From the Raleigh Downtowner for 2016:

BEST BURGER
Wake County
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Player’s Retreat

BEST BOURBON/WHISKEY SELECTION
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Player's Retreat

BEST PLACE TO PEOPLE-WATCH
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Player's Retreat

BEST LATE NIGHT MENU
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Player's Retreat

Our State, Celebrating North Carolina December, 2015
December, 2015 - the Players’ Retreat
This 64-year-old hangout, Players’ Retreat, isn’t like an average sports
bar. There are 54 types of Scotch, and more than 100 wines, a list that
has earned the vinyl-boothed, Formica-tabled restaurant and bar Wine
Spectator awards four years in a row. You could have a $100 bottle of
red with your Wolfpack Burger (topped with slaw, mustard, and chili).
On Friday and Saturday nights, the chef offers seasonal fine-dining
entrées using local ingredients, such as honey Sriracha shrimp with
black bean puree, corn cake, corn salsa, and cilantro crema. “We
wanted people to see it’s still the PR,” says owner Gus Gusler,
referring to the place’s old nickname, “but you don’t have to just eat
fried food here.”

Walter Magazine, Raleigh's Life and Soul October 30, 2015
103015 - A Second Home at thePR
We go to restaurants for a lot of reasons. We want to be fed something decent, something tasty and nourishing. Sometimes we want to try out a hot new joint so we can tell our friends how great (or disappointing) it was. Or we want to celebrate, perhaps with a romantic dinner for two at a white tablecloth sort of place – or with the boys (or girls) for steaks and martinis. But the place we probably all like the most is the one that makes us feel at home. Where we feel like a regular, even if we don’t go very often. The moment we walk into such a place, we truly can leave our worries behind. In such a place, I exhale, relax, and know I’m around friends, even if I don’t know a soul in the place. This type of place knows how to put its customers at ease. There may not be any other place in Raleigh that represents this ideal more than The Players Retreat, that institution literally a stone’s throw away from the N.C. State campus.

#3 of 50 best bars in Raleigh, 2015 According to Raleigh Magazine103015
thePR has been pouring pints for nearly 65 years—for college
students and tenured professors and everybody in between (though it
helps if you’re a Wolfpack). It serves a mean burger and, in October,
former Coquette chef Beth Littlejohn began preparing fine dining
dishes Thursday through Sunday (whaaaat?)

Garden and Gun Magazine, 2015
101915
Raleigh venue featured in Garden & Gun's 'Guide to Southern
Game-Day Dive Bars'
Oct 19, 2015, 7:00am EDT Updated Oct 19, 2015, 8:10am EDT

http://gardenandgun.com/blog/guide-southern-game-day-dive-bars
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC

The very definition of a dive bar, the Players' Retreat—“PR” to locals
—is a Raleigh tradition. Open since 1951, it’s dimly lit with a couple of
flat screens behind the bar and pool tables and vintage arcade games
in the back. But the old-fashioned sports bar has a few surprises in its
playbook, including way better-than-average food (Try the excellent
chili cheese fries and Mimi’s Sausage Dip made with tomatoes,
cream cheese, and locally sourced sausage) and an impressively
long single-malt list.

Thrillist – "Everywhere Worth Eating in Raleigh." October, 2015
PR - #1 Best Late Night Bites

Wine Spectator Magazine 2015
Award of Excellence!, Thank you, Seaboard Wine Warehouse.

Triangle Downtowner Magazine, 2015

Best of Raleigh ...

Independent Weekly Magazine 2015, 2014

Triangle Downtowner Magazine, 2013

Best of Raleigh ...

In the 2013 TRIANGLE DOWNTOWNER MAGAZINE'S BEST OF AWARDS, the Players Retreat was the only restaurant to win an award in 8 categories.

BEST OUTDOOR PATIO (Winter) (3)