Red Leprechaun Irish Pub at The Banks Offers Authentic Emerald Isle Experience

This story is featured in CityBeat's Feb. 7 print edition.

The Banks in downtown Cincinnati is a hot spot for nightlife and tourist-attracting bars. Located next to Great American Ball Park and multiple concert venues, The Banks attracts Cincinnatians day and night who are looking for a good time. In October, a new Irish pub, Red Leprechaun, opened its doors for locals and tourists visiting The Banks. 

Danny Scott, owner of Red Leprechaun, is not a stranger to the bar business. Scott first opened Fishbowl at the Banks, a bar known for its energetic party scene, in 2019. Since the success of Fishbowl, he has been looking for ways to expand the business. He began this journey by looking for more places to bring Fishbowl, but soon realized he would rather continue expanding close to home.

“I wanted to do something in downtown Cincinnati, so I realized I couldn't do another Fishbowl,” explains Scott. “I needed to come up with another concept. Being a lover of Irish pubs, that was the first thing I wanted to explore. And then I found out that I’m part Irish, and that gave me the green light. Looking into it even more just kind of fueled the fire; to explore my heritage and to have some fun with it.”

Scott works with not only the official in-house DJ for the Cincinnati Reds, but also the full-time DJ at Fishbowl. At Reds games, he is known as “Game DJ,” while at Fishbowl he goes by “Fusamania.” 

“I have a really good team of people,” Scott says. “David [the DJ] is one of my partners. My general manager, Marcelo, has a lot of experience in the bar business as well, so they're my two partners. We worked really close on all this. It was a big joint effort between a lot of us to get it up and going. To start a business like that from scratch, there's a lot of work, and it takes a lot of good people.”

Something Scott was determined to incorporate from the start was a piece of Ireland in the establishment. He began this venture by searching for distressed wood, or any furniture pieces he could get shipped directly from Ireland. Through researching multiple sources, Scott was eventually connected with an Irishman, Vic, who salvaged pieces of an old bar just before it was destroyed. The authentic Irish pub was being torn down in order for the town to build condominiums in its place.

“Vic was able to go in and salvage the bar, including the front of the bar, the top of the bar, the back of the bar where the bottles sit and then there's an archway that separates the rooms that Vic was able to get as well,” explains Scott. “So we designed Red Leprechaun based on the pieces, causing us to use a 20-foot shipping container, because I can't just send it with a few pieces. We had some custom stools made right there at his factory, and a lot of art pieces and memorabilia to fill up the shipping container. It took about 257 days to arrive in the United States.”

With pieces that make up an authentic Irish atmosphere, Red Leprechaun aims to provide both a familiar bar vibe to Cincinnati customers, and something new. The cocktail menu includes typical drink options, while some have an Irish twist. Some popular twists on common cocktails are titled “Espresso Moher-tini,” an espresso martini named after the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland, and “Irish Gem,” a cocktail mixing tequila and Irish whiskey.

Although Red Leprechaun is known for its bar scene, the pub also has a carefully crafted food menu with many Irish-inspired favorites. “We had a chef come in, Chef Brian Duffy. He's based out of Philadelphia, and he was on the show Bar Rescue,” explains Scott. “He's been on the Food Network and has done a lot of stuff. He's our chef consultant, so he came in and designed the menu items, and trained us on how to make them. We talk with them [Duffy and his team] and check in with them every week. He visits normally at least every other month to come in and just check on things, and whip up some new features.”

A main feature on the food menu includes the wide range of pasties the pub offers. Pasties are fried pies full of Irish mashed potatoes and various fillings to choose from. Red Leprechaun offers pasties with more Irish-based fillings, such as corned beef and cabbage, but also more Cincinnati-based fillings, such as buffalo chicken and Cincinnati chili style. 

Scott was born and raised just over the Ohio River in Newport, Ky. He has loved Cincinnati his whole life, so his overall goal is to continue bringing joy and a good time to the area. After researching his ancestry, he realized, like many other Cincinnatians, that he had Irish heritage. Bringing a taste of Ireland to the area is just the icing on the pasty when it comes to Scott’s venture.

Red Leprechaun opens weekdays at 4 p.m. and weekends at noon. Special events take place on certain nights, and the schedule can be found on their website. The bar has bingo on Wednesday nights. 

Red Leprechaun Irish Pub, 20 W. Freedom Way, The Banks. Info: redleprechaun.com.

Slideshow

Photos: Take a Tour of The Banks' New Irish Pub, Red Leprechaun

Click to View 15 slides