The sister pub to Allen's (http://www.yelp.ca/biz/allens-restaurant-on-the-danforth-toronto), Dora Keogh began as an experiment to determine if they could make an authentic Irish pub without the trappings of the tartan-short-skirt pubs that dot the city that start with "Duke of" or cute double-entendre names like The Pour House (http://www.yelp.ca/biz/pour-house-irish-pub-toronto). In comes Dora, which is by far the most authentic Irish bar that you'll find this side of the Atlantic. Of if you went the wrong way, the Pacific, for that matter.
As soon as you step in, you're faced with a long bar and open area at the back for open stage music and jam sessions that take place every Thursday and Sunday. Benches line the side of the bar with most of the other seats being of the stool variety. Down you sit at a small copper-topped table with a properly poured pint and an atmosphere that is truly not like any other found in most Toronto faux-Irish pubs. It's a fantastic place to sit down, enjoy a pint, listen to the reeling, and have a blether. You have to see it to believe.