Roosters Alameda

Nope.

We came here to support a friend's band.  Never again.  

Sketch location, tons of people loitering all down the block, and two bouncers at the door.  Awesome.  We head in and pay a $10 cover charge.  It's a little steep for the type of show we are at, but the place looks divey so we hope drinks will be cheap to compensate.  Wrong.  Well drinks are weak, and way overpriced.  

I've never, ever, seen a bar with an actual line.  With a queue.  And ropes.  No, it isn't just a window--it's a full wrap around bar.  It was bizarre. I figured this was to help speed up service but the wait for booze was still painfully long.

I kept hearing that the food was good, but frankly, I'd already paid a cover and spent far too much attempting to drink away the awkward and I wasn't up to shell out even more for a sandwich.

Bottom line: I really wanted to like Roosters.  I just didn't.

I went here to see a band play recently. I honestly feel like i wasted my night off coming here. I ordered food and sat down...before I could even take a bite, i was yelled at to get up and show my ID at the door. Um.. i have no problem doing that but this place was completely dead. The right thing to do, would have either been to check my ID at the table or wait until I was done eating since I was a paying customer. There were about 6 flat screens with a digital silhouette of a girl dancing inappropriately. The guy at the door was really rude to me, but then apologized for being rude 2 minutes later. I took a deep breath and decided to give the place a chance. I proceeded to watch the band play and could hear the employees talking negatively about the band and the elderly couple eating together. I was honestly shocked and decided not to spend another dime. I went into the bathroom prior to leaving and it was unsanitary. The only nice person in the whole bar was the sound guy. The only positive thing about this place is the quality of sound. This place is probably one of the worst bars I have ever been to, it definitely needs to be on that show "Bar Rescue".

We love Roosters and the owners Steve and Jocelyn. They are good people and have treated us so well over the years.

If you are looking for a fancy, hipster hot spot, this is not the place for you. However, if you are looking for a wide variety of live music, good food, reasonably priced drinks and cool owners, you are in the right spot!

I think a lot of the bad reviews have to do with when people go or people are  expecting something this place doesn't even pretend to be. They have live music most nights and it spans the gamut from high school garage bands to metal to 80's cover bands to a 20 piece big band. If you go on a night when a bunch of teenagers and/or drunken 20 somethings are there you will probably pay a cover charge, get patted down by bouncers, stand in line for beer, etc. I don't blame Steve and Jocelyn for keeping a tight lid on those nights. They don't want any trouble. If you go to the big band on Wednesday or the jazz band on Thursday it is nothing like this because those aren't the kind of crowds that come for those shows. The cover charge at the door is set by the bands, not by the owners, so if you don't like the cover charge, don't blame the establishment.

That being said, the Bob Enos big band on Wednesdays is AMAZING. Every Wednesday Bob Enos and his 18-20 piece big band, Soundwave big band play and they are not to be missed. Truly incredible, world-class talent and absolutely free! There is a jazz band playing the 1st/3rd/5th Thursdays of the month and they too are incredible and free. Most Fridays and Saturdays they have live music - anything from classic rock to cover bands to metal.

Besides the great live music, the food is really good and very affordable too. Jocelyn's lumpia is great, the pulled chicken is awesome, burgers are good.

We even had our wedding reception here. We eloped and had a lot of angry family members so we decided to just throw a big, informal party. Steve and Jocelyn closed the place down for us on a Saturday and we had, hands-down, the most fun party I could have imagined. We had about 100 guests and people are still telling us, two years later, that it was the best reception/party they have ever attended. Jocelyn went all out on the food (she made +700 pieces of lumpia and they were gone so fast that neither of us even got a single piece!) and everyone loved it.

Check out Rooster's for yourself and don't let all the poser hipsters scare you away with their negative reviews. Appreciate Roosters for what it is and enjoy it!