Exceptional vegetarian food, perfectly made cocktails, and a pub atmosphere done right. We were…read morelucky to land a table at Blackbird around 5:15 pm on a Friday, and from the moment we walked in, the place was alive. Every table was full, the bar was packed, and the room hummed with that unmistakable end-of-the-workweek joy. The staff were clearly in motion nonstop, yet unfailingly warm, friendly, and welcoming. It felt like locals spilling in after work to celebrate the start of the weekend--and we were happy to be swept up in it. The décor is traditional and inviting, and we felt instantly at home in the buzz. The vegetarian and vegan options are genuinely excellent. I had a perfectly crafted Old Fashioned; my companion enjoyed a Harp lager. Dinner was the Bombay Veggie Burger and the beet salad (substantial enough to be a main on its own), both beautifully done. The roasted and braised root vegetables were cooked to perfection--so tender they melted in my mouth. Live music rounded out the evening, with a talented musician performing thoughtfully arranged songs across decades. Every selection was a joy. If he had a CD of his covers, I would have bought it on the spot. A lively, welcoming pub with outstanding food, music, and atmosphere. Blackbird made our Friday night in Derry truly memorable.

Stopped in with my family to drink and play the quiz game…read more Very cozy bar with friendly staff. The quiz game was a riot! Beer was cold and whisky was flowing. If I lived here this would be my daily.

On of my favorite bars in all of Ireland! Its right at the Free Derry Corner. Anyone into the…read moreplight for Irish freedom will know this corner has a HUGE signifigance! Take a walk down the streets and you will see the wonderful murials the locals have painted. This is an IRISH part of town...Brits not welcome. The bars patrons are very friendly and will play a game of snooker with ya for sure! Great selection of whiskeys and beers. No food and there were kids in there (as most Irish pubs do), but just early...say before 7. Stop in and have a few if your ever up in N.E. Ireland! Oh, and the town is DERRY, not Londonderry and the Brits would prefer... Slainte!

I'm getting to this review later than I'd hoped, but better late than never! My husband and I were…read morevisiting Ireland from New York last year and made a stop in Derry as we were exploring the north. As we explored the city and its rich and rocky history, we decided to visit the Bogside neighborhood and boy are we glad we walked into the Bogside Inn! The owner, Shane (sp?) and a good group of his friends occupied the stools and tables while the soccer match and horse races were on. They were so friendly and welcoming to us as we sipped on some delicious pints of Guinness (and some Jameson, too!). Most everyone in the bar took the time to come over and chat with us, ask us about our holiday in Ireland and tell us about Derry. They were a fun, cheery, and boisterous bunch! This was definitely one of our best nights in Ireland. If you're visiting Derry, Bogside Inn is a must!

Our tour guy said this pub was the place for fish and chips in a location that was very near…read moreshopping options. They weren't lying. Near what appeared to be the art center in town. We had great fish and chips, pints, and whiskey. Staff was on it despite us being a group of ten. Pub has all the local flavor one would want from a trip to Derry. We arrived a little after noon and the place was quiet but quickly filled in by the time we were done at 1:30pm.

A nice place, with a nice picture of the derry girls on the back. Took a second to get seated, and…read moreour waiter took forever to get to us. It took a while to get food as well. When we got our drinks about 20 minutes in, she didn't come back for refills. We had to get another server to get us the check, but the food was tasty. Really cute place to go to!

The slow roasted lamb shank was to die for. Very tender and very tasty and made specially…read morememorable with a bit of the mint jelly. I actually like it that it had bits of fat attached to the shank to make it extra delicious. You can't go wrong with getting this dish as your main entree. The greeted was so nice and was very helpful in telling us what to get. She actually was more helpful than our waitress. Even tho, this place was outside the walls and the address was actually Derry we were charge in pounds instead of Euros.

We came to the Dunlop Bar for a tasty lunch and a couple cold pints. Friendly & attentive service…read more Seemed like a happy bunch of employees This is another traditional Irish pub with lots of beer decor. Had chili beef nachos which were pretty good(not very spicy) and chicken/ham vol au vent like a little pot pie. Would definitely return to The Dunloe

We had finished dinner during our first night in Derry when we embarked on the first of a few pub…read morestops located on Waterloo Street just outside of the City Walls. Tracys Bar was that first pub that we frequented on the corner of Waterloo Place and Waterloo Street -- located at the bottom of a steep hill that begins the latter. The stay was certainly a good one as we went into the traditional pub and enjoyed some drinks. While we only stayed for one drink, we enjoyed ourselves in one of the booths by the front door with the bar right across from us. Sipping on a pour of The Quiet Man Irish Whiskey, I felt very at ease and relaxed and could have probably stayed for a little longer, but there were other pubs we wanted to check out. We will definitely return when we are back in Derry.

Visited on Halloween weekend and on a karaoke night, so safe to say I didn't get the standard…read moreexperience here. The place was packed, which made getting a drink difficult. Probably shouldn't have ordered a Guinness at that time; likely my fault in retrospect. There was definitely a lot of good craic here, and it looks like everyone was having a grand time. I just had the one before I left because there was nowhere to sit. Suppose that's a sign that the place is doing something right!

what a great little hidden gem in derry....came here last week a few times and what a ball !! in…read moremy opinion it is one of the best little pubs in derry...tiny pub with great atmosphere and quite cozy...they have a coal burning fire going every night....the bartenders were friendly along with the other patrons...one night last week a nice local lady came in with bread, ham and cheese and she made grilled cheese sandwiches for everyone in the pub over the fireplace fire.....what a hoot !! the beers were cold and also was the outside chill but it was all good

We knew about the Walled City Brewery before visiting Derry, but what we didn't know was that they…read morehave very limited hours. During our stay, Monday - Thursday they are only open for a small window between 5-8:30pm. We decided not to go the brewery tour, so I can't comment on if it is worthwhile, but I think I would try doing it next time if we ever were to go back to Derry.  The brewery has a full restaurant which has fantastic reviews and was also recommended by our friend who has gone before. We weren't hungry yet for dinner, so we opted to just visit the Taproom. The Taproom is also very cool and has a great vibe with interesting artwork. What we really liked about this brewery was it felt like a craft brewery and offered a lot of variety in their beers. It was the first place that we found that offered a sour beer, they had a wit beer, and they even had a hard seltzer (which honestly wasn't very good unless you like gin drinks). We enjoyed a few drinks and the music for a hour or so before deciding on dinner.

4.5 stars for lunch w/ brew…read more I got the Cauliflower Steak at 12€ and a taster set of 3 brews (the Boom, Punt Purse, and the IPA 2.3%). The Cauliflower Steak was absolutely delicious with some fantastic flavors to it, and thankfully it was NOT greasy (unlike some other places I ordered cauliflower in the UK). I would highly recommend this dish. As for my taster set, the Punt Purse and 2.3% IPA were both fine, but it was "the Boom" that stole the show in my opinion....I should've just gotten a pint of that. The only negative was our server, who didn't seem into his job at all. The attention he gave us was all quite perfunctory....maybe he was just having an off day because he had something serious on his mind that day, but if not, he might consider looking for a position other than a server (since he clearly didn't seem to be into it).

Great pub, fresh Guinness, and the guy was so nice he gave us free tea!…read more I'm kind of a baby when it comes to the cold so I just wanted to sit in the warmth and have a pint. The place was lovely and the service was friendly. I would love to come back sometime.

Sandinos is the ultimate "non-conformist" poser bar. Basically, for all the people who claim to be…read moreanti-capitalist, but don't really do anything constructive about it. There must be about 30 different pictures of Che Guevara on the walls and other stickers and pictures to do with communist figures. Which is all well and good, but if Sandinos ever did stick to the values it espouses, it doesn't anymore. Lots of American beer and the supplies are all as big-company-branded as anywhere. Also participates in the large marketing events such as Arthur's Day for Guinness. Drinks are also pricey for Derry... I've never paid as much for a pint in Derry as I did there. On the plus side, they do stock Australian beer, Coopers Sparkling. It's the only place I've found in the North of Ireland that stocks it, so I was pleased about that. The crowd it attracts is largely as hypocritical as the bar itself. Most of them do their best to look anti-establishment, but still wear Converse/Nike/etc shoes or other branded products and drink Budweiser. I'd say a lot of them are or were recently students in government-supported university places, but who are more than happy to complain about "the man" and how the government is all terrible. If you are one of these kinds of people, you will love Sandinos. There is live music quite often, with Irish trad sessions on Sunday afternoons. There's also an upstairs which has bands and can get quite lively of a night time, I understand (I haven't been so I can't be sure). The downstairs bar is quite small and cosy, and could be quite funky if it just stopped trying so hard to be something that a (profitable) business can never be.

Just arrived in Derry/Londonderry while sightseeing in Northern Ireland. The family picked Granny…read moreAnnie's at random. It turns out that we should have done a bit of research or asked a local. Although there was nothing especially wrong with the place, it reminded me of every chain restaurant back in the US. The decor, the bar, the menu...everything. Nothing was authentic. We have traveled the entire northern coast and stayed, eaten in and visited a number of places, big and small. This is the first time that we left and were not excited that we had been there. If you are like us and want to feel you are truly enjoying Northern Ireland, I suggest a different place to eat and drink. Just my opinion.

Walk into Granny Annies in Derry and I will promise that you will be astounded by the unique décor…read more Whole rooms, for example, a sitting room with armchairs, fully laden table, television etc etc......nothing outstanding you say. Well, all of this hanging upside down from the ceiling. Siting there, sober, I wondered what this would look like after a few Guinness. The mind boggles. The staff in here are the friendliest, most happy people, I have ever met. Taking into account our age and they were youngsters, That didn't stop them chatting about their weekends and their aspirations for their future. Great bunch of guys and gals. Service was fast, even with the traditional length of time serving that perfect pint of Guinness. The lunchtime food that we partook of was delicious and plentiful. We noticed that in the evenings there was live music. Would loved to have heard that but......remembering our ages. I am sure, had we turned up we would have been welcomed. A fantastic restaurant and bar. Fantastic staff and good food. Thank you, one and all, for making our stay in Derry perfect. See you again.

Rocking Chair was a rocking place. We had finished dinner on our final night in Derry as part of…read moreour honeymoon and started making the rounds to some pubs on Waterloo. I had seen the Rocking Chair on our rounds up and down Waterloo across from the City Walls on our first evening, and I wanted to ensure we made a stop here before we moved on to our next destination. We took a table in the outdoor beer garden, starting with pints of Magner's for my wife and Guinness for me. We went from pints of beer and cider to pours of Jameson Crested neat and ginger ale reasonably fast. The atmosphere is undoubtedly a fun, local hangout where the servers know how to make you welcome and at home.