Babylon Billiard Club

Great place to see a show up close and personal, but overpriced drinks (crappy well drinks for $ 5 in Fresno? No thanks.), and possibly the worst service of any bar I’ve ever been in. Bartenders are rude and will completely ignore you.
Good place for music, but if you are out in Tower to drink, almost any other bar would be better.

You’ve walked innocently past some ghetto ass parties before, but not like this. No baby, not like this at all. When I first drove up, I was like «oh no!» and I’m ghetto as fuck somewhere deep down. Then I decided to just suck it up and go. And they tried to charge a cover. Like $ 15! For me! As Beyonce would say, «You must not know about me…»
I hung out outside the parking lot just to see some fights. There were at least 3 that I witnessed just that night. Multiple cop cars. People getting arrested. Girls driving up and asking if anyone got shot.
Later I came back with a dude who used to work there and could not step inside the building so I just hung out in the courtyard area. It was so hot. Like waves of heat. And the ghetto ist people you’ll ever see in your life. It was almost unreal. Earrings bigger than my arm. Every ass was ready to pop out of tight dresses, think thin fabric. Mostly overweight chicks. 95% black. Everyone was hot and sweating because Fresno is just a furnace. Lots of leopard print and spandex dresses. Weaves. More fights in the parking lot. Pounding chests and people pushing and holding their friends back. It was something out of an episode of Ghetto Fights IV. Will definitely be back for more.

Love this place on the first Thursday for the Jazzhop. It’s a varied crowd and everybody has fun. All ages, people dance or just listen to the music. The pool tables are good. I agree with a previous review… the mixed drinks are not the best value for your dollar — little alcohol, lots of soda and ice. That being said our group had a ton of fun. They also have open mic nights which can be very entertaining!

What I love about going to places like this: I usually don’t have to pay the cover charge. I don’t know if it’s because I tend to resemble a cop or if the bouncer looks at me and figures I’m someone’s dad, there to pick up the kid who was vomiting in the corner. They usually just wave me by.
Little do they know that I actually like the music.
I was lured to the entrance by the loud raunch of a power quartet called Grooveyard. And man, they rocked. They resembled kind of a cross between the better efforts of SOAD and Metallica. The lead singer’s mugging reminded me of Vincent Schiavelli in younger days. The stage was close enough that the crowd could almost reach out and touch him. It seems to be a really cool concert venue, and the drinks were priced about right.
And, what do you know: I wasn’t the oldest one there. Nice, varied crowd. Everyone seemed to be having a good time.
I’ll put it on my list for a return visit.

I like this place because no one stares at me when I act like an idiot (the real me)
The best time to come to Babylon without a doubt is the 1^st Thursday of the month… If they are participating in JAZZHOP. Usually Fresnos best kept secret preforms. I would tell you what this bands name is… but then it wouldn’t be a secret and we would all be killed. The crowd is as mixed as it gets and everyone is dancing, playing pool and drinking… Basically being merry. What are you doing?
$ 2 PBR on tap is swell in my opinion. I can buy multiple rounds for all of my friends. Something my broke ass can hardly ever afford anywhere else. Theres about 10 beers on draught here. I don’t order mixed drinks here… Mixed drinks are supposed to be full of ice and that IS the case here. But I don’t want to pay $ 5 for a couple of ounces of booze and generic soda. I don’t particularly care for the bartenders here. They don’t keep track of who walks up to the bar FIRST. So you can wait a while. Also the place is huge.
Pool is like…$ 10 an hour! No bueno. But I’ve played here a couple times and a couple of times the bar keep has forgotten to charge me. So yay. They have a real good sound god. Better than anywhere else in the Tower. So… if you have a band…
Also for the ladies who wear stilletos. stinking drunk like me, Babylon has carpeting. Its surprisingly clean. Theres also a dance floor and no one seems to care when I kick off my shoes to dance. (Yeah, i’m one of those proud assholes) BUT Babylon is underground so you will have to take a large flight of stairs.
The bathrooms are dirty and under stocked… So bring hand sanitizer & napkins.
All in all I like to come here to play pool, dance like a maniac and drink cheap booze without people judging/​watching me in my neighborhood. Thats about it. SERIOUSLY.

I HATE THIS PLACE. I went to see my friend’s show on 2÷11÷12 (also the date of Whitney Houston’s untimely passing, sigh) at this billiard club. I hardly drink alcohol, and since I was in an unfamiliar place (hello Fresno), I decided to keep it cool for the night. I patiently waited at the bar since there was only one bartender. Not too many people were around and he was putting together a drink order for a patron to my left.
The bartender and I made eye contact, so I smiled at him to let him know I was there. He still skipped me and asked other patrons on my right for their order knowing that they got there after me. So as he was making their drink in front of me, I just decided to ask for a coke and a water instead of waiting around again. Then he quipped, «Yeah, once I get this order done. I’ll help you after a minute.» Ok. Rude. Whatever.
Soda cost $ 2. I gave him a $ 5. He handed my change to another patron. I asked to get my change. Left him a $ 1 for tip. Then he looks at my tip, then says to the mistaken patron, «See, that’s why I gave you the change, because, you know…» then looks over to my $ 1 tip, like he was disgusted that I even tipped him that low.
What the?! I should have kept that tip then!
My friend went back to the bar without me and asked for a soda as well, and he only charged her $ 1!!! Then, a few hours later, she went back and asked for another soda, and he said, «I think I overcharged your friend earlier. Just take the soda.» So we thought, hmm, maybe he redeemed himself. Thus, I went back towards the end of the night… charged me $ 2 again. Ass. No tip for you!
Racist much, bartender?! Not once have I ever felt discriminated against while living in San Jose. I’m not sorry for being Asian.
Not only that, but every single thing in the women’s restroom was out of order. There was a stall out of order. Two of the hand dryers were out of order. One stall was flooded with water. There were no seat covers. All those things were brought to the attention of the staff. The only thing that was done: mopped the water off the floor.
This place disgusts me.

I will only return to see the Literates. The security is rude and very pushy

Lots of pool tables, plus live music and full bar. Best place to see live music in Fresno.

Under new ownership and not so great anymore. For Fat Tuesday they charged cover for DJs and the sound was so distorted and lousy it got on my nerves. The chick at the door was also lying to people about drink specials (turns out there weren’t any). To make matters worse only one side of the bar was open with two bartenders and one bar back. A few friends waited over 30 minutes at the bar because it was five deep or more all the way across. They finally gave up and came back to the table empty handed.
We basically paid cover for loud distorted music that had all kinds of issues (yay for repetition thanks to digital equipment that locks up repeatedly) and we had the additional privilege of overpaying for one weak drink each. Who shuts down half of a bar on Fat Tuesday anyway without at least compensating with a few servers? And why lie to patrons to get them in the door? That’s just stupid. I guess charging cover helped recoup some of the money lost at the bar that night.

plenty of pool tables and no complaints about the equipment. bar. live shows. i like it more than other pool halls in fresno that are mainly a pool hall with a bar as an adjunct. this place is an actual place where younger people can hang out. but, its not too young like fresno state. and its not ghetto.

Babylon is a pool hall/​bar/​live show venue. I like this place its low key casual and comfortable. The drinks are cheap, the bartenders are friendly, and the pool tables are plenty. Bathrooms are cool too =) each toilet has its own sink which I kinda like. Cool spot, you should definitely swing through.