Cooleys Restaurant & Pub

Met a friend in FV and decided to celebrate her birthday at Cooley’s. I was unaware that it had changed locations, and when I found it, was totally disappointed with the entire establishment. Upon entering, I was underwhelmed by the décor, staff, and overwhelmed by grease and grime. It is not indicative of the Old, charming Cooley’s I fondly remember. Instead, it seems like they are cashing in on the reputation of yesteryear without any regard for the future. Waitress was adequate, and presented us with the old menu. Ordered fried chicken salad, and a club sandwich. Lettuce in salad was barely edible, and waitress forgot my friends side item. We ate in haste, and left in a short order totally depressed. What was once a charming southern destination, is now, an inferior greasy spoon. Yuk!

We’ve been to cooleys a few times and never really impressed, but always with a group that suggested it. Tonight when we were there with a fairly large party, my husband ordered the mushroom Swiss burger and it came out as an open burger (standard in order to place condiments on) and on top of the Swiss there was one mushroom. Just one. So when he asks the waitress if he could get some more mushrooms to top his mushroom Swiss burger, she brought out a big bowl, quite rudely, and then charged us extra for them. We won’t be going back to this restaurant again.

Super cute place that I wanted to like. Kind of disappointed. They have brunch until 2 on weekends. Steak and eggs for $ 8.49. The steak was really thin so I could see how it was hard to cook it medium rare. But it came w hash browns and toast too. Super full off mediocre food. My friend said her eggs Benedict was really really salty. Like she had 3 glasses of water with it. The waitress was kind of a faker baker and you could tell she didn’t want to be nice to us or even work there. Thanks for rolling your eyes at us and being super awkward. Probs won’t be back.

Went there tonight for the first time and will never go back! As soon as we (my husband and two young boys) walked in I knew it was going to be bad. It smelled like old grease and the floors were sticky. Your feet actually stick and make that sticking noise while walking.
The hostess brings the high hair, which was wooden and it was filthy and wicked sticky. So nasty, I just wanted to leave. The Décor was very dated and to top it off they had old vinyl table clothes, yuck!!!
We ordered anyways because at that point it was getting late. I had a chicken salad, nothing special. My husband had a Ruben, which gave him diarrhea; good times! And I ordered Mac & cheese for my two year old. I thought it would be at least home made, nope, 49 cent box Mac & cheese that they charged 4.99 for!
Stay home and make butter noodles, that will be way better

My boyfriend and I drive by here all the time and decided to stop in and actually check it out. Décor was a little dated, but felt homey. We were quickly seated and began to peruse the menu. So many things looked good, and we had a difficult time deciding.
Boyfriend opted for the hamburger steak with mashed potatoes and carrots, while I went for the chicken bacon mushrooms with a side salad and French fries. My salad arrived quickly with a loaf of bread that was soo yummy. The blue cheese dressing on my salad was so awesome and could tell it was housemade with nice large chunks of blue cheese. I’m a blue cheese fanatic, so I loved that fact.
Our server, Kristen, was outstanding. Friendly without being overbearing. Prompt service, attentive without being intrusive, and just a joy to have wait on us.
When our food arrived, we both dug in. Boyfriend kept commenting that this was by far one of the best homestyle dishes he’s had at a restaurant. My chicken was a little on the dry side, but still delicious. The moistness of the rice pilaf made up for it, though. The fries were a little bland, but some salt and pepper quickly perked them right up. The gravy on the hamburger steak was sooo good, a little salty, but balanced out the mashed potatoes beautifully. And the carrots were cooked to perfection in my opinion. They weren’t mush, so boyfriend didn’t care for them. His loss.
TL;DR: Place was excellent, and we are definitely going to be regulars. Already trying to figure out which dish I’m having next time, haha

I have been to this friendly, family owned restaurant twice so far, and I intend to go there many many more times. The food is homemade and delicious. The staff is great. I like the ambiance. Even when it’s full you don’t have to raise your voice to make conversation. The prices are very reasonable. I gave Cooley’s 5 stars because frankly, I couldn’t be happier with it!

Reasonably priced with enough variety to please everyone. My step dad usually gets fried seafood whole I usually opt for a burger. My mom likes to get any of the pasta dishes.
Reasonable beer selections and the wait staff is always pleasant.

Go too McDonald’s period paragraph it sucks The management and wait staff are obnoxious and rude. My wife and I have eaton there three times in 2014 and each time was worse than before. We made the mistake of ordering the large prime rib rare when I got it 24 minutes later 3 minutes after my Caesar salad frozen bread no butter. But that worked out great. Now I have time to eat my salad and have my bread warmed. Now my p. rib is back and cooked perfectly but is mostly fat and gristle, virtually non edible. My mother in law had seafood Alfredo and it was very bland and refused to eat it. The waitress took it back and we over heard some one in the kitchen screaming and cursing telling our waitress to tell us to just leave and don’t come back ! So we did and we won’t. Dave and Paula had a nice place before but it’s a sinking ship now. Good luck you guys I think that you may need it.

Cooley’s is part restaurant part bar. Visited for a late lunch on a Saturday. The décor isn’t anything to write home about but it is somewhat comfortable feeling. The bar area has a TV and although there is a half high wall between the bar area and the seating area you can still hear the TV, but not at a disturbing level. The waitress was pleasant and attentive.
The crab dip was better than expected but don’t expect big chunks of crab. Instead you will get a very creamy but tasty version of a crab dip served in a bread bowl. It is simplistic in nature in that you can taste crab and cream cheese but not a lot of ingredients that you will find in some dips such as peppers, artichoke, or celery. Simple but good.
I had the steak sandwich and was pleased by the quality of the meat and freshness of the bread. The fries that accompanied the sandwich were average fries. I ordered the sandwich medium rare but would recommend medium to aid in the ability to eat the sandwich without a knife or fork. My daughter had a salad with fresh battered chicken fingers. The salad was a larger but average iceberg lettuce salad with the sliced chicken figures on top.
Drink wise they have more bottled beers than draft options. Drafts are a mix of four commercial breweries and two local beers. The range of beer styles is ok so most folks should be able to find something to their liking. My daughter had iced tea and it was average to a bit above average in flavor.
Overall all a good average to slightly above average dining experience.

Had lunch here today and all was good. Our waitress suggested the chicken salad sandwich with broccoli soup and both we’re good. Had the potato skin appetizer also great.
The sweet tea is delicious. We had a great lunch here today.

Friendly, great food & a real local feel. Spinach artichoke dip, the cinnamon dip for the sweety potato fries., etc… yum!

What a surprise! I had minimal expectations but am so glad we gave Cooleys a shot while driving by.
It’s no-​frills with entertaining décor, but damn good food. The portions are huge, service was attentive, and we ended up eating way more than we planned. We couldn’t take any more food but wanted dessert, so our server was awesome and got some for us to go. She also gave us some good directions on how to keep it frozen until it was time to eat it.
We will definitely come back.

Delicious is an understatement. Wonderful service, seating for 9 in less than 5 minutes and the food came out hot and all at the same time. The best ranch!

Heard it was good so brought friends from out of town here while they were visiting for breakfast and was so embarrassed. It smelled like a dog and the food was nasty. I wish we had tried it before bringing our friends here. The carpet was dirty and everything seemed unclean. Food was either under or overlooked. Blah. Go to IHOP. Seriously.

Tried out Cooley’s (And Cooley’s Too, actually) on a trip to North Carolina, and had a great time both in terms of enjoying my food and enjoying the friendly wait staff. I had a Southwest Burger that I quite enjoyed at Cooley’s and a Cowboy Burger that was awesome at Cooley’s Too.
I had no issues with ambiance, smell, dull food, rudeness, or anything along those lines. It’s a mom and pop place to eat good food, and places like this deserve support.
I can barely pronounce the city this place is in, but I can most certainly recommend it if you’re in the area! Also, Wacky Wing Wednesdays!

The desserts are delicious! I have gotten a few different cheesecakes and have enjoyed everyone of them. The last time I was there I tried one of their chicken wraps and there was so much food I had two meals! It’s was really good!
I have not had a problem with the waitresses or service like some of the other comments I read. I have had a good experience every time I have gone there.

Horrible. Horrible…Horrible! I agree with previous reviewers that this is a place for senior citizens who eat dinner at 4pm & are slightly hard at hearing as the waitresses are nasty and unnecessarily rude. My husband and I both ordered burgers and fries and the burgers were both burnt and bland and our 5 fries each were dry and lukewarm. Better off grabbing a burger from Cookout! We have lived in Fuquay for 2yrs and have always been meaning to try this place but it will be 20 years before we step foot in this place again.

Again, you either have it or you dont… and, to be honest, I do not know what it is here in Fuquay… Everyone RAVES over Cooley’s…But, every time I have been in this restaurant, it looks dirty, the food is okay at best, and the waitresses are rude, nasty, and just plain NOT waitress material… More like waffle house material (just like the food)…
The first time we went to Cooley’s was when we first moved to Fuquay. I ordered their hamburger with french fries… The burger came out on a bun that looked like they had just pulled it out of the food lion bag and placed a burnt patty on top (no cheese, when I had wanted cheese) and they sent a little packet of mayo so I even had to garnish the burger myself… The fries were cold and looked as if they had taken them off of someone’s plate that didnt eat them, and I kid you not, there were only 10 fries on the plate… That’s it, no garnish, nothing to make it look pretty… Nothing. (and, for all of this, the price for the burger and fries was $ 7.99)
If you are thinking of going here I would advise you go to the local Waffle House, you will get better service…

Let me preface this review by stating that I have grown up in fuquay and remember the days when the downtown cooleys was one of the only places to eat in town; as such, I really wanted this food to be good. I really, really wanted to have a quality meal that I could enjoy with my friend, but, sadly, this desire was simply a figment of my imagination.
Let’s make this quick…
1– place smells terrible; kind of like a wet shoe
2– waitstaff is rude and acts as if you are a burden
3– two orders of chicken tenders took 25 min and only three or four other groups were eating there
4– the AC duct was leaking fluid on our table
5– did I mention this place smells terrible?
I wouldn’t suggest this establishment to anyone, sadly. Next time, I am going to just settle for some fast food.
Get this place together or fuquay will beg for the return of a Chinese buffet!

Cooley’s was a decent spot to visit while in the area. It is definitely a local’s place that appears to have been around for a while.
Atmosphere — Small town, green (as in vinyl), Hodgepodge of booths and tables, dated, friendly, many a local.
Food — I had the burger and «Chipsters.» The burger was delicious and tasted liked it was made in house and not brought in frozen. It was thick and cooked as ordered. The accompanying bun was a perfect complement to the homemade taste of the burger. The «Chipsters» like Joe K mention «…homemade potato chips that can be awesome… if they’re crispy and hot still, they will make you change your religion». Well my order was and dipping them in the requested ranch was religious indeed.
Service — It was an excellent mix of attitude and humor. Everything we ordered came quickly and hot.
Price — Burger, Chipsters, and Ice Tea — $ 8.68 + Tip
Overall — I can see where this place could be hit or miss. On my visit, it was a hit.