Raleigh staple celebrates 69 years in business
The Players Retreat was in the midst of celebrating 69 years in business when it had to close its doors temporarily due to the coronavirus pandemic.
And while they haven't reopened their doors yet, the restaurant is still the reigning WRAL Voters' Choice Award winner for best neighborhood bar.
The PR was founded Feb. 27, 1951 by Bernie and Mickey Hanula. In 1994, Pete Jarrell took over ownership. He was succeeded by current owner Gus Gusler in 2005.
Just a few weeks before the restaurant closed due to the coronavirus outbreak, we caught up Gusler.
Gusler first walked through doors at the PR in 1967 as a freshman. "It was my place to come and drink beer," he said.
"One of the things that struck me was the inclusivity of the place," he said, referencing the mix of all races and sexualities there. "Everybody got along and there were never any problems there."
That's because Players' Retreat has had a policy since it is opened - "You start something, you don't get a second chance," Gusler said.
"They (the owners) realized that with the mixture of people that are in here, they had to have strict rules about problems," he said.
You take a swing, you are banned from setting foot back inside the sports bar.
"That's one of the reasons the police are never called here," Gusler said. "In nearly 15 years we’ve permanently barred maybe three people."
And there is also strict rules about language. If you use a derogatory term for anyone you are permanently banned.
Gusler used to cook pizza at the PR.
"My wife would sit in here and she would never order the pizza even though I was cooking it. I wouldn’t eat the pizza and I was cooking it," Gusler said, sitting in a back booth at Raleigh's oldest standing bar.
What made the pizza so terrible? The pre-frozen cardboard crust, Gusler says.
Gusler had left his days as a pizza cook behind and gone into law when he ended up buying Players' Retreat in 2005. At the time, the PR was in danger of closing.
Instead, the restaurant has grown and even been recognized by Wine Spectator with an award of excellence for its wine selection. It recently got a new kitchen.
Executive Chef Beth Littlejohn, who joined the team five years ago, has helped elevate the menu with more scratch-made items.
"We wanted to stay the same but just make it better," the Durham native said, noting that now all of the sauces and dressings are made from scratch. "Now we hand-cut and batter all of own onion rings."
See a list of the top sports bars to watch big games in the Raleigh area.
