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    The Dirty Onion

    3.9 (37 reviews)
    ModeratePubs
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    The Dirty Onion Photos

    THE DIRTY ONION ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Live music
    Loud
    Hipster
    Outdoor seating

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    Upstairs chicken based restaurant
    Fiona S.

    This bar is in the popular Cathedral Quarter so it is always buzzing. A great looking beer garden out front (with outdoor heaters) and additional large bar. The doors leading to inside seem to be a black hole into Mordor! It is truly horrible. I have been more times than id have liked as its a popular place amongst larger groups of friends. I have just never taken to it. It has zero charm or atmosphere, even the traditional music and fireplaces dont help. It has lines of long table like school dinners and getting served is a nightmare. I think the security should have a lower volume of people cut off point. The chicken restaurant upstairs is very basic but tastes ok. The avocado starter was iceberg lettuce, two cherry tomatoes and a quarter avocado. Not good. They have a good selection of alternative beers.

    i love a resturant with some character!
    Mark C.

    Big bar on the ground floor good resturant on the second floor. We arrived just before five and were disappointed that after we'd gone over the menu it was after five and we couldnt order the burritos anymore. I got half a chicken which was reasonably priced with chips and it was solid with some good sauces on the table for flavour. I enjoyed it and i'd definitely go back.

    Live music
    Nicola S.

    A great bar for outdoor drinking - I have even sat inside a few times and they have an open fire which is ideal for the cold winter nights - however the outside has expanded and they even have a cover which means it's still useable when it's raining. Recently they have started to have live bands outside which adds to the atmosphere of the place. You also don't need to walk inside for a drink as they have a fully stocked outdoor bar, and also toilets for convenience. Definitely one for the pub crawl list.

    Stevie M.

    If you're looking for variety then The Dirty Onion is the place for you - it has a large sprawling beer garden, fully equipped with a bar and a canopy to shield patrons from the Belfast elements. Heaters are dotted around the beer garden but you'll hardly need them on a Saturday evening as there's enough body heat coming form the jam packed beer garden to thaw even the coldest heart. The beer garden has a unique rustic charm with the exposed brick work and beams denoting the sites past as a spirits warehouse in the mid 1700's. The beer garden bar was extremely busy but this is nothing out of the ordinary for a Belfast bar on a Saturday night, drinks prices were also nothing out of the ordinary. They have a huge selection of drinks in the inside bar also and the bar staff seemed knowledgeable and friendly. The interior (downstairs) is cosy and understated with a real sense of atmosphere which is only heightened by the traditional band huddled in the corner. There's a real joyous spirit in The Dirty Onion, a sense that the good folk of Belfast's' personalities have been stoked up like the open fire and their infectious warmth is now billowing throughout the premises. Want something different this weekend? Go to The Dirty Onion, you won't be disappointed.

    Jules S.

    I love this building. The building itself is brilliant, with it's hipster grey paint and battered bricks and beams, and the beer garden also brilliant. I should therefore love the Dirty Onion, but I don't. Perhaps because it is part of the Beanchor mafia encompassing a load of venues along this street, like The Merchant, The National, that poncy club young people go to whose name I forget, Bar 66, it feels like there is a monopoly to make sure you pay loads for a drink. Or that while all the bars have a slightly different character, the staff and feel of the places are all interchangeable. I know I sound like I am moaning for nothing, but hob nobbing with tv weather presenters and guys in cashmere jumpers while paying through the nose just isn't my bag. I'll be in The Duke or The Spaniard instead. I'll finish on a high point, it has a nice fireplace. High praise indeed.

    As of January 2018

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    2 years ago

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    9 months ago

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    1 year ago

    Great bar with music and wonderful outdoor seating in Belfast. Did not try the food but the bar vibe was great

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    2 years ago

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    4 years ago

    Love this place. Sometimes chilly but the ambiance and the great live music make up for it. Stop here if you are in Belfast.

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    7 years ago

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    10 years ago

    go here. get the boilermaker (a classy presentation of a shot of whiskey + a beer) and sit by the fireplace. you will not be disappointed.

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    The Dirty Onion Reviews in Other Languages

    Review Highlights - The Dirty Onion

    The place is very well decked out (it was once a warehouse) and this is preserved in the beer garden.

    Mentioned in 7 reviews

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    The Crown Liquor Saloon

    The Crown Liquor Saloon

    3.8(214 reviews)
    0.6 miCity Centre
    ££

    On our last day in Belfast, I said I need to experience dining in or have a drink at The Crown Bar…read more I was lucky enough to get a reservation at the dining room upstairs. The ground floor bar area was packed and busy! It was a good vibes. We sat and had dinner in a quiet setting upstairs. We enjoyed our food and drinks. My margarita was delicious. The lamb irish stew was yummy, finished it. It was a great experience!

    I wanted a place where I could try multiple classic traditional Irish dishes, and I found this…read moreplace - a very popular spot! During the time I visited, it wasn't very packed so I was seated swiftly. The kind staff accommodated my request to get a corner table. The vibe can be describe is a classic. I really enjoyed all the dark stained wood furniture - gave it such an "old Irish saloon" vibe...maybe because it is haha. I did not have much time to spend in Belfast, so I tried to taste as many traditional dishes as possible with being just one person. With that being said, I ordered a few of their notable dishes - Crown Bar Irish Stew, Steak & Ale Pie, and to finish it off, the Sticky Toffee Pudding served with both the custard and ice cream (really thankful the server offered to give me two toppings, and they were both delicious). All the dishes were great, and are definitely hearty. The stew as well as the pie filling had a rich roux - nice, thick and flavorful. I will say, the pie pastry was not as flaky as I would have liked it; kind of too thick. Overall, it was a great taste of Ireland

    Photos
    The Crown Liquor Saloon - Wooden Dragon

    Wooden Dragon

    The Crown Liquor Saloon
    The Crown Liquor Saloon - Margarita

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    Margarita

    Katy's Bar

    Katy's Bar

    4.4(30 reviews)
    0.6 miCity Centre
    ££

    This would probably be my favourite bar in Belfast. I'm not quite the party animal I used to be…read moreback in the olden days, but I do like a night out from time to time, and Katy's is right up our street in terms of the crowd that go there, the music they play, and the general ambiance. They are in a handy city centre position and can be easily reached from anywhere in the city centre. If you're not drinking, there is parking right out the front (if you get there early enough!) if not there are plenty of side streets too! For weekend visiting, be sure to get there before 7-ish, or you may find that you won't get a seat, although it does calm down later on in the night when the Limelight opens and some of the patrons move next door to the club. I must make a point of going back to Katy's soon, it's been too long!

    I have travelled a fair bit in my time. Unkind people tend to put it as I've been around a bit, but…read moreI prefer to think of it as romantic wanderlust. Anyway, apart from the wonderful Public Bar in Melbourne, and possibly Dubliners in Tokyo (actually no, their Guinness is questionable and their 'soda bread' is in fact wheaten), Katy Daly's is my all time favourite bar in the world. This says quite a lot if, like me, you fled screaming from these shores at the first possible opportunity and spent several years abroad. But I've come to realise on my frequent returns, to sign on, that Belfast is actually quite a cool wee city. And Katy Daly's is one of the main experiences for me that encompasses that vibe. Imagine my shame and horror last year in Australia when one of the lead items on the news was the spides in the Village burning the Roma population out of the area. And when any July overseas the pictures beamed in from Belfast are of riots, bottle-throwing spides and triumphalist sweaty-faced Orangemen doing their damnedest to make sure no-one can get down the Lisburn Road. 'Belfast isn't like that!' I'd wail to anyone who'd listen, and plenty who wouldn't. 'Look at Katy's for example!' A rock bar with great music both live and on the jukebox, an unpretentious and friendly crowd, the best pub quiz I've ever been to (yes, even better than Melbourne's), friendly staff who remember your usual (ahem), and good food at good prices, makes Katy's a must visit for any tourist who thinks Belfast is all burning buses and bodhráns. Oh, and most unusually, and welcome, for an average city bar - the ladies are normally outnumbered by the men. Most of whom are of an alternative ilk and not decked out in Ben Sherman and Timberlands, and therefore are generally gentlemanly instead of trying to cop a quick grope as you go past them on the way to the loos (Bot, I'm looking at you). Many of them are long-haired and tattooed to boot. Yummies. In fact, I'm sitting in Katy's right now writing this. Goddesses bless mobile broadband.

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    Katy's Bar
    Katy's Bar - Cosy pints

    Cosy pints

    Katy's Bar

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    The Dirty Onion - pubs - Updated May 2026

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