The inviting glow of Dublin House’s neon sign is a siren song to many on the Upper West Side seeking shelter, from either the raucous row of bars that line the adjacent Amsterdam Avenue, or as temporary respite from an all too often overwhelming city. Situated on a rather nondescript section of 79th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam, the neon sign intermittently flashing relief signals, “bar” and “tap room” serves as an alluring beacon, remaining steady as the neighborhood around it ebbs and flows.

By its very name many may be able to draw a characteristic sketch of the bar with none too surprising accuracy. There are indeed charming older Irish gentlemen bartenders who greet you with a smile and a cocktail napkin almost immediately upon entering the dimly lighted bar. Dispensing witticisms in accents as thick as the foamy head on the Guinness they carefully pour, the tapsters at Dublin House move behind the long, well-used bar, with much of the same natural ease as many of the patrons down their drinks in front of it.

Although not particularly easy on the eyes, missing from the Dublin House however is the generic “pub in a box” aesthetic displayed by many of the Irish bars that run along 3rd Avenue on the East Side. Certainly the occasional U2 song can be heard from a rather decent jukebox, but there are no soccer matches shown, nor do portraits of famous Irish writers and patriots line the walls. There is however something real, perhaps, at times, too real about the establishment. It makes no attempts to be anything other than a bar that serves cocktails beginning at 8:00AM to folks who are looking to drink for a variety of reasons.

While the demographic composition of the bar varies throughout the day, the broadest audience imbibes just after work, conveniently located less than 50 yards for the 1/9 Subway line, a cross section of Upper West Siders stop by “the house” on their way home. On recent visits, I have had conversations with a stockbroker, a mailman, and a woman who claimed her husband owned a spacecraft, perhaps drawn in as I was, by the enticing sign of promise that hangs above the door.