The Clonard

The Clonard: Williamsburg’s Top-Ten Guinness Pub on Grand Street

The Clonard is the kind of Irish pub you actually want as your local — a Williamsburg corner spot at 506 Grand Street where the Guinness is poured properly, the happy hour runs every weekday, and Tuesday trivia and Thursday Irish music sessions keep the back room full. Owner Kieran named it after the Clonard area of Belfast, where he grew up, and the place reads like a tribute to the kind of pub he missed.

It’s the rare neighborhood bar that gets the basics right — a $6 pint of Guinness ranked among NYC’s top 10 pours, a tight comfort-food menu with a proper Irish breakfast and a Clonard Burger people keep coming back for, and a backyard for when the front room gets loud. Walk-ins, dogs welcome, sports on the TVs, and they’ll switch the Champions League game on if you ask.

The Happy Hour

Happy hour runs every day from 4pm to 7pm — on Friday and Saturday that means you can roll in at 4pm, two hours after open, and still get the deal:

• $5 select draft beers — plus the $6 Guinness off-hours — a top-10 pint in the city
• $6 well drinks and wine — by the glass
• $5–$6 bar snacks — mozzarella sticks, jalapeño poppers, onion rings, fries — marked with an asterisk on the menu
• That $6 Guinness is roughly $3–$4 cheaper than what most Williamsburg cocktail bars charge for any beer right now.

Food: Comfort Plates with an Irish Tilt

The kitchen is small and the menu reflects it — they’re not trying to be a gastropub, and what they cook, they cook well. Standouts: the Clonard Burger (juicy, not greasy), beer-battered fish and chips, a spice bag (fries, fried chicken, peppers, curry sauce — a cult Dublin late-night order rarely done right in NYC), a full Irish breakfast as weekend brunch with proper black and white pudding, plus bangers and mash and shepherd’s pie. The kitchen closes two hours before the bar, so time it.

Drinks: Guinness First

Top-10 NYC Guinness is the headline — the pub has been recognized for the quality of its pour. Beyond the stout, expect a rotating draft list with craft and Irish options, bottles and cans, a full cocktail menu, mocktails, and wine. Irish coffee, hot toddies, and Irish whiskeys are on year-round and ramp up around the holidays.

The Room

Exposed brick, vintage photos, comfortable seating, and a back patio that’s a different bar in the summer. They go heavy on seasonal decor — Halloween and Christmas are full commitments, not afterthoughts — and the room shifts personality with the calendar. The Grand Street stretch east of Bushwick Avenue has quietly become one of Brooklyn’s better drinking corridors (Philomena’s, Blinky’s, Koko’s all within a few blocks). The L at Grand Street is the easiest hop from Manhattan; the G at Metropolitan/Lorimer is also walkable.

Who The Clonard Is For

More NYC Happy Hours

The Clonard FAQ