Bull and the Bear

Bull and Bear seems to be on a steady decline. I've tried giving it the benefit of the doubt in past reviews but each subsequent experience gets more and more sad. No music, bright lights, closed kitchen, no customers - it's not clear what (if anything) Bull and Bear is trying to be, but it's almost certainly not succeeding. Don't trust the pictures that show a lot of people drinking and eating. That simply isn't true anymore.

I really like the fun, lively atmosphere. Michelle is great. Food is great and drinks are wonderful

Started out a little shaky. The outside smells like an ashtray from around the corner, and I was greeted by a group of glaring smokers sitting around the entrance.I sat at the bar, ordered a beer, and perused the menu. I don't eat meat, and most everything is meat-based, but I can usually find something decent.I didn't order - I finished my beer and left. Fox News on the TVs and patrons discussing fake news was pretty off-putting, on top of smoke wafting in the front door. I get it - this place is for locals to get drinks, smoke a lot, and talk about fake news. If that's what you're looking for... here it is! If not, move along.

My wife and I ate lunch at Bull and the Bear earlier this week. I wanted to eat their name-sake burger, that came with a thin sliced ribeye, bacon and cheese (OMG!). But they were not able to get the thin sliced ribeye due to Covid shutdowns creating delivery problems. So I triedTheir bacon cheeseburger. It was just OK, the burger was significantly over cooked, the bun was not very good, and the bacon was "meh". I chose their onion rings to go with it. They were fantastic, perhaps the best I've had in the Raleigh-Durham area. My wife had their special, an Alfredo style broccoli and grilled chicken dish. My wife is cutting back on car is so she asked them to replace the pasta with additional broccoli and they did at no additional charge. She said it was delicious and I believe her as she ate the whole thing. The place has that kind of dingy bar kind of feel to it. It would be fun to go here for a few drinks and bar food. We will come here again when in the area to try their daily specials.

This place is kind of a dive, but does have consistently good food. It seems that all their food is home made, I've never had anything that looked to be previously frozen. The prices are really good too.

Terrible service and food. Lacking ambiance. Loud, obnoxious guests. Women's bathroom was clean. Music was good but needs to be louder.

Bull and the Bear.. hmm.I have mixed emotions about this place. I feel like this is where I go for some heavy drinks and advice from grown folks. More divey, less people. I have not had any food here so my rating is not based on it. I do although know the owner which is one of my customers. He is great. GO GARETT! I love the options they have on the jukebox and drinks are fairly cheap.The place could use a little renovating but it is what it is. Corner bar with friendly bartender and entertaining guest.I will boldly say my overall liner for this place is, "To each their own."

I am flabbergasted that this "restaurant" has an average rating that exceeds 1. In search of a local watering hole with a local, non-chain feel, I wandered in about 3 weeks ago. Let me give it to you this way. It's in an aging shopping center whose anchor tenant is a Food Lion. If you can imagine a restaurant so terrible that the likes of Food Lion might complain that it has a negative impact on their corporate image, than you have the beginnings of what the Bull and Bear is like. What you're in for here is a restaurant with wood paneling, floors, floors tables and chairs from at least 40 years ago. Wait. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that this is just the kind of thing that describes many hole in the wall BBQ places and the like that are fantastic. I too had this thought and thus ordered a plate of wings, just in case. That was a mistake. They came out. There was a strange odor, suggesting that perhaps the wings had been frozen or stored just a little too long, plus a perfunctory buffalo sauce, something resembling blue cheese dressing, and -wait for it -- cucumbers. For some reason. I promise you that if you are not already the kind of lunatic that comes here out of a twisted sense of loyalty, you can close your eyes, throw a dart, and have it land on any place else in town (I'm including the Denny's of the world here) and end up with a better dining experience. I love local places with local flavor. But this place is a living example of why local ain't everything.

The food is good, reasonably priced and the service is excellent. However, if you don't enjoy listening to Fox News on two televisions at high volume, and have an aversion to people decrying how this country is going to hell because of all of the "fucking Democrats" I'd recommend you go elsewhere. A very uncomfortable situation for me this morning.

My kind of place - great food, nothing fancy, friendly and helpful wait staff. Oh yeah, good coffee. I stopped in late Saturday morning. Good crowd but I wondered if I was interrupting a meeting of retired veterans. (Lots of hats with insignias or ship names). Not the case - those great Americans just seem to have found a good breakfast place before I did. I had pancakes and bacon -(excellent choice). My son had bacon and eggs with hash browns. Shout out to the hash browns - shredded potatoes fried up. It seems rare to fine this kind in Raleigh except at a Waffle House. Anyway, the eggs and bacon were cooked perfectly but he was disappointed that the biscuit wasn't so great. Looked like a Pillsbury Grand that had been sitting for a while. Again, NC is famous for biscuits but this isn't one for the list. Ok. So that's it: cool place, excellent breakfast (skip the biscuits) and great coffee.