Doyle’s Café Historic Bar / Irish Pub / Restaurant

Dorchester / Jamaica Plain, Boston –

Established in 1882 and featured in films including Mystic River, Doyle’s Café is the granddaddy of Beantown Irish pubs, a veritable wood-paneled time machine whose décor of antique clocks, colorful murals, period photos, and vintage newspaper clippings celebrate its long history.

Waitresses slinging “chowda” in their thick Boston accents provide a touch of hometown pride as frat boys and tourists fresh from a Sam Adams Brewery tour join the blue-collar types in the saloon to catch the Sox, or take their pints back to the maple booths to shoot the breeze with their pals.

Locals and young professionals settle in for pub grub in the dining area, whose central feature is an antique phone booth from which boxing decisions were shouted back in the bar’s speakeasy days, while policemen, MBTA employees, construction workers, and the odd politician making the rounds stop in for an after-work brew.

Welcoming and dependable, Doyle’s Café is a great weeknight option for beer lovers and history buffs looking for good company and a laid-back atmosphere.