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Mary O’s may appear, at first glance, to be yet another Irish bar, but owner Mary O’Halloran has created something that is emphatically not your standard pub. Sawdust and shamrocks are replaced with a clean, black-and-white palate highlighted with ornate mirrors and a large mural on the back wall of an elegant evening scene; instead of high tables and beer ads there are plastic chairs that look lifted from the cafeteria of the future and Pier 1–esque wall tiles. While the design is sleek and cool, the staff is all warmth and friendliness, whether getting you a beer or a bite from the bar menu, which skews more traditional, with Dublin style fish-and-chips and shepherd’s pie. The mood remains laid-back and fairly quiet until late in the evening, even as the Avenue A teems with the young and the loud. — Kat Ward