Wakefield Tavern

I figured Wakefield tavern could go either two ways: love it or hate it. I gotta say: leaning towards love. my turkey melt was pretty amazing. real carved turkey and a tone of bacon. the bacon was crispy and not greasy. I’m not picky about that kinda thing… but it was nice to not have grease all over my sandwich. the pizza was surprisingly good! I took leftovers home and my brother and mother enjoyed it! the hummus and pita was also really nice (my friend ordered it. I tried it) specially when you could take or leave hummus, it says something when you would order it for yourself. I’d definitely try again.

Just had the ribs at the tavern… hands down the best in wake forest, Raleigh and Durham! BBQ sauce is amazing and the meat is very tender.

My favorite hangout! Great food and homemade desserts! Did I mention the adult beverages??? Anthony is the best bartender! Love that is around the corner from my house!

This place has the best beef nachos ever. I read that all the beef is Angus which I could tell made a huge difference. So good!

The wings were fine. Basic sauce, I ordered the hot flavor. They were crispy, exactly how I wanted them. The ranch sauce was good. In the future I will try another flavor of wings beside the hot.

Great service and food… seriously, the best lemon pepper wings I have had anywhere– hands down! Servers are friendly and attentive, with fair pricing. Would recommend to anyone– plus, you often find the owners in house giving a hand!

Best wings in the Raleigh area! Great service, excellent beer selection, and the nachos were yummy. Also enjoyed the atmosphere — good lighting and noise level. Some sports bars are too bright and way too loud, but not Wakefield Tavern. I’ll definitely be returning again and again!

The busboy constantly walking around looking for something to do is a little bothersome. Good atmosphere. Decent size crowd. Quesadillas were in point

I have visited Wakefield Tavern a couple of times and I just noticed that I had never reviewed here. Best thing they have is the Philly cheese steak egg rolls. Yummy! They come with a cheese dipping sauce. Be careful though because they always come out piping hot so don’t burn your mouth like I did. I also like the fish and chips. The fish is crispy and fresh tasting. The service is always great and it is a great place to meet friends for dinner.

We decided to check this place out one late Sunday night when most places were closed. We were excited reading the great reviews for this place. Wakefield Tavern did not disappoint– we thoroughly enjoyed our meal!
Highlights:
+ Hot wings were pretty good. My partner loves his wings crispy, and these were fried crisp.
— Southwestern quesadilla we weren’t too thrilled with. The filling was delicious but the actual tortilla was a little dense. We took our leftovers back, and cooked them on a pan with butter till the tortilla was golden brown and crisp, and that made it really amazing.
+++ The fried polenta cakes with shrimp and bacon were HEAVENLY. The polenta cakes themselves were incredibly crispy on the outside but moist and fluffy on the inside. The cakes came with plump, fresh shrimp and bacon in a creamy sauce.
++ The chicken pot pie was really good. It was definitely made fresh and was chock-​full of yummy potatoes and chicken. We really enjoyed it.
++ The shepherd’s pie was also a treat. It was made with lamb, but the lamb had a vey neutral flavour and so didn’t overpower the dish. We were a little disappointed that the cheddar on top was gooey and so didn’t really differ in texture from the potato. We took our leftovers home and baked it a little longer until the cheese got brown and crisp, and that really made the pie *amazing*
+++ We loved our desserts. We absolutely love trying home-​made desserts, and Wakefield Tavern did not disappoint. Their NY cheesecake was excellent, and so was the seasonal pumpkin brownie.
All in all, great place for a great dinner. We will certainly be back!

Greatest place for chilling on the weekends. Love the atmosphere and the people. Anthony, (owner and bartender is always attentive and cordial. Jane (wife of anthony and owner) always making all feel comfortable. Worthy stop for all ages and events.
Try the southwestern quessadillas.

Wakefield Tavern is consistently great! We loving just refer to it as «the tavern». I always get my chicken wings extra crispy and they are delicious. Service is always impeccable as well. The servers (and owners) really care and want you to have a relaxing, enjoyable time. It’s the neighborhood place to go for a good meal. If you’re into «the game» whatever that may be, they have you covered. Ultimately for my money, I’ll always choose Wakefield Tavern for a good dinner and drink.

I just posted some pictures of a few of our favorite things at the Wakefield Tavern! We love everything about this place and have been coming here almost from the day they opened a few years ago. Jane and Anthony are simply wonderful human beings who care about you as a customer! Refreshing! The staff is happy to be there, too, and it shows! We are fans for life… take a peek at some of the pics! … you will be racing to the Tavern! Go hungry! Leave happy! Repeat often!

Great food and consistently good service. We love the burgers, Shrimp and Grits fish tacos and pizzas.

The nachos are AMAZING. Everything else was just OK. The fries… they should be kind of ashamed of themselves they we just awful. Pizza has a weird taste to the sauce. Burger was OK. Not the best but not the worst I’ve ever had.
But by far the worst thing… my god in heaven WHY does the busboy have to constantly be strolling around the room with his hands behind his back??? It was so incredibly annoying and distracting.

Best bar/​tavern in all of Wake Forest. Hands down.
The Owners are the nicest people and the wait staff they hired are all wonderful. In all these years, we’ve never had a bad experience.
The atmosphere is upscale and always clean (bathrooms too). We love the couch/​window seating and their are plenty of TVs for sporting events.
The food is outstanding. From the chicken wings (the Garlic Parmesan are our fav!) to the Monty Cristo sandwich to the Shrimp and Grits … it’s all delicious!
You can’t go wrong here…

Spectacular Service! We had some of the GREAT TEAM helping us and though we sent back Two out of Four Main Dishes, the staff were Excellent at handling it!
HOT Chips! No not the Strippers (I mean Entertainers)! Potato Chips and can be Made-​to-​Order and were for us! These Stole the show which is a little sad being that they are a Side Item! Though they were TOO Salty! I would Order them Again with the little Salt request [ when I say too Salty it is probably what most NORMAL people prefer ] ! We like our Chips HOT Light and Limp! Defiantly not the «Entertainers»!
Pickled Carrots (only a Garnish) though two of us LOVED these and hope they are on the Menu or at least hope I can get them next time! These are the Subjekt of some Controversy so I would not be surprised if they are gone, IF and I think that is a BIG IF (though we will see and I will Delete this part of my review) the Owners Managers even READ Unilocal reviews or take the STRONG Vocal Suggestions of the Patrons when they are in the Restaurant making these Suggestions!
Pizza. .. Wish I would have Ordered the Burger! The Pizza was as plain and lacking in flavor as it looked! Tasted similar to a pre-​made, maybe frozen, not awful, though NOT Good either… Disappointing though, lesson learned! If this were a Pizza Place or if I based my Unilocal star rating on the Pizza they would only get 2 Unilocal stars ! ! ! Next time I’ll get the Burger, they looked fantastik!
Tilapia was Very Good (I’m NOT a fish fan) I tasted this one because one of our dinning companions thought it may have had some of the Pickled Garnish and has (and HAD) some adverse reactions to the pickling process! Pickled Carrots were NOT mentioned on the description of this dish on the Menu (it should have) though they were on his plate ! ! ! They looked like beautiful Carrots (you would NOT know by looking that they were Pickled) His Wife and I LOVED these and started eating them before he sent the dish back! Restaurants need to BE CAREFUL with this not because some people do not like pickles but because the physical reactions can be HARSH, almost immediate and LONG lasting!
Even though I have eaten at all but one of the restaurants in this shopping Center I never noticed this place… probably the word Tavern (in my mind) translates Sports Bar and that is probably why! I do not like sports nor bars and since we do not have TV at home I do not know enough about it to be distracted from company and lost as to whats on!

Ok after being here for several times I realized that I have been derelict in writing about the amazing food. Our first adventure began with the ever so delicious Philly cheese steak rolls. Step aside traditional egg rolls these cheese steak rolls are complimented with a sweet chili sauce and the overall flavor is scrumptious.
For a tavern I thought fish would have to be good so of course I had their fish and chips and my oh my thank you for giving back my joy of eating fish. The fish was beer battered and light and flaky.
My next visit we tried their risotto balls and this appetizer is a must try. The balls are truly delicious with a house made marinara sauce that completes the risotto balls to perfection.
Finally today’s visit I am trying the tilapia and am certain everything else on this menu is made to the same perfection. However I will say the presentation was great on my tilapia but the pickled carrots was not a good thing and very in expected. I understand if they were a garnish but this should still be disclosed. Being sensitive to certain foods this kind of turned my appetite. My remake was tasteless and dry with mushy risotto.
Yes I will return but I am more prepared to ask further questions. And will stick with traditional Irish /​tavern foods.

Ah, a remedy for the chain sports-​bar-​itis that seems to afflict the Wake Forest area! Wakefield Tavern has a great local watering hole vibe while still managing to be grown up and — dare I say it – even a little classy. Not classy in the annoying, «oh-​god-​I-​have-​to-​put-​on-​non-​stretchy-​pants» way, but definitely in the way that says: «Yes! I am an adult human being who enjoys nice things, and I do not have to eat chicken wings next to a giant novelty statue of Elvis or a wall full of NASCAR paraphernalia if I don’t want to». I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is yes! You really can have it all! It’s the best of both worlds!
You CAN watch the game there if you sit at the bar, but if you don’t want your senses to be assaulted by whatever sport of choice is getting people all frothed up at the moment, there are tables and booths away from the TV. True, they don’t have like 70 different beers on tap, but they do have a pretty great selection, with a lot of local brews on offer.
The food is also good, from what I’ve had. They seem have a pretty wide selection on the menu, but I haven’t strayed far from the wings and apps. The honey bourbon wings are really delicious, but the risotto balls, philly cheese egg rolls, and nachos are also good choices.
Anyway, maybe I’m just relieved that there’s an option besides Buffalo Brothers or Ale House available for grabbing a drink and hanging out after work, but in my opinion Wakefield Tavern is a solid choice and definitely has the potential to become a go-​to spot.

As soon as I told Husband I had seen a pic of the Philly Cheese Steak Egg Rolls with Homemade Queso here, I knew we would be going soon. Sure enough, the next day we were off at lunchtime to find it. And easy-​to-​find it is… in a strip center off Falls of Neuse.
It was a Saturday and they weren’t packed, but were doing a steady business. The place was quite comfortable, and our Server guy was great. We decided to share a few things. The Egg Rolls were a given. Side Caesar was for getting something green in us (barely, hah!). They have an interesting selection of quesadillas, so we opted to share the Southwestern one.
We started with unsweetened iced teas (very good) and the caesar, which was a decent size for sharing, despite being the small version of it. Very cool and fresh with good-​quality cheese. I let Husband eat the croutons since I was being «good» for a minute or two.
But then the piping hot Philly Cheese Steak Egg Rolls were placed in front of us, along with two plates of Quesadilla. Yes, they were nice enough to split it for us. Love it when restaurants do that. One bite of the Egg Roll stuffed with shaved sirloin steak and cheese and peppers and onions… well, my first reaction was «this is very masculine». Yep. Rich beef and cheese deep fried and dunked in more cheese. ’nuff said. One and a half pieces of this was all I could handle, despite it being delicious. Soooo rich! Husband loved it, and said he would get it for his whole meal sometime. Definite macho-man’s dream meal!
The Southwestern Quesadilla was also delicious and rich, stuffed with grilled chicken, sausage, onions and peppers with a Guinness black bean sauce, pepper jack and cheddar cheese. Each of us got two giant wedges, along with salsa and sour cream. Favorite part for me was the grilled chicken that had a wonderful marinated flavor.
Needless to say we were totally stuffed! I know we’ll be back soon, lots more to try here! (everything we saw other folks having looked good also).