Rhode Island Billiards Club

Lived in North Providence for a few years and never tried this place, partially because of the scary reviews. The husband and I gave it a whirl this evening and had a good inexpensive night out. Stopped in on a Saturday night, the place was not very crowded but it was comfortable. Our server was attentive and we ordered a few rounds of gansetts and some nachos. The food was standard bar food, not bad but not fantastic either, although the guys at the table next to us seemed to enjoy their pizza which smelled pretty good. The crowd was pretty diverse, ranged from some young couples and small groups of friends in their 20's to a few middle aged couples and everyone was very nice.

I also want to applaud them for serving Narragansett at a reasonable price, just over $2 for draft! Not charging $6-$8 for a gansett earned them an extra star in my book!

Happy we found a local, laid back, and inexpensive place for a night out, we will be back.

This is a beer joint, but I got.a Martini anyhow. Yeah, a sucky martini. It's also very bright and the billiards crowd was alive. The bartender took the time to chat, which I thought was cool since he served me a martini in a plastic glass. He admitted that.this is not.the place for a martini, which got cool points for honesty. Will come back for a beer and possibly a game of pool.

RI Billiards is a pool hall with a small bar/restaurant area. I've been here a handful of times over the years and I've never had a hard time getting a pool table. They generally charge by the hour rather than by the game, and the prices are affordable.

The crowd - what there is of it - is definitely a North Providence/Smithfield townie crowd. It's always been low-key when I've been there and I've never felt like people were hovering over me waiting for my table or being all judgy about my suckiness at billiards. I've also never seen any static between players or any over-the-top fratboy nonsense. It's just a nice place to go shoot some pool.

They do have food and drinks here, and waitstaff who will bring the drinks to you. The food is pretty much what you'd expect: you want nachos or wings when you're shooting pool, not a gourmet meal. I usually stick to 'Gansett when I'm out, but I think they have a handful of different beers as well as a big list of girly drinks.

Even though they have food in drinks, this really isn't a place to hang out - at least not for me. There's a huge difference between hanging out at a bar that has a pool table - like Lili Marlene's or The Wild Colonial, and hanging out at a pool hall that has a bar in it. If you're super into pool, or are friends with folks who work/play here, I could see hanging out. but for me once my game is done, there's not much left to do.