It says its not good for kid on here. It is, when I went in August 2011 there was a kid menu, and there where several kids in there. They have great wings and chili. read more

The food is good, and the Springfield location has a large Pool Hall. However with all the cigarette smoke, and remnants of smoke you might get lung cancer from being there too long. read more

This place is one the cheapest yet delicious spots to get Chilli in Old Town, Alexandria. First time there, they let you sample all of the chillis for free so you know which to go with. I recommend the Cincinnati, rich flavor and hint of cinnamon. Fresh rootbeer on tap! read more

The domestic beer selection is pretty basic. Happy hour does last until 9 pm, they have rotating daily happy hour specials. If you're OK with smoking or being around smoke then there is a bar in the back with billiards and other games. The front of the restaurant isn't as big as the back is. The bathrooms are in the back area with the bar. They don't seem to be full often so it is a great place to hang out and have a long conversation catching up with buddies. Ample parking, but parking lanes are unidirectional and diagonal. read more

I went in and sat at the bar for 15 minutes waiting while the bartender ignored me. I got up and left and I won't be back. It really looked like a decent place but between the cigarette smoke and poor service my recommendation is to find someplace else. read more

I've been to Hard Times in Springfield numerous times. There are four reasons to go to this place: 1. You are a smoker looking for the biggest place in the area to puff-up. 2. You want to watch Sunday football with with 20-somethings who where their ball caps backward or to the side. 3. You want to host a pool party for a group of 10-20 4. You want to hang with young oriental males who come for the "free pool with lunch special" The Springfield locale is a moderate-sized restaurant up front that does the chili thing. Insiders know that the best chili is the vegetarian. This place made it's rep on chili two decades ago, but the chili has gone down hill since then. HT claim to fame was that it was one of the first chili parlors -- not the best. Lately it has attracted the 20 something crowd. With VA's move to a non-smoking state, HT has responded by making itself the largest smoking place in the area. If you go to the back bar during prime time -- plan on coming out with clothes that need to be washed. The back bar staff is just plain bad. As a seasoned drinker I know service. These folks are the cast-aways from other local restaurants. Their service is poor. PLUS it is their corporate policy to keep your credit card behind the bar is you are running a check.. I don't know about you, but when I'm sitting at the bar, I don"t like this. While it's policy, this is a policy more based on typical clientele who are likely to run out on a check than respectable customers.. Try to buy a pitcher and the waitstaff is immediately looking for your companions. They will tell you that state law prohibits them from selling a pitcher to an individual person. (Yes - I suppose that this is a law but does anyone else enforce it? The answer is that HT's enforcement is based on (1) inexperienced waitstaff, (2) a clientele that needs mothering, and (3) management who who doesn't get it.) They do have good Sunday football specials, but don't hope to get a seat. All available seat fill up early. The place gets dense with smoke. Go here if you want to eat pub-grub in the off hours. Go to Fast Eddies if you want a better class of pool and better beer specials. Go to Kates if you want to get a seat and quaff a brew with people who speak English, read more

wings were pretty good. nice tv set up... although they kept changing the channel mid game, but after the crowd responded in beligerent rowdiness, they changed it back. Great environment for adults, not so much for children. Felt bad for the guy next to us who brought his young sons to watch the Jets get their bleeps handed to them by the browns because there was a lot of cursing. bathrooms were kinda dingy tho, felt like I stepped into the Bates Motel. The fried pickles are delish.. maybe even better than Hooters. read more

Good chili, not too loud (weds night at 6pm). Great service. Wings good too.

This is our go-to spot when we just don't know what we want for dinner. I can't say I've had anything off the menu that I didn't like. The craft beer selection is one of the better in the area. The service is generally very good and there is always a good game (or two or three) to see on the many TVs. read more

Good chili sampler. Ordered an appetizer and main meal (southwest egg roll and fish & chips); both arrived at same time... Not so good. Good atmosphere and Francis was very attentive. read more

What a friendly place, the wait staff is good or great. The manger Debbie is fantastic! The specials make it a place we can take the whole family! Of course the chili is great but the BURGERS are too! GO ENjoy! Relax! read more

As a disclaimer, I've only had food here once. It was a ranch chicken wrap with fries, and it was standard fair: not bad not great. However, I went here a couple of times with coworkers because this was the spot they liked. I'm convinced they water down their mixed drinks, possibly their liquor. Usually, I'm feeling it at 3 drinks. I barely felt anything after I had 5 drinks here including shooters. I mentioned it to a coworker once, and she said she felt the same way. If you do want to go, I recommend sticking to beer. However, they do have pool and at least once had karaoke. I enjoy both of those activities. read more

Server was sweet, wings were shitty, and there was a nasty, curl my hair in my celery. Won't be coming back here for food, maybe for booze.

Lets start by saying that this place is not a 5 star restaurant its a dive bar but its a great dive bar. It has great HH specials and if you go for nothing else but the chili its all worth it. The place smells and the place looks crappy but the again the CHILI is awesome. They do have some other good thing on the menu too but you can never go wrong with the grease food. read more

Hard times is a good place to go when everything else is closed. It is usually very out dated but it's s bar in the middle of a strip mall so I don't expect much. This place seems to always be busy! The food here decent. I usually get the deep fried mac and cheese which is pretty decent. I got the chicken Alamo one time and surprisingly I liked it. It was pretty much spaghetti noodles and ranch dressing with melted cheese on top and grilled chicken. It's gross but surprisingly good. This place usually reeks like smoke because they allowing smoking in the bar area of the place. So I would not completely recommend bringing your young ones here. I have had horrible service here before in the bar. There was a bartender one time that was so rude to me! There were about 4 people waiting to get serviced and he was just on his phone. That's why I didn't give this place more stars. read more

Terrible place. Stinks inside bad, place is real dirty. Had old dry wings, and chili fries that tasted like old boiled leather. This place should be closed. read more

Wish I could just get a decent meal where people used ethical practices like not touching everything with your hands especially infront of you... disgusting... throwing it away immediately thanks hard times read more

I've been to this Hard Times twice and in comparison to the one in Woodbridge its awesome. The sliders are great and so are the honey BBQ wings. There are different places to eat ie. bar, in front of the Big screen and there is a dining only area. I know for sure they have 2 bars but they may have a third one up stairs with the other pool tables. They have TVs all over the place if you want to watch a game and they have something going on pretty much any night. Drinks are a little expensive for a bar. 64oz. Pitchers are like $15 for domestics. They do have drink specials every day though so maybe I just went on the wrong day for beer. They have an upstairs and downstairs pool tables through out. The place is huge and the service is pretty good as well. We ordered a made up drink and the manager came over to ask what the name of it was so they could add it to their drink menu. If your interested in the ingredients, it consists of Grey Goose Vodka, Peach Schnapps, Malibu Rum, Pineapple and Cranberry juice. Very tasty! read more

The chili is usually excellent although I have been served burnt chili a couple of times in many years of visits. Grilled salmon and chicken salads are surprisingly good. Wings are good also and burgers are decent. Fries are frozen and not worth the calories. It is what it is, a casual bar with decent food that serves until 130 am. As others have said the smoke can sometimes be oppressive, other times it doesnt bother me. I try to avoid the night of a big game as I am not a sports fan and the drunken screaming is irritating. read more

I love Hard Times, but I hate this location. It's run down, and absolutely reeks of smoke. I had to leave with a crying kid who wanted Hard Times but I couldn't let her breathe that awful air. Stick with the Old Town location. read more

Visiting area and always seek local places. Drove at 11 AM for 4 miles to get there. Should have saved time and gas. Server was ehhh. I ordered Texas chili over rice. 20 yrs in Army, traveled 3 countries, cross US 4 times, raised in south. Lousy chili!!! AGAIN, LOUSY and tasteless! Have had better out of a can and at Wendy's. I should have sent meal back. As I was eating heard server, when she wasn't playing grab a-- and chatting with fellow server, tell a couple next to me of specials. She never said a word to me about specials. In all, a crappy over priced meal and mediocre service. read more

As a smoker I am torn, however this place was a giant fog of smoke and I wreeked after I left so bad that I had to put my clothes in a separate bag, as far as the bartender she was a bit additudy at first then warmed up, then towards the end was nonexistent and having her fill us up was a task in it self, very Mish mash of people there from average to dregs of the earth, bit we were traveling and it was fairly close to the hotel, it is what it is. I guess it served it's purpose which was to watch the game and have some beers. Not a place I would go back to if I had a choice though read more

If I asked for my food to be prepared a certain way. I expect it to be prepared a certain way. There was also a dead bug on my bag when I got my food to go. read more

Springfield, VA location. My office ordered food again today from Hard Times. I don't know why I did this again and gave it a try. The food is AWFUL!! We ordered burgers, chicken sandwich, salads. There were no condiments at all. My chicken sandwich was so dry, I was choking on it. The bun was old, as it crumbled as I was trying to eat the dry sandwich. My boss ordered two burgers. One for him and another co-worker. He agreed, the food was awful. Right now, the time is 2:49 pm, and I have been on hold for a manager for 7 minutes and 22 seconds. You know as well as I, they are not going to answer the phone. Along with awful food, you have bad service. I have finally hung up knowing they will not answer. People can be fickle. One bad review, and no one comes back. If I wanted to be treated like dirt, then at least the food should be sufficient. One co-workers food she said was tasty. Not for the rest of us. I won't be back. This is what I wrote to the corporate office today. read more

Our first and last visit to this place. Terrible. The whole place smells like a casino (even the non smoking area), and no one greeted us when we walked in, although there were several employees near the front door. I finally asked a server if we should seat ourselves and her response was, "no!" as she nodded in the direction of a host finally getting around to greeting us. We ordered the steak tips, a blue cheese burger, and a frito chili pie. Drinks took forever, then the meals took forever. The steak tips were ok, the burger was good. The chili was as cold as if the whole dish had been chilled in a refrigerator. I waited for our server to return to check on our meals but eventually had to flag someone down to request they warm my chili up. Finally got my warm chili which even when warm was mediocre at best. The servers didn't pre bus even though we stacked all our dishes at the edge of the table. Just a complete fail from start to finish. Not how I wanna spend my money. read more

Been going here for 20 years. Food and service usually excellent and prices are a good value but today had the worst service ever. There was only one other family in the establishment but waitress was either on her phone or vacant the entire time. Hopefully this is a one time deal. read more

Plenty of pool tables to shoot around and a remodeled sports bar with HD screens for various viewers. A plus for being able to accommodate a large crowd of sports fans, pool players, and people dining out. I recommend you check out their wing specials on weekdays. I believe they have 40 cent wings on Tuesdays. My favorite dish is the chicken Alamo which consists of spaghetti pasta, grilled chicken, hot sauce, cheese diced tomatoes and I think sour cream mixed all together. It's a good Tex Mex experience and I aways get this popular dish. read more

This place is definitely not the place for you if you hope to get a drink and food at a decent time. I spent my whole night asking unwilling staff for assistance. It's not worth coming out to waste your time, really read more

Food OK, service is slow. Manager and wait staff standing around yapping, meanwhile we are waiting for our check. The restaurant is good for the occasional chili fix but not much more. read more

Fantastic Cincinnati-style chili spaghetti. Definitely an older atmosphere, but very good service and a great price.

I'm able to stop in for a bowl of 5-way Cincy about once every two years, and I wish my visits were more frequent. I've never had anything but the chili, but I've heard that the other stuff is reasonably good. read more

Really bad, even for a bar. The wings are terrible, the beer is bad, and smoking is permitted.

Meh, it's OK. I'm not terribly sure how many times I've been here over the years but I know I've never been terribly impressed. I do like their wings and nachos while playing pool but other than that their food is pretty mediocre. Their chili's are all pretty bland and grainy so I've stopped ordering. Their burgers aren't anything special that you can't find elsewhere. The chili mac and other novelty foods should be avoided as the pasta is mush and as mentioned the chili isn't very good. I also kinda get annoyed over the faux "dive" atmosphere they are going for though I admit later at night (in Springfield anyway) it almost turns into it. In the end decent place to play pool not so much on the food read more

Excellent chili, different ways to order it like on tater tots, Fritos, or on top of spaghetti with cheese and onions. Pretty good kids menu including a small chili Mac. Comes with side and drink for $5. They will bring you tasters of the different chiles if you're not familiar with them. I've always had good service there - friendly, polite, helpful. read more

Been here a few times. Food is usually pretty good. Service, not so much, depending on who you get. Hit or miss. The wings are very good. Frito chili pie is yummy. The fried tots- yum! The onion rings suck!! Or at least mine did. They tasted like flour & looked like someone threw them against the wall. Seriously, not one whole ring. They looked old & mangled. The worst part? our server never came back once to check on us! Not once, until we were done eating. Then she appears & says "how are you doing & are you still working on those?" Pointing to the rings I had stuck on a separate plate. I said "We are done, & I'm not eating those. They are terrible." She said nothing, just started clearing plates & asks if we want dessert. We said no & she came back with the check. We did want more drinks but she never asked & took forever coming back so, her loss. The check included a .75 upcharge for onion rings. I told the manager we were never told there was an upcharge & I didn't eat them as they were awful. I told him had our server ever come back I would've exchanged them for a salad. His solution: took off the .75. WOW! I'm impressed! Seriously? He couldn't have taken off $5. or given us a coupon or a free drink? We went out back & played pool & got drinks after. We spent over $100 there. Would it have killed him to give us a little off for the crappy service & my lack of a side with my meal? NOT impressed!! HARD TIMES; here's a tip. Go to Applebees. Watch the service they provide. Then copy!! Make your customers happy. They will be back if they are happy. We are loyal customers when we like a place. Poor service. Poor management. The kicker: I saw someone get a plate of onion rings in the back that looked great. Fresh, golden, all together. Looked great. I guess I got some old ones sitting around forever that were all smashed up. Ridiculous! We did have a good time drinking & playing pool & met some interesting people. It is VERY smoky there & that kinda sucks for us non-smokers. But it's a bar! We may go back to play pool & have drinks but I don't think I'll be dining there if I want a good meal or service. The ribs I got were pretty good & the wings were very good. So for bar food & hanging out, it's fine. We did have a good time. If you want a sit down meal, where you don't have to hunt down your server for service, go elsewhere. Like Applebees, Cheesecake Factory, etc. where they take customer service seriously!! Not a smart move Hard Times managment. read more

We love it there! A couple of years ago it had gone downhill. Almost never went to Hard Times anymore. But then a new manger came in Debbie. Well since then service, food, specials all are excellent. Not to mention being a part of the email list. My family & I must eat at HD two times week. And it feels homey. Debbie greets you as if she has known you for years. The portions haven't been made smaller. Chili is of course a favorite, nachos are huge, burgers delicious, wings are to die for! The selection is varied. I had a chicken salad for dinner last week & was (of course) pleasantly surprised. I was the last to finish it was large. Have I had complaints? Yes! And informed the manager (these things happen) who promptly either replaced or added to our food, took a discounted price off or solved the problem that it has not reoccurred. Prices and specials make it easy to eat at Hard Times and even spend less than cooking at home. . GO! Enjoy and you will see. Some nights are louder then others but when people are having a good time that happens. The back room is for adults, it is a billiard room. read more

If you love breathing in lots of cigarette smoke, and extremely slow waitress service, this is the place for you. The place is always a cloud of smoke and you need to take a shower as soon as you get home. I feel bad for the people who work there who don't smoke. read more

I've tried Hard Times several times as I live pretty close to the area. Tell me why it's impossible to get some service? I'm not asking for a song and dance. Just get me my order, bring the amount of seated guests menus instead of just one menu. Ask me if I need something instead of me having to flag you down. Just basic common waiting table stuff. I'm not asking for a lot. But the wait staff here just fails! Their saving grace is the food is pretty good. There is much to be desired about the customer service. If I didn't love the food so much I would never step foot in here. Finding a manager is just as impossible of a task as well. read more

I come here all the time and usually sit at the bar in the front. This is the area the cooks prepare the food and take the carryout orders. I eat here on a regular so I get to see some interesting things going on in the cooking area. There are two Spanish ladies that usually work the dayshift and they do a good job. The evening crew is a hit or miss and I have watched on several occasions several of them using bare hands to touch food and then not wash them. This is a sickness waiting to happen. I wish the night manager (an African American female) would do more supervising and less socializing and then these issues may not be happening. I have watched time and time again how the food is prepared without gloves on several occasions and served. I am a regular but I only order food that gets tossed in the fryer in front of me. read more

Prototypical large suburban watering hole/pool hall with tons of TVs, sad looking patrons (seriously, I almost never see anyone smiling, laughing or having a good time in there), middling food, okay beer specials (at least they're big) where everybody doesn't get to know your name or care. The place blends together with the Glory Days chain to be the perfect suburban shopping center local chain sports bar hell. On the plus side the staff is usually nicer than they have to be and if you're one of the diminishing breeds of smokers then this is a respite for you (I'm not but I'm glad smokers still have at least SOMEWHERE to have a cigarette with their drink). It's also a big place with lots of pool tables and other diversions. read more