CarPool — Restaurant in Virginia

I had frequented the Carpool in Arlington years ago and always enjoyed myself. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case this time around and specifically at this location. Upon approaching the door we were greeted by what I assumed to be the “doorman”. He was just pacing around and twiddling his thumbs and I wasn’t sure if he was tasked to check IDs or pace around, twiddling his thumbs and say “hi” to people as they entered. This is a bar, right? Immediately upon walking in the atmosphere was way off. Most of the place was way too illuminated. I’ve been in restaurants that had better “bar” lighting. The decor seemed very lackluster and thrown together compared to the other locations. It was as if they did a poor job copying something that wasn’t theirs. I am going to give them some leeway there though. If they toned the lights down I am sure it would have been a bit more tolerable. As far as the staff, other than the wondering doorman, there seemed to be a lack of waitstaff. I was there for about two hours and never was approached. Heck. I never saw any. And forget about the bartenders. When they weren’t busy ignoring everyone while chumming it up amongst themselves, they were ignoring protocol. Not once while I was there was I asked to show my ID. Nor did I see them ask anyone else that walked in. I hope they weren’t relying on the doorman because we know he wasn’t doing his job. I have to say this; I’ve worked bars in three different states including Virginia. All of them require ID checks regardless of age appearance. Now on to the quality of the food and beverages. All the mixed drinks I had tasted way watered down. I ordered a whiskey and coke, and it tasted like just watered down coke. The food selection was no better. Sure there is your typical heavy bar food. However, my friend ordered some bacon cheese fries that resembled cheap frozen fries, cheap grated cheese, and cheap imitation bacon bits. But that isn’t the worst of it. The biggest annoyance and blatant disregard of policies are that they let a private party in that had what seemed to be 10 children with them. All of which didn’t appear to be over the age of 12. Let alone old enough to be in an establishment that advertises themselves as a “bar”. These children were left unattended for long periods of times where they ran around the whole establishment. They were allowed to shoot pool, play shuffleboard and quite frequently ran around the bar areas. Set aside my thoughts on parenting, the management should have known better. The only things I did like was one older bartender who was very accommodating after we had been there for over an hour. The pool tables were of a decent quality to play on. Last but not least I like that fact that it didn’t take much persuasion to move our party group to another...

Driving to the Mussel Bar & Grill yesterday evening, Wednesday, April 6, 2022, I passed by a new CarPool location on the way on Glebe Road on the corner of the block before MB&G. Having my cue in the car I dropped by after dinner and played pool to 2:00 AM close.

This is not a shooters room but fine for casual recreational players in my opinion and experience. Five pool tables are new 8 footers. There are more than twice that number of pinball machines. The business would be more aptly named CarPinball. No identifying manufacturer name plate on the pool tables but they are much lower quality than Diamond pool tables, that have become ubiquitous in poolrooms in the last 10 to 15 years, nor the quality of the timeless Brunswick Gold Crown model line tables that historically had been the workhorse of poolrooms since the model’s development in 1958. The tables are covered with wool cloth that is more often used on home recreational pool tables. I haven’t seen wool on poolroom tables since the 1970’s when worsted cloth (dominantly Simonis brand) began taking over. Pockets are buckets. But overall, tables appear to be well maintained and in very good condition by virtue of them being new. I don’t think they are durable for long haul commercial use wear and tear. Oh yeah, wool cloth pills and wears out fast.

The spot seems to be a neighborhood hangout. Parking is a miserable proposition as it is for all of Arlington. Customer age range is wide, young to old. Clientele and staff are all friendly and easy to talk to. I picked up a game with a couple guys within ten minutes of walking in. The place has wide ranging draft beer selection.

I am sure Carpool is 4 to 5 stars for its intended demographic, in my opinion, people more interested in drinking than pool. Three stars for me. I’ll likely drop by occasionally when I go to MB&G to hit a few balls...

Nice atmosphere but I will NOT be returning due to 2 things:

This place double charges you days apart and refunds one of the charges over a week later (happened 2x to me and co-workers, today my account is screwed up thanks to an EXTRA $116.00 charge). I damn sure better get it back in my account ASAP and they can pay my overdraft fees as well.

We had the WORST server/bartender/what ever he is. You get tipped based on the level of service you provide (as we all know)..so when you deliver crappy service you get a crappy tip. He had the nerve to approach the table and tell one of our co-workers "Thanks for Nothing!!". Needless to say..None of us will return to this place.

NOTE TO SERVER/BARTENDER: smile, at least ACT like you want to be there. Then when you are tipped based on the level of service you provided...DO NOT point at our table while talking crap to your co-workers. We all sat and watched in disbelief. VERY RUDE and UNPROFESSIONAL...