Change can be tricky, especially when it comes to a longtime neighborhood bar in Key West, where regulars long ago settled into “their” seats to order their usual. But Sally O’Brien’s Irish pub has stepped seemingly seamlessly into a familiar spot at the corner of Flagler Avenue and Bertha Street.
“It’s the neighborhood pub, and it looks like that’s what it will continue to be — good food, great service and a frosty cold glass if you care for a pint,” local CPA Jeff Allen said of the new pub, restaurant and sports bar.
The once green and yellow building at 1900 Flagler Ave. that housed Shanna Key bar for about 18 years is now red and white and awaiting the sign that will christen it Sally O’Brien’s (SOB’s as a wry shorthand version.)
Owners Joe Donagher and Scottie Jahn have also spruced up and brightened the pub’s interior with a new floor, fresh paint and newly visible walls, no longer covered in all manner of memorabilia.
But as veterans of the bar business, Donagher and Jahn knew better than to change the most important part of their operation — the folks behind the bar. “We have the same bar staff; no one has to worry about that,” Donagher said, adding that the kitchen has new chefs, but only because the former Shanna Key chef was leaving the Keys.
The menu still features the requisite potato leek soup. There’s also warm spinach and artichoke dip, nachos made with soft pretzel bites, personal pizzas, tacos, buffalo chicken dip, wings, burgers, a killer reuben, corned beef and cabbage, shepherd’s pie, meatloaf, chicken vindaloo, pork loin, pasta and more.
“We’ll bring back the daily food specials in a few weeks, once the kitchen staff gets their feet under them,” Donagher said on Thursday, March 31, four days after Sally O’Brien’s opened. “Everyone understands if things are a little crazy the first couple weeks, but after that, you’d better have your s–t together, or people won’t come back.”
Shane Briening, a former Shanna Key regular, quickly made himself comfortable in the new pub. “Any time you hear your favorite bar is being sold, of course you get worried,” he said. “But after meeting Joe and knowing Scottie was involved, I knew the regulars were in good hands. Plus, look at the place. It looks great and the new food menu is fantastic, not to mention all the awesome staff stayed. It’s great to be back.”
Donagher, who came to the U.S. from Donegal, Ireland when he was 20, owned several bars in New York City for years before moving to Key West about four years ago. “Nobody’s a stranger here, they’re just friends you haven’t yet met,” he said.
Jahn has been a familiar face behind several Key West bars for the past 11 years, including Fogarty’s, The Porch, Bourbon Street Pub and Rumor Lounge. “We want people to start their night here with dinner and drinks, end their night here or spend most of their night here,” Jahn said. “Really, once you get past White Street, there’s not much in the way of local neighborhood pubs, other than chain restaurants on the boulevard. I really want to make this a true Irish sports pub, where everyone knows your name and everyone feels comfortable immediately.”
Sally O’Brien’s still features several televisions and the satellite dishes on the roof make it apparent that all American — and international — sporting events will continue to satisfy sports fans.
The bar was closed for about six weeks during the renovations, Donagher said, adding that people regularly poked their heads in to see what was taking shape.
Key West native and local Realtor Bascom Grooms was thrilled to see one of the interior changes. “I was happy to see all the Pittsburgh Steelers stuff come off the walls,” Grooms said laughing. “Now let’s see if we can replace it with the Miami Dolphins.”
Donagher and Jahn also have made the bar completely non-smoking, even after midnight, when Shanna Key used to allow smoking indoors. “I think it will please more people than it bothers,” Donagher said. “We’re not here to completely change a popular, local bar. We just want to make it better, make it a place where everyone feels welcome as soon as they walk in.”
Sally O’Brien’s is open daily from 11 a.m. to 4 a.m. “or until the party’s over,” Donagher said. Food will be served until 3 a.m. most nights.
The bar’s name refers to a dark-haired, blue-eyed woman in an iconic ‘80s commercial for Harp Irish lager in which an Irishman yearns for home, pints of Harp, his friends at the pub and “Sally O’Brien, and the way she might look at you.”
“I always thought it’d be a cool name for a bar,” said Donagher, quoting the commercial perfectly in his own Irish brogue.
