Rookies Pub & Grill

Always a good time at Rookies. The food is good and we love their cheese curds and salads. They have plenty of craft beers on tap and we especially like the fact that they sometimes carry local favorites from Oig Minds Brewery. They have a small out door dining area that we enjoy sitting and watch the action in downtown Rockton. My wife likes to order their pizzas and we have yet to have one we did not like. This bar is a great place to watch sporting events like Hawks, Bears and Cubs games!

Great service and better than average pub grub. The selection of beer is quite large. The sandwich wraps are excellent as are the specialty salads, woodfire pizzas, and sushi. You can’t go wrong here.

Good food! My boyfriend had the monster Bloody Mary meal and he really liked it and I had the caprese burger, the only thing is I would add another slice of cheese and put it on ciabatta.

Great food — those tots!!! Staff is always friendly and service is fast. We will be back.

Pretty decent bar food! We ordered 10 wings (69 cents apiece on Wednesdays), half of them with a Honey BBQ Jack Daniels flavoring and the other half with Teriyaki flavoring. Unfortunately the wings weren’t as good as at other places in the area (The Firehouse Pub) since the sauce was just poured on top liberally, causing large puddles to be made without evenly coating the wings. However, the wings were pretty big and came out hot, which was nice!
The beer selection was also fairly diverse. Lots on tap to choose from, and the tap handles on the ceiling was a nice piece of decoration that also served the purpose of displaying previous beer options!
Now onto my main dish. I ordered a South of the Border Burger, which featured a number of spicy components. Sliced jalapeños and onion rings on top of a burger with chipotle cheese was delicious, with a satisfying crunch in every bite. The spice was present without being overpowering. The burger came with a side of tater tots and all in all, I was quite happy with the meal.
Unfortunately, our meals came out about a minute after the wings were delivered, and our waitress apologized for our entrees coming out faster than intended. This prompted us to wolf down the wings in order to make room on the table for the burgers. Apart from that though, the service was great! Our drinks were filled and our waitress frequently checked in to make sure everything was satisfactory.
I would go back to Rookies again, but not before I tried other places in the area. Nothing about the experience was particularly outstanding, leading me to want to be a little adventurous and try other places first. I would however recommend Rookies to a friend looking for a bar in the area!

This has turned into such a gem for me! I didn’t feel that way immediately, but you have to give a good business a chance. This is my favorite hometown place, thank God, cause I was running low on hope. I love everything I have tried so far! I love the service. I love that you are local to me. I love a lot of other things about your place I won’t put in writing because it will be offensive to other local businesses. Keep doing what you are doing :)

I’ve never heard of a Russian Muse. But, I really liked it. I had the mixed berry one. I love the cold, cold mug! We ordered nachos, I was a tad disappointed in the size, however they were very good. I do think the menu looks phenomenal and I look forward to trying something else.
Great atmosphere, friendly server and food came out fresh. Not much more to say other than, I highly recommend it, you won’t be disappointed.
Great website too, I like when I can see pictures of the food. That burger though!!!

Oh Rookies, I wanted so desperately to love you. When I come into Rockford to visit my parents, we always end up driving long distances to go out to eat since there aren’t a lot of good local options in Rockton. With a massive craft beer list (LOVE!) and wood fire pizzas, I thought Rookies was going to be our new local go to, but the food was very lackluster.
We tried:
— shrimp tacos, which were okay but served with a small portion of tater tots
–spinach and artichoke pizza, also just okay
–chicken bacon ranch pizza, served cold
–bacon wrapped shrimp
Overall, the pizzas we ordered had plentiful, high-​quality toppings, but a poor tomato sauce base and pitiful pre-​packaged crust made them flavorless and boring, even after being cooked in a wood pizza oven. The crusts are clearly not made on site and taste like a stale old cracker. Rookies has spent so much time creating a number of interesting toppings combinations for their signature pizzas, that I’m not sure why they would waste their time with such a poor quality pre-​packaged crust. I wouldn’t order one again until they’ve upped their game.
The service was great — our server was very attentive, especially when we took a while to decide on our beers and had a guest join after the initial round of drinks was ordered. She was apologetic about the cold pizza delivered to our table and quickly took care of it.
Overall, I didn’t find my new local dining spot, but I did find a low key local sports bar to catch the game with friends or meet up for a great brew. The beer list was extensive for a local bar and the prices weren’t bad either. I’ll be back for a drink!

This place is awesome. Excellent service, terrific food and a great craft beer selection with 20 taps. Not exactly cheap, but well worth the moderate price. The daily specials are notable. Not what you’d expect in a small town establishment. Recommended.

I don’t mind paying for quality food. Rookies charges u quality prices for inadequate food. For instance the burgers are frozen and pizza is just slapped together. it just seems like there is no love in the food. It taste like nothing is from scratch. They must order there meats and products from Sysco.
To make things worse the service was horrible. For example I waited 40mins for my dinner with no apology. Plus the waitress got the order wrong.
I will never go back there! I couldn’t believe it.

I’ve been here acouple times. The first 2 times were great!!! The last 2 times, not so much. I had wings and they were horrible, dry, small, and no meat. Than today, I had a pizza that was even worse. I had the pizza 1 of the first 2 times I was here and it was amazing. I believe they changed the crust to a premade frozen crust. The cheese was cold, the sausage was pressliced from a bag. The ingredients seemed fresh at first, now seems they are cutting major corners. Not to mention they changed the menu and took off the Steak Wrap which was the best thing on the menu, so I will not be back again.

We ordered so.much.food. And loved all of it! Poutine was good (nice touch with the Italian sausage), buffalo chicken wrap was pretty standard (tasted fresh though and tots were awesome crispy), but the bacon mac n cheese pizza, ladies and gentlemen, is where it’s at. I could have died happy eating that alone. Definitely worth the shortened life span for all that cheesy goodness. A littleee extra bacon wouldn’t hurt, but that’s just me. :) Great spot for a quick bite to eat and some craft beers too!

High quality bar food with great drink selection. I had bacon and blue cheese burger which was nicely cooked and a well executed, no frills burger. Tater tots are very crispy and come coated in a savory seasoning.
Service was pleasant but very slow even for lunch on a non busy day. Don’t expect to get in and out quickly or to have fast refills on drinks.
Biggest complaint was that my meal was overpriced in my opinion. Iced tea and burger came out to $ 17 and while it was good… It wasn’t $ 17 good. Beer menu was also in the 4 – 7 $ range which makes sense in a city but not a little town like rockton

Good beer selection, decent pizza, friendly staff. Nice burgers, but need a reasonable vegetarian selection or two.

Awesome roast beef Hours are now fine kitchen is open Thanks folks for fixing wverything up Its great

I have long awaited a gem like Rookies to settle into Rockton! Awesome craft beer selection and the food was fantastic.
I was visiting my parents for a couple of days, and normally we venture to Rockford for going out to eat. The Rockton/​Roscoe area has some gems, but normally not enough to keep us satisfied. On this particular night my parents insisted we go to Rookies. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised!
Our waitress was friendly and knew my parents, because they have become regulars giving the restaurant the perfect small town touch.
I got a grilled shrimp wrap, which was delicious. The beers were good, and the ambiance was casual and friendly. Nothing more that you could ask for! This is definitely a new favorite of mine. Well done, Rookies!

What I like most about this place is the feeling when you go in. It is a tight little spot that is going to make you friends fast. Most of downtown Rockton is pretty divey but this place raises the bar with the remodel and the TVs. The bar staff is fun and their craft beer selection is solid and they know a little bit about what they are pouring and can make recommendations. It also seems like they actually keep their draft lines clean.
I haven’t had the food but the menu is pretty standard bar fare, maybe a touch more creatuve. I can’t speak to food quality but they have a wood fired oven so hopefully they won’t screw it up.

Tried rookies on a Sunday for lunch.
Beer: great selection of craft beers especially for a small bar.
Food: had the pretzel bites which were advertised as having sea salt, but I’m pretty sure they were just frozen Super Pretzels with the salt that comes with them; they were overpriced.
We both had pizzas, one by accident. This is thin crust which isn’t my favorite. I had one with black olives (canned), prosciutto, pepperoni, and fresh mozzarella. It was ok, not sure I’d get it again. My bf ordered Mac and cheese w bacon, but he got a pizza with Mac and cheese with no bacon. It was a gut bomb, to say the least. He felt bad bc it wasn’t what he ordered but did not send it back. I read here that the pizza was gourmet but it didn’t impress me.
I didn’t try this place before the kitchen fire but it appears their menu is different. I didn’t see tots or a beef sandwich :/​
Atmosphere: loud bar
Service: decent but the ordering mistake wasn’t great.
Overall I’d drink beer there, food not so sure…

Tried this bar for the third time tonight…
Just wanted to grab a some tap beer because we know they have a great selection. Walked in and the taps are down. Never going again.
Have attempted this bar twice. Doesn’t deserve any stars. My husband and I love craft beer and really wanted this place to be great. The first time we went to Rookie’s we were ignored by our waitress for most of the evening while she wooed her other tables with guests older than us. Apparently we weren’t worth her time. Tonight we tried again, just for a beer this time. We walk in and the bartender cards us. Not a problem! We show her our drivers licenses and she asks my husband for another form of ID because his drivers license is vertical. He just moved here from Wisconsin and his drivers license doesn’t expire until 10/​13/​2018. But she said she would «get fined» for serving him. I understand that in Illinois when you turn 21 you have to renew your license and your license goes horizontal, but that is not the case in Wisconsin. Have informed bartenders so you don’t lose anymore business. Because we certainly won’t be back and defiantly will tell others about our bad experiences.

I finally made it into Rookies and wish I had sooner. I have been looking for the hidden gem in this area for months, and after one visit, I think I may have found it. This is small, yet not dumpy. I went on a Saturday afternoon to watch college football. Different games on every tv. They did not have a huge selection on tap, but every one was quality. They did not have Miller, Coors, and But Lights all on tap like many other places. I was able to get beers I have never tried before!
I was skeptical about their beef sandwich because of the luck I have had in this area. I finally got one that had some substance and flavor! Not fatty, toasted with mozzarella, side of giardiniera. The tots were hot and crispy, not starchy and soft.
The bartender Ryan was personable and helpful. I will be back sooner than later!