Bar #87: Mac’s Tavern, 2nd and Market
Given Brynn’s not-so-subtle hint from the last post, you probably guessed where we finished off our night. We’ve been excited about the It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia bar, owned by real life husband-and-wife Sunny-actors Rob McElhenney and Kaitlin Olson, since we stumbled across rumors of the plans after trying to visit a closed Skinner’s. However, I must report that we were somewhat disappointed by the experience. I’m not sure if we read it somewhere or if we were just suffering from excitement-induced grand delusion, but we were definitely under the impression that there would be, you know, a pretty obvious theme! Much to our chagrin, though, we didn’t really notice any references to the show. (Whether we didn’t notice such things because they actually weren’t there or because…of other reasons is indefinitely TBD)
Finishing off the night at Mac’s Tavern
This is, of course, a dramatic recreation of our reaction. In reality, we walked in, sat at the bar, found a drink list, and went about ordering, whilst maybe vaguely glancing around for other interesting things to look at. When it came time to order, I was too intrigued and surprised by the presence of a 10% abv beer (a TRUE price performer) to seriously consider that this was a bad choice at 1am – I concluded that I simply had a journalistic obligation to order this. We made the fatal error of not writing down the drink names at the bar and, to this day, have no idea what it was called (which is almost appropriate for something that filled me with such wonderment at the time – almost like it never actually existed – except for the proof in…well…never mind). Brynn, meanwhile, was being a reasonable person and ordered a less intense, awesomely-named Southern Tier Unearthly Ale.
(edit: According to a helpful commenter, my mysterious 10% abv beer WAS the Southern Tier Unearthly Ale – unearthly, indeed – while Brynn appears to have ordered some sort of hefeweizen, which she does sometimes)
Southern Tier Unearthly Ale and ??
When trying to give an overall impression, I can’t quite get past my disappointment at the lack of theme. Thinking about it further, however, Mac’s tries to embody all the things a true Philadelphia bar should be, and kitschy, which themed bars often are, certainly isn’t one of them. This actually seems more appropriate for an Always Sunny bar, though how well it is differentiated from other bars in the area (see: Lucy’s, Mad River, or Drinker’s) is certainly debatable – it automatically lost some points with us for being located in Old City, and its general mediocrity is reflected in the ratings. Ultimately, it may be worth a stop for you, depending on your tastes, but if you’re looking for appearances from the cast or extensive Sunny memorabilia, you have been forewarned! (edit: According to some Yelp reviews, there are a several nods to the show, which are probably easier to pick up on if you’re more familiar with it than I am, and cast members apparently do show up every once and a while)
Mac's Tavern Ratings
This (finally) concludes our reunion tour! =( We hoped you enjoyed our little flashback as much as we did. I think, ultimately, closing our project on a number as awkward as 87 will get to us, and we’ll be forced to do this again sometime, so you have that to look forward to. Until then!
<3
Emily
Starting tomorrow, we’ll be away for a few weeks on a trip to Europe, but will be returning later this summer to post some retrospective thoughts on our favorite bars and experiences. So stick around for that, and also be sure to check out the finalized 
