Inside: Dooley's Tavern in Roseville

Status: Gone is the not-so-subtle cacophony that once made up Wild Woody’s in Roseville. In its place, a chic sports bar with plenty of dark woods, granite and flat-screen TVs everywhere you look.

“We changed with the time,” says Dooley’s Promotions Manager Laura Rohr, who also manages the Sterling Heights' Dooley’s. “The bar (Wild Woody’s) was such a strong bar for 15 years, but we wanted to bring new taste to Roseville.”

The personality of this 3,000-square-foot venue is still evident in the photos and posters hung around the bar, but if you expect to see the Christmas lights, palm trees and eclectically mismatched embellishments of Wild Woody’s, you’re in for some disappointment.  

Back in the day, “Wild Woody’s was a sports bar,” Rohr says. The problem was there were “no flats screens and no Direct TV. We made it as much sports as we could.”

Dooley's grand opening party will be held tonight.

Gear: Anything goes.

Mood: A change from the dimly-lit Wild Woody’s, Dooley’s features glass-paneled garage door walls which balance out the dark, rich woods of the bar and trim on the walls.

24-year-old Garrett Gwyn of Roseville says the venue is “more like a pub not so much a club. You can actually talk to people.”

That's just the feeling Rohr says they were going for. “We want a cozy, nice room where people can come and be comfortable,” she says. “We didn’t want to build a big club. The dancing is kind of gone.”

While the change is welcome for some like Shannon Lang of Eastpointe, who felt that when people went to Wild Woody’s they “went to score,” others, like Maurice Bushner say the change will take some getting used to.

The Roseville Dooley’s is a “little more bougie,” says Bushner, who is used to carefree, party atmosphere associated with the Dooley’s in Sterling Heights. Despite his reservations about the calmer Dooley’s in Roseville, Bushner says, “I’m going to definitely come back again.”

Pick me up: The term Irish food is used pretty loosely at Dooley’s where Irish is thrown in front of menu items like the club sandwich ($7.99), which uses all the ingredients you’d use in a “non-Irish” club. There’s also the Irish Philly Cheese Steak ($7.99), the Irish BLT, the Irish Reuben and the Irish Wild Sub. Ironically, there’s no “Irish” in front of the corned beef and cheese sandwich, but there are plenty of tried-and-true bar favorites like onion rings ($5.99), cheese  sticks ($5.99), wing dings (10 piece for $8.50), sliders ($6.99) and more. Burgers and salads also grace the menu.

Entertainment: At least 22 flat-screen TVs line either side of the long, granite-topped bar and two projection screens complete the look. A DJ booth is set up on one side of the bar where four rotating DJs spin a mix of old school, classic rock and more. One thing you won’t hear at Dooley’s is rap or booty music, says DJ Don.

A couple pool tables, darts and Golden Tee games sit in the back of the bar.

Rohr says they plan to carry the themed parties that Dooley’s in Sterling Heights is well-known for over to the Roseville location. “(Whatever) we can carry over, we will.”