'Booze and games? I'm in!': Knightdale welcomes Rewind Retro Bar
Bad Machines opened its doors earlier this year in Durham. Today, residents in Wake County have another video game-themed bar available.
Rewind Retro Bar opened its doors on April 2 in Knightdale with Mayor Jessica Day, along with town councilors Mark Swan and Latatious Morris, in attendance for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and day of celebrations.
“The opening of Rewind Retrobar is a sign of Knightdale’s economic strength and growth,” said Rachel Morris, community relations director for the town of Knightdale, in a news release. “As the population continues to increase, having a diverse range of businesses for citizens to support is important for the town’s development.”
The idea for the retro bar first came to be in 2021, when Jessica and Dan Caswell got the idea with George and Cara Lancaster, all of whom co-own the bar together.
The basis was simple: Get people from the greater Raleigh area to come to Knightdale.
"We were trying to find a way to bring Raleigh to Knightdale. We all lived in Knightdale and we wanted to have a place to come to that was fun," Jessica said. "The process was long, but it's been a interesting process. Once the building was ready, we were ready to go."
WRAL News decided to take a trip to the bar to see everything Knightdale’s newest business had to offer for the casual bar hopper and for the gaming community.
When you first set foot inside Rewind Retro Bar, across the railroad tracks on 318 North First Ave., the first thing to catch your eye is the Austin Powers pinball machine under the bar’s florescent sign to the left.
It’s just one of the bar's many retro games, as tables in the back of the bar are set up with various retro game consoles, from the Sega Genesis and Nintendo Super Fancom to Super Nintendo consoles and Nintendo 64s.
Jessica, the “Chief Nostalgia Officer” for Rewind, said getting the consoles were as simple as raiding their own personal collections.
"A lot of them came from my husband, who is the 'Master of Games,'" Jessica explained. "The rest we just found off of eBay."
While the bar might be considered retro, people of all ages come to the bar, some looking for a good cocktail, others looking for a good game of Smash.
Speaking of the cocktails, the bar has your standard drinks, but what sets it apart is its specialty cocktails, each with its own retro spin.
A personal favorite of the bartenders, and mine, is Bowser’s Breath. The Super Mario-inspired cocktail will make you feel like the drink’s namesake with homemade tepeche, a jalapeño skewer and a cracked pepper rim.
If you’re looking for something that’s a tad sweeter, look no further than Princess Peach’s Sweet Tea.
While you won’t see sweet tea in the drink, you’ll definitely get that sweet tea kick with bourbon with peach galore, as the drink includes peach bitters, peach boba and a peach gummy.
"We tried to take a spin on the classics," said George, who is the "Booze Boss" and operations manager with Rewind. "There was a ton of trial and error. A lot of sampling and hosting parties to get theses samples out to get ratings on them to see what people really want vs. what we really enjoy."
George added that drinks on the menu will be reviewed quarterly to see which is selling well and for opportunities to add new drinks.
The staff behind the bar believe the concept is unique take on a bar, with one bartender coming from out of state to work at the bar.
"I came across it on Indeed while I was in Pittsburgh," said Theresa Hillbish, one of the bartenders. "I was like, 'this is definitely a cool concept,' especially in an area that's developing."
"I'm a game developer, and I'm finishing up a software engineering degree," said Aaron Dodge, another bartender at Rewind. "It's perfect! Booze and games? I'm in!"
While the bar is still young, it has already become a hub people in Knightdale have been enjoying, with patrons saying they intend to come back more and more often.
"It's been really, really nice. I'm sure they've seen all the love from people coming through here," said Heath Perkins, a customer from Morrisville who was playing "Super Smash Bros." at the bar with his son.
"I see myself coming here a few times a week, if it were up to him," Perkins said.
The bar also has various events and games to do, including a Magic the Gathering Meetup on Wednesday and Music Bingo on Thursdays, with even more events coming down the pipe as more people come to visit their bar, including trivia nights and cosplay nights.
"We're hoping to do 'Crafts & Cocktails' on Wednesday, which will be crafters just bringing in whatever they do, such as knitting, and meeting other crafters and sharing ideas," Jessica said. "We will also be hosting an 80s prom night in November."
The bar is open Wednesday through Sunday and will have nights with food trucks available for people to get their grub on while trying to avoid the blue-spiked shell in Mario Kart.
