Puerta Plata : Food & Drink
Shamrocks and Shady Palms
By David Pye
Mar 1, 2008

Josè O’Shay’s Irish Beach Pub; Cabarete Beach, Dominican Republic; 809-571-0775; joseoshays.com; Open daily from 8 a.m. to 1 a.m.

  Tim Hall is a living, breathing Jimmy Buffet song. Like life in Margaritaville, Hall has been “nibblin’ on sponge cake, watchin’ the sun bake all of those tourists covered with oil” for more than 20 years. The Montréal native has established roots as Canada’s Honorary Consul for the Dominican’s north coast and is the publisher of an online paper called The Pop Report (popreport.com).

    But when it comes to nightlife, it’s Hall’s three-plus years running the occasional “Nite on the Town” social event out of his Café Cito (809-586-7923)—an Internet café near the Playa Dorada tourist complex just east of Puerto Plata—that has kept him plugged into the region’s sultry hotspots.

    “Josè O’Shay’s Irish Beach Pub is the best place on Cabarete Beach to people-watch and take it all in,” says Hall, who likes to unwind in the bar’s thatched roof shade, cooled by ocean breezes. “It’s the quintessential Irish pub.”

    Perched in the middle of the beach bar strip, this shady oasis overlooks towering palms with kite surfers skimming along the ocean surface by day, and barefoot revellers dancing in the sand by night. “Josè O’Shay’s is right smack in the middle of it all and is a great segue into the nightlife of Cabarete Beach,” says Hall.

DÉCOR “The place is decorated in little pieces of the lives of its patrons. Above the bar, you’ll find everything from sports memorabilia and T-shirts to license plates and fishing nets.”

DRESS “Beach attire and Caribbean casual.”

DRINK “They serve everything from Guinness stout and Jameson whiskey to Presidente beer and Brugal rum.”

DOOR “There’s never a cover, not even for the annual St. Patty’s Day party. It’s a launch point for when the clubs along the beach get cracking, around 10 p.m., with live entertainment five nights a week.”