HAPPY 125TH ANNIVERSARY OLD TOWN BAR AND RESTAURANT!!! A Peachy's Pick Since 2015, Old Town Bar & Restaurant Est. 1892 Spring 2017 Review Our Coverage Sponsored by Fresh Origins
The Old Town Chili is the Best in Manhattan says Whom You Know!
We did not even like chili before knowing Gerard and no one else's compares to this one.
Owner Gerard Meagher, one of our favorites, and Peachy Deegan
"Old Town is a piece of Old New York that remains consistent to this day as a classic tavern of a bygone era. What distinguishes us is that my family has been a New York family for about 200 years so we are a remnant of Old New York as well. Old New York is character, style, and value in the sense that we pride ourselves to be appealing to the working man as well as the well-to-do. Old Town is a stunning beauty."
-Gerard Meagher
The amazing steak salad!
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"Anyone can walk in here and feel comfortable!" says Owner Gerard Meagher. His family has owned Old Town Bar and Restaurant since the 1980s when his dad, Larry Meagher bought it. Today Gerard owns it along with his siblings Matthew, Robert, Claire and Denise.
Among the most distinctive venues in all of Manhattan dating back to 1892, Old Town Bar and Restaurant is one of our favorites and it should be a must on your list. We love the chili, we love Gerard (Go Fordham! We love that he has a degree in English and appreciates Whom), and we love that there is no attitude and only sincerely nice people that care about making your experience great each and every time.
For everyone that wants to know what someone does with a history degree, Peachy Deegan has a B.A. in American History from Boston College and she goes to Historic American restaurants. We're impressed when a venue makes it five years, never mind 125 years in Manhattan!
We continue to be fabulously impressed by Gerard and Old Town.
Old Town Bar and Restaurant was first featured in its initial review in 2014:
and it graduated to Peachy's Picks in 2015:
Old Town was most recently featured in 2016:
and Gerard Meagher was named a Top Irish Person to Know:
We truly appreciate people that are humble and reflect quality like Gerard. He loves everyone that comes to visit but you should know he is a VBD. That is, very big deal. It is highly likely you have seen this on tv and in movies. Film crews come here regularly and Empire is filming at the moment.
Note that the pictures in this review this time reflect the ambiance of the lower dining area in the booths near the bar for a change. Other times we have sat upstairs.
Peachy is in love with the chili you may have heard. Gerard says that a bestseller and most popular dish are the Buffalo Chicken Wings, above. We'd agree that they are an amazing representation of exactly what wings should be, especially during this High Holy Time of Stanley Cup playoffs. Blue Cheese Dressing and Celery Sticks accentuate them perfectly.
Another appetizer we tried in homage to our Irish roots were the Crispy Spuds. Baked, sliced and deep fried, these hit the spot and were accentuated by their signature Horseradish-Cheddar dip. If you live in Manhattan, you know this spring has been crazy temperature-wise and one minute it can feel like summer and the next feels like winter. Today it is cold and raining and so perfect for a special:
The chicken and rice soup is high quality comfort cuisine that this venue crafts to perfection with its chunks of chicken goodness and wonderful carrots. But drumroll please, our favorite is still definitely the chili. We would eat Gerard's chili every day.
The flavor is sensational and the textures of the beef and warm diced onions contrast perfectly with the cool dollop of sour cream. Cheddar dances with style among these ingredients and this is so fantastic, it will completely silence conversation. This is one thing you must eat before you die no matter where you live in the world.
You can have hamburgers, cheeseburgers, turkeyburgers and gardenburgers but this time we chose a Bison Burger. Grass fed, the Bison Burger is the creme de la creme of carnivorous endeavors at Old Town and the fries are also just right. The entree section is entirely convincing and Gerard says he loves the Sauteed Mushroom and Muenster cheese sandwich, a salute to their German heritage.
Finally, the salad we tried is no ordinary salad, but you don't stay open in Manhattan for 125 consecutive years by being ordinary. We like that we see several salad options and the Steak Salad highlights Marinated Flank Steak grilled to a perfect medium rare and thinly sliced. It rests upon mixed greens and grated cheese, red onions, tomatoes and tortilla bread.
Old Town Bar and Restaurant continues to be Recommended by Whom You Know.
HAPPY 125TH ANNIVERSARY!!!!
