly conversation. And, dare I say, the best cheeseburger in Indy. Quite possibly, in the midwest. The mixed drinks are generous and cheap. Beer is cheap enough, too. This really isn't a place you want to drop in for a quick bite. It's a place you want to linger, people watch, and escape the real world for a while.

Let's hear it for a place with an interesting history, local flavor, and a surprisingly good burger. The Golden Ace Inn opened in 1931, less than a year after the repeal of prohibition. The owners, Irish immigrants from Donnegal, later changed the name to "Emerald Isle", in an effort to highlight the Ace's identity as an Irish pub. But Indiana at the time was still a stronghold of the KKK, which didn't like the Irish-Catholic nature of the enterprise. Business plummeted, and the owners changed the name back to Golden Ace. Even so, the place remains Indy's oldest Irish pub. Today, the son and grandson of the original owners still run the place and tend bar. They have increasingly added the family name to the place ("McGinley's Golden Ace"), and that's how a lot of the locals know it. You'll also notice shamrocks on the outside walls and a variety of Irish paraphernalia. But don't let that fool you. Shamrocks are sometimes a sign of a fake Irish pub -- a pub trying too hard to make a buck on St. Paddy's Day. But in the case of McGinley's Golden Ace, it's the real deal. And it's really really wonderful. And seriously, that burger was really quite decent ... especially for the price.

The Golden Ace is a fantastic Irish bar! The cheeseburgers are great and there's a top-notch traditional session on Wednesday nights. Stop in for great atmosphere and live music!

Before anything else, big ups to Ethan H for puttin' this on the Yelpdar. I went to his review to see if I could find anything going on during St. Patty's Day, and, yes their St. Patty's is huge... then found out that quietly on March 1 they'd be celebrating their 77th anniversary. Damn, Gina! That's the oldest Irish pub in Indy! I love when I feel like I'm in someone's house when I'm not really in someone's house -- like in an old Inn, like this one! Straight forward Bar menu -- much like Red Key -- and the burger & chili was recommended (and there's braunschweiger on the menu!). The burger was juicy and as thick as it was wide (almost). Heavy on the cheese, too. Kind gentleman behind the bar taking care of the crowd. The owner Jimmy introduced himself and told us they celebrated his 77th anniversary this past Sunday (nice!). Well, just as terrific the Tuesday night traditional Irish musicians gathered round a table to play, another group gathered round to listen while we gathered with post it notes on our foreheads (those crazy kids!) and played a traditional bar game of guess who. I'm down to make this a routine thing with this Irish Music. Michelob on Draft. Yep. Smithwicks to Harp to Guinness too. And, there St. Patty's is apparently enormous! The bottom line... I love this place.

An Indianapolis classic! The Golden Ace has been providing a great Irish pub/bar experience for generations. The bar is a staple in the Irish-American community and is roaring around St. Patrick's day or irishfest time. They offer the standards as far as drinks go but have great and friendly service that make you feel as part of the family. Also they frequently invite in musical guests who play some fantastic Irish tunes - not to be missed. A unique experience to have on the near east side of Indy. Sláinte!

What the Golden Ace lacks in draft choices it makes up largely with character and what may be the best cheeseburger I've eaten on East Washington Street. A small irish folk group played music in the corner while a few of us Yelp Elites played a silly bar game and enjoyed our irish refreshments. I visited last St. Patrick's Day which was a huge mistake on my part as I'm not too fond of large drunken festivals. It seems like things are pretty low-key on weeknights at the Golden Ace and I like that.

I am so happy that I attended the little Yelp gathering at the Golden Ace! Exactly why I love Yelp, I discovered a hidden treasure. This bar is great, although I think it is more accurately described as a tavern. It reminds me of the local neighborhood bars found in Chicago - small, dark, smokey, with a couple old timers sitting at the bar and a bartender who's a total character. The owner introduced himself, and shared the history of the place - his grandparents opened the bar all those years ago! And bought us a round - what a guy! The burgers are great too...well seasoned and they taste homemade. All in all, this is a good place with no pretensions for a nice chill evening with a cold beer.

Simply an outstanding Indy institution...with THEEE best St. Patrick's day celebration. Bands and musicians brought in from the Emerald Isle, reasonable beer prices, Irish beer, and multi generational celebrants. Food is surprisingly good, with excellent burgers and a simple menu. Incredibly nice patrons and staff....fantastic stories from everyone...including the Piano donated by a deceased patron as part of his will...that is well used and only slightly out of tune ! Very convivial atmosphere with easy parking...well worth putting on your list of lunch stops, after work wind downs....and just a place to have a great time !

This is exactly the bar that I wish was my neighborhood bar. I'd love to stop in here every night on my way home, enjoy a draft Michelob or a bottle of Smithwick's, Harp or Guinness, possibly have a cheeseburger or braunschweiger sandwich, stay an hour or two or all night conversing with the locals, feed some quarters in the juke box and just forget all about the crappy day that I had at work.

The oldest Irish bar in Indy. Honestly, it's a dump in a bad part of town. Some people would argue that is part of its charm. I'm not one of those people. The McGinley family runs the bar and they are an amazing group of people. Very kind. The food prices are outstanding, but the food isn't that great. Their burger tastes like a burger that I would make at home on a Foreman grill. Generally, the place is pretty dead atmosphere-wise. I give the Ace two stars with two exceptions: the St. Patrick's Day celebration and Trivia Night. Their St. Paddy's Day party is the best in town. Just trust me. It's amazing. You can expect a packed house for their Trivia Night. Don't go unless you're an intelligent person though. I went to the Trivia Night once and the questions were too difficult for this simpleton. The crowd for the St. Paddy's Day party is ages 21-80. The Trivia Night crowd is pretty old.

Great bar. My favorite in the city. Not so much for the big selection but for the atmosphere and the warmth by the owners, and the family that runs the place. The draft beer is limited to Michelob, but they have a range of canned and bottled beers, and a decent liquor selection. It's a place where you can have a great conversation with anyone who is there or listen to some good music (Irish on Tuesday nights, Bluegrass on the first and third Thursday's) and other acts from time to time. Plus the burger is awesome! It's a bar that doesn't try to be anything but what it is, a neighborhood bar, run by a great Irish family.

Great bar with a good vibe. Everyone was very friendly and accomodating. The food and alcohol were cheap and the music (Mossy Moran) was top shelf. My wife and I were to new to the Golden Ace, but we were welcomed in and taken care of. The bar itself is small, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in character and service.

I can't quite put my finger on it but I really like this place. It looks super sketchy on the outside but something about seems very "homey". Everyone in the bar knew each other and they were very friendly. The drinks are excellently priced. This is definitely a place that I could sit for hours and drink a few Jameson and gingers and play some cards with some friends. But be warned, they only take cash.

Stop in for a cold one. Cash only. Best bar ever. Friendly atmosphere and I guarantee you'll likely hear a story or two from the patrons there!

The Golden Ace, what a place. Took my boss there and he was like which building are we going to? I was like that one with the shamrock on it. He said NO! Well that was it. It is very much a dive bar with regulars that look like they may not go home. This place has a menu that consists of a hamburger, beef, bbq, turkey, ham, chicken, Braunschweiger, and fish on fridays. Chili, clam chowder and bean soup are also available. The hamburger seemed to be their thing. As that is what my boss and I got. It was excellent. Juicy and perfectly cooked. I like this place and will head back for lunch sometime soon. Cash only here so make sure you come prepared. Although dark and outdated this bar was welcoming and the clientele seemed the same. Worth a trip.

Need to add a half star. This is tavern food. Not pub style. We went on an early afternoon. We were nearly the only customers. (one other drinking). Soft drinks are canned. Beer isn't! Inexpensive prices for the food. It won't knock your socks off in flavor, but it is good. And fresh!! And yes it is rough looking. But it looks like it belongs in New York or Chicago. Not a strip mall. Walk up a couple steps, open the doors and walk in. Not large. It truly is a neighborhood tavern of the best kind.

Always a great time when I come here. Crappy neighborhood, but this place has been here since the trash came into that side of town. It's everything a small hole in the wall bar should be. Character and characters make this place what it is. Plus they have the best St. Patrick's Day party in town.

Really great cheeseburgers! And great live Irish jam session Tuesday nights! Bring cash!

Amazing atmosphere and great people. It is in a little bit of a rough part of town but def worth the stop. Cheap drinks and food but not lacking in the quality at all.

I'll have to agree with the other reviews about the burger. I'm a really big fan of dive bar burgers and this one is exceptional. Cooked perfectly, juicy meat, generous cheese and fresh veggies. All for $3.50! The menu is on a board with only a few options. Which is fine with me. I hate multiple page menus. I'll be back to try the chili. With all of the new fancy eclectic restaurants opening (which I'm really excited about) it's almost refreshing to walk in an old bar, order a Michelob on draft and a $3.50 cheeseburger.

Not just a St Pattys day place. I stop here every time I'm east of down town. The drinks are strong, the price is right, and the bartender is friendly. It's the kind of place you usually only see in the movies. Don't be scared away by the sparse exterior, when you go in you will feel like family.

Im going to give this place an extra star for the owner writing back to me I feel bad for my.okay review I'm glad that he wrote back to me and I can respect that fully I really respect these guys and I will be back

Great burgers and great chilli atmosphere is great and you feel you walk into your home. Bartender is friendly and makes you feel like family. Owners are great people always welcome new people in. Music nights are great from the Irish music to bluegrass and trivia night is great. One of the best places to go in town. Like the show cheers. I highly recomend visiting and trying the good food.

The Golden Ace Inn is an institution on the east side of Indianapolis. We've been coming here for awhile to play with the pickers at the bluegrass jam that happens on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month. If we get there early enough, we always see some of the locals hanging out, having dinner, sharing life...and they are from all walks of life and occupations! Business professionals, educators, the guy that lives around the corner - it is a true melting pot of humanity. Kind of like Cheers. The Ace has probably one of the best burgers in the city, and a kind and friendly staff. I don't know about their beer selection, because I always get Guinness when I go - or a shot of Irish whiskey...or both. :) If you stop in and are expecting anything more than a casual, low key experience, you will not like it here. But if casual and low key are your things, then you will absolutely LOVE the Ace.

was supposed to be the best burger in Indy but I have had better but still a good place for a mom and pop shop

My wife and I love the Ace. Seeing it from the street, it looks like the type of place you wouldn't want to walk into without some backup. Once you are in, however, the staff are all extremely nice, the drinks are cheap, and the burgers are the best in town! It's the oldest Irish bar in town, and St. Patty's Day is always huge here, but the real gem is coming here for a cold beer and good burger that won't hurt the wallet. Occasional Trivia Nights and Irish Music Open Jam Sessions are also a good time.

I feel very honored to be welcomed into this great place of history and meaning. Great conversations with the owners, staff and regulars. The Golden Ace has such a rich history, unlike many of todays bars and chain pubs. The atmosphere is warm, welcoming and unlike any other gathering place that I know of. I absolutely love the Golden Ace! Stop in sometime and take in all of the history that the Golden Ace has to offer.

my favorite place in indy to kick back and have a beer. a very friendly, family-run business that brings ireland to indy. live, traditional irish music...free food during notre dame football games...incredible service...and the only place to be for saint patrick's day. i live in muncie now, but of all the places i miss in indy, this is the one i miss the most. please don't let the neighborhood scare you from entering...it is among the friendliest establishments i have ever been to. love it!!!