Jimbo's

I'm a born and raised Clovidian (is that the right term? Sounds pretty cool, regardless) but in spite of the yee-ha George Strait and Alan Jackson upbringing that I enjoyed, I've always been leery of country bars because of their propensity to host drunken brawls and other forms of lowbrow behavior. Jimbo's, is, by all accounts, the pinnacle of lowbrow establishments in this part of the valley, so when a group of my friends invited me to go to Jimbo's with them on a Friday night, I was quite concerned. The group in question, male and female, are not above getting into a cue stick melee. Me, well, I'd rather not. I'll try anything once, so I didn't object. Thankfully, one of my friends was a DD.

$5 cover. The bouncer was surprisingly friendly, as was the bartender that took our orders. The inside of Jimbo's is hard to describe (and even harder in retrospect because of how the night went) but it kind of looks like it's one small building (where the bar itself is) with what amounts to a very large awning that covers three or four pool tables, a dance floor, and a stage. There's a patio out back but I didn't go out there. It's quite rustic, but it's not anything outside of what I expected. My buddy and I played some pool, which was great even though I stunk out loud because I haven't played in forever. I was expecting some of the rednecks that were watching to give me crap about it, but no. Everyone was very cool. Even the band was decent. Not great, of course, but it was nothing more and nothing less than you would expect from a dive bar.

We left at around 1130 to go get some food, and when we came back the bouncer recognized us immediately and ushered us in. Kudos to him for paying attention to his patrons. I get generous when I drink so I rapidly expedited the evening once I got back inside. We played some more pool, which I was inexplicably getting better at, and then I made the fatal mistake of sitting down at the bar. By now, all of the people in my group were sitting at the bar and having a good time. I had too good of a time; luckily I had already mapped out the location of the bathroom. I was in there at closing time, and I distinctly remember one of the employees very gently asking me to make my way towards the door. He even called one of my less-loaded friends over to help me out to the car.

I had a seriously bad Saturday but I was also seriously impressed with Jimbo's and the employees in particular. It's still not my sort of scene so I wont go back there by my own volition, but I wont be so apprehensive next time if I'm invited.

Cheap Drinks!  Good fast bar service and new Felt on the Pool tables!  Gets super busy on the weekends, but on weekdays you can enjoy a seat at the bar (at times) or a short wait for a pool table!

Would I come here again? No.

I'm originally from the Fresno area, but have been to many country bars in Los Angeles and San Diego. Given that the scene there is much different.. it was still like white trash here at Jimbo's.

I went with some friends.. we are all in our early 20's. Was definitely not the scene for me.

Went and tried it out. Would not come back again. Didn't think drinks were that much cheaper than the country bars I've been to in SoCal.. everywhere else in Fresno must be overpriced. & for those who did think that drinks were cheap here.. the scene is definitely not worth the cheap drinks.

Was also disappointed I had to pay a cover charge. It was only $5, but this place was definitely not worth it.