Hot and new can steal the spotlight, but what about longstanding local favorites? Each month, we’ll visit a Richmond-area restaurant that has been in business 15 years or longer.
Rose Marie Inn regular Mike Harris (Photo by Jay Paul)
In 2021 when Lee Robinson took over the beloved Patterson Avenue dive bar Rose Marie Inn, he anticipated a few hurdles. What he did not expect was a friendly ghost.
“I got an alert from my security system at 4 in the morning that there was movement in the bar. When I showed it to the old-timers, they said, ‘Oh, that’s Petey,’” Robinson explains, referring to a longtime customer who died a few years ago.
Petey is but one of many regulars who frequent the bar. It is, after all, a place “Where Friends Meet,” their official slogan.
“People really like that concept,” Robinson says. When his friend Johnny Fleming, then owner of Rose Marie Inn (the Fleming family had operated the restaurant since 1971), confided in the retired banker that he wanted out, Robinson knew he had to strike.
Little has changed at the inn, including its location at 8923 Patterson Ave., since 1958. The clientele ranges from retirees to real estate folks securing deals over wings.
“Our competitive advantage is our location and being able to stay open until 2 a.m.,” Robinson says. Rose Marie Inn is a late-night haven for West End restaurant workers and a gathering place for birthdays, wedding receptions and celebrations of life.
Happy hour runs from 2:30 to 7:30 p.m. daily, and there’s karaoke every Thursday. Plus, you may never know when you’re rubbing shoulders with an amiable specter. “I tell people you only pay for food and beverage,” Robinson says. “The entertainment is free.”
