My wife and I got into our hotel in downtown Louisville much later than we anticipated thanks to an hour-long traffic back-up on the bridge that took us over the Ohio River. Tired and hungry, we asked the front desk staff of a place that was close by that we could grab a sandwich and a beer. They suggested one place that sounded good and we went over there. However, when we walked in, we were told that they closed the kitchen at 9 p.m. "There's Patrick O'Shea's right next door," the server who gave us the bad news told us. "Their back door is just back up the stairs and to the right." We found the door, but ended up traveling up too many flights of stairs before we went back down and finally found the (unsigned) back entrance to Patrick O'Shea's Public House on the first flight level behind a door that wasn't marked. It was a confusing start to our first visit to this Louisville Irish pub.
Mary Pool was born in Oklahoma in 1904 and was raised there on a farm with her nine siblings. Not wanting to continue the hard life of working 10 hour days, six days a week, Mary ended up moving to Chicago at the age of 19 and found work in restaurants and diners around the city. She loved the fast pace of the big city and her work ethic she learned growing up helped her advance in her jobs.
Mary married Tom O'Shea and had two sons, Kevin and Tom, Jr. The family moved to Louisville where the O'Shea's opened Mary's Chateau Lounge, a cabaret-style place that had live entertainment and was a popular watering hole for many Louisvillian's. (Is that the correct term for people from Louisville?) All four members of the family were involved in the business, and eventually their grandchildren started to work at the lounge.
In the early 80's, Kevin O'Shea took over the Mary's Chateau Lounge, turned it into an Irish pub and gave it the new name of O'Shea's. However, Kevin O'Shea passed away in 1986 and his four children - sons Tom, Kevin, Tim and daughter Kelly - found themselves in charge of the restaurant/pub. By 1994, Tom and Kevin were involved in the business and they had taken on a partner, Dave Zimmerman. They moved to a new location in the Highlands neighborhood of Louisville that same year and have been there ever since.
O'Shea's Irish Pub immediately became a hit with the college crowd and the O'Shea's and Zimmerman wanted to have a place that catered more toward the burgeoning craft beer movement. Not far from O'Shea's Irish Pub, they found a space to put in their new concept - Flanagan's Ale House - that featured a more eclectic mix of beers on tap.
In 2006, two partners - Joe and John Murphy - joined the O'Shea's and Zimmerman in the businesses and they opened Brendan O'Shea's in the St. Matthews area of Louisville. In 2010, the group opened their showcase Irish pub - Patrick O'Shea's Public House - in downtown Louisville. And in 2016, the O'Shea's opened H.M. Frank's: An O'Shea's Pub across the river in Jeffersonville, IN. The pub was named after the original dry goods store owned by Homer Monroe Franks and is housed in a building that dates back to the late 19th century. (In 2012, Brendan O'Shea's was bought by another group who wanted to put a new restaurant in its place.)
Patrick O'Shea's is situated in a long, narrow building along E. Main St. that dates back to either the late 19th century or the early 20th century. (see map) There was a back room that we walked through that opened into a larger room with the bar area along the east wall. The ornate woodwork throughout the bar area was pretty impressive. There was a large party in the bar area and it was sort of loud in there.
We took a seat in a booth along the opposite wall and we were soon greeted by our server, Janelle. She assured us that their kitchen was, indeed, open for a couple more hours as she dropped off a couple menus for us. Asking us if we wanted anything to drink, I ordered a West 6th IPA from the West 6th brewery in Lexington, KY. My wife got a Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA to take the dust of a long day's travel out of her mouth.
Most of the items served at Patrick O'Shea's is the typical pub fare - sandwiches, burgers, and appetizers. They also had a handful of entries such as fish and chips, short ribs, shrimp and grits, and a Southern-style shepherd's pie that featured meatloaf and barbecue sauce mixed in with mashed potatoes and smoked gouda cheese. We really didn't want a big meal as it was well past 9 p.m., so a sandwich was going to be fine with us.
I ordered the reuben sandwich and it came on thick pieces of grilled swirl rye bread. The corned beef was thick cut, tender and tasty. For a side, I was happy to see that they had tater tots as an option. The sandwich was very good and very filling.
My wife got the grilled chicken sandwich that was topped with Swiss cheese, bacon slices and guacamole. She asked Janelle to leave the bun off the sandwich and that's how it came. She got fries for her side. My wife thought the grilled chicken was cooked perfectly and wasn't hard or overdone, and the combination of the Swiss cheese, bacon and guacamole offered an array of flavors. She thought her meal was just perfect for a late evening choice.
About the only hiccup for the meal was that Janelle was the only server in the place and she was trying to keep up with the large table of people that were toward the front of the restaurant. I had run out of beer and wanted a second one, but she was nowhere in sight. She was nice, though, and we did cut her some slack when she came back about 15 minutes after she had brought out our food to check on us.
Other than getting somewhat lost when we came in the back door and that our server was overworked that evening, we both felt our food at Patrick O'Shea's was very good for what it was. I thoroughly enjoyed my reuben sandwich and the tater tots were a nice surprise as a side dish. My wife's bun-less grilled chicken/Swiss cheese/bacon/guacamole sandwich was also a spot-hitter for her. Patrick O'Shea's wasn't our first choice, but we're glad that we were able to go there for a late light dinner in downtown Louisville.
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