Snooker's Pool & Pub

Review based on events from 2/2011:

"Snookered - verb - Slang . to deceive, cheat, or dupe"

I knew things were going sideways before I even got there.  I had to deal with some issues at work (yes, I have a "real" job...all three of us do...this is all still done in what we laughingly call our "free time"...) and so I didn't get out as early as I wanted to, which had me running late getting out to Snookers for our Pink Slip Party this past Thursday.  I hate running late, and so I was already in less than a perfect mindset when the text message came in from Bob at 3:58pm:

"Wow.  You are going to be pissed."

Well that's never a good sign.  Needless to say, I immediately called him and found out that they had us pigeon-holed in a back area that wouldn't support one of our casual events, let alone a Pink Slip Party, and that they had completely overbooked the venue with other events going on.

I sped up a little bit.

When I arrived about 10 minutes later, the parking lot was packed.  Also never a good sign.

Turns out that even though I had been discussing the event and getting everything setup with their event coordinator since November, somehow that information allegedly never made it to the on-site manager until Tuesday.  Which meant that they had gone ahead and completely overbooked the space.  One side of the place was full of poker tables ringed by what appeared to be film extras that have been out of work since the Sopranos went off the air.  And apparently there was a pool league coming in at six o'clock.  So the room they had us setup for was like the back room at the BlackFinn.  And it had two pool tables in it.

Well, normal thoughts and processes went out the window at that point.  Gone was the concept of a registration table, and we certainly going to worry about having people fill out registration cards or anything upon arrival.  There simply wasn't room for it, and we knew that adding any delays into the process would just make an already frustrating situation worse.  So we got the recruiters' badges arranged as best we could with the space available, threw name tags and pens around the room where we could for everyone else to use, and braced for impact.

I'm pleased to say that the most commonly heard assessment of the night was "It was a success...in spite of the venue."

You know who I never heard from at all?  Ever?  Anyone at Snookers.

Oh sure, that night I got a lot of finger pointing at the event coordinator, a lot of shrugs, and a lot of "there's nothing we can do"...but not a single follow up.  Not even a call from the event coordinator to see how things went.

And I've got to tell you...even though I probably shouldn't be by this point, I was surprised by that.  See, the whole reason why I started this process back in November was because we're going to try our best to "walk the walk" and not just "talk the talk" this year.  See, "Detroit" is in the name of the group, and we're all about helping the metro Detroit area get better...so wouldn't it make sense if we focused our events on places that are locally owned and operated?  Of course it would.  I reached out to Snookers, because they're a locally owned and operated group that has locations throughout the metro Detroit area, which fits in with our desire to move our events around this year nicely.

That won't be happening...at least not with Snookers.  We'll still keep moving our events around the metro Detroit area...but they'll never get any more business from our group's events.

I don't know if it's that they didn't believe the numbers of people that I gave them, or if the event coordinator really did drop the ball, or if it was just simple greed to overbook a venue to maximize people and revenue in the same way that airlines overbook flights.  I don't know because I still haven't gotten a straight answer, and I'm done trying to get one.

Snooker's is my second favorite pool and bar place in the area.  There are plenty of pool tables, TVs with various sports playing, good music in the background and decent food, not great but decent.  The wait staff is friendly but when there is a charity poker tournament, sometimes slow.  This is understandable considering how many folks are there for poker!  It is a much nicer place now that it is smoke free.

i've been coming to Snooker's for years.  Lately, it has gone through a little change over the last year or so.

While there are still numerous pool tables to rent, there is now a lot of tables for poker.  The charity poker craze has really taken off over the last year or two and Snooker's capitalized on it.  I remember when there was just a few tables, but has now grown to cover a good portion of the floor space.

The service and food is always decent.  Not the greatest, but good enough to make you want to come back.  Nothing unique on the menu.  Standard bar fare all around.

The tables always seemed cheap enough, but I haven't really been here to shoot pool in a while.  Most of my time has been playing poker.

The setup on the poker area is really nice.  Comfy chair, nice tables, well-run, and LCD TVs everywhere to catch a sports game.