Whelan's Irish Pub

Hands down the best Irish Pub/Restaurant in Portland ! The food is spectacular, and the employees are amazing! A very nice spot !

This local pub is an absolute hidden gem. A true, blue collar, Irish bar. This neighborhood spot proudly makes almost all of their menu offerings on-site, and everything I have sampled - from the fish and chips, to the happy hour banger slider, as well as the pulled pork - is absolutely delicious and far beyond normal bar fare. The staff is also spectacular, being both personable and knowledgeable. The tap and liquor selections are both well-curated, top to bottom. The day vibe varies widely from the night vibe, but not in a bad way. Parking is limited on-site, but additional parking is located directly across from them. The food alone is worth repeat visits!

Tried this on our first stop of our vacation as it was a five minute walk from our stay. Had a lot of highly rated reviews regarding the food so we figured we'd give it a go - was not disappointed!! Cute aesthetic inside and definitely has that "dive bar" feel but the gentleman running the bar was friendly, welcoming and the service was five star. Food and drink wise - we got the Reuben, BBQ Pork Sandwich, and Fish & Chips along with a couple of draft Baumans ciders, Whiskey and Brandy Old Fashions to drink. Regarding the Old Fashions? The whiskey one was definitely their better mix but both were solid all around. Food wise? Appearance was great, smell was even better and taste was absolutely mind blowing. Whelan's hand batters their fish and chips - the battering was fluffy and fresh and the fish was perfectly cooked. The Reuben is also "from scratch" and was the star of the night. We appreciate a great Reuben and this Reuben SLAPPED! The BBQ Pork was also exceptional - whatever sauce they toss their pork in is delicious! Both sandwiches had chunky pieces/country style made which we really appreciate and you can tell it's made in house fresh. 6 star food experience here - everything you may read after this review about their food is 100% legitimate and highly recommend Whelan's for a relaxing drink and their amazing food. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Awesome Irish pub!! Service is great even when they're slammed. Food is fantastic too!! Great beer selections and great cocktails too. Highly recommend 🍀

Perfect Irish pub the food is delicious highly recommend the fish and chips the Mac and cheese is the best ever!! Dylan was great super nice and friendly. I can’t wait to try the shepherds pie everything is fresh and delicious definitely stop in!!!

I have been coming to this place on and off for years! Depending on the night it can be a super chill bar to hang at. Or a rowdy fun bar. lol But what always keeps me coming back is the bar cat JJ who frequents the smoking section. Love me a bar cat! 😍

It is exactly what you would expect / want in an Irish pub. Good reasonably priced food. Great drinks that are strong and delicious, and yeah I am even talking about the margarita I ordered. It is a great place! We kept coming back and ordered almost everything on the menu. Fantastic place for locals and the just visiting.

I'm sitting around with some friends, all talking about how good this place is, so I'm giving it a four-star review and we're leaving right now to go there. I already know my wife and I will be ordering shepherds pie and a Reuben. I'll update this review when we're done, but based on the feedback of others around me, it's very good, especially for the neighborhood. Post dinner update: Wow. I couldn't have been more impressed. Freat service by a husband and wofe bar team and excellent food. House cured corned beef for the reuben, homemade bleu cheese dressing on the salad, and as good a mac and cheese as Ive ever had. I got the one woth jalapeños and bacon, but I heard the buffalo chicken version is great too. Upgraded to five stars. Highly recommended.

Love this neighborhood spot. The service is always friendly and welcoming, the ambiance is warm and inviting. Plus, I think they have a magician in the kitchen. We've bern here twice with four of us from the family and both times ordered a variety of items from their almost restaurant level menu. Each time, all of our food arrived at the same time, hot, and perfectly customized per our requests (no onion, extra dressing, etc).

Great staff! Good selection! Food has always been fast and delicious. Nice patio and patrons :) Thx Jordie

Real food by real folks. Not the typical bar food all of it I have had is great. We will continue to frequent this place.

A diamond in the rough. The clucks and fries are calling and they have your number! The bar is full of music and nice service. Only thing missing is karaoke.

The food here is excellent! Irish comfort food along with standard bar food offerings, but clearly prepared with quality ingredients, from scratch. The atmosphere is generally relaxed, with weekend nights getting appropriately raucous. They have live Irish music on some Friday nights, which is fun. If I have any complaints, it's that I don't personally care for sports, and they have three big tvs that are basically always showing three different games/sports talk. But hey, a lot of folks like it, so I just head to the patio or the pool table. The owners and their staff are great. It's obvious that they care about the people and the service they're providing. Overall, I'm stoked to have this spot in my neighborhood!

So...this place was unexpectedly good. We went at 4:30 pm to avoid the crowds, which worked out. I must say, our server (the bartender) was very friendly and attentive as well. There were four of us, and the food was delivered all at once and all were hot, like an army of cooks prepared each of our dishes so that they wouldn't cool down by the time it was delivered to our table. And the best thing is...all of the food we ordered was delicious. We did not have a single complaint, in fact, we loved it, and will definitely be going back there for some delicious food again soon. Thank you Whelan's for a good dinner. Thumbs up.

Best food and atmosphere in town Highly recommended and must try. Food was served hot and quick prices were reasonable and banger and mash was fire Irish should be proud delicious food and authentic.

The drinks were awesome and so was the music next time I come I will try some food they say it's good

Ordered the shepherds pie and fish n chips. Portions were large and did not disappoint. When we got the food it was hot and fresh! Highly recommend!! Lastly, the fries are perfection!

Fish and chips were good, not too oily, fried a bit to long for my taste as were the fries. Can't judge any of the other food as all three of us got fish and chips. Waitress was friendly. Gets docked a star for zero parking and they were a bit slow to keep drinks full. All told about 150 bucks for three of us for dinner and 3 or 4 rounds of micros and one round of domestic beer.

"As I came down through Portland City At the hour of twelve at night. Who should I see but the Spanish lady" - PDX edition of Spanish Lady. OMG only in Portland, Oregon I can find a nice Irish pub with good beer and food. I am not a big pub person but after a day of therapy this place does great wonders on me. Good service and food, what more can I ask for? This is a great place where you can do a jolly jig (no pun intended) but I really had a great time. Who knew a bar would be provided me prime minister quality service. It makes me feel like I am in Dublin myself. It feels so good here. I would come here again because there's nothing I like better than Shepherd's pie and some organic beer. I would come here again if I can, not to mention I have no problems boarding my bus back home. This time I would be riding a big green bus soon.

Had an amazing experience and meal at Whelan's! The inside has awesome decor and they have a lot of great whiskeys and scotches as well as a full bar and a good amount of beers on draft. We had their shepherd's pie which was out of this world!!! Incredibly delicious and savory, we thought we'd take some home but ended up eating the entire thing. We also ordered a weekly burger special that they had (they call it their Bob's Burgers specials) and it was very tasty and would definitely order their other burgers. We can't wait to come back and try their fish and chips and enjoy some of the local music that comes through!

First time. Great beer selection; great service by owner?. I had the Sheppard's Pie. Delicious and large. I would go again.

I seriously can't remember a time I've eaten such good food, listen to such good music ( Sean Daly and the Shams ) and met such good people. Whelans Irish Pub is an incredible family, restaurant and bar.

It was Gigantic Red Nitro Ale and still amazing! Daughter tried the fish and chips which was perfect! Crispy outside and lots of fresh thick cod inside. The malt nicely set off the skinned fries. I did a return on the Shepherd's Pie. Fabulous! They are keeping it socially distanced but social! A great relaxing night out for beer and dinner.

They're still serving their food for takeout during Covid! I had a Reuben on a recent drizzly night and it was perfect. My dad loves getting the Shepherd's Pie. I hope people keep getting takeout so they stick around through this pandemic! It really is a great little place, with delicious food.

Excellent service, food and atmosphere. The Guinness is poured perfectly and the employees always seem to be happy and friendly. I stumbled upon this place and very pleased that I did. If the Shepherds pie is on the board, Order it. It's Awesome!

Good atmosphere. Irish music of all varieties. Friendly bartender. I had a pint of Magner's and my buddy had a healthy hot toddy. Fish and chips are a great size for the price. Nice fries. Shepherds Pie had a lot of potatoes, but no one's going hungry here at Whelan's with a good portion sizes. I'm sure this place gets rollin later into the night, but I liked the atmosphere early in the evening.

Being from CA, it was nice to get back inside a real Irish Pub! The bartender was awesome. Will definitely come back before my work trip is over

We came in last night to celebrate my twins 21st birthday. We chose this place because it's family friendly till 9pm plus we enjoy the environment here. I felt bad because there was a lot of us and kind of caught everybody by surprise. However everything was great. The service, the food, drinks and Irish car bombs. Thank you to the Whelan's staff for putting up with us, they were awesome. Everyone loved the food (my Favorite is their Ruben sandwiches and fish and chips). I appreciated their help with creating the memories. Also shout out to the music. It was wonderful. Thank you Whelan's. Your on the top side of one of our favorite places to visit (with and without the kids). If in area, give them a try. You won't be disappointed

Although it's got "pub" and Irish" in the name, it didn't feel either. I would have expected a dart board or two, but instead there was a pool table. I know these are minor details, but it's a pub right? The service was friendly, but for as many people in there it was SLOW. Painfully slow. We weren't a needy bunch, but a little attention would have been nice. I spun the wheel and ordered the reuben. Not the best I've ever had, but it was solid. It's the chunky style vs sliced corned beef. I wouldn't have ordered it if it was pastrami like some places try to pass off as a "reuben". My All in all, it's really just a neighborhood bar.

I was pleasantly surprised by the food at this place. As others have noted, it's not exactly in the nicest or most special area, so I can't say I was expecting much, nor did I know what to expect. I was immediately drawn to the mac & cheese which claims to be made with Irish cheddar, so I was sold. It came out extremely hot (which is a good sign I think and was nice since it just started snowing!). It was extremely cheesy and a great consistency. Noodles were cooked perfectly, and not overcooked which is so often the case with bar food. As heavy as it was, I would be back for this dish, it definitely hit the spot. Also of note and worth going back for are the fries. Hand cut, perfectly cooked, and well seasoned. Service was nice as well and I enjoyed their selection of Irish drinks to choose from on the chalkboard.

We had a pleasant time the first visit so my wife and I stopped by on a weekday afternoon. Instead of Irish music ( after all it's an "Irish" bar) we listened to blues. Not bad but not fitting the atmosphere. I commented on the music, stating we heard traditional Irish music before. The bartender/waitstaff ( didn't catch her name but she had a large spider tattoo on her chest ) state, "We're sick to death of Irish music here." She added there was live music on Saturday night. Silly me, I thought it would be Irish music! We had a decent meal. There were only five of us in the whole bar. The "cook" came out ; long, greasy hair , and he acted half asleep. ( maybe he wore a head-net while working? ) We took a visiting friend to the place that Saturday. The music was painfully earsplitting rock, like a hundred other bars. We had a quick beer and left. Took our friend to dinner elsewhere. Now, almost two years later, it appears it's still "up and running" . I believe we'll give it a try to see if it's unique or "Irish" in name only.

Tried Whalens for the first time and had a wonderful time. Went with my cousin and her husband, we enjoyed our food selections. My Rueben was the best I have had in a long while. Jodi the own is friendly and has a wonderful Irish Brough. Jodi also does a perfect Guinness pour. The only thing negative is the music covid br turned down just a wee bit. Will be going back.

Love this local Irish pub. Incredibly good food. The bangers and mash are really good. The happy hour has a good food menu and good prices. Saturday night around 7 usually has a live band playing a selection of traditional and contemporary Irish music. Jody is a generous bar tender, that pours a mean Guinness. Kids are welcome until 9:00 pm.

I stopped by for a pint and some wifi while killing some time recently. It was quiet -- a mom and daughter picking up a to-go order, a regular at the bar, and a couple folks playing pool. The service was friendly. The ambience was fine. It isn't the best neighborhood, but this is a fine place to stop in for a pint considering.

Whelan's is my favorite bar, and I go there often. It's my favorite food in Portland, by far! I've never had better mac and cheese, their wings are SO good, and just the right amount of spicy! The bangers and mash are also a favorite, along with...well, everything on the menu! They do some magic/trickery with the potatoes that make them so delicious. Super cool owners and bartenders. The drinks are always good, and the shots are big. Nice outside area, and super friendly people. I've met lots of great people there! I don't really go anywhere else now, because, why!? It's just what this neighborhood needed!

Great bar, good Guinness, amazing food, and a very comfortable environment. Definitely a fun place to bring some friends to and hang out for a while. When they have it, their corned beef is so good! It's an intermittently available dish but holy hell its amazing. Decent prices too.

Had lunch at Whelan's yesterday. Service was great. Guinness pour was perfect and the food was tasty Jody the bartender was a very friendly guy. Will definitely come back.

How is it ok that the bartender can play and hold poker machines while she works??? Seems very unprofessional and in complete contrast to the usual 5-10 min time limit...30 min later...another reason not to come here.

My husband found this place on Yelp and i was a bit skeptical about it because of the location, but I'm happy we gave it a try. We came in a little after 5pm and it wasn't too busy. There was only one person working the front so service was a bit slow, but the server was friendly. We tried their tots, banger and pulled pork sliders, and wings from the happy hour menu. The foods were flavorful, not greasy, and fresh. The drinks were made right (Jameson with ginger ale and Guinness). The cheap prices are a plus! Quite a gem in that neighborhood. We would definitely come back!

Food is outstanding! Best Reuben in Portland! Highly recommending supporting this local business. The service is good and the place is clean. Great Irish bar. A hidden gem.

Awesome food and service. Highly recommend!! We had the Shepard's Pie, fish and chips, and chicken strips. All the best. Not to mention, the best French fries I've ever had. The server was awesome and very attentive.

YUM! we've been here twice now. first time we had a Reuben and a Cuban sandwich, awesome. We like the tots better than the fries. 2nd time we were there for weekend specials, boyfriend had bangers and mash I had shepherd's pie both were delicious. The jello shots are amazing we had Irish coffee jello shots for a buck and the Guinness is very good. if you have anything with a pickle they are homemade and Wow good. the owners/cook and service was excellent. We will be back again. Next time we'll we'll have fish and sub tots for the chips. we highly recommend Whelan's.

New authentic Irish pub in the heart of Southeast Portland!! Great food, great beer and the new owner, Jody Whelan, is actually Irish!!! I recommend the Rueben with the house-made corned beef and garlic rosemary fries or the Guinness burger with the twice-fried twice fries. Both delicious. Say hi to Jody and tell him David sent ya. Shláinte

On the website they Don't mention the Bartendress Does Not leave from behind the bar(probably in Her job description). The Lottery Games are only Cleaned after a Full 10 minutes after asking regardless of HER busyness, and how Polite You may be because "I don't Gamble," Euphemism for, 'I could care less'. The Happy Hour that goes to 7pm is ONLY beer and wine, no food. The drinks are very well made but the attitude that goes with them is not worth it. The FOOD is amazing and Take Out would be the way to go. After putting in a full 10 hours and OLD the Hassle Factor lost This Customer.

If I've ever had comfort food, this is it. Couldn't even drink because the food in front of me was so ridiculously good. We couldn't stop putting it in our mouths! If I could pick one special, I could not.... But of all the food I was shoveling maybe the Shepherd pie was the best of the BESt. Any of them was a favorite!

Food is delish and homemade. Try the specials for the day too, freshly made and sooo good! Got to taste the lamb stew and reminded me of my childhood. Friendly service, great prices and a good atmosphere

Lovely Irish pub in Southeast Portland great owner great bartenders even better food. On the weekends Irish stew, shepherd's pie,bangers and mash. Guinness on tap ever-expanding beer menu

Best food and the entertainment is always good. Such a chill place and nice bar tenders. The owners alway are so kind. Thank you for help bringing the neighbor hood up in the area.

The bartender was super friendly and easy going! Love the pool table in the backroom!

Four of us went to Whelan's for dinner and a couple drinks on Sunday afternoon around 4pm. It seemed unusually busy for a Sunday evening; there were about 30 people at the pub. The place was completely understaffed. The bartender had to handle a lot and consequently the service was almost nonexistent. Our drink order was mixed up twice. We ordered the hamburger, mac and cheese, bangers and mash, and chicken fingers. After an hour of waiting, we had only received the burger. When we inquired on the status, the bartender informed us that the meal orders didn't go through with the burger. There was no apology or attempt to make it right. No offer to take our appetizer or a drink off the bill, just some shrugged shoulders. We had to go up to the bar to get the check. We were looking forward to trying the grub but left hungry and disappointed. While the Guinness is a good pour and the restaurant seems clean and newly renovated, there are other Irish restaurants in the city with good food and the hospitality you've come to expect from a Irish pub. I want to give this place another go because it seems like a new restaurant that is figuring out its operation. Plus, like I said, the Guinness is fresh! Please hire additional floor staff (bus person, anything) to help your current staff.

Perfect Irish pub. Great food amazing vibe and the owners behind the bar are wonderful

Ummmm...wow...it is flu season so probably they were understaffed but we observed only two people running the joint, of course, I felt sorry for them because I've worked with the public my whole life and if you're understaffed, it's not your fault. That being said, if I'm going to give an honest review of my Saturday night experience, we waited forever for food,(over an hr) and when we got it it was slightly above average but lacking in amenities like a ketchup bottle with anything in it etc. The band was great as I love upbeat, beautifull reggae music but we were over the absence of any normal restaurant attention by the time we left. I want to try this place again tho hoping for a little more interaction with any kind of employees hopefully next time we go!

The best burgers in Portland, great Irish music on certain Saturdays, open to families with kids in the early evening and it is a real Irish pub owned by an Irish person who is often there working. Also great Shepard's pie.

I was treated with respect- I have a nice time at Irish pub.. Yes- I am disabilities- and the nice staff were kind and helpful on Sunday

Jody is the great bar owner/tender/bareback/everything man. Good drinks, vibes, hospitality, and food.

THE BEST food!!!! Drinks are poured up just right. Jody, the owner, is a genuine guy.

The owner is really personable when he wants to be. The pub is standard/casual fare with an 'Irish' twist... better than average, mind you. If you get there early enough, the fries are hand-cut. Drinks are stiff. The live folk-music can be pretty charming and never seems contrived. Parking can be an issue.

Great HH burger and very nice owner. We'll be back for the music and Shepard's pie this weekend!