The Red Rooster

After driving by this place for more than a year, some friends and I decided to try The Red Rooster on a lazy Sunday afternoon. This is the old Taco Mac location on Broad St., or the old Steak & Ale location for the folks who have been in Athens a while.
The outside of the restaurant had such a rundown and unkempt appearance we all thought it was closed, a quick peek in the front door proved they were indeed open.
Once we got inside, the general rundown theme continued. Not the fake kind of distressed you see in many chain places, but honest-​to-​goodness wear and tear on an old facility. We sat in the bar area and changed tables a couple of times trying to find the least wobbly, a fruitless effort.
The waitress was halfway through her second day at the restaurant and was sick to boot, but was very pleasant. Drink service was a bit slow, we sat with empty glasses for more than five minutes several times. We had to exchange one of our draft beers for a bottled version of the same brand, it obviously been a while since that tap had been opened. This was accomplished with no fuss or trouble.
We started with an order of 10 mild wings ($ 6.95, comes with fries) and cheese fries ($ 3.99) to start, both came in reasonable time and were good sized portions. The wings were particularly tasty, crispy, not soaked in sauce, and with just the right bite. The cheese fries were a solid 5 out of 10.
Entrees were average, a chicken burrito ($ 6.50), a beef burrito ($ 7.50) and a Buffalo burger came to our table after a very short wait, exactly as we finished our appetizers. I’m guessing this was a coincidence, but hey, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. Nothing outstanding here, average entrees not offensive in any way but lacking anything to distinguish them from any other of the many restaurants that have the same fare in Athens. The fries that came with the hamburger were some of the best seasoned I’ve had in a while, but the black beans and rice with the burritos were almost devoid of seasoning. I’ve had better examples of each from a can.
One part of our visit I didn’t think about until we were leaving, while we were sitting in the bar area, a group of obvious local regulars had come in and were very boisterous. It doesn’t bother me, but I can see where everything being an «MF’er» could bother some. This was a very popular word with the group, one fellow in particular used it in almost every sentence, I observed him use it as a noun, pronoun, adjective, verb, and in one particularly interesting sentence describing his employer, an adjective of it’s own use as a pronoun. I’m 35, so I’m guessing I’m older than many of their usual patrons, but do you really want bar customers screaming obscenities while people are trying to enjoy dinner?
The wings were by far the best part of the trip, but aren’t the best in Athens by a long shot. The Red Rooster offers decent food at fair prices, but it’s nothing I would go out of my way to eat. Definitely try it if you are in the neighborhood, but don’t have too much in the way of expectations. This restaurant is a high «2» on the Unilocal rating scale, but has too much holding it back to make a «3».