I've been in several times before comedy shows at Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle. I'm no regular by any means but the service at the bar has always been prompt and friendly. For a Royal Oak bar, prices are very reasonable for drinks and food. It's a fairly large place and can usually accommodate a group in the early evening, though that might be tougher as the night goes on. I normally just go with my husband and we find spots at the bar. It's a clean enough place with a decent bar food menu and good prices. In RO, that's about the best you can ask for. read more

The Rock On Third - Menu June 2025 - New American Near Me - Royal Oak, Michigan

See all

I've been coming here for over 20 years and still love it. Cold beer and good chicken strips. I had their chicken noodle soup today and it did not disappoint. Come check them out. read more

See all

Great little pure bar. Cold beer and bar food as needed. Great day drinking spot. Patio is nice and when Oberon comes out it's always on tap. Great service. read more

This classic dive bar in RO was our first stop of the evening while a group of us were in town recently. We wanted some drinks, snacks, and to watch the MSU game and we got all of that. The place was pretty busy, but we snagged the last big table for our group of six. Our server was handling a lot of tables so she wasn't super attentive, which was fine. A couple of times she left our table before people could order more drinks, but we didn't mind just hanging out for a bit. Nate and I were getting dinner later on, so we just got a basket of fries to share - they seemed hand cut and were freshly made. I liked them a lot! We also shared some pizza with our friends - it was just okay. Pretty average bar pizza, but it hit the spot with a few beers. The atmosphere was fun and loud. There's a decent sized patio but we opted to sit inside even though the weather was really nice. If I lived in the area this would probably be a go-to spot, but it's not my first choice as a visitor in town. read more

See all

I came in for a beer while my husband had a meeting in downtown Royal Oak. This place has a definite neighborhood-bar feel about it. The bartender was friendly and clearly knew most of the folks sitting at the bar. I drink non-alcoholic beer, and they had a nice variety. Most places only have one option. I did not order any food as we were meeting people later for dinner, but the menu looked good. I look forward to coming back to try it. read more

My sister and I were told we couldn't order any drink besides what were on the pink drink cocktail menu, but we saw other tables being served different drinks. read more

They never miss a beat ... everything is always on point .. it's consistently good every time ... keeping in mind this is a neighborhood establishment. They've been here for many years and what they do. They do very very well. read more

I stopped by for their $8 Lavaburger week special. It was good but almost Too cheesy for me read more

The Rock On Third - I stopped by and got their $8 Lavaburger week special. Good but almost Too much cheese for me - New American Near Me - Royal Oak, Michigan

Would be 1 star, but this guy was there. 5 stars ‼ Ambiance was lacking outside of this guy's aura. Will be returning. read more

The Rock On Third - The guy - New American Near Me - Royal Oak, Michigan

Music is a tad too loud tonight, can't hear my friends unless we shout. Billy seems to be shouting at the top of his lungs about his uptown girl. We came here after a comedy show at Ridley's. Came for Dragon's milk, cranberry and vodkas, jack and coke and some other beers for the rest of the crew. It was a fun night of darts but I was tired and needed to rest from a long week. If I were hungrier, would have had a burger or their pizza. read more

See all

What a great friendly pub. Always get a hello when you walk in whether they know you are not. The food is great the specials are even better. Personally I love the Red hots originally from Highland Park, and now brought to you right in downtown Royal Oak. Great vibe, awesome food, and an outstanding staff that isn't afraid to wait on you. Something you don't get in Royal Oak everyday. read more

The Rock On Third - Coneys direct from "Red Hots" of Highland Park - New American Near Me - Royal Oak, Michigan

Location is off the strip. Plenty of free parking around the area. The beer that was served to me was cold. The service was hella prompt and the server was very awesome. I actually enjoyed being here, not very loud. Seems like a lot of the service people do come here after working on the bars and restaurants on the strip. I think I found my favorite bar here in Royal Choke. It's probably because it's off the strip too. I'd definitely be back. Thank you so much for reading my review. I hope this helps with your decision making experience. Enjoy your awesome yelptastic day! read more

The Rock On Third - (",) - New American Near Me - Royal Oak, Michigan

the food was awful, one time I went in, they said they close at 1am on Saturday, I went at 8pm.... there was only a few people in there. they didn't want to sit us, but did anyways, service took forever. Then their music just stopped playing.... Idk what's up with that, it would play a song and then just stop for 15 minutes. Everything got pin drop silent in there, it was sooo weird, everyone just stopped talking... It was the worst experience I've ever had. Every time I go there I say maybe it'll be better this time, it's just awful every single time I go. I'll never go back to this God awful place and hope they shut down. read more

I love the atmosphere shooting darts. Family oriented environment. The service is very prompt

I am making this review through my own personal choice, I am not being coerced in anyway. The Rock On Third is the best bar I have ever been to in my entire life. The staff here is the most attentive and caring that I've ever experienced. I would use the words #hidden gem to describe this place but it's busy here so it's not hidden! Everyone should come here and experience this establishment. Please. Come. Right now. (I'm scared for my life, help) read more

I don't go to Royal Joke often, because parking is a pain in the rear, and it's kind of a short hike for me. But, when I do come down here, I always tend to find something fun and new to do. Since it was Royal Oak Restaurant week, a group of us came here to dine, and I had a surprisingly good time. Walking in, it's spacious and has plenty of seating. It's nothing fancy, and I like it that way. No trendiness, just a good old time bar restaurant with food and beer. Period. We all went with the RORW menu, and it actually came out pretty good. I got the Greek Salad, with spaghetti, and cheesecake for dessert. The other three guests got the Cesar salad, and it looked so good. I wanted a Ceasar salad so bad after seeing theirs! My salad was good, but rather small. I was fine with that. When the food came out, my spaghetti was actually really good. It was very meaty and came with two garlic breadsticks as well. yummy! Some of the other food my guests got was the ribs, which were a huge huge portion. They could not finish it all! I don't eat pork, so I wasn't trying any of that! LOL. Cheesecake was tasty, and I had a good time here. Service was good and efficient, no complaints there. So why only three stars? It's standard bar food, and while I enjoy it, I think it could be updated a bit. Better looking salads, and additional lighting to see what I was doing would have been nice. But, overall, a great time was had by all. read more

Went to the Rock on third for Burger week 2019. They were offering their lava burger for 6 bucks and this wasn't a bad deal, regular menu price was $10.95 but I must say It needed more lava, the burger was just lacking that cheesy sauce that should have been overflowing the burger. Yeah it wasn't a bad deal and I did enjoy my burger it had a nice spicy taste, but I wasn't that impressed. I did see a lot of other people ordering the wings and they look pretty damn good. The service wasn't bad and the beer selection was pretty good, but there was nothing that made me go ooh I'll need to come back. I appreciate that they were offering the Burger special and that's what really made me come out. Can't say I'm itching to go back but I might stop back and try the wings. read more

The Rock On Third - New American Near Me - Royal Oak, Michigan

Good service. Natalie was a good waitress Pleasant environment on the patio. Was able to have a conversation with my friend. Fries are very good. The drinks are mediocre. Inside is very noisy. read more

Haven't been here in years but decided to drop by during the first Social District. While I can't really fault them with their lack of knowledge about the SD but I feel like they should have been a little less confused about the whole thing. Ordered a couple apps and they were just meh. Was ready to leave and asked to split the check. Server looked annoyed and left to I assume split it, but didn't come back for a solid 25-30 minutes. It looked like they had a fair amount of staff and it wasn't that busy but service was still slow. read more

Rock on Third has a pretty chill relaxed vibe. They have a great beer selection with pages and pages of craft bottled beers, meads, and ciders available. They have over 130 craft beers, many from Michigan and some Belgians and beers from Scotland, Ireland, and Germany. They have Dragon's Milk, Soft Parade, and CakeWalk, some of my go-to favorite beers. They have seating at the bar, a few large booths, tables, and in the summer they have an outdoor patio. I really like their jukebox. Great selection and variety of music. Larger variety of music than Gusoline Alley's jukebox although it's great too. Great way to spend a night - sipping craft beer over conversation with friends and picking a bunch of your favorite songs on the jukebox. I've been here quite a few times over the years and have great memories and I definitely see myself stopping in again. read more

See all

Nice casual bar for a quick bite and beer. Service is good, waitress are nice and friendly. THE HOAGIE. So good. Super cheesy and filled with meat, cheese, and veggies. The bread is perfectly soft and crisp at the same time. Definitely order a side of the au jus for dipping! Sweet potato fries are . Bar menu is pretty extensive and the Christmas beer is delicious!! read more

Game Watchability score: 9. Great place to watch a game. This score is designed to help you decide where to watch a college game. The scoring system is as follows-- 1 being no TVs and no sound, 5 being decent TV viewing but no sound, and 10 being lots of TVs and sound read more

The Rock On Third - New American Near Me - Royal Oak, Michigan

Was nice little spot to grab wings and a couple beers. A little busy and not many employees wearing masks. Hopefully they wash well. Was a little packed for my liking. But beers were out quick, they were out of the one I wanted, but waitress came out with three other options. Good service. Wings were good but a little cold. Seems like the busyness had them up on the counter for awhile. The bartended was too busy laughing and BS I got with coworkers to get our food out. She had long blonde hair and wasn't really doing much. For as busy as it was she shouldn't have had time to sit there and do nothing. read more

The Rock On Third - Cherry weather - New American Near Me - Royal Oak, Michigan

Pretty categorically just a bar. No frills or uniqueness, just a place to grab a beer or poorly made cocktail and hang for a few. Out of my party of five, 2 received incorrectly made/questionable drinks. So odds are not great if you're asking the bar for something specific rather than just a beer on tap. This is a decent spot if you just need to grab a quick drink while waiting for a table for dinner nearby on a busy weekend night. It's very roomy and while they're always busy there is usually somewhere they can fit you in. read more

First time here, decided to try it out for Royal Oak Restaurant Week. Service was decent for the most part. It's a bit of a dive bar but the food was fantastic. I did the dinner menu which was a salad, ribs, and a piece of huge chocolate cake for dessert. $15 for the three courses which was a pretty good deal. The ribs were my favorite part, falling off the bone and already encased in BBQ sauce when we received them. The sauce was a sweet and spicy mix and delicious. The salad was also very good, and also the cake. We went during the Michigan and Kentucky game so I thought it would be crazy crowded, it wasn't super crowded until the end of the game but the noise level is pretty loud in general, so don't go here if you're expecting a quiet meal. Pretty self-explanatory since it's a sports bar, but you never know. I give the restaurant 3 1/2 out of five stars overall, the bathroom was a little dingy but it's kind of a hole in the wall anyway. Their beer list also looked very extensive although I didn't order one. I would come back if only for the ribs, they were awesome. read more

The Rock On Third - Ribs plate during Royal Oak Restaurant Week (March 2014) - huge half rack of baby back ribs, coleslaw, potatoes, garlic bread. - New American Near Me - Royal Oak, Michigan

So yes, I know it's post covid and staff is sparse. I understand we all need to take a breath and be patient...but there still needs to be a level of service to adhere to and this place doesn't do it. We came in, it was busy but the sign said seat yourself and we found a table. We didn't have to wait too long for our server to show up and take our order. And our first round didn't take too long to get to our table, but the first bad sign? My beer wasn't cold. It wasn't awful, just not cold. So not really enjoyable. After that, our server disappeared. And here's the thing - she wasn't gone, she sure took care of the needy table next to us, but us? Ignored. again, and again, and again. We finally had another server say something to us, and she took over. uh....what? Anyway, she took our order and it took forever for my next beer to show. After that? I saw her multiple times just talking with guests, hanging out. Never saw the pizza we ordered till i waved her over and said kill my order, we're done. Her explanation? yeah, your pizza got delivered to the wrong table, i just had them make another. yea, no comp, no peace offering, nothing. I told her no, settle the tab. Oh yeah, that first waitress? She showed up to tell us, sorry, had to give up your table. what? is that a thing? F and U rock, you guys suck. Terrible service. And no, we weren't the only table going through it. You could see the look around us. read more

worst service I've ever had, I have a family owned business in royal oak. I will never recommend this place.

As a Michigan native, I was excited to bring close friends to this staple bar but after today's experience I can say not only will that never happen again but word of mouth will travel quickly. Extremely poor customer service - to the point of being yelled at by management. "I've never been spoken to so rude in my life," my friend replied after leaving. Save your time, and choose Fifth or Tequila Blue. Lost customer, and several to follow. read more

Staff is typically unfriendly - however drink prices are great for the area. It's somewhat hard to get seating for groups larger than 4. I would recommend this place for a last minute, simple night out. read more

I always have a good time in this bar. It's a strange mix of dive bar / casual bar / nice outside patio bar so it can fill lots of peoples choices. Very friendly and casual workers there that make the experience even more fun. The outside patio was added a few years ago and is fantastic. It was a little warm last time I was there so I hid inside, but I wouldn't miss it next time I'm there. Good juke box, dart boards, and tasty food. Oh - and the beer is cold. Sign me up. read more

Great neighborhood bar. Nick is my favorite bartender. Good deals on beer! They do a lot of $1 beer specials. The patio is nice! They just got new Dart board machines! Derrick at the door is always friendly! read more

This is by far the best pizza I have ever had! I got ham and onion and they shave the ham and fry it and then put on the pizza! The crust is so good. We love eating here, all the food is delicious read more

Casual, sports bar with tons of cold beers. There is a large variety of beers to choose from, from Michigan and other countries. my favorites are Dragons Milk, Dirty Blonde, and a few more. The drinks are inexpensive too. Their cocktails aren't strong or worth the price in my opinion. I enjoy their patio on a hot, summer day. Where you can watch people walk on the strip and in the parking lot. But if you're not into people watching or sitting outside, take a seat inside and you can watch a variety of sports games on one of their many TV's. It's one of the more chill/relaxing bars in royal oak. But it does fill up fast on the weekends The service isn't always super fast but just flag them down and they'll be at your table in a few minutes. read more

I have been here several times, but before now it was during a bar crawl when I had too much to really rate it. Located just off a corner from the main strip in Royal Oak. Limited pay street parking, nearby pay city lots. This is a classy "dive" bar. Simple inside, limited outdoors space, decent beer selection, cheap for the strip prices, friendly staff who are less uptight than the local servers usually are. A great place to drink with a nice staff for a little less, on a strip where it costs more. read more

Great elevated dive vibe. Quick service and clean bathrooms. Whole front is patio doors letting light and fresh air in. Definitely recommend for easy, low key drinks. read more

The Rock On Third - Hard cider on tap (was full to the brim when served) - New American Near Me - Royal Oak, Michigan

The Rock on Third is a great bar to hang out with friends and grab a drink at. The vibe inside is more of a country/ western vibe melded with a sports bar motif. There are plenty of TV screens inside and they usually have various games being displayed on them. In all of the craziness of the Royal Oak bar scene, The Rock on Third presents a good place for more chill hangouts and actually being able to talk to your friends while having a drink, not just a place for shots. Shots are still offered at The Rock On Third, in case you're wondering. The one negative aspect of The Rock on Third is that as it's quite popular, it can fill up quickly on Friday/ Saturday nights and it can be hard to find a place to set your drink down, let alone grab a table. However if you succeed in nailing the timing and grab a table, you're in for a great night of reasonably priced drinks and a good place to hang out. read more

Very cool bar. There is a kinda tall redhead manager that keeps yelling at customers. She was very angry and yelled at the servers which made us uncomfortable. Our server was great but the manager wouldn't relent. read more

We stopped here the other day wanting a bite to eat and a few drinks. Walked in, the place looks cool, there was sports on the tv...a good start. Service was quick, we got our drinks, yay! Then we ordered food. My french dip came, I take a bite and if underwhelmed had a flavor, it was this sandwich. Ok, not the best but I'm starving so I take another bite and that's when I notice the utterly weird taste. It was "I think I'll get food poisoning" bad tasting. I'm thinking maybe it's just this half of the sandwich and I take a bite out of the other half...nope, this is the weirdest tasting sandwich ever. To me, it tasted like it was cooked in leftover grill cleaner. I couldn't eat it. At all and I love french dips. My BF gave me some of his ribs and those weren't good either but at least they didn't taste of kitchen chemicals and possible stomach upset. I ended up ditching this after 3 bites and going over to Lockharts and getting some burnt ends. This is now on my list of places to only get drinks from, never ever food. read more

When I first moved to Royal Oak, many many years ago, I came here almost every day. The staff are friendly and who doesn't like good beer specials, and a windows that open in the summer? Through the course of time I simply moved on to other places to drink and/or hang out. These days, my hangout time is very limited (thank you job!) and I happened to be in Royal Oak Friday afternoon and decided to pop in to de-stress. The patio is pretty empty around 3:00 on a weekday, so I sat out back with my mini pizza and large bottle of Hacker Pschorr and had some me time. I like the pizza here. It isn't the best but it is good. I often forget exactly how many beers they offer. The bar should get props for this alone. I had such a calming great time that a few of us came back on Saturday but one of the fair skinned in my group didn't want to sit outside. OK, they have large windows that open so call it a trade off. We spent more of our Saturday here and can't wait to come back again. read more

The Rock On Third - 73 degrees, a patio and this beer - New American Near Me - Royal Oak, Michigan

See all

Bar food off the grill. Many different sandwiches. Turkey sandwich was hot and grilled rye bread so tasty. Good place to hang for drinks w friends and super close to Ridley's Comedy Castle. read more