Sunday afternoon: Tim’s Texas Roadhouse, 5:19
I stopped at Tim’s Texas Roadhouse yesterday with two friends for a beer and a bite to eat. The staff was friendly, the food decent. I enjoyed a “border burger,” topped with bacon, Jalapeno peppers and cheese, and a side of potato wedges, while my companions were happy with their potato skins and spicy chicken wings. Qingdao is 40 kuai per jug or 15 kuai per pint. The place has wireless and ESPN.
By the way, the pool table at Tim’s looks as though it were imported from the Lone Star state - by being towed thousands of miles behind a boat.
The veneer is chipped, the cloth is dirty and stained (with one particularly nasty and greasy looking blemish), and the slate is uneven - the balls hit ridges and either veer to the side or rocket off the table. Add in dodgy cues and this table is best used when you are drunk, as it might compensate for your altered senses. It’s rougher than the putting green at a public golf course, the Miss World Acne Pageant winner, the current state of French-Chinese revelations, the morning after a full night of drinking five kuai shots and/or gorging at an all-you-can-eat Szechuan restaurant… you get the idea.
Check out this video which shows balls rolling down the table, hitting a ridge, and leaping into the air like Mexican jumping beans.
Unintentional comedy at it’s finest. And yes, I realize it’s only a pool table and I’m taking too many shots, as it were. It certainly won’t keep me from going back for another “border burger.”
Finally, across the street, the space once housing 5:19 Bar & Grill will soon be a Japanese restaurant.
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Dude, one paragraph on the food and three on the pool table. Maybe it was damaged recently. Am sure it will get fixed. What about the band nights and belly dancers? You clearly have an axe to grind which puts into question all your reviews. Its like talking about what Hillary is wearing as oppose to what she is saying.
Jason,
I complemented the service, the beer prices, the food - not only mine, but that of my friends - and, yes, took some shots at the pool table (though the technique of exaggeration underscores that I was goofing around).
And in your opinion, this “puts into question” all my reviews? I hope you are also using exaggeration as a writing technique, otherwise your sense of proportion might be in rougher shape than that table.
If I “clearly have an axe to grind,” it is a dull one, as I end the post by writing, “It certainly won’t keep me from going back for another “border burger.”
Cheers, Boyce
I agree with Jason, but understand where you’re coming from Boyce (assuming you enjoy a quality game of pool, as I do). But higher standards for something like a pool table does make a pretty biased review (you even bothered to put a video up…). Either way, give more attention to other aspects that you haven’t mentioned, I’m curious as to what the place is like! How is the music? Events? Free dancing lessons? What kind of crowd goes there? Your writing is funny but it doesn’t serve its purpose unless you elaborate on everything else.
Carry,
I wonder if you and/or Jason read this part of my post:
“…I realize it’s only a pool table and I’m taking too many shots, as it were.”
That makes it clear I didn’t find the pool table a big deal. I did find it funny that balls kept leaping off the table, funny in a way a “border burger” is not, funny enough to spend 90 seconds or so making a video.
I note a second part of my original post that affirms the pool table is not a big deal:
“It certainly won’t keep me from going back for another ‘border burger.’”
In regard to your questions:
“How is the music?” They played CDs - I recall classic country and rock.
“Events?” We went on a Sunday afternoon after visiting the electronics market nearby. No event was being held, other than happy hour.
“Free dancing lessons?” None on that Sunday afternoon.
“What kind of crowd goes there?” Besides us, there was one other guy in the place. He pretty much worked on a few pints, smoked cigarettes, and kept to himself.
Cheers, Boyce
Howdy there Mr. Boyce!
Reckon like most of the old stuff on them walls in there, bet ole Tim got a great deal on that table, from some old Texas honkie tonk! Probably played a game or two on it before down at the Silver Wings Saloon down in El Campo, Texas.
Visiting his joint after some of the interesting places I travel thru in China and Asia, its always nice to mosey in there, drink an ice cold coors light (or 2 or 3 or 4), and scarf down a great big ole hamburger as good or better than most you’ll find anywhere in the states!
And, oh, and the crapper - yep its heaven! A 1st class sitter-downer! Try that around the corner.
Too bad theyre cracking down on the locals at all the Beijing bars right now, cause i bet that otherwise, it would be packed.
You should try Tim’s bbq place! Its righteous too!
Ok, next time i’m in China, maybe we can arm wrassle on that old table!
I do enjoy your reviews.
Take care,
Kip