Rockeys Dueling Piano Bar

I brought my husband here for his 32^nd birthday and we had a great time! The piano players were really talented and funny. They made up words sometimes according to what was happening at the time. One of them would sing duets of male and female singers, which was hilarious! The only negative thing is that they don’t have food. If they had some appetizers, it would be 5 stars. Drinks are around $ 9 each. If you want a song played you have to tip the piano players. It starts off at a few dollars but as the night goes on and more drinking happens, people start tipping $ 10-​$ 20 so if you tip less, your song will be in a long waiting list or won’t be played at all. Service was good. Would recommend it for a fun night.

The place was really loud and packed. They had Stella Artois Cidre though! Hard to find. The piano players were great and fun to watch. No cover for 21+. I think it was ladies night too. If I lived here I’d be back. Hopefully it’s not always so loud you have to scream at the person right next to you.

Awesome bar in Gainesville. Don’t just limit yourself to piano bar nights because comedy night is great too! The drink specials are decent considering you’re downtown and not midtown. It’s a great scene and I’m glad Gainesville has this fun piano bar. It’s good for special occasions like bachelorette or birthday parties but also perfect for a regular night out.

Definitely not was it used to be. We arrived with a couple people only at the bar before the pianos started. The bartender we had was already with a bad attitude even before her night began. We ordered Key lime pie and Peach Manhattan martinis. The drinks amount given was unacceptable. Another person next to us ordered a double shot into his drink and watched her do a single but charged him for a double. She’s definitely left a bad taste in our mouth for the rest of time there.
Don’t waste your money drinking here, long waits just for half of a drink you’re paying for. The dueling pianos used to be better and before you could recognize the songs they were playing. Now it sounds like they are missing every key.

The primary reason I am writing this post is because of their unprofessional and rude manager. Last Wednesday, my boyfriend and I brought my sister and her friend to the comedy boom show and the comedian was atrocious but it was still a fun thing to do so it was not a problem. Our dinner ran behind so we arrived to the show with only an hour left and they still charged full cover for all of us. This wouldn’t even have been a problem because we would have stayed after for a few drinks but they had booked the bar for a party immediately after the show was over and they kicked everyone out. We weren’t even halfway through our drinks and we were now chugging. As I was finishing my beer, Matt, the coordinator of comedy boom came up to us, thanked us for coming and told us to take our time. About 5 min later the manager came up to us and asked if we were part of the party, we responded no and he rebutted that he, personally, was not going to kick us out but soon one of the bouncers would be. After my boyfriend said we paid full cover and for these drinks, we’re going to finish them and head out. He walked away and then returned with voucher cards for the cover we paid and said they were so we don’t feel like we wasted our money.
We should have NEVER been asked to pay full cover when the bar knew we were going to be asked to leave within the hour. Secondly, the vouchers do absolutely nothing for me. My sister and her friend are from out of town and after being treated so rudely I can promise I will not being returning to this establishment. Furthermore, the tone and the attitude of the manager was just insulting. Had he been polite it would have been one thing but his demeanor was just appalling.

Great concept, good music, but rowdy patrons. We went in around 11pm with a group of four, there was a $ 5 cover which is kind of lame, especially since it was at the end of spring break and there was very few people downtown.
The drinks were an average price and the bar and table services were prompt. The biggest issue was the amount of completely inebriated patrons. Management either needs to do a better job with security or pay more attention to over serving. There were numerous time were drunken patrons fell into our table and random drunk people would touch or grab a member of our party. The level of drunkeness detracted from the really good concept and I’m not talking young college student drunk… I mean 40 year old drunks. I know it’s a bar but really? If they can keep it a little classier then I would say it’s worth it… but until then this is the review.

Great place. Always awesome performers. Drinks are good as well. It does get loud to the point you can’t hear the person talking to you which sometimes isn’t so bad. Parking isn’t ideal. This is one of my favorite spots and I find that the performers keep getting better.

Dueling pianos in Gainesville — it’s on! I was shooting pool on thursday and I decided to pop in and check this place out — (no cover on Thursdays). Awesome. Good music, good times and big fun!

Great place!
I did stand up here and the staff was amazing! I would recommend this place to anyone. BOOM!

This is a fun place if you are in the mode for some music and have a lot of energy. The piano players do a good job of getting the crowd into it but if you catch the wrong one he’ll make you clap all night long. For this reason I don’t sit next to the stage anymore when I go. The drinks are a little on the expensive side for downtown. Overall, it’s a fun place to go with a group of friends but tough to stay for the entire night.
In the fall they say they are at capacity when it’s half full to drum up excitement when people see a line. The cover of $ 5 isn’t worth it compared to other places downtown. I’m sure I’ll go back here with groups and if you haven’t been it’s worth checking out at least once.

I went for the first time on Saturday and had a blast with my brother and his girlfriend. I was a little wary about going to a piano bar in Gainesville. I went to one in Atlanta but it was a long time ago.
They were upbeat and kept me entertained. They also embarrassed the hell out of my brother for his birthday so I had no complaints.

The best experience I could hope for in a bar. Lively, fun music, great service, great drinks (if a little pricey). The waitress and bouncers always remember us, and they’re VERY friendly. I *ALWAYS* have a blast here, even just with one other person.
Though I will say that the more people you bring, the more fun you’ll have. It’s a GREAT group activity.

Disclaimer: Dueling piano bars are not my idea of fun.
That being said, I went to Rockey’s to meet some friends who were all eager to go. I *paid $ 5 cover at the door. As advertised, it is a nice, big space with a very long bar that lacks stools, so it’s easier to get to. However, closer to midnight, the bar is packed so you’ll end up waiting a little. There are plenty of tables and chairs, but they were all taken by 10pm. We ended up at a table in the back, which was fine by me because we spent more time talking and enjoying ourselves. Our server was AWESOME though, and that’s why this place gets 3 stars instead of 2. Apparently, you have to *pay a lot of money to reserve a table up front, and it looked as though it was full of bachelorette/​bachelor/​birthday parties.
The two guys playing piano are talented and they do a good job of keeping the crowd entertained. They take requests, which you have to *pay for, make fun of the crowd and turn every classic rock song you know into a watered down group karaōke sing-​a-​long. You also can *pay for Piano Man. Or maybe it’s to keep it from being played. I’m not sure exactly. It’s loud, bawdy (thanks to the special songs the pianists throw in), and there are groups of very drunk people singing along. But they’re having fun and the vibe of the place leans more towards «fratboy puking/​girl crying in the bathroom» than «drunken douche fistfights.»
I got a Jack and Coke for $ 6 and draft beers are less than that. Speaking of draft beers, they don’t have much of a selection. Bud, Bud Light, Miller Light, Coors Light… or you can get Yuengling, Pabst or Guinness in bottles.
Have you ever felt that jukeboxes just don’t charge enough? Is listening to music by the original artist just not your thing? Do you long to do karaōke, but are just too scared to get up there? Well, Rockey’s is your place. Just keep in mind that that you have to pay to get in, pay for your drinks, pay for your requests, pay to STOP a song from being played and, if you want première seating, pay for your table.

Rockey’s is a lot of fun the first few times you go. But if you go too often you’ll realize it’s the same old song and dance every night and it gets boring pretty fast.
The drinks are a little pricey and as of the last time I went they still didn’t offer any drink specials which is strange for a bar in a college town. But everyone keeps coming back because it’s always busy and there is always a long line at the door on the weekends.
But Rockey’s can be a lot of fun and a welcome change when you get sick of music from the juke box in midtown or the club scene downtown. I always take friends from out of town here because they always have a good time.
If you’ve never been you definitely need to check it out at least once. Rockey’s is great but in moderation.

The worst piano bar I’ve ever been to. If you’ve never been to a piano bar, you won’t know the difference and will probably have a good time «Wow, tip these guys and they can sing ANYTHING! Best idea evar!!!1!». If you’ve been to a piano bar before and have even a skosh of class, you won’t like it. Piano bars don’t change a lot from one place to the next, so I’m basing this review solely on the atmosphere and drink prices. Both suck, as I struggled to enjoy my expensive beer, crammed into a tight area surrounded by morons enjoying the music way too much. I felt like an asshole rolling my eyes during my entire visit here, and I still feel like an asshole complaining about it now, but trust me, if you read Unilocal,you’re better than this place.
2 stars just because bars DO get worse, but I won’t return. If the group I’m with decides to go, I’ll be waiting for them at Alcove next door.

Went to Rockeys for the first time a few days ago not expecting much of this college town hang-​out. Gainesville bars always get so close, but often times fall short because of one fatal mistake (too small, too loud, too expensive, terrible music, etc…). In this college town, where most of the patrons have such low expectations that owners tend to concentrate on getting their college customers to drink so no one will notice how crudy the establishment is, Rockeys almost gets it completely right. Along with it’s neighbor across the street, Sharab, this may be a turning point for Gainesville hang-​outs.
Rockeys is well decorated — clean, organized, and spacious. The room is dominated by a bar which stretches from one end of the building to the other and does not have any barstools. This makes it incredible easy to order a drink because there aren’t a bunch of idlers hanging out crowding the bar. And unlike many other hang-out’s in town, there is an ample supply of bar tenders and waitresses to take your money. Drinks were a reasonable $ 4 for a beer, and $ 7 for a Jack’n’Coke. Having said that, please remember that as a new bar — Rockeys gets pretty busy — so you’re bound to have a terrible crowd there after 10PM.
At the far-​end of the building is the dueling piano’s which go at it from 8PM until close Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays (check their website to make sure the schedules didnt change). I found he piano players to be very talented — they played everything from the traditional (Brown Eyed Girl), to Lady Gaga, Country Music, and everything in between. They made fun of the crowd, had competitions between groups of drunk folks, and sang some pretty inappropriate (and completely hilarious) songs. I was really impressed by how many songs they seemingly knew by heart! The music was loud, but understandable and did not turn into white noise with drums — after all, part of the fun is understanding what the piano players are saying. Customers were invited up onto stage from time-​to-​time to dance or be made fun of or have songs sung about them — I couldn’t help but think about how entertaining it would be to have a pole up there for some of the girls to go crazy on (Rockeys owners, if you are reading — think about it !). There is a system for requesting songs — you tip the piano player to request a song, and then another customer could counter tip to get the song to stop. Kind of a neat gimmick which adds to the fun.
There is a back room right behind the piano players that has it’s own bar. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have much seating. I thought that area would have been perfect as a «VIP» lounge with some comfy couches for people to chill out in — maybe they will head in that direction later on. At any rate, there is plenty of room to stand anywhere inside the establishment — I left at 11:30 and there was still plenty of standing room near the entrance — although it was filling up fast. The seating was already gone when I walked in at 8PM, so if you want to get a table — you have to get there early!
There were lots of drunk people there, and an unfortunate frat boy lost his lunch on the floor in front of me. The staff was quick to clean it up and by the end of the night there were many more drunken patrons. This is a bar, in a college town after all.
All-​in-​all a great place that I would recommend to any of my friends. Rockeys has figured out what I think people have known for a long time, and mixes it to near perfection — atmosphere, alcohol, music and friend always makes for a perfect cocktail.

Wow.
On A Thursday Night: Not a terrible concept I suppose… but the execution… oy. Really, take every crap classic rock song ever written, a couple of piano players who ham it up and play those crap songs + drunk college students (with a heavy dose of douche) and you have a recipe for one of the worst places I’ve ever been subjected to.
Drinks were ok (but NOT cheap) and I guess if I was in a great mood, drunk and with a hot girl who was into that stuff I’d probably have a good time — most people seemed to fit that bill.
Obligatory people dragged on the stage to do stupid stuff like chugging a whole drink — wonder how that would go over if that guy had a wreck later? A lawyer would have a fine time with that bit I’m sure.
Obligatory happy birthday songs — obligatory fake tans, obligatory gelled hair… jebuz. What a place.
Brown Eyed Girl? Crap. Of course. John Cougar Mellencamp? Oh yeah. Billy Joel? Yup. Unbelievable shite music. At least there was no cover on Thursday night and I got out of there under 20 bucks for 2 drinks. Yeah, not cheap.
Yeah. This place is cranking it now, but when the new wears off, I predict an inexorable slide to oblivion.
NOTE: It IS non-​smoking. I have to give them props for that. That earned them a second star.
ON A FRIDAY NIGHT: UM, yeah. Epic line at 10:15 pm. A bar bill that was 28 bucks for 3 drinks, and the idiots on stage announcing that a twenty would get your song played next. Really? So for 20 bucks you’ll play a terrible song for me? Awesome. Oh, PLUS a 5 dollar cover? Even better. If you really want to express your douchebaggery, for 30 bucks at the door, you can get ‘Instant VIP’. Well, sign me UP!
Thats twice I’ve been dragged there by a group, and it will NOT happen again. The only thing this place really has going for it are a zillion attractive drunk college girls in very tight dresses. Ok, so maybe thats an awesome thing… but even that can’t get me interested in going back there. I’ll go to Brophy’s and get a really good drink for a reasonable price.

Rockeys opened up this new year. The Alligator Rocks Piano Bar closed down years ago. This place opened up around there and its a pretty kickass dueling piano bar. Had a lot of fun here.
They have 3 – 4 great musicians there (they can play drums and piano). Those guys are real talented and really know how to entertain a crowd. People were singing along to all the best hits of the past 50 years. There was a big sense of nostalgia sitting there singing along to all those songs.
Sure, there are drunk people, but you’re at a bar (If you didnt want to be around drunk people, stay away from a bar) But I thought everyone was great. The whole bar was singing along, dancing, and just chilling out on the tables.
On Thursdays, cover was free so I spent a grand total of 6 bucks for the night. 2 beers at $ 2 each and tip. Not sure about the other drinks, but the bartender was real cool and if you didnt want to stand by the bar, they’ve got waitresses everywhere.
Definitely a great time. I was a musician so I know these guys have real talent and they’re just making sure everyone is having fun. People of all ages welcome.

This place is very much closed and was a haven for underage drinking. Is now a sleazy pool hall called Jewell’s.

Piano Bar. Like any other piano bar I suppose. Funny musicians playing tunes upon request surrounded by druken college kids. These people must make a ton of money with the l’il competitions they have — but of course, being in the heart of hte swamp — the Gators will crush any outside competition. Cover FSU fans beware. For me, I can’t come to this place too often because the songs get repetitive.