I went to their website to make sure they still have the daily pizza buffet and the web indicated it is still open for the buffet. I drove to Rookie's only to see signs on the entrance there will no longer be a buffet and they open Daily at 4 PM instead of 12:00. So, I was very disappointed! Randy Compton read more

I went here once and noticed that my receipt had a mandatory 20% tip on parties of 1 or more. I don't object to that, but if I'm gonna be forced to pay a 20% tip, I certainly deserve to receive service that warrants a 20% tip. I received about 3% service the time that I dined there. Service was absolutely horrible! Staff would look straight at you as you tried to gain their attention and then ignore you, but they were happy to give you your check and close you out. Never going back here again until I hear that the service has improved. read more

Loved the vibe here. It was a Saturday night and after having to leave Tony Roma's because for horrible service we were starving. Our waitress was great even though she was busy. Lots of TVs to watch. Food was good. read more

Great service, food and atmosphere. Great for dinner and/or watching games on the weekends. read more

Horrible horrible service. Only one staff member was working for a full bar and restaurant. The owner sat there and did NOTHING! The owner was VERY rude and unprofessional. I wish I could rate a 0. read more

Good food. Excellent service nice ambiance sports bar Service is excellent when you need something someone is willing to help you read more

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Such a fun and lively environment! I went on a Sunday to watch the football game with a friend and it was an amazing time. Staff is very efficient. The service is super fast. The food is really good. You've gotta try the wings! Great place to meet new people and hang out with like-minded Sports fans. Go Cowboys!! Win or lose, they are still my team! read more

Rookie's is a sports bar so I recommend dining in during a game. We stopped in for lunch and had an okay experience. I ordered the philly beef sandwich with fries and it was good for this type of spot. read more

Rookie's Sports Bars - tables and chairs in a sports bar - Sports Bars Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

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I ordered spicy garlic wings and tots. Food was excellent!! The restaurant was clean and inviting. The service was a little rough... the server would walk off while speaking to us or us to her. She plopped the food in n the table and my friend has to pick up fries and throw them out because they landed on the table. read more

The experience was just unacceptable. Went at lunch time. Only 1 worker, and 3 other customers. Had to sit ourselves, go retrieve silverware ourselves, ask for refills. The only time the waitress came by was to bring us our drinks the first time. Had to wait and wait for the bill only for the bill to say 20% gratuity was added for parties of 1 or more. Which this place has not done before. I think she knew she wasn't going to get a tip. read more

Rookie's Sports Bars - Sports Bars Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

Shame, this place has the space and potential to be a great place to watch Sunday football... The poor bartender was the only person working in the front of the house, with 20+ guests, and all looking for their game and trying to accommodate their sound, all while taking orders, food running, pouring drinks. Sounded like there was just one cook in the back too. Certainly not fair in the staff, to have management as absent as this. It's 12:35, I've been here 30 minutes and watch her struggle to answer phones, program the TVs, handle questions, run food, pour drinks and wait tables. There's no host, no servers, no managers... JUST ONE BARTENDER! Most visitors (especially the one guy who won't stop pestering her about the sound out on the patio) won't appreciate how much she's doing, or recognize how poorly this place must be managed to have her doing it all alone. If this crowd gets any larger, she is going to absolutely implode. Glad I got my wing order in already, maybe I'll get it before the next surge of football fans. UPDATE: I got my wings and fries after 25ish minutes, a guy sat down next to me at the bar and had to wait 14 minutes to be greeted by the busy bartender, and has now been here close to 25 minutes and hasn't been able to order food yet. There are 50+ people here and this poor girl doesn't stand a chance. read more

So loud. Should have been a nightclub not a bar. Bartenders too busy to even get order read more

Rookie's Sports Bars - Beer list - Sports Bars Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

Coworkers and i decided to eat lunch here since it was nearby. Although it was only one server/ bartender our order was taken quickly and food came out soon after. It wasn't packed since it was lunchtime, lots of tv's playing different college games and the drinks were fantastic. read more

Came in to watch the giants game. Head to toe giants stuff. Ask to have one of the 20 TVs on the game. They change it on a scoring drive to another random game. There is ten people in this place...no reason couldn't have the game on. I proceed to watch the game on my phone. Not one of the workers catches on. Server was not attentive and truthfully could have cared less (and as a former server...it take ALOT for me to say that). Food was Pretty good...but don't bother wasting your time here on a Sunday if your goal is to cheer on your team. The staff should realize it's a sports bar. read more

Rookie's Sports Bars - Sports Bars Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

Maybe it's better daytime but at night, it's an insanely loud restaurant with loud music from a DJ and poor service. Plenty of staff but no one willing to serve. If you're in town on biz and think "8ll hot that sports bar" think again. Go elsewhere. Not recommended. read more

Came in here because it was close to the hotel and I'm too tired to Uber someplace else. Sunday night and multiple football games are on with patrons yelling and cheering. That's not a problem; I'm eating alone so conversation in not a concern. I sat at the bar where I was ignored by three servers. A young man came up to the bar ten minutes after I got here and was served immediately. The food was fine, the beer selection was reasonable. Service needs some work. read more

Great potato skins! Even when enjoyed at home from a delivery service. The ranch dressing was on point. Can't wait to try them in person!

Shene is an amazing bartender. Maybe the place could be better but she couldn't be. PERFECT SERVICE!

Not much to say here as Rookie's is your standard sports bar. One thing I do want to point out though is that it was so interesting that they had samosas on their menu. Was told by an Indian coworker that they're probably from Costco... Not sure how much of an assumption that was, but if true, I couldn't taste the difference! Regardless of where they were from, they were delicious and I was very intrigued by an American sports bar serving a classic Indian snack/appetizer. Taste | 4.5 Atmosphere | 3 Presentation | 3 Service | 3 OVERALL | 4.5 read more

Rookie's Sports Bars - samosas - Sports Bars Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

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First time trying to place. Ordered to go. inside looked like your typical old looking bar but was fine. Food was good. only complaint is that fries needed to be in the fryer probably another minute. when i first called to order, i got voicemail which i thought was odd. I called back and someone answered. I'd go back and try it again. read more

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Reserved a table for 6 to order apps and beer while we did a fantasy sports draft , followed by dinner, We were sat in a quiet section/half of the restaurant. Sat at 5:50, draft over over by 6:50 (yes really that fast!). No server so we went to find one. Ordered, food came relatively fast. The food was below average bar food. Meanwhile we noticed a lot of sports fans filling in the section all around us, moving tables around, etc. Evidently it was an college alumni watch party for a football game. No problem, there was plenty of room, and we would be wrapping up eating soon. Except no server ever returned to close us out, until finally the manager (owner?) stopped by and asked us to get up and leave the area so the alumni group could have our table. He didn't bring our checks or ask us to close out (which we wanted to), he just asked us to get up from the table. So, we collected our remaining drinks and food, wandered to the bar area, and tried to close our tab while the overwhelmed staff scurried around us avoiding eye contact. 20 minutes later... one heroic employee, who was called into to work on her day off, stopped to close us out. She had helped earlier in the evening, and deserves recognition and praise. Bummer she is stuck at a place that does not set up their employees for success. There are a lot of staffing shortages in the service industry and this is essentially a dive bar, so my expectations were pretty low, but the experience came in far below them. Definitely won't bring any groups here again, despite the convenient location in central RTP, and I would not recommend this place to others. read more

While traveling and working in the area I saw this location close to my hotel and wanted to get something quick and good to address my hunger pain. I was skeptical at first but Ms. Hannah was extremely pleasant and assured me that I would be pleased with my choices and she did not disappoint. I was pleasantly surprised at how fresh and clean the salad was and the dry rub wings were just as she described, in point! read more

Rookie's Sports Bars - Fresh Garden Salad - Sports Bars Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

Went to watch a game. After 30 minutes and 5 requests to out my game on, I finally just left. I get it that the bartender was busy, but it is a sports bar, with lots of tvs, so wanted to watch my team. read more

Visited during COVID May 2021. They were very short that day were there was one bartender at the time. The drinks were on point and the food was great. My drink was not overloaded with juice, which is perfect for me. I created my own roll which came out cheesy and juicy flaming hot when drop off to my table. The atmosphere in the bar was hometown everyone knows everyone sports bar. The table that we sat at was fairly clean. Looked like someone did there job and cleaned the table before we sat down. It was seat yourself. The one female bartender was on it. she served about 10-15 tables by herself while we were there. read more

Rookie's Sports Bars - Custom Build Your Own Roll green pepppers and chicken - Sports Bars Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

A convenient sports bar in RTP. Never really thought you could mess up chicken tenders. I ordered the chicken tenders fries and coke slaw. The fried food here was a little tough to eat. Scratchy and tasted like the chicken had been fried in some old oil. The waiter was nice. Although it was a little confusing who was taking our orders because we started with a waitress and then somewhere in between we got switched to the waiter. No biggie. He was a nice guy. Wouldn't go out of my way to come here. But it's nice and convenient for people working in the RTP. As well as having lots of televisions, might be good when March Madness rolls around. read more

Rookie's Sports Bars - Chicken tenders with cole slaw and fries. - Sports Bars Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

We came in tonight after playing in a local basketball tournament after being turned away from 2 other establishments. Just wanted to recognize the great service, food and atmosphere that this establishment provided. Defiantly if you are in the area stop by and get some of the wings!! Amazing!!! Thank you so much!! read more

Came here for lunch and tried their pizza buffet. It included a drink and a salad bar for around $11 before tax and tip. While it wasn't a terrible deal, the quality of pizza was not the greatest. Maybe a notch above Cici's. The variety of toppings on the salad bar was so-so. But with a drink, $11 for all-you-can-eat (albeit average) salad and pizza is something I can live with. While I'm not sure I'd come back for the pizza buffet, I wouldn't be opposed to trying some other things on the menu - it seemed like mostly burgers / pizzas / bar food. The service was spotty, but they were rather busy when I went for lunch. The space is quite large, so it's a good place for big groups, and there is a separate bar area. There were plenty of TVs throughout the restaurant for watching sports. The restaurant is kind of hidden from the main road - I didn't even know it existed until a friend told me about it, even though I've driven by this area dozens of times. read more

This was my first time visiting Rookies and I was pleased. The menu has everything from wings, pizzas, sammies, burgers, pastas, pizookies....it pretty much has it all. This sports bar is big with lots of seating to accommodate large parties. I ordered pickle chips off of the happy hour menu and its a nice portion. They were seasoned well and crispy. I also had fire hot wings which I could tell were cooked to order. The wing sauce wasn't wimpy at all. I definitely needed water and tissue after finishing them. What I liked most about this sports bar was that the owner walked to each table to check on customers!! read more

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Poor service food wasn't good. Took over 20 minutes to get service and the bar was empty.

I have been going here for a couple of years now because they host the Penn State Alumni club viewing parties on Saturday. There are sometimes up to 100 people attending the Saturday event and Rookies is always prepared with excellent service (the owner even walks around often to greet everyone). They offer the pizza buffet and I must say I thoroughly enjoy their pizza, especially for the price. I also have ordered different variations of their salads from the spinach salad to the buffalo chicken and they always have fresh ingredients (no brown lettuce here!) I stopped in on a Sunday and enjoyed the beautiful day on their patio. They have great drink specials and I had my first experience with a bloody Maria (tequila instead of vodka) and it was delicious. Highly recommend Rookies for any sporting event! They have like 20 TV's! read more

Rookie's Sports Bars - Bloody Maria, tequila instead of vodka & delicious! - Sports Bars Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

We were THE ONLY table in the pace and they messed up our order . We should have turned around and left when it's completely empty at 7pm on a college football Saturday . The bartender took our order then never came back . She forgot our app. Someone else brought out the other items . There where 3 people at the bar . She was not busy at all . Another table came in - she was there several times but never checked on us . I guess the cook realized we didn't get our app because he came out to say he had it in the back . Well it's been 20 minutes - why would I want it now ??? So then it became a blame game for the poor girl that ran the food . Maybe bartender should have asked after food was delivered ??? She kept telling me that she would take it off the bill . Like she was doing us a favor . She brought the check but never came back . Again - the place is EMPTY !!! I had to walk it up to the bar to pay . Never again . 0/10 would not recommend . read more

We came into Raleigh cause my mom flight leaves from here. It's the closet to airport....literally like 7 minutes away and is surrounded by the hotels closet to the airport. A strange area for a sport bar but whatever. This place opens at 11am on Sunday, we got here around 1pm and it was empty. There was two guys here, then us, then another group like 20 minutes later. By 2pm, a few more folks and another server. By the time we left, 3:15, a few more folks but it wasn't full. But hey made my mom feel comfy with covid. Server was pretty chill and nice. Plenty of TVs to watch your games. There is an patio area but it's raining. They have Wifi but according the server, it goes in and out. FOOD: Pepsi products!!!!! Yes! Mozzarella sticks were just ok. Wings were ok, I ate them up. Burgers and fries are good especially the fries! We did order burgers with bacon and they forgot but the server was nice and brought us several pieces after we told her. Cheese fries are pretty good, wish it had jalapenos. Cost of the food is pretty affordable. Inside is kept up with up with, nothing seems to be falling apart or chipped paint. Decor is the same as any other sports grill, I do like the football flags. read more

My wife and I went to the new location in Wake Forest,NC. This just opened last week. It is a great place to watch Sports. The new staff is wonderful and the prices on food and beer are fair. We also met some wonderful people at the Bar as well. We will be back for NFL Sunday until the season is over. John F. Martinez and Mary Beth Martinez read more

Don't waste your time going here. I went here 2 months ago, got seated by a hostess and then sat at a table for 15 minutes but a server never came so I left. I went back one more time because it is close to the house and the Stealz app offered a free appetizer. They didn't honor the free app that they were promoting, the service was below average and my order was incorrect. I won't be giving them a third chance. read more

Rookie's Sports Bars - "Free" appetizer from the Stealz app. Even though the app offers a free appetizer with a check-in, the restaurant wont honor the deal. - Sports Bars Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

Picked up order Not my order, went back and a waitress wanted to argue with me saying I received a sandwich, which I did not. Wanted to speak with manager, she said she wasn't there to come back tomorrow with an attitude. 3 minutes later, a manager came out to talk to me. RUDE STAFF. Food ain't even that great read more

Above average burger, but amazing waffle sweet potato fries! Service was very slow; so not recommended if you are under normal or quick meal needs. Place was also a bit messy but I was there towards the end of the evening on a Sunday night probably after a big afternoon NFL crowd. Group that was in there was loud; don't know if that is the normal atmosphere. read more

Rookie's Sports Bars - Sports Bars Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

This was a super convenient spot to walk to from our hotel. It was less than 3 minutes away. The staff was nice and changed the tv so that we could watch the football game of our choice. With all that said, the food wasn't very good. The wings were tasted really old and were very chewy. The dips were both so so and the nachos were just plain nasty. Overall not a very good experience but at least we got to watch the game. read more

This place is my go to for watching college football and basketball. There's a fenced patio outside if you want to enjoy the weather now that it's nicer out. I believe they have a couple of flat screens TVs by the patio. Inside, there are plenty of flat screen TVs for your viewing pleasure. I ordered the BBQ Chicken Salad. First impression was that it came in a big plate. I mean the portions are definitely generous. The chicken itself was very juicy, tender and overall cooked perfectly. The Tortilla strips and roasted corn added additional texture which really enhances the salad. The staff are all very friendly and attentive. read more

Rookie's Sports Bars - Huge BBQ Chicken Salad! - Sports Bars Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

Good food if you were to actually receive it. Placed my order thru Door Dash and they didn't confirm the order until an hour later. Really huge let down, I wouldn't rely on them if you're hungry and getting delivery read more

Came back because we liked it so much. The Sicilian roll did not disappoint once again!