I went on a Saturday afternoon and the place was empty for the most part. There were plenty of open pool tables. The waitress kept coming back and checking on us. I would go again as they had a deal, free pool if each person spent $8 on food/beer. They offer a flight special on the micro brews which was nice. Overall, it was a fun afternoon regardless of my pool skills ;-)
Review Source:Overall, it was a decent experience. Â The food was good, if you are unfamiliar with their chili sauces you can request a sampler to try and take your pick. Â I highly recommend their veggie chili, even as a meat and potatoes guy, my husband prefers the veggie version. Â They always have a plethora of beers to select from, allowing you to sample draughts on tap. Â The waitress made deliberate passes at my husband, going as far as winking and touching his hand while giggling at some random mildly funny comment he made. Â The only major issue we had was with dessert, the brownie was burnt to a crisp - you could smell it when it was brought to the table. Â We were barely able to cut into it from it being over cooked. Â The manager was making rounds and asked about our meal, we commented on the brownie and he kindly gave us two alternate desserts of our choosing to compensate for the problem. Â I would visit this location again.
Review Source:HARD TIMES is, by now, a well established NoVa emporium that has carved out its own special niche: Â well prepared chili (4 formulations) -- and please don't stray from that strength when you consider their menu. As someone who has frequented this local chain since its first location opened in Alexandria in the 1980s, I have a love/hate thing with them and their funky menu, mixed service, and special offering.
Yep, they can definitely do chili. And to their credit, they offer an adorable little  "chili sampler" that lets you try their 4 chili recipes for free. (If it's not offered, then do ask for it -- even if you know what you want. It's always fun to taste the 4 formulas again.)
And as if that weren't enough fun for free, they also bring warm cornbread and butter for you to play with before the main event.
BUT if you stray from their strong point (chili), you're in dangerous territory... Their salads are lackluster, whether topped with salmon or chicken or even chili. Â They do interesting things with chili (the chili salad -- literally chili spooned atop a tossed salad -- is one of my faves) but the method of preparing their food varies by location. Â I've had chili salads with big, tri-cornered torilla chips; other times, I've had cute little crispy corn chip slivers. Â I've also encountered drainage problems: Â chili salads with water at the bottom. Â Ick.
Their onion rings are delightfully greasy, but not off the charts. Â Sometimes I get them just because they are, in a way, really special; the crispy, floury crust is light and special, but the bottom line is GREASY. Â Then again, don't show me diet onion rings!
As for atmosphere, we've found that this location is very consistent with regard to service. Â We've visited dozens of times and always been seated immediately and had friendly, competent service.
A couple friends and I decided to pay Hard Times in Woodbridge a visit a few weekends ago and we will never be going back. Â That place is disgusting, especially because it is one of the few places that still allows indoor smoking. Â They had a UFC fight on the night we went, which was entertaining, but they left the TVs on (at full blast) for 30 minutes after the fight was over. Â I had to ask the bartender if they could turn the volume off and put on some music, which they eventually did. Â Bathrooms were dirty and disgusting (and tacky looking). Â Guess it's typical for a pool hall, but not a pleasant place to be if you have any dignity.
Review Source:This place is dark and dingy and the food is terrible. Service is also lacking and the waiters can take forever to come back around to you. The only real draw are the pool tables. The problem is--every time I try to go with friends to just hang out and play some pool, there are a lot of sketchy guys there checking us out and trying to talk to us. There's really no draw for me to come here.
Food: 1
Value: 1
Service: 1
Overall: 1
The place was not busy. Â The waiter took a few minutes to get to us. Â She was very polite.
I got onion rings. Â They were gross. Â No season and just was not good. Â I did put salt pepper on them to try to make them better because I was really hungry. Â The manager came over and offered to take them off the bill . Â I ate most of them so I told him that it was ok.
Over the last couple years Hard Times prices have gone up while the quality of their dishes have gone down. We used to go for the wings, being grilled we never felt as guilty afterwards. But now at more than a dollar a pop they just aren't worth it unless we go on wing night. The chili is still good, but the price of any of the dishes with chili is a little outrageous. A frito chili pie is almost $10 now. I won't even get started on the drink prices. They also removed and switched up a lot of their previous dishes that were my favorites, like the half smoke (gone) and friend pickle spears (now pickle chips). I just really have no incentive to continue to frequent Hard Times as much as I used to.
Review Source:Walked in at 9:25pm, because they close at 10pm they had me wait at the front with no hostess to seat us for 15 minutes and when I asked ( manager on duty) can we be seated he said please continue to wait and I'll send some one. 5 more minutes pass no one came.. I took the hint = Â " get out" .... Â So I left .. Very poor service! !
Review Source:I moved to the area from Texas and to me, there is nothng like a good bowl of Texas chili. Â And the Texas chili at Hard Times is nothng like a good bowl of Texas chili. Â The music was so loud that we coudn't talk. Â Part of the atmosphere, I guess, a no-talk atmosphere. Â Fish and chips was OK. Â Service was spotty, good for a bit and then you figured your server went on break for 30 minutes. Â I was there late one night and a fight broke out by the front door and someone called the police. Â So I don't think I want any part of fights and I'll try to stay away, at least late at night. Â And the name Hard Times Cafe, the name comes from the unpadded seats that you have to sit on, wood bench seats, hard on your sitter.
Review Source:This was the first location of this franchise I have ever visited. I will never need to visit another one. Â I went with my sister and her friend, we had tickets stubs from the local AMC theater that entitled us to one free appetizer per table. We ordered two thinking they were both free. Â The one free per table was not explained till the check came. I have to say that the wait staff was very attentive and even though it was his first night at this location, was a very experienced waiter and made every effort to make sure we were given good service. That being said, one of the appetizers was wrong, which we said was OK. Â Our friend order the Sliders which were good, nothing special. My sister ordered fish and chips which again were good, nothing special. I ordered their featured Texas Chili. It first came to the table cold. We called the waiter, who willing returned to the kitchen. Â The bowl came back heated from the microwave with additional chili added. I have never had so much grease on a dish. Â I spooned nearly 4oz of grease off this bowl. Sadly, it was still inedible. Â The manager stopped by our table, which is their standard. Â When I explained that the chili was soaked in grease, she told me that was the way it was presented. Â She told me that it was to be ordered either dry or wet, which my sister said had been offered to her. The manager did not offer any desert or reduction of the bill, she was then done with us. Â I am done with Hard Times Cafe. As a location and as a franchise.
Review Source:Where Hardtimes food lacks, its drinks and prices make up.
Happy hour is great. Cheap bottles on Thursdays, and cheap boneless wings. Even during regular hours you can get domestic pitchers for a little more than $10.
This particular location has a lot to offer in the form of entertainment. Pool tables, arcade games, ski ball, bands, and even the occaisional mechanical bull riding tournament are sure to keep you busy. Of course, they also have tvs and usually provide the UFC fights.
Not great, not bad! Just a local bar where you can enjoy some brews and relax.
We ate dinner here because everything else was packed for NFL playoffs on Saturday...big mistake- slow service, inexperienced waitress (but nice) and the only side they had was fries- they actually ran out of onion rings- not that we wanted those either. The person who brought one of our drinks to the table actually rolled her eyes when the waitress reminded her we had asked for whipped cream (wth?)...food was just blah but the very worst part was having to walk quite a few feet through the smokked filed bar area to get to the restrooms. That makes NO sense. I have asthma and can get very sick when exposeed to smoke at the wrong time. They need to renovate to fix that. it is disgusting! The only other thing I would recommend is lowering the coat hooks so view of the TV isnt blocked by adjoining tables coats.
Review Source:What's wrong with the kitchen in this location? I went to numerous locations in this area, because I like the menu, but Hard Times in Woodbridge always comes last. They have friendly staff, there is never wait and TVs are nice, but I hope you are there NOT for food.
Whenever I ordered chili, it came lukewarm. And I don't know, but it did not taste very fresh. Quite the opposite, it tasted like it was 2-3 days old. Also, all of the chili's were very bland. No flavor, despite onions and such.
Salads were HUGE, but also without any flavor. The only thing I liked was dessert: sweet little pastry with ice-cream.
If I come here again, it will only be for beer and game on TV.
The staff here is really very nice. Â We were seated right away and everyone was very friendly.
We ordered onion rings and I have to say I have never seen anything like them. Â They were raw and undercooked. Â They came out almost white, no golden fried yummy-ness. Â I thought it was probably just a mistake so I asked to have another order made for us. Â The second batch came out the same. Â Hmm, OK, well this is a chili place, let's give it a try.
I have to say, for place that brags about their chili, I wasn't that impressed. Â Everything was just sort of blah. Â Not very good at all. Â
We won't be back, there are lots of other chili places to go to around here for sure.
This is one of my favorite places in N Va, and my favorite in Woodbridge. Â They have a great beer selection, lots of TVs for watching any sporting event, and many drink/food specials during games. Â They have free pool until 5 pm weekdays, and during football games.
The location in Manassas is newer, and also great, but this location has a charm you can't find in many N VA establishments. Â They also usually have live music on Saturday nights.
The food quality is as good as the one in Spingfield. Â Pretty good chili dishes... love the 5 alarm. Â The beer selection isn't your standard, which I like. Â I prefer the open atmosphere and pool tables and such of the Springfield one, but this one is good too if you want a smaller atmosphere.
Review Source:I'm always on the hunt for places to eat after midnight. Â I was so excited to discover that Hard Times stays open until 2am!
Their Veggie Chili is really tasty, and they boast a Veggie burger that I tried to send back the first time I ordered it because it tasted so good I though it was a meat burger :-) Â (I made my husband taste it and he commented "Wow, if that's a veggie burger that's one dang good veggie burger.")
The food was plentiful and cheap (although with a menu featuring Frito Pie, chili dogs, and chili cheese fries, I managed to walk out with indigestion!). Â And I love their French Fries! Â They are the type that are perfect for malt vinegar, which is conveniently already on the table.
Our evening was capped off when we spotted the online poker game and our waiter brought us each over a gadget so we could join in the fun. Â We munched down artery clogging food and tried to out bluff each other for an hour before we finally decided it was time to get home.
Hubby's parents were back in town and we took them here for lunch. They are really picky eaters, so I was a bit nervous.
The waitress started them off with the chili sampler, which was the right thing because my father in law always has a minimum of twenty questions when it comes to his food ("what type of sauce is that? Can I get that with onions but not tomato?").
Hubby and I have been to this location before, it is never as busy as the King Street location (at least when we have been there). The in laws got the veggie chili, I got my usual - the Taralinga and hubby got his usual - the Buffalo chicken sammich. The kitchen that particular day was sl--ow. But this place is pretty reliable food wise and doesn't break the bank on price.
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