Halftime Sports Bar

So the reason I’m giving them 1 star is because I paid $ 30 to watch the NBA finals for three people which is free on TV, but I still paid then bought drinks and food, which was okay until… The manager came and took the fan from the back, now that might not seem like a big deal but this bar has NO AC and its 93 degrees out side. So I went to speak with the manager to see if he was going to put another fan in the back. He said no because he had a party up stairs that paid more money. So I guess my money wasn’t good enough. Therefore if your looking for a place that will appreciate your busy I would not suggest this place, it’s a hot box that smells like fired chicken, and the owner doesn’t values his customers and that’s something I do have a problem with and it took them 45mins to sever me my food crazy smh.

Not a bad place to watch a sports game but I would prefer elsewhere. It got really crowded for a Saturday night Warriors game. Luckily our family members came a bit early and snagged a table for us. Right when the game started it just got really packed with people and it felt like a club trying to get through the crowd. It also made it difficult to get to the bar to order drinks/​food since they only take orders at the bar so that was inconvenient.
Beer selection was okay and the prices were decent. A pitcher of beer was about $ 15. The food was okay, nothing spectacular your typical bar food. I tried the chicken wings which was more on the dry side and the garlic fries which were okay.
The highlight of this place for me was the DJ who played great music during the game commercial breaks. That was nice and made the atmosphere even more lively than it already was.
I appreciated their clean bathroom but the light was broken. Using the restroom in the dark is a pretty scary task.
Overall not bad but not the best bar/​game experience I’ve had. Would I come back? Probably have to pass.

One of the TVs (the one we were sitting in front of, ofc) was off. We paid $ 10 to watch the Pacquaio fight. It was a good fight but the viewing spot wasn’t great. The bathroom smelled awful. Service is only available when you come up to the bar.
The parking is atrocious having to drive everywhere to find a spot especially in the land of one way streets. It’s a $ 5 flat rate at night for the parking lot across the street if you nab a spot. Can be a bit sketchy though. Cops arrived when we were walking to our car. Not sure if I would come back here again but not because of the sketchy streets but because I didn’t have a good experience at the bar.

When I want to watch a Warriors game, this place is the best. There are lots of big screens, there’s always a good crowd of real fans to watch the game and cheer with, and the staff is really, really nice and welcoming. The wings and fries are yummy and everything is very modestly priced. It feels like family here, and I always have a great time.

What a mess on Super Bowl Sunday. They didn’t get our whole order. It also came out cold. When we told the waitress she said the kitchen was closed because it was too backed up. This is after telling us we needed to spend a minimum of $ 75 to have a table and pay a $ 5 cover. The DJ played music over the classic commercials. Staff was rude and overwhelmed. And there is a guy selling knives in the back… what is happening?!

Ok place to watch the game. Food is ridiculous. Been waiting for over an hour for our food order and none of the servers seem to care. Have asked three different servers where our food is and the only thing they say is «we are backed up in the kitchen»
2hrs later and still no food. This place should be shut down.

Gave them a 2^nd try after waiting on Sunday 1.5 hours for chicken fingers and fries, then requesting a refund.
So then tonight we tried it again. Over cooked fries and burnt chicken. Fingers, sent back and brought me same fries but CF were a little better.
If you have Diabetes please stay away. drinks are good though.
I say go to Alameda for a better bar and service!!!

Ok so I LOVE MY WARRIORS, that’s why I come here to watch the game where there’s always going to be a full house. But the downside of that is the food takes forever! And it isn’t the best. I normally would order the larger prawn shrimps, started to notice how they get so many orders at one time that they don’t have time to change the frying oil or something. So if you are going to eat here don’t order anything that has to be fried. wit batter unless its on a slow day maybe. But overall fun experience. Also takes a long time for drink orders.
Basically for the best experience, get here early!

Not your Nachos! Ordered beef nachos at the first quarter and now it’s halftime and the chips are still crispy! The melted cheese isn’t nacho sauce, it’s real melted cheese.
$ 6 for how chocolate with vodka
$ 2.50 for coors bottles
A very good mix of people and teams. Niners game on 3 TVs (raiders weren’t playing). Place looks family run.
Parking at the curb right in front of the door.

If I lived in Oakland, I would watch all games here. Plenty of TVs and they are willing to put a game on for you if no one else is watching that TV.
Drinks are pretty standard price, but the nice bartender made them with a good punch! The beef nachos took some time to come out but they were well worth the wait! Probably the best nachos I have ever had. Real ingredients, super crispy chips and they never got soggy. Lots of chicken wings were ordered by other bar patrons which is a good sign.
I like the atmosphere here, very friendly and a great place to chill, have a drink, watch a game and even play some board games.
If I am ever in the area again for football Sunday, I will be back.

It was cool the first time I came on, but you gotta wonder about a bar that doesn’t serve certain patrons…

Good food good drinks. Can always watch a game with all the tvs they have. I go quite often

Went there today to watch the cowboys game, and the service was quick and pretty good. I have the breakfast sandwich which was good. My friend had the Po Boy sandwich and said it was good! Overall, it’s a really cool place to try in downtown Oakland.

It is what it is for a sports bar. Lots of television screens for your sports viewing pleasure. A decent amount of folks watching the games. $ 4 drinks which I hear is amazing — I know I’m a super fan of the pear cider (also $ 4) since I drank the whole thing which happens never. Nachos are quite splittable between two hungry people or three semi-​hungry people. A bit of a wait for the food and drinks but there was pretty much one lady managing everybody. Don’t know if the air conditioning was broken or if they don’t have it at all but it was pretty stuffy inside on a not so hot day. The fans running weren’t the greatest either. I can’t imagine sitting inside here if it’s hotter than 80 degrees out and I tend to run really cold usually too.

Everything a discerning fan might need for a delightful Raiders Sunday:
— Hecka TVs
— Four dollar drafts (Lagunitas, Sierra, etc)
— Solid bar food
— Quick, friendly service
— Fun, rowdy crowd
— Separate lounge with even more TVs and couches (!) upstairs
What more could one axe for?

So, I’ve been waiting with my friend for over a half hour for my food. How do I know this? Because we’ve watched over one and a half quarters of football (ordered during the 3^rd quarter) and still not here. We’re at the two minute warning and there’s no food. It’s hot and either the AC is broken or lack thereof. Mind you, it’s almost 90 outside. Pretty rare that I go somewhere and it’s hotter inside than it is outside.
But, I appreciate that there’s multiple TVs so I can watch multiple games. I mean, that’s cool since I only have one tv at my own house. I ordered a beer and she had an okay Bloody Mary. Wen we received service, the employees were nice… just took a while to get service. And yes, we were sitting at the bar.
BUT, my burger was well seasoned and NOT overlooked. The bar tender did warn us that it would take a while. Guess I just didn’t expect for it to be this long.
This could be a great Oakland spot… just lots of room for improvement. Keep it up and I am sure it will be a hot spot in no time.

Always a good drink, eats and crowd, even when it is not crowded. Margret and Erika are the best bartenders! I think I counted 9 TV’s so you can catch all the action regardless of your favorite sport or team. You can play pool or get in on a game of domino’s. They even have other board games available. Overall, Halftime is definitely a place to visit if you are in the Bay Area.

Came to half time to watch the warriors play! They lost that particular game, but it’s okay they’ve advanced to the playoff finals since then – go warriors!
Anyways, the atmosphere was decent, and clean. The people and staff were nice. I didn’t have any food, so I can’t speak on the quality or taste, but the drinks were good!

Jukebox — popping. They got all the slaps here, and it’s only a short walk away from Civic Center BART. So, 3 Chinese guys walk into this bar, and we’re probably the only Asians to ever frequent this place, but the vibe is sick, the service is great, and the patrons are fun. Plenty of tvs and there is some good food coming out of this kitchen. We’re not talking about processed, neon yellow cheese on their fries or nachos. We’re talking about their own little concoction and giant chunks of bacon or ground beef to go along with it. Lots of drink specials and some interesting things on tap (raspberry hef today?). You can shoot pool for $ 1 or just hang out and eat wings. Don’t get the lemon pepper flavor though because it tastes like a you’re eating a lemon along with your wings, but they take time to get their food good. I can see how this place would get crowded, but on Saturday night, it was not bad at all. Pitchers of Bud and Coors Light are dirt cheap too. Shady neighborhood, but you can say that about a lot of Oakland.

Have you ever been to a place that will be memorable just because of the characters that you meet? Let’s do story time first.
I came here with my friend who was having her cousin meet us for happy hour. Normally I don’t go to Oakland unless it’s for a concert at the Fox or the Paramount Theatre. This was my first time going to a bar. After finding parking pretty easily across the street, we walk in and the bar seemed like any other bar. It was lined with flatscreen TV’s playing the Raider’s game up on the wall above the seating area. Against the back wall were more bar stools and people seated eating the food watching the game. Off to the side were a group of guys playing Dominos– something you don’t really see in SJ.
Since we weren’t familiar with protocol here, we took a seat at the last empty table which was at the entrance. I’m sure by now everyone could tell we weren’t locals. First of all, when most people were dressed in jeans and tennis shoes, I had on a dress and heels. So much for SJ dress code preparing me for Oakland. I probably looked like I could be going to church rather than a bar. Just sayin.
But back to my story. We didn’t have dinner so we were quite hungry. There was no hostess on hand to greet us and none of the bartenders acknowledged that we were seated. Being the Pro-​active gal that I am, I walk up to one of the bar patrons and ask him if we were supposed to wait for service or go up to the bar and order. He pulled out his ear buds and answered, «I don’t know.» It was then that the shenanigans started to occur.
Fast forward to us seated at our table with my friend’s cousin that came and joined us. We were eating our happy hour food which consisted of chicken wings, french fries, and battered shrimp. While none of the food stood out, do you remember the bar patron that I initially approached?
Ahh yes. Let’s get back to him. I guess something in the way that I smiled at him made him think that I could possibly be interested? It started off innocently enough. He positioned himself at the bar across our table and would glance at me every few minutes. I smiled to be polite but then it turned into STARING. As in, let’s have a staring contest kind of staring. I tried to laugh it off at first but it was so blatantly obvious that one of the guys in my group asked if there was a TV behind me. As I tried to switch seats with my friend so that I could be out of his view, the guy repositioned himself so that he could continue with his staring. Thank God I had friends who were making a huge joke out of it. But I will tell you that I have never been made to feel so uncomfortable.
For this experience alone, I just might shy away from coming back (unless I had bodyguards of course). But once the bartenders acknowledged us, they made sure that we were taken care of. Cheers to you Halftime Sports Bar for making this place one that I will never forget.