Odds Bar & Bistro in Round Rock Isn’t Your Average Sports Bar

There are more than a dozen sports bars in Round Rock, Texas, meaning indulging in beers on tap and bar food staples while watching a playoff game isn’t groundbreaking. But the new Odds Bar & Bistro, which opened in December, isn’t just another sports bar.

John Green, a restaurateur and the host of the Food Network’s series On the Rocks, quietly opened Odds in mid-December — a place he describes as different from other sports bars in the best way. The London native says the restaurant’s name sets the standard for nearly every facet of the bar and bistro, from its eclectic decor to the inventive menu offerings. “Round Rock lacks sports bars that appeal to a wide audience,” Green says. “So, Odds was created to fill it,” he says.

Collin Ross Findlay

Collin Ross Findlay

The bar’s high ceilings give it an airy loft aesthetic, while a bespoke, black walnut wood bar is positioned at the restaurant’s center. Walls are outfitted with kitschy wallpaper with prints of monkeys toting vodka bottles and cigars. And while many sports bars are known for more basic menus of french fries, wings, and sandwiches, Odds adds a more sophisticated touch. Chef Donnie Forehand, a 28-year culinary veteran and formerly the executive chef of Swift’s Attic in the Warehouse District, serves a mix of traditional sports bar fare with modern twists: The salt and pepper chicken wings are soaked in a 24-hour garlic brine before they are fried and served with a choice of homemade sauces, like chile lime, barbecue, or Odds’ signature Crazy Hot sauce, which Green describes as “a vibrant mix of chilis, habaneros, and serranos for a bold kick.”

Collin Ross Findlay

Starters include a poke tower, made with tuna, mango, radish, cucumber, and avocado, that’s served with crispy, homemade wonton chips. There are also handmade pastas; tender, five-hour braised short ribs punched up by a rich demi-glace sauce; and velvety garlic hummus accompanied by warm pita.

Beverages also get an Odds spin: Riffs on classic cocktails offer imbibers a “bit of a surprise value” by incorporating ingredients Green says they wouldn’t typically include in their at-home drinks. “These days, everyone’s done every combination you can think of with cocktails, and cocktails aren’t cheap,” Green says. “I just wanted to make it interesting.” Odds’ most popular cocktail, the vodka-based Miss Baker, is a spicy take on the Cosmopolitan with paprika and green apple vodka. The gin-based Negroni is infused with homemade vermouth and Caffo Red Bitter liqueur to impart a more delicate citrus flavor (versus Campari’s traditionally spicier, bitter bite); and Odds’s tangy variation of a gin and tonic, the Cure-All, features a zip of blood orange.

Collin Ross Findlay

Collin Ross Findlay

The bar’s crown jewel, a nod to the absinthe craze of the late 1800s, is its glass absinthe fountain. The ornamental device streams a mixture of chilled water and bittersweet, herbaceous absinthe that makes up some of Green’s most cherished drinks — Sazeracs; a rye whiskey-based Snake Eyes; the herbal-meets-citrus boozy Hallucinogenic Monk; and the Green Fairy, Green’s specialty, which can be prepared in the “Czech method” with an absinthe-soaked sugar cube that’s set on fire and melted into the cocktail.

While most hospitality industry pros would see the bustling nearby city of Austin or Round Rock’s quaint historic Downtown as a prime location for Odds, Green chose the corner of an inconspicuous strip plaza off of Interstate 35 — a place where he says he could offer an accessible form of luxury in a sports bar environment.

Green, who lived in Vancouver before relocating to Austin in 2023 to open Odds, says he was ultimately won over by Round Rock’s charm and rapid expansion, and so were Odds’s investors. “Round Rock is a growing community with a thirst for cool places,” he says. In recent years, the suburb has been named one of the country’s most booming cities and an “it” destination for many new restaurants, bars, and hotels.

Green says he began fervently working on the earliest iteration of Odds — then-named Stadium — in 2023, but the name didn’t fit what he envisioned for its style, menu, and design. “Odds” later popped into his head, and Green took what he calls a more “whimsical” approach to the bar. He sourced “odd and weird things” through online antique shops to build the local hangout he visualized. Among some of Odds’s quirkiest bits and baubles are a cheeky Highland cow painting, eccentric monkey light fixtures, gilded swan faucets in the restrooms, and a faux ostrich head affixed to a wall near the bar. A small, glass-enclosed whiskey vault, another find reserved for special events, houses an impressive collection of rare bottles such as Blanton’s Gold, Van Winkle, and Antinori Tignanello Sangiovese.

Although Green has 20-plus years of hospitality experience in managing, designing, and consulting for bars and hotels across the world, including Manchester’s Four Seasons Hotel and Hong Kong-based bar China Jump, Odds Bar and Bistro is the first bar and restaurant that he’s fully run, overseeing everything from the blueprint and decor to the menu.

“I want Odds to be a staple for the Round Rock community,” he says.

Collin Ross Findlay