It was this week two years ago that I learned the grim news: following a citywide mandate that all restaurants shutter, this would mark the first time in McMenamin’s Tavern’s 83-year history that it would be shuttered on St. Patrick’s Day.

Since the Mt. Airy institution opened in July 1936 down on Germantown Ave., not even World War II was able to dampen decades of spirited St. Patty’s celebrations at the neighborhood tavern like the arrival of COVID.

Like all city and suburban restaurants, McMenamin’s shut its doors on March 16, 2020. P. J. McMenamin, owner and grandson of the original founder, was left shaking his head when the following evening of St. Pat’s 2020 rolled around, and he and a skeleton crew of staff were trying to clean out the bar and tavern and freeze all the corned beef and shepherd’s pie with lamb that wouldn’t be cooked. They were freezing it under the assumption that cooking would resume in the very near future.

McMenamin sat in the restaurant without a single reveler around him that day, for the first time in his 31 years of running the place. When I rang him up to talk about it, he told me “so this is St. Pat’s Day at McMenamin’s.” And in a haunting aside, he told me he just hoped this all ended and things went back to normal “in two or three weeks.”

But if there’s one thing I’ve been thrilled about these past few months when it comes to writing this food column, it has been the ability to start reporting some positive, happy news for a change. So now for the good news. I decided to check in with McMenamin this week. And yes, this St. Paddy’s Day, things will be “normal” again for the first time in two years at McMenamin’s, with corned beef and cabbage, shepherd’s pie, a jam-packed, mask-free crowd and all-day lunch and dinner revelry on tap – along with the Guinness.

“I never really have a plan for St. Patrick’s Day,” McMenamin told me. “Everyone just shows up. Being it’s on a Thursday this year, that’s usually a great day for us.”

In addition to lunch and dinner specials, there will be the usual giveaways from Guinness and Jameson, and lots of camaraderie, especially from all the regulars who are back to support their favorite haunt. Actually, thanks to takeout and masked visits for dinner, the longtime supporters never actually went away.

“We’re just getting busier, and I feel like people are excited to be out and having dinner,” said McMenamin, who, along with his wife Shannon McMenamin, spoke with me this past week. “It’s been normal [only] for a few days because of the masks. This last week has been tremendous with customers not having to wear masks. We want everyone to know how thankful we are that we made it through.” 

The tavern stayed closed for the first thirty days of the pandemic, then successively opened for takeout and then finally for limited dine-in service in September of 2020. During that time period, staff members stuck with the family-owned business through thick and thin. 

I asked the couple what they considered the lowest point of the ordeal.

“I would say our staff sticking with us but not really making any money to support their families,” Shannon McMenamin  said. “So that was hard for us to watch them go through that.”

“My staff has really been great,” P.J. McMenamin said. “My kitchen guys stayed strong through all this and they are working their tails off.”

As with all area restaurants, things rolled along with customers wearing masks and showing vaccine cards, then this past January was rough with a virus surge, McMenamin said. Mask mandates were only lifted within the past two weeks. Last St. Pat’s Day was a very “subdued” celebration, the couple said. That means this maskless St. Paddy’s Day at the resto, with its 70 indoor seats and 20-person patio, will be the first real hurrah for the place in two years.

“We are grateful for all the regulars, community and staff who got us through,” Shannon McMenamin said. 

Added P.J. McMenamin: “Things are really picking up now.”

That was the happy ending I’d hoped to hear. So Happy St. Patrick’s Day, and if you’re headed out this year, whether it’s to McMenamin’s or another local favorite, throw on some green and pull up a table, because there’s a lot more for everyone to celebrate.