The building at 814 West Davis Street in Oak Cliff started as an automotive garage. A man named Ron Patterson eventually bought it, spent years turning it into a private room — dark, personal, built around the things he liked — and lived in the house just behind it. When Patterson died in 2021, Feargal McKinney acquired the property. He walked in, looked around, and largely left it alone. McKinney said he figured Patterson would have found a favorite stool and never left. He named the bar after himself and opened it in March 2026. That is how Kilmac’s came to exist.

McKinney is Dublin-born, and Dallas knows him as the founder of The Old Monk, The Skellig, and Spider Murphy’s — three Irish pubs on Henderson Avenue that have been pouring Guinness since 1998. He brought The Old Monk to Oak Cliff in 2024 at 810 West Davis, and always had plans for something darker next door. Kilmac’s opened in March 2026. The name is McKinney’s nickname. His longtime operations manager Charles Reis runs it with him alongside general manager Cameron Westmoreland, who built the cocktail program.

This is not a pub. One tap, Guinness only — non-negotiable per Reis — and everything else is cocktails. The front room is low-lit and close, dark walls and vintage fixtures McKinney sourced himself. The back patio runs the other direction entirely — gravel ground, string lights, fire pits, barrel tables, and a refurbished Airstream working as the outdoor bar. Loose and bright where the inside is tight and warm. You want both on the same night.

The cocktail list runs 14 drinks at $16 to $17. The Smoked Guinness Old Fashioned is the one that gets talked about — Guinness reduction syrup, chocolate bitters, Angostura, Buffalo Trace, finished with oak smoke and served still smoldering at the table. The smoke is not a gimmick. The Guinness reduction changes the drink in ways that plain simple syrup cannot. The Toasted Coconut Daiquiri made with two complementary rums is the most reordered drink since opening — a real daiquiri with depth, nothing added that does not belong.

The Santa Muerte is built around pechuga mezcal, which is distilled with turkey meat and citrus fruit for a particular smoky layered quality, then mixed with peach, lemon, and house serrano hot honey syrup. It rewards patience. The Freezer Martini uses a Scottish gin infused post-distillation with saffron, carrying notes of coriander and citrus — a martini worth slowing down for. Happy hour runs Tuesday through Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. and drops everything to $9.

Dallas pizza consultant Lee Hunzinger developed twelve 12-inch pies for the food program with a New York sensibility and Neapolitan char. The sourcing is taken seriously — Jimmy’s sausage, Stanislaus tomatoes from Modesto. The Drunken Pepperoni with house-made vodka sauce and jalapeño has been the top seller. The Piccante — soppressata piccante, Calabrian chiles, whipped ricotta, hot honey — is the one that gets ordered twice. The Davis Street with Jimmy’s sausage and roasted cremini mushrooms is the neighborhood pie, straightforward and properly made.

The Spinach Mushroom with confit garlic and Grana Padano is the one for anyone not eating meat who does not want to feel like an afterthought. Garlic knots are $12, pies are $19, and both are right for this room.

Kilmac’s is at 814 West Davis Street in Oak Cliff, open Wednesday through Sunday from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. More at kilmacsoakcliff.com.

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