Rookees
Despite my earlier recommendation of The Big Lebowski and the fact that I wore my Achiever t-shirt today in preparation, I didn't end up going to the movie tonight. Instead I got an invitation to watch my home state Gonzaga Bulldogs battle Dick Vitale's Duke Blue Devils. Needing a little bit of social interaction and the opporunity to yell at the TV, I chose college basketball over The Jesus.
While weighing the pitiful sports bar options of Ventura we remembered that Rookees recently opened downtown. Ever since their cool new neon sign appeared we have been curious to see what this mysterious space would eventually become. We knew it would be a sports bar, and a big one at that, but we were unprepared to find a chic sports lounge that's more ESPNZone than Benchwarmers, which is both good and bad.
The Good: Rookees is one big, dark room without any obstacles and virtually nothing to distract you from watching the big game other than the waitresses and bartenders. Because of this, Rookees is going to be a great place with great energy to watch events like the SuperBowl, March Madness or, well, just about anything else.
There are a ton of big HDTVs spaced evenly throughout the room featuring a wide assortment of events. No matter where you sit, you are able to watch any game currently being aired. Tonight we had the Gonzaga/Duke game on the TV in front of us, the Packers/Vikings to our right and the BYU/Oregon game to our left and all three were easy to see without straining or squinting. Add in TVs in the bathroom and your viewing needs are satisfied and then some.
The bar is full service with a long list of fancy mixed drinks and martinis and whatnot plus quite a few tasty beers on tap. The food was good, we had the Mac & Cheese and a Meat Lovers Pizza. Neither item was anything special, but it wasn't bad either and I would order both again.
The Bad: When I first arrived, one of the TV's in our area was off, another was on a skateboarding show and the other was showing the football game. Getting them to switch the channel to the Zags game was a chore in itself. First the waitress told me that once the channels were set, they couldn't be changed. When I asked if she knew if the game would be on one of the TVs in the bar, she replied that she didn't know anything about sports. Finally, after asking my waitress, a hostess, a bartender, a manager and yet another manager (possibly the owner), they managed to find the correct channel and got our game up on the big screen.
It seems that they haven't figured out how to run their DirecTV service yet because not only did it take ten minutes for them to figure out how to get our game up, the other games being aired had their problems. The feed of the Packers/Vikings game cut out for a couple minutes during a crucial fourth quarter drive. People started to get pissed, chanting erupted, and a "don't make me go to Cronies" was yelled. Not a good thing to happen at a new sports bar with a bunch of first timers in attendance.
About the food, like I said before, nothing was particularly special. It's standard sports bar fare with a jacked up price to fit the atmosphere. Again, it was decent, but not unique in any way and ultimately disappointing for a brand new restaurant trying to make it's mark.
Also, When asked what beers they had on tap, our waitress sighed and rolled her eyes. This happened not once, or twice, or even three times, but as other people in our group slowly filtered in, she rolled her eyes at us four different times. The beers are not listed on their drink menu so asking what they had on tap is a natural question and not one that should be treated with contempt by the waitstaff.
I don't know if Rookees is consciously trying to fill the Hooters void in Ventura, but it's obvious that the waitresses were not hired because of their customer service skills or sports knowledge. I guess our waitresses' short skirt and Ugg Boots should have tipped me off to that fact.
Overall: Rookees is a good concept and fills a serious need in this city, but right now, the execution is a little bit off. If they can get the kinks ironed out, Rookees is going to be one of my favorite bars and should become a destination for Ventura sports fans, dirty old men and other assorted meat heads.
While weighing the pitiful sports bar options of Ventura we remembered that Rookees recently opened downtown. Ever since their cool new neon sign appeared we have been curious to see what this mysterious space would eventually become. We knew it would be a sports bar, and a big one at that, but we were unprepared to find a chic sports lounge that's more ESPNZone than Benchwarmers, which is both good and bad.
The Good: Rookees is one big, dark room without any obstacles and virtually nothing to distract you from watching the big game other than the waitresses and bartenders. Because of this, Rookees is going to be a great place with great energy to watch events like the SuperBowl, March Madness or, well, just about anything else.
There are a ton of big HDTVs spaced evenly throughout the room featuring a wide assortment of events. No matter where you sit, you are able to watch any game currently being aired. Tonight we had the Gonzaga/Duke game on the TV in front of us, the Packers/Vikings to our right and the BYU/Oregon game to our left and all three were easy to see without straining or squinting. Add in TVs in the bathroom and your viewing needs are satisfied and then some.
The bar is full service with a long list of fancy mixed drinks and martinis and whatnot plus quite a few tasty beers on tap. The food was good, we had the Mac & Cheese and a Meat Lovers Pizza. Neither item was anything special, but it wasn't bad either and I would order both again.
The Bad: When I first arrived, one of the TV's in our area was off, another was on a skateboarding show and the other was showing the football game. Getting them to switch the channel to the Zags game was a chore in itself. First the waitress told me that once the channels were set, they couldn't be changed. When I asked if she knew if the game would be on one of the TVs in the bar, she replied that she didn't know anything about sports. Finally, after asking my waitress, a hostess, a bartender, a manager and yet another manager (possibly the owner), they managed to find the correct channel and got our game up on the big screen.
It seems that they haven't figured out how to run their DirecTV service yet because not only did it take ten minutes for them to figure out how to get our game up, the other games being aired had their problems. The feed of the Packers/Vikings game cut out for a couple minutes during a crucial fourth quarter drive. People started to get pissed, chanting erupted, and a "don't make me go to Cronies" was yelled. Not a good thing to happen at a new sports bar with a bunch of first timers in attendance.
About the food, like I said before, nothing was particularly special. It's standard sports bar fare with a jacked up price to fit the atmosphere. Again, it was decent, but not unique in any way and ultimately disappointing for a brand new restaurant trying to make it's mark.
Also, When asked what beers they had on tap, our waitress sighed and rolled her eyes. This happened not once, or twice, or even three times, but as other people in our group slowly filtered in, she rolled her eyes at us four different times. The beers are not listed on their drink menu so asking what they had on tap is a natural question and not one that should be treated with contempt by the waitstaff.
I don't know if Rookees is consciously trying to fill the Hooters void in Ventura, but it's obvious that the waitresses were not hired because of their customer service skills or sports knowledge. I guess our waitresses' short skirt and Ugg Boots should have tipped me off to that fact.
Overall: Rookees is a good concept and fills a serious need in this city, but right now, the execution is a little bit off. If they can get the kinks ironed out, Rookees is going to be one of my favorite bars and should become a destination for Ventura sports fans, dirty old men and other assorted meat heads.
posted by Brandon @ 10:59 PM
1 Comments:
Thanks for the review! Sounds like the TVs are good, but we'll have to settle for so-so service, per usual in Ventura.
And thanks for the linkey-goodness!
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