Hoops and Hops

It's a (dive?) bar in the middle of nowhere, Connecticut.

Food is pretty good, drinks are a little stronger than you might expect, it's not super clean, but it's not exceptionally seedy either. Bartenders are friendly, quick with your drinks, and open to suggestions. Beer is cold, and the patrons are friendly if you are brave enough to sit down and start a conversation.

There's pool for a dollar a game, and a few arcade games. Tables and games are rarely all full. Bartenders will give you cash off of your card and add it to your tab if you didn't bring any. Don't put on your fancy shoes for this place, but if you're looking for a cheap place to kick back without a cover, douchey bouncer, or snobby atmosphere, stop on by.

Protip: The pool table further from the bar is slightly off balance. It'll throw your whole game off. ;)

I give it 3 stars because the service here has been good the few times I have been there. Bartenders are friendly, accommodating, and quite speedy. That's pretty much the highlight of this whole establishment. The whole place is filthy, and makes you feel dirty just by walking through the door. Their bathrooms are tiny, and so gross I actually considered going outside instead. I understand that this place is kind of a "dive bar" but I don't think dirty and sketchy have to go hand in hand with a place being a "dive".
To give an example of something I just couldn't believe I was actually witnessing, was their choice in what can only be categorized as a "container" to hold the pretzels. There where 2 or 3 of them in the bar. What were they you ask, they where large plastic dog food dispensers. Maybe they thought it was clever or cute, it isn't, it looks ghetto. Quite frankly, it's pretty gross to think about when the little bowl on the bottom gets empty people are digging their hands inside to get more pretzels to come out. As for the crowd, " interesting" is a polite way of putting it. For the most part everyone looked to be under 30 with a few exceptions, and kind of like the kids your parents told you were trouble when you were younger. People got pretty drunk, pretty vulgar and pretty rowdy. This place falls into its very own category of bars.

Good beers usually on tap and a decent selection of bottles. Average prices. Food is good. Cobb salad is huge. Pool tables, air hockey, jukebox. Its a bar. Don't get dressed up.