For me to even write this post is asking for trouble. It might be safer to pick a fight with a 300 pound, 6 foot 4 Scot than to throw out my suggestions for the best Irish bars in New York.  The list, of course, is subject to opinion and everyone has theirs. This is mine. And yes, I know that my list is Manhattan-centric. There are some great Irish bars in places like the Woodlawn and Riverdale sections of the Bronx, and in Woodside, Queens, and the Irish Riviera officially know as Breezy Point, but lovingly called Boozy Point. For all I know, there are probably some good Irish bars upstate too. But I know Manhattan best. It’s where I lived about a quarter of my life. It’s also where I’ve wandered the streets for many a St. Patrick’s Day.

If you’re planning to visit New York for St. Patrick’s Day, you’ll probably want to see the parade. New York’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade is the oldest, biggest and self-proclaimed best St. Patrick’s Day parade in the world. New Yorkers first held the parade on March 17, 1762, in honor of the patron saint of the Archdiocese of New York.  In a city that holds a parade for just about anyone, it’s now the largest and most famous of New York’s parades. And it does that without allowing any floats, cars or commercial advertising—it’s 100% musicians, politicians, civil servants, club and society members, and other marchers on foot who are all Irish, or at least Irish for the day.

There’s a nearly endless number of restaurants in New York, of course, and accommodations for every taste and budget. (Or you could just sleep on the floor in Grand Central Terminal and wake up for a train in the morning. Not that I know anyone who’s done that.) But, if you’re going to New York for the St. Patrick’s Day parade, the day isn’t complete without a stop in an Irish pub.

If you’re uneasy about what you might be walking into in an Irish bar on St. Patrick’s Day, don’t be. One of the things I most love about Irish bars and restaurants in Manhattan every March 17 is that entire families come after the parade to continue celebrating. Not all of them are like that, but you can find quite a few family-friendly establishments where moms, dads, grandparents and kids are all enjoying the day. Of course, if you want a loud, young, come-here-just-for-the-drink type of place, New York has that too.

Paddy Reilly’s, at 519 Second Avenue near East 29th Street, is one of the best bars in the City for live Irish music. Mildly famous bands like Black 47 got their start playing weekly here, when I’d crowd in with scores of other middle and upper-class twenty-somethings to sing along and shake our firsts for the Irish proletariat. The bar has a dark, dingy, needs-to-be-cleaned look, but one that makes the young Irish and Irish-wannabes feel right at home. What’s more—the only beer on tap is Guinness. Who could ask for anything more?

Speaking of dark and dingy, McSorley’s Old Ale House, at 15 East 7th Street, is the original dark and dingy Irish-American bar. Seriously. There’s probably dust in there that’s older than our great-grandparents. It’s been open since 1854 and has the reputation for being no-nonsense and stubborn in its ways. Women weren’t allowed in until 1970, and didn’t get a separate restroom until 1986. The bar also serves only two kinds of beer—light and dark—and you’re expected to buy two at a time. You want something else? Find yourself a bar with a menu. McSorely’s also has the reputation for being overcrowded with college kids, but how many bars can you go to that once welcomed Abraham Lincoln? It’s educational, really.

Molly’s Pub & Restaurant, at 287 Third Avenue near 22nd Street, is one of the more family-friendly establishments among the Irish bars of New York.  It’s been called “the most authentic Irish bar in the City” and “New York’s finest Irish pub.” Like most other Irish bars, Molly’s is dark—but at Molly’s, dark isn’t dingy, but warm and cozy with even a log-burning fireplace to add to the charm. Molly’s also has a full menu and gets great reviews and high ratings for its food as well as its beer.

Originally on West 48th Street, the Pig n’ Whistle now has three midtown locations—Third Avenue, Second Avenue, and the most tourist-friendly of the three in Times Square at 165 West 47th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. Unlike other Irish bars, the Pig n’ Whistle is large, bright and polished.  It also has a full dinner and bar menu and gets some great reviews for its food.  The Pig n’ Whistle still has a lot of Irish left in it though. By calling itself the “Best Irish Pub” in New York, for example, it just sounds like it’s askin’ for a fight.

Finally, there’s Dublin House at 225 West 79th Street near Broadway. Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home. Dublin House was my Irish bar. There were bars closer to my ‘hood near Columbia University, some that I went to too often and another (now closed) that was also an Irish pub, but Dublin House is the place that I always thought of as the local Irish bar. From the dark narrow room to the Guinness on tap to the authentic brogues on the bartenders, this was St. Patrick’s Day to me. I’m sure that I’d feel old now in an evening crowd of twenty-somethings, but I’d probably still feel young, late in the afternoons, sitting with the old regulars at the bar.  That’s the beauty of an Irish bar—that there’s always a welcome, a fáilte, for everyone. With apologies to Robert Frost, an Irish bar is the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone.