Billiard Bar

I'm no Fast Eddie, but billiard halls are old school cool. I stumbled across Billiard Bar on my pre-St. Patty's Day excursion from Zymology. For a second, ok, a really long second, I debated whether I should even attempt to handle the stick - I've noticed my game always seems to peak after two beers, but mysteriously deteriorates after the second beer...and I already had way more than that. Only one way to find out.

Pool halls come in so many different flavors and Billiard Bar is somewhere between a biker bar and a college watering hole. It's quite spacious whether you're playing pool or hanging by the bar. Sometimes I like the sports bar pool hall feel so I can watch sports highlights on the myriad of plasma TVs, but sometimes it's nice not to be distracted by TVs so I can focus on the game and chat with your friends. Billiard Bar is the latter.

I'll say one last thing. Girls who play or know about sports better than guys are intimidating, I admit. But girls who play a mean game of pool? HOT. Watching a girl who knows how to work a table, knows how to grasp her stick, knows how to handle her balls, knows the angles...easy Tiger. Sip some beer. Puts the lotion on the skin.

The good: lots of pool tables to get your game on, fooz ball, festive bartenders, festive patio

The bad: broken ATM, they tend to give your freakin check card away to others (this has happened to me twice before, just pay cash)

The ugly: ugh, the bathrooms are shite

The BEST: HELLOOOO Can we say drink specials??? Tonight my beer was $1. Yes, many many nights it is $1. And, as a wannabe cougar, there would be a lot of prey running around this joint.

Three SOLID stars.

For a fun sociology experiment, go to Billiard bar on a busy night. Most weekdays will work, especially Wednesdays. Bump elbows with the somewhat-thuggish clientele as you jostle for space in the front half of the bar. Then, step over to the pool tables. Almost instantly the space opens up, laughter and smalltalk are replaced by the clacking of cues, and the colorful inhabitants politely ignore you. Those in the front half are there to fritter away an evening. Those in the back are there because they want to play pool.

What a difference.

Unfortunately, if you don't like pool, there aren't a lot of reasons to go to Billiard Bar. Guys, don't bring a date unless you don't mind defending her from roving packs of males. The drinks are cheap, but how hard is it to find good drink specials these days?

Go on $1 pints night or $2 you-call-its (Wednesday and Sunday, respectively). Billiard Bar is best enjoyed with a group of good friends looking to get away from Lower Greenville, rather than as a stop while barhopping.

I like this place. I don't frequent it all that often, but when I do I have a good time. I'm not much of a "billiards" type of girl, but I'll play a game every now and then. These tables always seem well maintained, at least for the causal pool player like me.

But in case you don't wanna play pool, they also have pinball (win!), air hockey (double win!), and Silver Strike (Strrrriiiikkkkkkeeee!!!!).They also have a random vending machine, ya know, if you're into that kind of thing.

The bathroom is not great, but it's not gas-station-after-a-trucker-ate-a-vat-of-chili bad either. The patio is pretty huge and it rocks - that's normally where we hang unless it's too cold outside.

One thing that is pretty cool is that they always have some random movie or TV show playing. I've seen Family Guy, The Devil's Rejects, A Clockwork Orange and Bad Santa all playing at random times, and those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

They do have really great specials - but since I'm a lame-ass 9 to fiver pretty much the only time I get to go is on the weekends, and of course no one in the universe runs specials on Friday and Saturday nights. That's just crazy talk.

All in all, definitely A-OK. Not a place I'd necessarily go out of the way for, but if we're already hopping around Greenville I'll for sure pop in for a bevvie.

It's a pool hall with tattoos. Not a biker bar kind of place, though. It appeals more to the punk rock, carpe diem part of society.

The place can get quite crowded on Fridays and Saturdays when all the weekend warriors come out. I suggest visiting anytime during the week, when the place offers specials such as $2 Tuesdays and $1.25 schooners. Plus, you won't have to deal with amateur drunks.

If it's a nice night, grab a seat on the patio for some prime lower Greenville people watching.

Jukebox selection is pretty good, though there will always be some broomhead that plays some Creed knockoff band. Twice.

Besides several pool tables, there is an air hockey table (I am the king of air hockey, by the way) and two dart boards. It would be wise to bring your own darts, since the bar's plastic ones get beat up pretty often. You might want to bring chalk, too, just in case.

Ugh, Greenville, you are such a crapshoot. And this bar is one of my more unpleasant experiences, although it's probably just NOT my scene.

It just seemed to be a combination of things I didn't like. I don't particularly care for pool, and the tables and benches were so close together it was impossible not to constantly be moving so that players could get their angles right. I got poked multiple times with a cue stick and was not happy.

The music is angry rock, which I'm fine with and like, but they were playing way too loud for me to have a conversation with anyone. Isn't the point of pool to be able to shit talk your friends about how badly they're doing? Not only that, but it was dark and there was a huge Pillsbury Doughboy statue that was lit up with a blacklight. It was creepy as a toothless guy on the subway asking you about your underwear.

And for some reason, they were playing horror movies on the TV screens. I HATE horror movies. I get nightmares for weeks, and I just could not avoid that girl from the Exorcist because they had TVs EVERYWHERE. I know you guys are probably thinking "This girl is a complete sissy," but it was GROSS and I couldn't run away from it so I spent a lot of my time using my hands as shields so I couldn't see the TV and watch my friends.

If you like loud, angsty rock, horror movies, and pool, this is the place for you. Otherwise, just don't.

I've been here quite a few times so not sure how I am just now reviewing it.

Came here for a pre-dinner drink around 8:30 and the place was dead...I mean, worried about its future dead. I guess 8:30 is "early"..not for this girl. Anyway, the service is generally fair but it also has the non-pretentious feel that I am looking for in a bar. Play some pool, be creeped out but the ginormous Pillsbury doughboy, whatev.

This place is decent, I was going to say "eh, it sucked" but I think that's actually just because I only stayed momentarily and so yeah. The patio was nice, there was a nice comfy couch that my buddy and I occupied. I think that if I went in and spent more time and drank more that I'd up my rating to 4 stars.

this place use to be bomb diggity about 6 months ago...or whenever they still had $1.50 drinks on thursdays...vodka sours for $1.50 is a rarity, I guess it is still alright for beer drinkers cuz like wednesdays or some weekday is 1.00 beer. but I dont drink beer so fuck me. DEAR BILLIARDS, BRING BACK THE 1.50 DRINKS ON THURSDAY PRETTY PLEASE

This is a decent place to go if you're heading to Greenville Avenue. It's definitely not an upscale, hoity-toity kind of place. The atmosphere is very laid-back and there are pool tables aplenty! The bathrooms are absolutely disgusting, though - last time I was there, the door wouldn't lock at all. The drink specials tend to be pretty amazing, though, and the patio is an awesome place to kick back and enjoy a nice night outside.