Oscar Wilde - Berlin

Visit characterized by an overwhelming stench of brass polish that sweeps over you when you enter the premises and sadly doesn't leave. The waitressing staff were scruffily dressed, appeared bored and disinterested in their work and the service was extremely slow. I would expect someone to make eye contact when serving a drink and especially when being thanked for said service. Apart from a small area next to the front door and the bar itself, this pub is still a smoking venue despite the ban.

Don't bother asking the owner for any favors either - no matter how big or small. I asked for the TV to be turned up a little while watching a football match that everyone else was watching when 20 more people came in. He said the volume hasn't been touched since the beginning of the game and therfore would not touch it again. I said I understand but the volume of the crowd has increased. He didn't give a crap. The other night I asked if there might be football on... ok I admit I was looking for college American football... but the reaction was, without blinking an eye, no. I asked if they had a schedule or a guide I could look at and he barely responded with a no. And to paraphrase he said it's people like you, one person, who comes in and wants American football and then you don't come back for two weeks. Maybe if you were in a group of 15 I might do it but not for you. I guess he hadn't noticed the other 20 times I'd been in his pub. So we left. Too bad, there were actually three of us, soon to be four and we would have sat in his pub, that had a total of 10 people in it, including us, eating and drinking for the next 4 hours. The guys's just a grump in general. Not a good way to get people to come back. Guess he can afford to have a bad attitude.

Well was that an angry post I made. Never email when you are mad. I have to say that I reluctantly returned there and was greeted with a much friendlier owner who went out of his way to serve our party a snack even after the kitchen was closed. What gives? Guess everyone deserves a second chance. Now, if it were just non-smoking...

I love the Oscars!! Best Irish pub in Berlin by far!!!!!!!

I hate the oscars.I hate the owner,I hate the people that drink there.I hate the fact thhat you can go there and buy drugs.I will tell the police and I will see that the evil doers are bought to justice.

I haven't been there, but now I know that "evil doers" are there, I certainly want to go!!!!

its overrated, a tourist trap. Real Berliners and local expats don't even pay mind to it. The Irish Harp and the Old Emerald Isle (voted by Guiness as Germany's top Irish Pub) are much better. Oscar Wilde is for dweeby tourist.

I like the oscar wilde. The first time that i was there was in 2001 and decided that would like to move to Berlin, and so i did and i am living here 7 years.

the oscar wilde is hilarious! on my first night in berlin in 1998 i witnessed a fist-fight between a dwarf and an octogenerian Irish-dance teacher. It was like Celebrity Deathmatch meets Riverdance. And ask the staff about the secret tunnel....

The Oscar Wilde is both a pub I love and hate! My Berliner girlfriend loves it and has been going there on and off for 12 years now. That means I am there lots too. The fact that the staff can change moods at the flick of a button only adds to the great atmosphere. Having said that I am a regular and I go there as much to see certain people and the Liverpool football matches.

I don't get the negative comments about the OW - whenever we've been the staff have been really chirpy and helpful. We've asked for them to put the football on my husband and his mate (not a premier league team) and they've always obliged. Sure, it might not have the atmosphere of the Kilkenny, but it's not the pits!!!

The only thing wrong with The Oscar Wilde is the manager with the bald head. He can be asoundingly flippant with both tourists and regulars alike. One has to experience first had the way he treats the customers in order to believe it! But that's not to say that my experience of the OW hasn't been generally positive. I've met some nice people in there and even made a few friends too.

I have to say that whilst i recognise some of the comments being made about the manager, my sense is that he's just got a pretty dry sense of humour. Sometimes his N Irish accent can make him sound a bit more belligerent than he actually is. I would conclude that he's basically a nice guy, but you've got to approach him in the right way.

I went there with my husband who is British and a regular customer, and over the years has put alot of money into his pub via pints. The owner Mr. Clean not only ignored me completely, but didn't even offer his hand when introduced to me. Needless today I've told my husband we can spend our money elsewhere and Mr. Clean can go fuck himself.

Oh and one more thing ... Mr. Clean had the fucking audacity to ask why my husband hadn't been coming in. My husband told him, I'm married now and we've been getting our house together. He seemed a bit asshurt because his personal life was more important than coming into his bar and spending money. Also when our waitress was no where to be seen I approached the bar in the back (where we were sitting and was open due to a live band in that night) and I was ignored when I tried to order a drink and I was the only one standing at the bar. My husband had to go over and wake the dude up.

the owner is a first class a-hole.

"I have to say that whilst i recognise some of the comments being made about the manager, my sense is that he's just got a pretty dry sense of humour. Sometimes his N Irish accent can make him sound a bit more belligerent than he actually is. I would conclude that he's basically a nice guy, but you've got to approach him in the right way." Spot on.

Can I just say that if you are hanging out here you are a first class loser, because let's face it, you're in Berlin and if this is the best you can do for somewhere to drink, it's really time for a serious re-evauation of what sort of person you are and why you're in Berlin in the first place. This is a bar to watch football in when you can't see it anywhere else and you want some cool footy atmosphere, otherwise, walk around the corner and enjoy cheap drinks and the real Berlin atmosphere.

a bit harsh, but I don't like the place either

I was drinking a pint (my 2nd I must add) during the first half of a football game. It was about a quarter full still when a member of staff approached me and asked me if she could get me another drink. I politely declined her offer pointing out I still had some of my pint left and would get myself a drink at half time (which was 10 minutes away). She went away and returned with a new pint for me and also my friend who had more than half of his pint left and said "If you are sitting you need to be drinking or my manager will kick you out". Never had that happen before in a pub in all my life! Avoid the place like the plague now, even though some of my friends still go there to watch football.

Went to watch the Ireland Germany match last year..... Didn't think it was asking too much (Irish bar in Germany). It wasn't on as they were showing England V France in Rugby. Wasn't pleased. Then I witnessed the infamous "friendly" owner refusing entry to people who had just gone outside to use their phone.. Haven't been back since.....

The OWs is a great place to watch rugby, footie or whatever. To enjoy a pub or the atmosphere, you don't have to get on with the manager or worry about him not shaking your hand when introduced. Its only a pub not the prospective mother-in-law. Its also what pubs are like at home so if you want german service then go to a german pub if you want a wee bit of home in Berlin, go to the oscars p.s. I think the last time I saw a tourist there was in 98. Europa center is the non irish tourist trap.

Sorry but lets get this straight, the OW is a massive shithole, with an owner that is, by all accounts, a huge ass. BUT to watch a football game, who cares? just look at the big screen.. thats the only reason i've ever been there and the only reason i will ever be there again

and that comment that "if you want a wee bit of home in berlin, go to the oscars" is total bollox. unless you mean getting ripped through the hole on the price of a pint, then yes, its just like home

As a customer and consumer (and much tougher character than any Euro-trash) I would never allow myself to be mistreated by some run down, ghetto, unclean pub manager. Not unless he wishes to spend the weekend in the Krankenhaus!

I suppose the person of whom many are complaining is in fact a man of great intelligence and wit. The fact that it is often delivered with laconic and dead-pan irony, as is the custom in Derry, seems to be lost on the whingers, and only adds to the attraction of the place, since, presumably they won't be there. I often use OWs as a rendezvous prior to moving on, but I have also spent whole evenings there, having fallen in with some group or other. At which times it could fairly be said, 'The craic was moighty.' In 12 years I have never had a negative experience in the place, no rudeness from the staff and always had good service. The food is pub food and the drink is not especially expensive. I haven't been to a gig there for years, but they used to be great. The place seems to be fairly quiet during the summer months, which is great if you want a quiet drink. In winter, the place can be raging. Pay no attention to the nonsense above, which is probably libelous (or the probable thinly veiled physical threat), since they won't be there - good! "As a customer and consumer..." Is there a difference? Ever heard of a tautology?

I cant believe people are still writing about this subject, coupled with a lack of respect from Fontleroy to people with differing opinions from his own. Ever heard of 'theres no smoke without fire'? when 20 people complain about the way the gaffer comes across to his punters, as opposed to one that may claim to be his Personal Attitude therapist and stick up for the place?

Although this is not the forum for this type of post, I will post here for convenience. Disrespectful? Moi? If it was, then it was disrespect towards the disrespectful, which must have some positive merit, surely? No smoke without fire? This must be one of the silliest pseudo-aphorisms in existence, both in its literal and figurative senses. Literally, because there is often smoke without any of the quantum effects we experience as flame, or fire. Figuratively, and in context, taken to mean that if the majority think so, it has a higher likelihood of being true, is also highly dubious for several reasons. Winston Churchill once said that the most compelling argument against democracy was a five minute conversation with the average voter. Mao (and many others) said that a lie only has to be repeated a hundred times before it becomes true (in epistemology it is called a ‘true fallacy’). And finally to use a Derry expression, those with the least to say, shout the loudest. So, taken together: the vehemence and lack of circumspection of the personal remarks towards the man, that says far more about the people who made the remarks than they do of the man himself, and the fallacy that there must be truth in the opinions of those that make most noise, effectively conspire to refute the awful, and in my experience, untrue pejorative opinions.

aah, a man of learning, impressive, or just a load of superfluous codsollop ! your reference to laconic and dead pan irony doesnt count in your stable, does it? Sorry Fontleroy - spending over €100 in his hole one night, then the next night getting arsey attitude and dirty looks just for asking for a bit of sound for the football is no example of wit or intelligence, but downroght f***ing cheek and a clear signal that the man doesnt know his arse from his elbow when it comes to customer service.

I would crack some joke along the lines of 'if I wanted service this bad I would go to a German pub' but it wouldn't be true. Sadly, I would put this venue at the top of my list of places I won't return to. IMHO Simply nasty. Thankfully I didn't meet this purveyor of laconic wit. It seems a shame that he doesn't really have the intelligence to realise he is rubbing a number of customers up the wrong way.

its all true was there in 97,,fella was a tossa then,,and it seems he still is ...........

will be in Berlin for a few days from the 7th. My husband wants to see the GAA game on Sunday. Any suggestions??

Go somewhere where your custom is appreciated, instead of disrespected.. If you want an irish bar, check out the Kilkenny or the Irish harp...

The owner is a sound man. Cant believe the stick he's been getting! Always very friendly whenever he's over from Derry. The OW is a typical irish pub, run by an irish owner. If you enjoy ur sports on tv, then this is the place to come to. By sports, I mean football, rugby etc... I've always enjoyed the craic in the bar and have v often stayed 'til closing and have always been given a warm welcome. Maybe the people that have the problem adopt a bad attitude when going there, I don't know. What I will say is, if ur looking to go, try it yourself and you won't be disappointed.

The Kilkenny is a complete kip, full of tourists and obnoxious types, incredibly unfriendly and inefficient staff, and awful loud music. Avoid it like the plague. The Oscar Wilde is not great, but Terry is fine - of course he's a bit bolshie, but what do you expect from a guy form Derry! Forget the hard exterior, he really is a pussy cat inside.

kip? is it also possible to sleep there too?

terry is a gentleman

I worked in the oscar in 1998. they couldnt have been nicer. I have been back a few times since to visit. latest this summer when the bar guys andy and jason were asked by customers about a million times why they choose berlin. no wonder the staff get pissed off as the customers expect big long conversations. That doesnt happen in a busy pub in ireland so why expect it when your away. A lovely pub with fab staff.

I cant stand this place either. The owner is not at all friendly, some of the bar maids can be. BUt they are PUSHY they constantly want you with a drink full. The prices are also expensive for Berlin I never go there. I dont understand why people go there maybe if your tourist or if there showing a game which is nowhere else being shown but otherwhise the ow is awful. The original berliner stuff is way better and much more authentic.

Its their job to sell drink ie thats how they make money.many customers sit over the same drink all night.The boss always welcomes the customers.I havent ever seen the boss in the kilkenny or the europa.......

I went in their and asked about staff vacancies the onwner was very nice! The Manager was not so bad, but was more interested in weather I was married and had children, than if I had any bar experience! The staff are very nice! The Manager in The Europa ia a gentleman for anyone who hasn't met him!

Wish the Oscar would serve a decent pint at a decent price!