Raleigh’s

Came for lunch with the Mrs., I had a grilled chicken sandwich and she had a bacon burger. Both sandwiches were big and good.
Side not, this was review that was made in 2010

Best burger on Telegraph road!!!
I love this place, I spent so many evening there, watching games and sipping beers. THe food is great, I even took my kids there 10 years after being a student, they loved it too.

This place was like that bar in How I Met Your Mother, where you’d meet up with your friends all the time and enjoy a drink.
They had a tap card so if you tried all the beers, you would get your photo on the walla nd a t-​shirt.
Super sad that the place burned down. Whenever they open again, be sure to check it out. And hopefully start a new tap card.

You amazing old-​timey bar, why are you gone?
I was just at Raleigh’s the week before it burnt down. Good beers, good ales, cheap pints. Gorgeous interior and loungey design for a college bar. It’s rather tragic that such a reliable bar has left the area.

This is my favorite pub in the East Bay, loved the food especially.
I just read in the Daily Californian that both Raleighs and Café Intermezzo are planning to re-​open in tents on/​near their original sites by May 2012!

Since my last review, Raleigh’s has become my go-​to place. If any of you watch How I Met Your Mother, it’s kind of like the McLarens for me and my closest friends. Therefore, Raleigh’s will always have a special place in my heart.
I’m not sure how much damage the fire caused and whether Raleigh’s will reopen in the same building or a new establishment, but an iconic Berkeley tradition has been lost. ¹³⁄₄₃ done on the tap card, and a lot more to go for me. Let’s hope that the spirit of Raleigh’s lives on and they rebuild as quickly as they can.
Tonight, I will sip my beer quietly in solidarity with all that Raleigh’s stands for in the hope that I can one day return and have the same amazing experience they provided me during my senior year of college

Raleigh’s has a large dining area and a friendly they have over 20 beers on draft pours are not just pints but 24 ouncers, that’s 50% more than other pubs and at a cheaper price!
flatscreens tuned to sports. cool ambience of handrawn «posters» of beers available on the walls near the ceiling.
there’s a «kill the keg» promo where 3 brews are 3. not sure when this is effective. menu is burgers, mex eats, flatbreads, and some chicken.
pour: black butt porter, deutsche (4)
–dark brew, filling, not guiness-​like, smooth.
on draught
–friendly, efficient staff
–amiable patrons

So it’s back, or it never left. Staff is the same, name just flip-​flopped from Raleigh’s to Manny’s and back to Raleigh’s.
The food is still the same, the beer on tap: unchanged. The same ol’ tap room with the same televisions, the same ambiance, and the same amazing back patio.
Stop by for a beer or 10.

Raleigh’s was one of the go-​to bars for drinks after work on Fridays when I lived in Berkeley. Cheap beer, lots of seating, and the oh so delicious BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger equaled a very enjoyable evening. They even have shuffleboard!
There are two things you should know about this place:
1. They don’t take credit or debit cards, so bring cash!
2. There are only three bathrooms, and they are disgusting and smell like outhouses. Be prepared for long lines. On my first trip to Rayleigh’s, I watched a girl, um, relieve herself in front of me.
One of my most memorable experiences here was on my birthday. As mentioned in a few reviews, if the bar finds out it’s your birthday you have to chug an ice cold Guinness while standing on top of the bar. I am absolutely terrible at chugging alcohol, but I still got on top of that bar and I chugged that Guinness like a champ (well, maybe not like a champ, but I still drank the whole thing!). I felt like garbage afterwards, but the cheers of everyone at the bar made it all worthwhile.
Don’t expect this place to be fancy, but expect to have a good time.

I finally understand why you are so middle of the road, Raleigh’s.
Let’s be clear. Raleigh’s does not accept credit cards. Yes, they are a full service restaurant that also is a bar. Yet, they will not take your AMEX or MC or Visa. This isn’t a huge deal, but sort of out of character for a place that has that many pages on its menu.
Love the beer list. Yes, I do. And their pitcher prices are so reasonably at $ 14 a pop. That’s basically a $ 3.5 pint. Count me in.
The beer garden in the back is a plus. Sadly, it was devoid of life forms the last time I was there.
Ok, I feel differently now than I did before. Raleigh’s, you are a-​ok. Just start taking credit cards again.

I have fond memories of this bar from my time as an undergrad at Cal. Raleigh’s definitely has the bar feel that isn’t trashy and serves probably some of the best burgers in the east bay. Every time I visit Berkeley now, I have to go to Raleigh’s to get some beer.
BEER SELECTION
Pretty good selection! They have all different kinds of beer to suit anybody’s fancy. Prices aren’t too bad, and service is awesome. We came here for the World cup final last year, and the place was awesome. If you’re in the mood to try all different kinds of beer, go for their Tap Card challenge… where you have to drink 40+ different beers in a year and you get a t-​shirt and your picture on the wall.
FOOD
As far as bar food goes, amazing food at Raleigh’s. I love the burgers here… especially the avocado swiss bacon burger. The onion rings are amazing too… huge size and the right amount of batter. The seasoned fries are hit or miss… I love ordering them, but sometimes, there’s too much seasoning, and you end up drinking a lot more beer than you expected (maybe that’s their plan).
The Nachos with chicken are a really good appetizer too, huge platter that can easily serve parties up to 4 or 5 people. I had the Chicken wings last night, and they were definitely pretty salty as far as wings go. They just started serving pizza several months ago, and they’re not half bad
ENVIRONMENT
Typically, most bars like Kip’s are pretty trashy, I think. I’ve been there couple times, and it was just dirty, loud, and the beer was watered down. NOT AT RALEIGH’S! Like i said before, definitely a great bar environment… we’ve come here to watch sporting events too, and it’s amazing. They have a beer garden area outside in the back too that’s great for warm days where you want to sit outside and drink cold beer. The service is great, and has been every time i’ve gone. Overall, my favorite bar in Berkeley.
–Pchris

What a great local pub! Not only does it have a great selection of beers on tap, but they have shuffle board, plenty of seating, appropriate prices, nice staff, and a dope patio out back! The patio is my favorite part, so check it out and grab a seat!
The atmosphere is really chill, fun, and casual which is just what I’d expect out of a solid pub. It was someone’s birthday the night and as a tradition, they give the birthday person a beer and they have to stand on the bar and chug it in front of everyone. How fun!
I was really impressed with the back patio area because they grill food out there, have another bar, and plenty of seating. They have a good variety of sandwiches, salads, and pub food on their menu. The patio is an awesome backyard, filled with hanging lights, palm trees, a fountain, and a beautiful garden surrounding the entire thing. It does close at 10pm but that is because there are apartment buildings neighboring the patio. Don’t want to upset anyone with noise at night. I’m excited to come back again because this just may be my new favorite local pub!

Pros, cheap beer, and if you’re over 25 or so you can feel young again because they aggressively card people here. We showed up on a Sunday and just as the clock struck 10 they yelled out to everyone that everyone needed to show ID and get a handstamp to remain in the place.
Cons, lackluster food. I got a ‘hot pastrami’ sandwich and not only was the pastrami not hot but the bread was also not toasted. I ended up just ditching all the bread and eating the filling. Not terribly cheap either.
Suggestion: Go to Beckett’s instead, or if you’re in Berkeley on a Friday, hit up Beat the Clock instead (a more iconic Berkeley tradition) and then hit up Thai House to soak up the booze afterwards.

How I want to like this place, but oh, the disasters of customer service here. I had the opportunity to try Raleigh’s twice in one week. The food and the beer are perfectly average fare, a firm 3 – 3.5 stars, but wow was the customer service at the DISASTER level.
Visit #1: The waitress was so incredibly rude for our entire encounter. Very long breaks, never came back to order more beer. Our order came out 100% wrong, and she didn’t really care. We had to insist that we’d like her to bring what we’d actually ordered. Practically threw the check at us without a friendly word or thanks. It was so bad, we didn’t even leave a tip… that’s a rarity for me.
Visit #2: The waiter was very nice, however, he appeared to be responsible for about 20 tables inside and another 15 outside. Needless to say, it took 10 minutes to get a menu (when I got one myself), another 20 to place a drink order, another 20 after that to get our beers. We literally had been sitting there 50 minutes before we got a drink. I’m glad I was catching up with a friend. The waiter was great and actually comped us a bit because he felt bad for us. Raleigh’s: please hire enough staff.
Overally, again, the food is fine, but the service can be a disaster. The beer selection is really good. This place has potential!
Oh, and FYI, they no longer take credit card. They probably got their credit card privileges taken away for trying to charge a $ 1 fee for using a card which was illegal under their contract with the credit card companies.

I’ve been here a number of times, but I’ve never actively craved their food enough. That being said, I’m usually only here when whoever I’m with decides to eat here.
Atmosphere: Pub like… there are a good number of seats inside and a nice patio outside. When it’s not busy, you seat yourself
Food: The food here is pretty satisfying, and the prices aren’t bad. The Philly Cheesesteak is really flavorful but goodness is it oily. Their nachos are more on the meh side –they kind of look like the nachos you can make in your kitchen with the simplest ingredients. Cajun fries are SPICY. I’ve tried other stuff but I can’t remember anything great or bad about them. Overall, the food is good for the price.
Drinks: Wide selection of Beer and a fewer selection of wines. No complaints here. People really like their margaritas but I just think theyre okay.
Service: Depends on when you go. The last time I was here it was right before peak dinner hours so our waitress was attentive and helpful. Other times when it’s busier you can expect to wait just a little bit longer. Overall though the servers here are friendly.
Overall: Would definitely recommend as a place to get a good beer, but not necessarily a place for food.

Raleigh’s. Manny’s Taproom. Raleigh’s… what the heck? I am going to ignore those shenanigans…
— — –
Food: Out of four possible stars: two stars.
I was not impressed with the overall menu, other than a couple of flatbread dishes. The caesar salad flatbread is a good light lunch, and the steak flatbread is a more filling and substantial option. Everything else is standard bar food fare.
To be honest, no one comes to Raleigh’s for the food. It’s all about the beer.
— — –
Miscellaneous: Out of one possible star: one star.
Any restaurant with a huge Cal flag gets a star in my book.

SERVICE: ²⁄₅
I came here for the Super Bowl … after realizing that Blakes closed down. Without Blakes, this was the place we my buddies and I chose to go to for the game. The place wasn’t even that packed with people, yet the service was slow and not-​so-​great. In fact, the lady told us she would come with our checks, but never did. We had to ask again after 30 minutes… I mean there was no rush, since we were staying for the rest of the game, but if you were going to come with the check, then come with the check! After we requested our checks, she mixed ours up with a different table. CASH ONLY!
FOOD: ²⁄₅
I was really hungry before the game so I ordered a burger, which didn’t turn out to be very good. I remember I came here a few years ago with friends to try it out, and I left very unimpressed. To contrast, the burgers at Blake’s were great. Yeah, sure, I don’t expect too much out of pubs/​bars for food, but my friend couldn’t even finish his sandwich OR salad because he thought it tasted funky. No wonder their food selection isn’t that great… I guess they just don’t expect many people to order it.
SETTING: ¹⁄₅
You would think that if you came here to watch the game, you’d be able to see the TV right? Not quite… at least for Raleigh’s. We were situated at the side booths and there were these pillars obstructing half of our booth’s view. And the ones who didn’t have an obstructed view, had to turn their bodies to be able to see. They do have a lot of TVs (even had projectors set up for the Super Bowl), but they were too far for our booth to see anything. The closest one was obstructed by those damn pillars.
BEER: ⁴⁄₅
They have a nice selection of beer and overall, it was a fun night… it helped that Aaron Rodgers – I mean – the Packers won, I guess? Go Bears!

If I reviewed Raleigh’s while going to school I would have given it 4 or 5 stars. Based on my last experience though, it gets 3.
I used to LOVE Raleigh’s on Thursday nights when going to Cal (this is when Bear’s Lair was closed for renovations). The atmosphere, beer selection, & food were top notch.
Since moving back to the bay area a couple years ago I’ve been to Raleigh’s a few times on game days (I think one time was during the «Manny’s Tap Room» days… what was that all about?), but recently was probably the first time I had been there in close to a year, and to be honest I was a bit disappointed.
I met a friend here for lunch, and the place itself hasn’t changed. That’s a good thing! Raleigh’s is a «pub» atmosphere with wood furniture, plenty of seating, and a very nice patio, which is a great place to hang out when the weather is nice (which was the case the last time I was here).
Unfortunately, the quality of the food and the beer selection has changed. Actually, according to there menu Raleigh’s still does have an extensive (and great) beer selection. However, when I was here very little seemed to be on tap. I took me FIVE tries (no joke) to order a beer off the menu before I was actually able to get to one they had available. Like I said, I hadn’t been here in awhile and not having several beers available listed on the menu may not be the norm, but it was on this day, and that’s all I have to go by.
As for the food, it wasn’t bad, but I remember Raleigh’s having REALLY good burgers and salads! The Baja burger I ordered this last time was just kind of blah (the guacamole wasn’t very flavorful) and the fries weren’t hot.
Based on this past experience, I’d still hang out at Raleigh’s for a beer or two on a nice day, but I’m in no hurry to go back.

Stopped by here for a brew and snacks with friends (with child), and we also met up with another friend (with child). Notice I mention that my friends had kiddies. Yeah, «Uncle Corey» was in full effect! (I think I’ll forever be an «Uncle Corey» to my friend’s kids).
This looks like a nice bar which sways toward the sports end with all the TVs with sports on them. We bypassed the main bar area and went to the patio out back (it was August, yo!). It was a little chilled in here, but we were able to MacGyver a heater to help us out.
They have a decent beer selection (I went with a Lost Coast Brewery Great White — Humboldt County represent!). Our server was more than nice and accommodating seeing that we were one of the only groups with kids.
We had a nice round and wooden table which offered us a perfect venue for hanging and chatting (and for a 2yr-​old-​girl to play with salt shakers).

I was really craving a burger so the bf decided to take me here because he claimed that the burgers were really good.
The restaurant was really empty and it seemed like most people were sitting outside on the patio, but because my allergies were killing me we had to sit inside instead): and our table was wobbly):
I ordered the The Old Blue Burger which was just a regular burger with blue cheese on it, and the bf ordered the swiss, avocado, and bacon burger with the bacon on the side. For the sides we got onion rings with one burger and a caesar salad with the other.
I really enjoyed my blue cheese burger because I’m in love with blue cheese, but it wasn’t any different from any other blue cheese burger I’ve had (and doesn’t compare to the amazing blue cheese burger I had in lake tahoe at Berts, nommerz). The side of caesar salad was mediocre, but all side caesar salads are the same anyways.
The swiss, avocado, bacon burger was pretty good too, but the bf complained that it wasn’t hot enough. He also ordered the bacon on the side and it looked soggy and disgusting, but I also hate bacon so that isn’t saying much. They gave us 4 onion rings total on the side, and when I asked for bbq sauce they took forever to bring it out to us): By the time they had brought it we had already finished our meal and were waiting for the check.
Overall the burgers were good and the ambiance was nice. I wouldn’t say that they were the best burgers I’ve had but they are decently priced and big.
Might come back to try something else, or to come back at night!