Pool halls reasonably close to Irvine, CA?

S

scott74

New member
gonna be working in irvine, ca and am trying to decide where to live. would prefer that it be close to a pool hall with great equipment (brunswick/diamond tables with tight pockets) and reasonable rates. am hoping that someone can suggest a room with tables/environment similar to hard times/house of billiards/hollywood billiards, etc. would love to hear about a great room(s) within half an hour of irvine.

currently i'm playing out of play billiards in oxnard, which has some great brunswicks with 4" pockets.

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

cheers!
 
The best you're going to find for good equipment is Danny K's in Orange. The pockets won't be nearly as tight as Play Billiards in Oxnard (one of my favorite rooms), but the place is nice with good food and friendly staff.

The other choices are pretty slim. Games Plus in Costa Mesa is fairly close but iffy for the serious player. I'm not sure if Classic Cue is still around, which was near the airport. The Blue Dolphin in Dana Point is a reasonably nice room. Those are the ones I can think of right now.
 
Just move in between Irvine and (Bellflower) Hard Times. :thumbup:

I'd go for Sunset Beach (between Seal and Huntington Beaches)!
 
Danny K's is the most well maintained in all of OC area as far as I know of. Its been a really long time since I've been to Classic Cue. The last few times I was there long ago, it was really run down.
 
victorcubed said:
From closest to Irvine, to Farthest away..
Classic Q in Newport (I've never been)
Q Club in Costa Mesa (Harbor Blvd and Mesa Verde Dr) They only have four
9 foot tables, and two bar boxes, but the 9 footers play good.
Games Plus (Not so great)
Danny K's (as everyone has already mentioned)
Rack n Cue in Stanton, Decent tables, serves beer on tap
Hot Shots in Cypress (I love this place)
Hardtimes ;)
Click to expand...

Going to add a little to what victorcubed posted:

Q Club, they have six GC's in the back, they play fast and I found draw shots to be quite difficult. Felt was a bit worn. Its been 8 months since I've been there.

Games Plus, its been at least 10 years since I've been there, but if that's the one in Newport Beach, it was pretty run down when I went. Don't know what the condition is now. The place didn't seem very welcoming to be honest.

Rack N Cue, its been 4 years since I've been here, but it was a decent place. Its a bit further north than the general area of Irvine. A wide mix of tables, you'll see a few GC's on the right hand side and a mix of other tables that I can't remember what they were. Their table rates change according to what type of table you want to shoot on. The GC's were decent speed and most shots could be done quite clean. Rails seemed ok. Pockets seemed average. Lots of signage around that warned about prohibited shots such as jumpping.

Hot Sots, owned Terry, nice dude. His family helps him run the place. Their food is pretty decent and they do serve beer. Two GCV's in the front are the usual money tables if you're looking for action. The rest are Brunswick Centurions. All the Centurion tables place decent. The GCV's play a little faster and the pockets a little tighter from what I remember. Its been about 6 months since the last time I was there. No table rate difference between the GC's and Centurions. Terry also has a monthly rate if you're looking to play during the day from open at 11am to 5pm or 6pm, can't remember the cut off time.

Hardtimes, doesn't really need a description. Its a very good place.
 
CrownCityCorey said:
Just move in between Irvine and (Bellflower) Hard Times. :thumbup:

I'd go for Sunset Beach (between Seal and Huntington Beaches)!
Click to expand...
While Sunset is nice, it would make his drive to work rather difficult.
I would PM I4pool, he can give you the low down on Classic cue.
It would be the closest to Irvine.
There use to be Big Top Billards in Mission Viego. Don't know if it is still there.
 
Plush Pockets in Mission Viejo was really nice before it turned into a strip club called "The Library."
 
Hardtimes is about 30 minutes from Irvine sans traffic. Just skip work and it wont be a problem.:)
 
As others have said, Danny K's will be the best room you can find closest to Irvine with tournaments 5 nights per week and great equipment, food and service. Ironically none of the mentioned places have Diamond tables but there are a few in Huntington Beach not far up the road from Irvine. "Shooters" on Beach Blvd. has 2 diamond barboxes I believe, and there is also another hidden place off of Beach blvd. and Heil near Norms called "The Filling Post" that has a brand new Diamond barbox and also a brand new valley table. The owner must be a player because he keeps his equipment top-notch in there.

Also a few other places not mentioned that have good equipment are "Patrick's Pub" in Costa Mesa off of Harbor Blvd. (located on the next block down from Q club) and "The Pen" in Huntington Beach off of Beach blvd. The Pen has quite a few valley barboxes that are well kept and 2 nine footers with nap cloth.

Those are close by and I also enjoy playing out of "The Blue Dolphin" in Dana Point, "Hot Shots" and of course "Hard Times" in Bellflower. You have a lot to choose from, just not a lot of places with Diamonds.
 
rackem said:
While Sunset is nice, it would make his drive to work rather difficult.
I would PM I4pool, he can give you the low down on Classic cue.
It would be the closest to Irvine.
There use to be Big Top Billards in Mission Viego. Don't know if it is still there.
Click to expand...

I highly recommend Danny K's in Orange and Hardtimes in Bellflower. Drive to Bellflower can be done in less than 30 minutes (after 10pm :grin-square: ) Danny K's is my favorite place to go in O.C. Great atmoshpere, great food, tourny's 5 of 7 days in the week. TD-Fernie is cool. Danny the owner is great too!

Classic Q's near John Wayne airport is okay. I only really go there sometimes during my work lunch break to get some practice in. No tournys there either.

Best of Luck!


Regards,
 
levid said:
As others have said, Danny K's will be the best room you can find closest to Irvine with tournaments 5 nights per week and great equipment, food and service. Ironically none of the mentioned places have Diamond tables but there are a few in Huntington Beach not far up the road from Irvine. "Shooters" on Beach Blvd. has 2 diamond barboxes I believe, and there is also another hidden place off of Beach blvd. and Heil near Norms called "The Filling Post" that has a brand new Diamond barbox and also a brand new valley table. The owner must be a player because he keeps his equipment top-notch in there.

Also a few other places not mentioned that have good equipment are "Patrick's Pub" in Costa Mesa off of Harbor Blvd. (located on the next block down from Q club) and "The Pen" in Huntington Beach off of Beach blvd. The Pen has quite a few valley barboxes that are well kept and 2 nine footers with nap cloth.

Those are close by and I also enjoy playing out of "The Blue Dolphin" in Dana Point, "Hot Shots" and of course "Hard Times" in Bellflower. You have a lot to choose from, just not a lot of places with Diamonds.
Click to expand...

Now they have 4 pro-cut Diamond 7 footers at Shooters HB.
Good Sat 2pm 8 ball tourney.
Also the Huddle on Baker ave in Costa Mesa has 9 well kept Valleys.
Ought to join the So Cal Players Group on here.
 
Abe Knows

i4pool said:
I highly recommend Danny K's in Orange and Hardtimes in Bellflower. Drive to Bellflower can be done in less than 30 minutes (after 10pm :grin-square: ) Danny K's is my favorite place to go in O.C. Great atmoshpere, great food, tourny's 5 of 7 days in the week. TD-Fernie is cool. Danny the owner is great too!

Classic Q's near John Wayne airport is okay. I only really go there sometimes during my work lunch break to get some practice in. No tournys there either.

Best of Luck!


Regards,
Click to expand...


He knows-he's right-and he kicks my butt whenever we play.

Dk's is a very good room. Travel a little further to Rancho Cucamonga-STIX. GC's and a Diamond 9 footers. You can find any degree of game that you're looking for up there.

Have fun.

3railkick
 
More info please

rackem said:
Now they have 4 pro-cut Diamond 7 footers at Shooters HB.
Good Sat 2pm 8 ball tourney.
Also the Huddle on Baker ave in Costa Mesa has 9 well kept Valleys.
Ought to join the So Cal Players Group on here.
Click to expand...

What's that? SoCal players? I don't understand.

Thanks

3railkick
 
victorcubed said:
They just redid the cloth on the tables a couple months ago, and they are a bit faster. Pockets were also reduced maybe a year ago, but not significantly. They also took out two of the GC's and moved the bar boxes to the back..
Click to expand...

That's a shame, I kind of liked the old setup even though I didn't go there much.



victorcubed said:
There's FOUR GCV's there now. Terry is a great guy, and I recommend going here;)
Monthy rate is $75/mo
Click to expand...

Wow, good to know that HotShots is doing well! :) Its a good pool hall, lots of nice people.



3RAILKICK said:
He knows-he's right-and he kicks my butt whenever we play.

Dk's is a very good room. Travel a little further to Rancho Cucamonga-STIX. GC's and a Diamond 9 footers. You can find any degree of game that you're looking for up there.
Click to expand...

I've heard good things about Stix, but driving out the Rancho Cucamonga is another thing! That's a 45min-1hr drive from Irvine! Danny K's usually has some really good tournaments. If someone can fill in the details, I believe they have a Saturday tournament that's pretty good. I think its similar to the 1st Sunday of the month @ Hardtimes.
.
.
 
Last edited:
Danny K's schedule is as follows: (All tourneys are handicapped)
Monday night 7 pm. 8 ball. $12 entry Unfortunately only 8 of those dollars go into prize pool as T.D. is paid out of entry money. Still a fun tourney.
Tuesday night. 8pm in house league ( the players league, run by Mac Mc
Cabe)
Wednesday night 7 pm. 9 ball, $12 entry...same deal
Thursday night 7pm 9 ball $12 entry...same deal
Friday. No organized events
Saturday: 1pm 9ball $12 entry....same deal
Sunday. 1pm identical to Saturday tourney
Usually the tourneys get a decent turn-out...esp. the weekend tourneys.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top