Paddy O’Shea’s, a new restaurant and bar at 125 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., held its grand opening last weekend.
Paddy O’Shea’s joins a sort of “restaurant row” between Broughton Street and Oglethorpe Avenue across from the courthouse complex. Going from north to south, there’s The Grey, Wasabi’s, Carlito’s Mexican Bar & Grill and now Paddy O’Shea’s.
Utrecht Art Supplies at 111 MLK Blvd. closed recently, so it’s possible we could see a fifth restaurant on that stretch.
A friend and I checked out Paddy O’Shea’s a couple of weeks ago on an absurdly rainy Saturday night. Despite the storm outside, we found the restaurant comfortable and relaxing.
The first thing a patron notices is the sheer size of the space. The old commercial buildings on that stretch of MLK have narrow storefronts facing the boulevard, but they’re really deep.
So Paddy O’Shea’s has room for perhaps the longest bar in the Historic District. There are tables down the middle too, plus a long row of booths on the opposite wall.
The stage is all the way in the back, and I’m glad to report that Paddy O’Shea’s has been booking some excellent bands in its short existence. The Steppin Stones, a supremely talented Southern rock trio from Hilton Head, was playing the night we dropped by.
We had two appetizers, a sandwich and four alcoholic drinks, and the bill came to a mere $45. We especially enjoyed the pimento cheese dip appetizer, which was really satisfying, and the Rueben, which had especially tender corned beef.
The menu also includes a variety of dishes one might expect from a place named Paddy O’Shea’s, such as bangers and mash, shepherd’s pie and fish and chips. There’s also a nice selection of other pub food and regional dishes.
Paddy O’Shea’s has a lot of televisions. If you’re a sports fan trying to keep up with the NHL and NBA playoffs at the same time, and following baseball too, you’ll be in heaven.
The Savannah College of Art and Design’s dorm complex is nearby, and there are more hotels planned for blocks both north and south of MLK’s restaurant row.
However, as I’ve noted before, the poor design of the courthouse complex cuts that portion of MLK off from the Montgomery Street corridor. There are some straightforward ways to encourage connectivity, so let’s hope that straightforward fixes will be implemented in the upcoming phases of courthouse renovations.
With all this development on the west side of MLK and with increased vehicular traffic on the corridor, especially at night, we need to make the crosswalks safer too.
City Talk appears every Sunday and Tuesday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net. Send mail to 10 E. 32nd St., Savannah, GA 31401.