I'll start off by saying that I don't like nightclubs. No. Let me rephrase that: I hate nightclubs with a passion that would make Martin Lunther King Jr. look like a wannabe civil rights activist. So, having established that, I very much doubt that my review would have gotten more than 2 stars even in a normal case, but this was not a normal case. What happened..? I can hear you say..
Well, some of my colleagues had organised Friday drinks in order to blow off some steam after the working week. While I normally manage to steer these gatherings towards a decent pub, I had been out of office for most of the week and had let someone else decide on location, which is the reason that I found myself wandering down Harcourt Street around 6 on a Friday afternoon.
To my surprise, I found a crowd barrier near the front door, and 2 tough looking doormen guarding the entrance. When I walked in, one of them stopped me and told me I could not go in. When I asked him why this would be, he informed me that my outfit did not match the prescribed dresscode. I asked him what the problem was, and he pointed out that I was wearing shorts. Okay, fine with me, if your rules prohibit shorts, I'll go spend my money in one of the other 1100 bars in Dublin.
However, if you are a bar and refuse people entrance to your establishment solely based on the fact that they wear shorts, you will automatically receive a 1star rating from me. Let me explain that I was not dressed in some sort of knacker outfit. I wasn't wearing a track suit or white runners or anything. I was dressed in a Harrington jacket, a New York Mets t-shirt and black leather shoes. Yes, and a pair of cargo shorts. All my clothes were clean, nothing was torn or had any offensive messages or images on it and I was stone cold sober. Still, they wouldn't let me in. I didn't care too much- I walked around the corner and went to Against the Grain where I drank quality beer and received no remarks on my clothes.
I can understand that pubs have a dress code that prevents tracksuits and white runners, or clothes that are dirty, ripped or smelly. That's the way you keep the knackers, homeless and winos out. If you're a bar and handle a dress code that goes any further, I think you're a pretentious twat and you won't get my custom.
Dicey Reilly's is a bar, nothing more than that. You're not the f*kcing Bellagio. I'm not having dinner with the President. I'm going out for a couple of drinks with my colleagues, and if you don't like how I dress, then I will go somewhere else. read more