Winners For

Best Pool Hall

You think pool halls and you envision dark, smoky rooms filled with tables covered by worn-out green felt. And until early January 2012, that was probably true. Since then, Chalk Ping Pong & Billiards Lounge has proven the pool hall can also be a sexy place where beautiful people lacking leather vests and tramp stamps can play together. Chalk al...

In local director Travis Mills' The Big Something, a slacker noir set in the Valley, pool hall Q& Brew plays a pivotal role. It makes sense. Nestled away in the same strip mall that houses the Yucca Tap Room and Sky High Smoke shop, the Brew has got a lo-fi kind of charm. It's resolutely hipster-proof, the kind of place you go for a real game of...

There's no denying that the minute you grab the pool cue, a certain feeling of utter coolness comes over you. You are slick and smooth, your moves are calculated and your face serious, with a snarled lip and one keen, squinting eye to intimidate your opponents. Why not play on a table that matches? The Famous Bar offers just that — the dark, woo...

Remember those places called "pool halls," in the days before higher-end establishments opened and became places to be seen, rather than places to, you know, actually shoot pool? Mulligans Sports Bar and Grill in San Clemente is a throwback to those times, when one could slap down some quarters, drink American beer that didn't have a stupid name...

Buffalo Billiards is great for the occasional pool outing (assuming you don’t mind Old City), but for more regular play, we prefer this affordable, almost 20-year-old hall in Chester County. The equipment is first-rate, the crowd is friendly in a thoroughly non-pool-hall way, and they’ve even got refrigerators where you’re welcome to keep your B...

In an area filled with barhoppers, Bedrock attracts a friendly, offbeat neighborhood crowd. (The regular art shows, solid beer selection and jukebox may have something to do with that.) Though there are only seven tables, the underground hall lures good players - and also offers darts, shuffleboard and Wii.

Hidden in a clock tower atop a suburban shopping center, the airy, two-level Breakers offers 14 tables, regular league nights, live cover bands on Friday nights and a comfortable 60-foot bar.

Thirty pool tables, numerous shuffleboard tables, five dart boards, cozy nooks with couches, an array of big-screen TVs and two full bars have made Buffalo one of D.C.'s most popular pool halls.

Sister to Ballston's bustling Carpool, this comfortable billiards hall mixes nine tables, darts and foosball with couch-filled lounge areas in a bright, pool-meets-greasemonkey atmosphere.

A swinging jet-set pool hall that's like no other in the Washington area, Continental offers a bright purple, green and orange color scheme, a full-service tiki bar and retro furniture. Choose from pool, skee-ball, shuffleboard, darts or Ping-Pong to keep yourself occupied.

Where Felt, Kings, and Jillian’s feel more like Chuck E. Cheese’s, Flat Top Johnny’s is a classic pool hall, a place with great beer on tap (courtesy of the adjacent Cambridge Brewing Company) and plenty of tables. But with Kendall Square gaining buzz by the day, could it soon go glam? Shudder.

A super selection of menu items awaits you at Snookers' Pool & Pub. This is not your typical "bar food". We have a load of munchies, pizza, sandwiches, burgers and even salads for you health nuts. Cop a squat, buy a beer and order away! Come in and pay pool or Golden Tee Golf!