The kitchen is in the corner on the left, but previously was located where the ladies' restroom now is 'We quickly sell out of fish and chips, so you have to come early to get it,' she says.ĭe la Haba's eyes light up as they pinpoint various favorite artefacts amid the hoard. The food prices are also astoundingly cheap compared to neighboring bars, with a sliced steak sandwich coming in at $10, a bowl of chicken and barley soup priced at $6, and a serving of chili costing the same.ĭe la Haba, says the chalkboard menu changes daily but beef hash is 'generally a Thursday special', while fish and chips hook people in on a Friday. When she first started working at the pub in 1994, de la Haba remembers two ales costing $2.50, and 'maybe 100 years ago' she believes it was around one nickel for a tankard. While a report published earlier this year found that the average price for a domestic beer at a New York restaurant beer is now $5.53, McSorley's prides itself on keeping prices low: the cost of two half-pints - a light and dark combo - currently costs $7.

The first, de la Haba says, is 'more refreshing and crisp' the latter has 'a more caramelly, smoky taste.' One of McSorley's rather unusual USPs is that there are just two types of ale on the menu light or dark. It's a Thursday just before midday and there's a steady trickle of customers flowing into the bar.įour young men who appear to be in their early 20s sit at one table telling a server how they've checked into the hip Moxy hotel around the corner, while two women conduct a business meeting in the backroom, and a regular on first name terms with de la Haba happily sips on an ale in another nook. Houdini used to be a regular at the bar and a pair of his old handcuffs hang from the raftersįollowing her father's death in January 2020 of lung cancer, de la Haba took over as the matriarch at McSorley's, and she says that her role is pretty much the same, 'I just do more.'

The great houdini escape room