I don't ask for much. Just a simple watering hole when I'm feeling parched. When I am in such a vulnerable state on those infrequent occasions when I'm on Piedmont Avenue, I stop in here. It's Irish, so you know it's going to be friendly. It's also rarely packed, and most of the social activity seems to hover around the pool table toward the far end of the bar. I usually sit closer to the front door and not because I'm looking for a quick escape. The $7 Tequila Sunrise hits the spot ...repeatedly (Photo 3). DRINKS - 4 stars...generous pour with the right kick AMBIANCE - 3.5 stars...true watering hole with a touch of blarney SERVICE - 4 stars...friendly here TOTAL - 4 stars...when I get parched on Piedmont RELATED - Exploring Piedmont Avenue? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: https://yelp.to/RSAlATvngd read more

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Stopped in here after visiting a bookstore on Piedmont Avenue. It was my first time there, they have a pool table and a jukebox. The bartender made his way to us and made some good drinks. This feels like a cool neighborhood bar, easy to walk in and order drinks. We had two rounds before we left for dinner down the street. Good Halloween decorations up! read more

Kerry House - Dive Bars Near Me - Oakland, California

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Easy place to chill out. I joined my daughter Saturday evening for a cocktail. It's not my first time visiting this establishment however I've always had a decent time here. Hanging here won't break the bank and the tenders are friendly as are the regulars. Small patio out back to smoke or just get fresh air. read more

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Probably the worst bar I have ever been to. Definitely the worst bar I've been to in Oakland. Clientele is not friendly, they pour you warm beer out of a pitcher that was sitting around for who knows how long. Bartender was friendly but overall vibe was absolutely horrible. Wouldn't recommend read more

People get roofied here, I went here and had one drink and it was laced, don't go here

Came in ordered a couple of drinks the bar manager came at me and partner with her bar back saying she didn't have his card. She did. Was rude maybe she should stop taking shots so she can remember her patrons name instead of coming at them rude. Not my fault she couldn't identify his name maybe be nicer we left after place gave us the ick. been there hella times and this was a first and last time coming here read more

I always try and stop by when I'm back in the hood... It used to be a total dive bar (which I loved) and shot many games of pool there back in the day... Today I stopped by for a beer and a shot and was amazed at the cool lighting, the well kept pool table, and great sounding jukebox. Even the bathrooms were clean! ...My bartender, Israel, was nice and attentive, too! ....Derek, the owner, has done a great job turning The Kerry House into a respectable neighborhood bar- Happy Holidays Everyone!!! Stop by for a drink!!! read more

Definitely a locals hangout. Came here after dinner with friends and upon entering you just could tell it was a locals hangout. They are SUPER friendly though even if you're not from the area! The bartenders immediately greeted us upon entering and asked for our drink orders. The ladies got waters (we're not big drinkers) and the guys got different whiskeys. Unfortunately their CC machine was down so they only accepted cash, but their pricing was very fair. They have a jukebox and a pool table available. We played a round of pool (you need quarters to play) and also ended up chatting with some locals. It's a decent, divey place to get drinks. read more

The drink looked nice, but tasted like plain coke. No whiskey flavor at all, more like vodka and coke.

Great place to go for an Irish Coffee. The juke box and pool table are in great condition and the bartender was very friendly.

Nice quiet place with a jukebox and good bartenders!! They can pour a beer and mix drinks. Great prices and quite the downtown bar ambiance! Strongly recommend call if you're going because the hours vary due to Covid-19. Went a few times and was open then went on a Friday early evening and it was closed. Lesson learned, but strongly recommend due to the location, bartenders and ambiance. read more

Do not go to this bar! We were enjoying the last of the 2 Raiders home games when James the bartender decided to turn off our local game to give a 3rd tv to the East Coast teams. There were about 11 people in the bar, predominately fans of those teams and James said since they were regulars they deserved to have ALL the tvs on their game. There were 2 other groups of us watching the other games and it was a live IN OAKLAND game that he unilaterally decided to turn off. We asked politely to have it turned back on & he told us we could leave if we wanted to watch it. I will NEVER step foot back in this establishment and hope they find better bartenders who aren't so rude. read more

We've been coming here for years and LOVE it but just got treated like shit by a bartender we'd never encountered before. He clearly thought we weren't cool enough to be there--he barely deigned to take our order and then charged us extra for lime juice in a vodka soda and made snotty comments about how limes "aren't cheap." I've ordered the exact drink literally 100 times and never been charged extra for lime juice. WTF?? We still love Kerry house but seriously will turn and walk out if we ever see that dude behind the bar again. read more

Dive Bar Diva strikes again, but now in Oaktown. Truth be told, I vaguely recall what The Kerry House looked like before it got all prettified. Regardless, this is a solid dive in the heart of Piedmont Avenue. There's a pool table, jukebox, full bar and a plethora (nice SAT word, eh?) of beers on tap and in bottles. There are ample TVs for the sports watching. KH patrons are locals and regulars, and friendly for the most part. You can bring outside food (plenty to choose from in the 'hood' from gyros, burgers, indian, etc.,). Also, the restrooms are super clean, which is uncharacteristic of most, if not all dives. I've had nothing but great experiences here. I dig that I can get my vodka fix with the Grey Goose or my beer fix with Guinness, etc., My KH visits have usually been while Byron is tending the bar. I tried my first Delirium Tremens (Belgian Pink Elephant Beer), which is on tap and comes in the special elephant glass (awesomeness and supa cute). I've also watched several SF Giants games here, with the most important one being the last game of the 2010 World Series. I just returned to Oakland airport from my Austin and Ranger country trip over Halloween weekend. We pulled up a few bar stools and anxiously watched our Gmen play. While drinking my beers, I did my usual nervous pacing and dancing. As Brian Wilson pitched and the last out recorded, we were jumping, screaming, hugging and going nutsorama. Oh Mylanta! Oh Mylanta, my Gmen just won the World Series! Unbelievable! Anywho, thanks to B for the jager. Can't wait to watch more games with you and the KH folk next season! 3 Cheers and 5 supa stars for the Kerry House! read more

Kerry House - two shot glasses of alcohol on a counter - Dive Bars Near Me - Oakland, California

Reminds me of Cheers! Cool place to meet up, relax after work and just go where everybody knows your name lol. And the bartender is really hot in that rugged type of way. Heyyyy read more

The Kerry House has something of an identity crisis. The Green awning with "Cead Mile Failte" under the establishment's Celtic-sounding name suggested I was about to enter an Irish pub. But once inside, my eyes squinted with bewilderment at the faux-western interior that was accented with items of decor straight out of the 1970's cowboy-bar cookbook. An old school wooden grid on the ceiling suggested an attempt at being a swank cocktail lounge some 10 years before that. Regardless, the exterior of the bar suggests it's an Irish pub, the inside looks like a faux-saloon, and only thing Irish about the Kerry House is the welcome on the awning out front. Odd as the interior is, The Kerry House has a certain charm to it. The bar's decorative schema has lots of wood....but it's cheap wood. Large slabs of unfinished lumber over the bar look like construction-grade laminated beams that were spray-painted black. Several pool tables sit in the back of the bar, which were surrounded by pecky cedar walls and collection of bric-a-brac that didn't look like it had changed since it's days as a cowboy bar. But despite it's warts, the crowd seems friendly and mellow. The mean age was around 35 with a standard deviation in the neighborhood of 6 and a noticeable skew to the right. The age distribution holds steady till around 10:00, when a younger crowd starts to drift in. People tended to congregate at the ends of the bar, while the middle of it remains a conversational wasteland. A small doorway in back of the pool table leads back to an outdoor patio that's handy for quiet conversation and having a smoke. The liquor assortment looked about average, and the on-tap selection of beer was typical. Hungry? Raj India Cuisine operates out of an adjoining space, and dozens of other restaurants are just a short walk away down Piedmont Ave. I came in with the intention of having one beer, but wound up making friends in low places and leaving scant minutes before the mass-transit witching hour, barely making it back to MacArthur BART to catch the last train back to San Francisco. The bottom line? It's a friendly place with tenderloin-bar-like trappings, smack-dab in the middle of Piedmont Ave. If you're cruising the area and looking for something a little more downscale, The Kerry House could be right up your alley. read more

Kerry House - Dive Bars Near Me - Oakland, California

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Literally saw a rat. Climbing over the bottles. Ew. And then somehow burrowing into the lining of the wall. Yelp wants me to say more. Ok it's not expensive and the staff are nice? I honestly feel bad for them. It's a rat. End of story. A rat. Groooss. I'm nice and I like dive bars. But it was a rat. A big one. read more

Derrick has the heaviest pour in the east bay, you didn't hear it from me. Truly a neighborhood bar with great regulars and vibes. Can't recommend enough read more

Derreck is the best bartender in all of the the town. Makes the best dirty vodka martini and is always such a gentleman. My favorite dive bar in the bay and glad it's in my hood. read more

This is where alcoholics come to die. Seriously. You walk in and alcoholism slaps you in the face - real hard. The smell of Jack Daniels escaping through everyone's pores. Or is that the stale beer in the bar's rail mats? Nope it's alchie sweat for sure. Beer bellies that make you wonder if, perchance, men too can get pregnant. Hasselhoff spread out on the floor eating a hamburger and looking comparatively sober amidst the sea of drunkards. Faces that force you to turn your head away when they speak. Not just because they have no teeth and their spit keeps flying into your eye (and you are afraid of TB or Hep C), but also because the smell of their breath reeks of over 40 years of hard boozing. One star for strong pours that fit an alchie's budget. Another star for diversity: they welcome boozers of every race, color, age, gender, national origin, and creed. I'd offer up another star for giving me a place to call home in 20+ years when I've hit rock bottom, but let's just burn that bridge when we get to it. read more

How do I rate a place that is so essential to my childhood memories? Kerry House used to be my dad's bar when he lived in California in the 70's, and he was severely alcoholic. My lil sis and I spent our visitation weekends with dad in that bar, playing pong and drinking Shirley Temples. Truly, in my glimpses of the Kerry House as I walk by on Piedmont Ave., it looks like they haven't changed (or cleaned) anything since I was there as a thirteen-year-old. I think Dad's old drinking buddies are probably still there, too. Dad's been clean and sober for 25 years, and suffice it to say that I don't drink...but raise one to dear old Dad if you happen by his old bar. Update October 15, 2007: Rest in Peace, Daddy! Jerry Lee, born 1942, Rolla MO; died October 12, 2007, St. Louis MO. read more

I've lived in this neighborhood for 10+ years. If I ever want a late night drink, (I'm nocturnal more or less and know well the late-night scene around here) I will occasionally stop in here, but it's fossilized permanently in scary, hopeless despair and stink (can't they at least clean it sometimes?). It's always been the same and maybe worse now--a bunch of incredibly boring drunks and naive young people looking for intensity and action but have none themselves to contribute, (unless what you want is a knife fight and vomit). . Last time I was there I was physically assaulted and my dog was kicked by some gang-banger pretender as I was walking in. I love dive culture (my fav is Baggy's On The Lake) but this is the kind of place that specializes in illiterates and hard core alcoholics who have give-up on life long ago and just want to get wasted. I've never had a conversation here that rose above bands, motorcycles and slurry beer talk about weed. Kerry House gives "dive" an authentically bad name and are helping to ruin what Oaktown is struggling to be, a place on the cutting edge, making life better for us all.. Too bad because this street is otherwise one of the best places to party, eat, and shop in the East Bay. I condemn this place. There is a new owner now, a perfect idiot who matches well the slovenly low-life that frequent it. The cops have told me its one of the top "chronic" places in white Oakland, they hate it. So do all the merchants--which might be a good sign of something different, but sadly its the kind of dive bar that makes you want to drink green tea across the street. Cesar's is my first choice around here, and Cato's. Both places are exciting and interesting without being pretentious or exclusive. As for the Indian restaurant next door, its the opposite. They have significantly improved over the years and I like the ladies who work here. Just in the last few months they have upgraded the food and spices, plus free endless chai. Try the sag panner, yum, healthy and tasty. read more

Many years ago I lived in this hood. Kerry House wasn't much then but a hangout for retired folks, but it did have some charm to it. By chance I was in the area again and had to kill some time and went into the Kerry House to get a beer. Much to my surprise it had been completely remodeled but not in a good way. As another reviewer put it , it looks like a hotel bar. That is about the best description possible a generic hotel bar in Anywhere America. I'm also assuming they have now divided the bar and restaurant, which were once one big room but now the bar has a sort of claustrophobic kind of feel to it because it is boxed up and they kept the prohibition era front windows small and tinted which adds to the submarine feel I had while drinking my beer here. Otherwise it was OK but nothing much to get excited about, too bad because the Piedmont Ave area is screaming for an unpretentious place to get a drink read more

You want cheap beers on draft? Cool, come here. You want friendly bar tenders? Cool, come here. You want the game on TV? Cool, they got 4 screens on. Jukebox? Yes, it's blaring too. Roaches? Yeah unfortunately but the cheap beers make up for it. Lol I still love it here though. read more

i 'm really biased about this place. the beers(guinness, stella-5.25) were super cold and fresh, not stale, a rarity in a bar. i understand the beer is kept so cold that the lines sometimes freeze, especially the hefweizen?. the walls are adorned with pics of early oaktown baseball teams, the oaks and seals. there is also a section dedicated to the leaders of the irish rebellion in 1916 in ireland. haven't gone here late at night in a while. it's early afternoons when i go. read more

If you are looking for a old school Bar, Thai is the place with a old school drink , please fell free to come in,no fancy just cool,

Mike says, "Let's do Piedmont dive bars!" Um, You don't have to ask me twice! This is a total dive bar. Everything that comes to mind when you think of dive bar is a reality. The bad smell. The shady, yet interesting clientele. Relatively cheap booze. A juke box. Pool tables. Hells Yeah!! Things started to go downhill for me rapidly. Between my horrible drunken pool skills, the $5 well drinks and the Erotic video poker machine, this night could only end with the death of another one of my apartment's towel racks. The best thing about Kerry House? The old drunk broad sitting alone at the end of the bar. Her name was Connie, she didn't look a day over dead, and she was more shit faced than me. Mike and I are sitting there talking about the meaning of life when we hear, "Yoooo whooo, yoooo whoooo, you are beautiful people." I look at Mike, "Is she talking to us?" Then our new BFF Connie raises her glass to us and tells us that we are beautiful people 437 more times. We had been drinking since 3pm, it was now 11pm and I decided that tequila shots would be a good idea. Wrong. I bought a round of shots. Sat down. Threw my shot back. Bit my lime. Set the shot glass on the table. Got up. Walked outside. And then puked all of my pizza up under the stair case of the bar. That pretty much ended my night. Will I go back? Fuck yeah!!! read more

Some thoughts on The Kerry House... Although it appears to be a dive, I pay as much or more here for a pint of beer as I do at "non-dive" establishments. I don't know how early this place opens, but I always turn my head to look inside as I walk by... and at 9:00 am there are always the same amount of people as there are at 9:00 pm. Possibly the same people, too. I got trapped inside the womens' restroom stall - the lock just kept spinning but not unlocking. The upside was that there was some great graffiti to read as I frantically fought to get away. This place might get overrun with hipster-types on the weekends, but don't worry - if you are looking for old grizzled drunk characters who like to talk about sex and women, you will find them anytime of the day or night. The BF's theory is that the Kerry House is a second home to a lot of old guys who live in the retirement complexes around the area. As I belong to the aforementioned obnoxious hipster category (which makes it so hard to order a beer, because any choice I make seems like a hipster choice), I find the Kerry House to be charming, down-to-earth, and a solid place to relax, play some jukebox tunes, and eavesdrop on the conversations of dirty old men. read more

Walking down the avenue last night past the old Kerry House - from the open door we notice that the floor is different - wait - the place is different! Good heavens the place has been completely remodeled - nice design - good colors - and you can actually breathe in there!!! Had to stop for a beer!! I know the Kerry House has been a dive forever - we've been going there since the 70's - but the last few years it's just been too overwhelming for me. There is a difference between a dive and a dump. Nice people - great job remodeling!! We will be back soon!! read more

The best non-divey dive bar. Love this place. I trust them to make a good martini. 10 thumbs up. (From me and my friends.)

Definitely a neighborhood bar. The bartenders knew almost all the customers by name, and the customers knew each other. Prices are reasonable, a convenient location on Piedmont Ave, and service friendly. read more

This bar has all the essentials of a good dive. Drunk old folks, dingy lighting, and "that guy" who comes upstairs to hit on the one girl in the bar, and subsequently passes out at the table across from her. There's an area with pool and tolerated smoking upstairs. Unfortunately, the place was too gross, too dirty, and too depressing--even for me. Maybe I'm becoming a dirty yuppie. read more

Kerry House is one of my new favorite spots. You never really know what you're going to get when you walk in. I have walked in to a very rowdy bunch, but I have also gone in when it was more quiet and relaxed. Either situation I have a good time. The one down side is that the bar is very long with only one bartender. There have been some times when I would have to wait to get served only becuase the bartender is so far away he can't see me. The jukebox has a wide selection of music and there's always sports on. The bathroom is always clean (at least the women's) and the prices are reasonable! read more

This used to be my favorite bar. Once, my old room mate through my shoe out the window of the second story and i couldn't put my foot down because it was disgusting. I also had a going-away party here and took over the top floor. I don't remember much of the night but Robbie was super understanding about my puking and wished me a good trip. I left the country for a while and when I came back I couldn't smoke upstairs and robbie the bartender was gone. Those were the two things that made this bar amazing. Without smoking and robbie, it's jsut a crappy bar with cheap drinks and godawful regulars. Seriously depressing regulars. They've been going there forever and they haven't got the stories that make regulars at places like the acme so endearing. So, I'd reccomend skipping the Kerry house, at least until they re-instate smoking and Robbie shows up again. read more

Five stars for surrealism. First, I must admit that I have myself never partaken of the abundant delights inevitably offered by this establishment. No, I was here at 9 a.m. with my absent-minded yet darling roommate who had the night prior left her debit card in a beer-fueled stupor. She had also removed her prescription contact lenses and thrown them away, thinking she had extras. She did not. Therefore, she was blind as a bat and I had to help her identify said debit card as her own. But let us return, for a moment, to the beginning of the last paragraph. Yes, I was at Kerry House at nine in the morning, folks. When my roommate begged for my assistance and I expressed doubt that they would be open before I had to get to work, I was told that the bar opens at six. We walked in and a rheumy old boozer immediately commenced with giving me the stare-down from over his pint of ale. A sixty-something woman in a muu-muu (who looked for all the world like Judi Dench inhabiting a particularly harrowing role) was playing pool, alone, and finishing off a carafe of red wine. I repeat: alone. At nine in the morning. There was opera playing on the jukebox. There was a dude passed out in the corner over the dregs of a double whiskey. There was a bartender with a Tom Waits voice and a porkpie hat. It was fucking incredible. read more

I'm nostalgic for the days when I used to frequent the Kerry House. It was the favorite spot of the night crew at Gaylords. I think I was barely 21 at at the time. We'd clean the caffe, close-up, then head over for a nightcap. It's a classic dive bar, very worn-in and relaxed. The upstairs room is where it's at. It's good for private parties. I have fond memories of a couple wild birthday celebrations up there, throwing back Irish Car Bombs and playing pool with friends. Cheers. read more

Not sure about this bar. It was somewhat full for a Tuesday 11 pm, 15 guys and 5 girls. The Internet jukebox aced out in the middle of my song, bartender said the man is out to fix it tomorrow. Had a terrible vibe going... between people playing Tu Pac, Steve Miller Band and the Clash. Crowd seemed liked mostly after work.. people. Mostly Caucasian crowd with substantial black population. Their well drink went up from 4.25 to 4.50 I overheard. Hardly worth it I would think. The appearance is on the nicer side of dive. The ceiling is really rather beautiful, arts and crafts style. I wanted to give it 2 stars but it may have been an off night 3 stars. I was drinking but I recall books on the shelf and pool tables. read more

This is your basic dive bar, with some occasional illegal smoking and scary damned bathrooms. The upside - cheap drinks and cheap tasty Indian food from Raj India next door. You just have to decide if you want to eat in the sketchy bar or the sketchy restaurant - enjoy! read more

I liked the place better when it was a seedy dive bar. At least then it had some character. The quirks that made the bar memorable- the crazies, the book collection and the video game at the end of the bar- have been replaced by a shiny (even sparkly) bar, a mirrored back bar, HD TVs and remodeled bathrooms. Okay, so the crazies are still there. We went in the daytime and the bartender/owner was nice enough. We developed a bad taste in our mouth for her ratio of "talk to chatty hipster kid" to "notice our pint glass is empty," especially because we were two of about five people in there. Though, she was quite adept at wrangling the crazy shouting lady, and the way she broke the news that this was a cash-only bar was quite clever ("I have an ATM over there!" with a smile). Mrs. Bartender/Owner earned the Kerry House two Yelp points only after including us in her amusing rant about the crazy shouting lady who had stepped outside for a smoke break from her carafe of red wine. We say that the cons outweigh the pros for this one, but the truth is that this is the closest cocktail bar to our apartment, and it connects to an Indian restaurant. We'll be back. read more

Sooooo many dive bars to chose from in Oaktown, but this one is on MY block and the bar serves up $7 Woodford Manhattans. I spent $12 on the same Manhattan martini at Michael Mina's the night before. The bar was recently upgraded, which makes for a nice dive bar experience with pool tables and all. And the bathrooms are surprisingly nice. read more