"Rooty" has been well received by critics. John Bush of AllMusic gave it 5 out of 5 stars, calling it "so raw you can't believe they spent over an hour per track, so perfect you're glad they stopped noodling about long before most producers would, and so poppy they should get picked up by commercial radio in America as well as the rest of the world". David Browne of "Entertainment Weekly" gave it an A– grade and called the album "where heart and feet meet and lovingly coexist". Robert Christgau of "Village Voice" gave it the same grade, writing "no catchier collection of jingles has come to my attention since Steve Miller made his mint off jet airliners". "Billboard" said the album "revels in exploiting rhythms that shouldn't work—but definitely do". PopMatters's Andy Hermann was mixed, calling the album "either a brilliantly innovative record, or an unlistenable mess, depending on your point of view".