The Players Retreat — Restaurant in Raleigh

I know everyone loves the PR Players Retreat. Amazing regulars and it's been one of THE spots for decades but...

If the owner could afford to keep the business closed for a year if the owner could afford to do renovations right before the grand reopening the owner can afford to pay their servers and bartenders more than the bare minimum of 2.13 an hour. The owners of that restaurant should be embarrassed. I know of other bars that would be lucky to make 15 to 20% of what they do but pay nearly three times more the hourly wage. I have worked in the service industry for years this is shameful shame shame shame. I don't care how good the tips are that is not the point the point is the owner is making bookoo-bookoo buck$ and can afford for his servers and bartenders to make more off of him not just his customers with tips. I didn't really want to work around alcohol and cigarette smoke anyhow but definitely won't be applying after seeing such a puny wage. How much you want to bet you have to tip out the bartender and the bus boys as a server too and you're only getting 2.13 an hour ridiculous y'all ridiculous. The tips aren't the point yes it's a great place with good people the tips are good and will probably be great since they were closed. The point is the owner's probably a millionaire and can afford for more of his employees to own homes vs renting it's just disgusting to me! I do respect the 15$ starting pay for cooks that higher than minimum wage should apply to the servers...

Ate here for the first time today and I can only say that it was not a pleasant experience. First and foremost the restaurant smelled like the bathroom which was quite nauseating and hard to get past. Can’t imagine why that entire section of the restaurant was practically empty…. Just awful! Second, the fries did not taste fresh but were dry and tough like they came straight out of a box and heated up before serving. No real flavor at all!! Interesting that another reviewers comments 4wks ago referenced the ‘dry’ fries and yet they’re still being served the same way. The wings were sub par and definitely tougher than they needed to be for enjoyment. To add insult to injury, when the bill came the charges on my ticket were incorrect as they did not match the pricing on the menu. When asked, the server fumbled with an answer as he couldn’t quite figure it out either. Come to find out, there were hidden charges for the sauces that I got on the side as opposed to on the wings… go figure! You’d think the server would have disclosed these ‘extra’ charges up front. But there should have been a separate line item on the bill. Finally, as we were leaving we noticed many of the tables outside were full of patrons, definitely more than inside. Aside from it being a hot day, wonder if the bathroom stench was too much for others as well!. With all of this, including the hard benches for seating and too many flies, it’s a hard pass for me (and our group) for returning to...

I’ve been coming here for 30 years. Maybe 40 visits altogether. It’s always been solid food with a nice atmosphere. I played pool as a kid and always have had fond memories. Tonight, I came with my grandmother and we were met later by some more family. No one came to our table for 10 min or so, so I got menus at the waitress stand, which was next to the table (see pic). I got up and flagged the waitress and we ordered waters. It was about 90 degrees and my grandmother is 85 but obviously we chose to sit outside. We got the waters 5 min later so about 15 min total for some water. My grandmother asked for a straw and I didn’t think the waitress heard so I got a straw, again from the waitress stand. She came back and asked me not to mess with her stand. Fair enough, I don’t want to wait on myself either. Anyways, her disdain was apparent throughout the entire meal, but she got through it. It was weird, just a clear terrible attitude and negativity towards her job. Everyone has bad days I guess. The food was pretty much all luke warm. I didn’t get dressing until I finished the salad, but, again, whatever. The final straw was the attitude she gave my mom at the end about splitting up the check. It was blatantly evident that it was all a big inconvenience and when you mess with my mom and let down my grandma, you get a bad review. Next time I’m in town, maybe we will come back and give them...