Good Clean Fun; Daltons

There are quite a few bars in and around Hell's Kitchen, and roughly 4 or 5 opened in the last 5 - 6 years. There are quite a few Irish Pub in the hood, and the subject of todays discussion is just that. It is...drum roll please; Daltons Bar & Grill.

First, once again, as full disclosure, I have a friend who works here, however, that person just started within the last month. They are not in management.

Daltons opened up a few years ago on 9th Avenue between 43rd and 44th Street. This little stretch has been ruled by Rudy's Bar & Grill for decades, actually a bit longer, since 1933, but Daltons is a completely different animal. This is pretty much a modern version of a classic Irish Pub. Its big, with about 16 stand-up tables (with comfortable stools), and seating for about 25 at a very long bar. It also has fifteen 50" flatscreens with satellite, with almost all tuned to sports (Soccer seems to be pretty big here). Daltons also has the requisite open window/doors to open up the front, which a lot of places seem to have these days, and a nice small sidewalk cafe, if you don't mind the constantly honking horns blaring five feet from you on 9th Ave (I mind it, a lot).

If you like modern Irish Pubs, this is your spot; its new, and its clean, including the bathrooms. If I want a dirty looking divebar, I go to Rudy's (which sometimes I do), but if I want decent food and a clean place where I can hang with my friends or watch a game without a ton of douche bags, I go to Daltons.

The drinks are good, as is the tap beer (not always the case in a lot of places), which is ice cold, and at $4 for a pint of Bud Light and $5 for a Pint of Bass (all the time), and $5 shots of Jeager and Patron (also all the time) its a pretty good deal in my opinion. They have 20 beers on tap, which is pretty impressive, and should be enough to pacify all of the newly minted HK yuppie beer snobs and irritating tourists. Speaking of irritating tourists, there are a lot of them here and they are easy to spot, but to be fair, there are a decent amount of regular blue and white collar guys during the week starting at around 5pm - 6pm.

The place is open until 4am seven days a week, and its usually pretty busy at night, many nights its packed, so I usually tend to go early to meet friends before 7p-8p. Its a pretty social crowd at night, anything from early twenties to early forties, and it seems to usually be pretty friendly. I met the Manager (who could not have been nicer) very briefly, over a week ago upon visiting my friend there, and then just the other day, after more than a week (I wasn't there very long and said perhaps 5 words to him) he walked right up to me after I walked in and remembered me. It actually freaked me out a bit, but I have to say, thats a Manager who pays attention.

The staff here is a mix of men and women, both behind the bar and on the floor. As I have mentioned before, I am not a fan of men behind the bar, and on my last several trips when there was a man behind the bar, it was noticeably slower service and they weren't looking all too happy or friendly, but maybe its just me. Either way, I still prefer an attractive friendly woman behind the stick...pun absolutely intended.

The food here is good; very solid Pub food. On my last trip I had Chicken Fingers, and as ridiculous as it may sound, they were fantastic. Having eaten them at many a bar, my expectation is for them to taste like rubber chicken fingers, which they usually do, but not here. Even the tarter/honey sauce was fantastic. The burgers here are good also, but at $9.75, they are near the edge of what I consider expensive, unless its one special burger. Ironically you will find that if you look at the top 5 burgers places most commonly put on "Best  Burger" lists in the city, they are almost all inexpensive and below average in price.

They have some fancier fare here that I have not tried, such as Roasted Chicken, Grilled Salmon, Crab Cakes, and Strip Steak, which at $19.75 is the most expensive item on the menu, with the other main courses ranging between $14.50 and $17.50, which is again, near being on the high side for a pub, but assuming the rest of the menu is as well prepared and fresh as the few items I have eaten, I would say it would be well worth it. I will certainly let you know upon my return where hopefully I wont be a big sissy and I will actually try some grown up food.

So, for the drinks and drink prices, I give Daltons a B+, for food they get a B pending further investigation.
For staff, a B, with the suggestion that they can the guys behind the bar and get some more cute women who know how to bartend (they do have several already). And for look, feel and cleanliness, I give them an A-.

I give Daltons a Best of HKL strictly as it relates to being an Irish Pub...its good clean fun.


Daltons Bar & Grill
611 9th Avenue (between 43rd & 44th Streets)
NY, NY 10036
212.245.5511
www.daltonsny.com