The Billiard Club/Pub 161

Ugh. This has to be the worst bar in Columbus. I can't imagine a place scuzzier than this. Gross. If I could give 0 stars, I would.This bar is located all the way out on Dublin-Granville Rd. Definitely not worth the trek out there unless you live in the area. I ended up here the other night because a friend of mine was performing here. After walking in it bothered me that he was performing in such a place, but what can you do? We went out to support him anyway.You'll find this place snuggled into a strip mall that it shares with a Mexican grocery store and a dollar store. Tip number one that it's not the classiest. When you go inside you might be deceived at first. It's big and has a huge number of pool tables that all seemed to be very well kept. It didn't look half bad at first glance. But we got there early before the show was going to start.We got some beers. I got a Heineken and it was about $4. Not too bad, but not all that great, either. It was a Saturday night, so we weren't expecting exceptional deals. Our waitress, who started off coming to our table, then got busy so she just came up to her at the register, was very nice and didn't exactly look like she belonged in a place like this.The music was terrible. This is stuff that people were actually paying to play on the jukebox. And everyone seemed to be enjoying it but us, signing along and dancing. It was a sickening mix of 3 Doors Down, Kid Rock, Papa Roach, Creed, Evanescence, you know, those bands that are a sorry excuse for rock that you had forgotten about and were hoping that you'd never have to hear again. Each time a new song started it made us groan. It was getting unbearable. I'm really not a fan of songs where the lead singers whine about killing themselves, but there was plenty of that.There weren't a lot of people in there, just some groups playing pool. That was fine. But then people started arriving for the first act. Apparently the first act was modeling themselves after the Insane Clown Posse, if you are unfortunate enough to know who they are. One by one, "Juggalos" as they call themselves, started filing through the door. What's a juggalo you might ask? I'm not sure of their purpose, but I know what they look like: Either long or spiky hair, huge baggy pants with chains hanging all over them, T-shirts that reek of cigarette smoke, and their faces are painted white with black accents, similar to Kiss. Yes, people had actually painted their faces to come to this bar. Yes, they looked like trashy morons. If you think I'm being a snob, then maybe I am, but this was not my kind of crowd. And all of them acted like thugs of some sort. Like hiding behind the face makeup made them feel tough. What is this style? I have no idea where it came from or why, but it was thriving around here. And by the way, every act that night was rap. So while you'd almost expect these juggalos to be rock fans, they are evidently more hardcore than that. I guess. And BTW, they were rapping with some very vulgar language and laying their rhymes over Kanye West songs. How original.Scary. And speaking of scary, I saw a lot of mothers doing shots with their daughters then going out for a smoke together, women older than 40 showing off their midriffs, a lot of safety pins for clothing accessories, guys who claimed they were "living the thug lifestyle" wearing nothing but camo and spikes, and young girls in black lipstick. So yeah, not really anyone here that I could relate to.And while I could keep my distance, that wasn't always the case. I had to go to the bathroom and found it behind the wall near the pool tables. If you come here, be aware that they aren't very plainly marked. The bathroom was a one-room deal, and I didn't hear any answer when I knocked, so I opened the door. A goth-like girl was inside standing near the door and actually screamed, "Bitch!" at me and slammed the door in my face. Awesome. And guess what, when she walked out finally, she went back to work behind the bar. That's right, she worked here. Great friendly service, huh? I will note that this was a different girl than our server, who was nice the entire time. Anyway, I proceeded to go into the bathroom to find a mess - let's just say it looked like someone had been doing some landscaping work in the sink. I'll say no more and spare you any more details. Needless to say, I felt like I needed a shower when I got home.My friend who was performing is a rapper (thankfully one unlike the other acts before him), so as soon as his set was over we paid our tabs and got the heck outta there. The juggalo and thug counts were increasing and I didn't want to find out what it would escalate to. It was a terrible experience and I wouldn't recommend this bar to anyone, not even someone who enjoys painting their faces for no sensible reason while wearing pants 5 sizes too big. To them, I'd recommend therapy.

Round two: the boy and I left after he played, and before midnight, AGAIN. Not my type of place. The Billiard Club HAS been revamped, however. It is smaller (the second room of pool tables no longer exists, and therefore better for shows, I suppose. There have been a few decent shows I've heard of here lately, but this is the only one I've gone to. The atmosphere is still too nu metal for me, and while the bands I've seen play are decent, I don't dig it. The bartenders are still not giving bands a beer special, which is really lame, and the doorman made me show him my ID - AFTER I's already walked past him once carrying the boy's bass. Their admission stamp is apparently a "21" written with a sharpie on your hand ("make a fist," the dude told me... as if I couldn't figure it out), which is incredibly easy to replicate if you're a little hooligan looking to get into a show for free. However, plus five cool points to the doorman for buying the boy a beer for having a good show. Still, though, I'm not convinced.

With my regards to Stephanie, this is a GOOD pool room. It's got great tables, a lot of room between them, a decent bar and lots of beer (although I haven't tried it). And it has good cues, although anyone playing reguarly probably brings his own. It hasn't changed all that much since I used to come here. I see that they have expanded into the next room and made room for bands but anyone coming to play isn't interested in that stuff anyway.

This no-frills bar is in the same parking lot as the Family Dollar. They have GREAT happy hour specials - including $1 beers - every weekday. Chris, the bartender, is friendly and quick with service. If you work nearby, it's a prime, not-crowded watering hole. I recommend.