Kate O'Briens

SoMa, San Francisco –

With a menu of traditional grub, a tap list stocked with Irish favorites, and a staff that isn’t faking their accents, Kate O’Brien’s is an authentic little clover-kissed sports bar with an atmosphere about as far from pretentious as San Francisco is from Dublin.

Popular with the Downtown crowd for lunch and after work drinks, the venue is often busiest during the day, with office types digging into shepherd’s pie or a fat burger while they sneak a few Boddingtons and catch a game on the TVs.

Wood paneling and large mirrors grace the walls, while Celtic pride is evident in the Van Morrison posters and portraits of historical Irish figures that are mixed in with a hodgepodge of beer signs and Giants logos.

Much like its cross-cultural décor and menu, the music on the sound system features both traditional Gaelic and distinctly American tunes, though weekend patrons tend to go heavy on the hip-hop.

Notre Dame fans take heart in that the San Francisco Notre Dame Alumni Association has made the bar their go to for games, but any major sporting event – Fighting Irish or not – attracts a big contingent of rowdy fans.

Sitting is nearly impossible come Friday nights, when an exuberant mix of pre-clubbers joins the barhoppers and expat regulars in slamming pints of properly poured Guinness.

There’s no shortage of Irish bars in San Francisco – joints with names like Somebody O’Somethings are ubiquitous – but the diverse crowd that frequents Kate O’Brien’s proves that not all Hibernian hangouts are created equal.