Hard Times Cafe

Very disappointed in last night’s visit. The order took 45 mins to be make after it was placed. We ordered take out. 2 couples came in after we placed our order and the were severed before us. We ordered the ChiliMac 4 way. With sour cream on the side. The sour cream was left out of the order and the corn bread was under cooked. We have much been meals at this place but since being under management (i know the previous restaurant manager) the quality of the food has gone in the toilet. And to top it off, we had ring side seats to a fight that broke out. «What a great place to bring your family to eat!» I wish Unilocal had a «0» star.

Made a short stop at the ‘Hard Times Café’ while on a road trip. Was immediately greeted by a very friendly hostess. Server was immediately at the table and checked on me, often. The Chili was great and the fries were dark and crispy; just the way I like them. If your ever in the Waldorf area, you should stop in and sample the Chili…

If u ever go here to hard times, u have to try there salmon salad or the Santa Fe wrap. It is out of this world

Chlli is not good and not fresh, the texas chilli is extremely dry, and chili over rice with old and bens rice service is lousy

We love coming here for their chili. They have 4 different kinds. So there really is one for everybody. I usually alternate between the chili bubba and the chili taters. They also have some good fried pickle spears. Can’t speak to their other food as the only thing I want when I come here is the chili.
We normally come at a slow time as we are there for dinner and not to play pool or have a drink. So even though we sit near the bar it does take a little bit for the waitress to acknowledge us. But once we are greeted we are treated very well.
Today was the first time the on-​duty manager stopped by the table to see how everything was. That was pretty impressive that this actually happened. We of course will be back.

Drinks are over priced but I like to go Thursday nights to listen to DJ Beezy. He’s there every Thursday night.

Went there to play pool and eat .the service was really good. They bad part is that a fight broke out and the music was offenceive contained curse words.

It is what it is… lol
Ok, the Malibu drink in the mini bucket… love it!
A place to go get a drink or 2 with no judgements… just a little far from the city… this is the place you go and don’t dress up, don’t eat the food… just play pool and be happy…
The clientele is quite the ummm, motley crew… from baby thugs, to men just really trying to play pool, to people who look like they should be in bed by 8 pm because 1^st period starts at 7:45…to people who are just trying to get out the city and have fun without really knowing anyone… it’s really random…
Would go back if I wasn’t driving… or paying… ijs

I ate at the original Hard Times for 15 years until this place opened in Waldorf. They did a pretty solid job for a number of years, but I won’t be going back anymore because the quality of the food, service and overall feel of the place is pretty bad. My last visit was the clincher.
First of all, it was 32 degrees outside, which is cold, but… you know… this is 2015 in America, so keeping a restaurant warm should not be a problem. It was freezing inside! This was the second straight visit that we had to eat in the bar area, as the dining area was blocked off. On this visit, the reason it was shut down was, I kid you not, because it was even colder over there. We asked why. The answer was nebulous, but the waitress said something about a problem with the roof… who knows. She certainly didn’t.
As for the food, I got the Terlinqua Red chili 5-​way, as always. Someone must have forgotten some key ingredients, because it had almost no flavor. I asked the waitress for the vinegar and red pepper flakes, but that never arrived. For the first time since I can’t even remember when, I had to pick up a salt shaker to give it a little flavor. The cornbread was burnt, and believe me, I like well done cornbread, but this was half inedible. We just picked around the insides of it. Add in some half-​flat beer and you get the picture.
Lackadaisical service, substandard food and a cold, icky atmosphere. Oh, and let’s not forget the final nail in the coffin. When I picked up my jacket off the booth seat as we were leaving, I saw three big hunks of dried, very old ground meat on the seat, either from hamburger or some chunky chili. I almost gagged. It had obviously been sitting there for quite a long time. So, I get the feeling that the cleaning standards are not too stringent.
Hey, if you’re looking for a beer bar with tons of pool tables and some big screens for sports, this might be an awesome place. Have at it and enjoy. But as a restaurant? Man, the original owner would be aghast at what has become of his DC area institution, at least at the Waldorf version.

This spot is A-​OK in my book. It was a nice place to play some pool, get some wings, and grab a drink. Friday nights people come out to listen to more hip-​hop rap type music. It isn’t my style as much but it was fun to meet people and chat. The motorcycle is a GREAT drink but a tad expensive. I believe it was $ 8.00 or maybe $ 10.00? I wish this place had some updates to its look and on Friday I was very disappointed that they will double charge you for re-​entry after a certain time. I wish that would change. There is a cover-​charge too at the door after 9pm! If you want to skip that I suggest you sit at the bar for a while and talk with some of the nice regulars or the bartenders. As far as bars go I give this a ³⁄₅ because it is «Okay». I’d love for this place to be «awesome»! But for now, that 5-​star award just goes to it’s patrons and bartenders. :)
BUY THE WINGS! They were SO good.

In my opinion this is just a «turn-​up» spot. A place you come to if you want to dance and listen to ratchet hip-​hop on Friday/​Saturday night without having to go all the way into the city. I was not impressed with my mixed drink, but I did have a few shots while I was there. Although it is a very casual establishment, there were quite a few women if full club gear and make-​up. Lots of guys there though, so that’s probably why lol. Really wasn’t that kind of a party for me! There’s a cover of $ 5 at the door, in the end it got my friend and I some party time so I didn’t really mind that we had to pay. It is probably free before 9PM. Most places in Clinton & Waldorf are like that.
Seriously, if you’re just looking for somewhere to go and you don’t have anything better to do — you might be fine with Hard Times Café. I can imagine if you were over the age of 33 and/​or very sober, or unfamiliar with partying with a ratchet crowd — you would be astounded by this place. If you do not know the vernacular meaning of «ratchet» you’d also probably have a terrible experience here (at least during the late night hours.) I knew what I was getting into when I walked through the door. My friend and I arrived at 11PM and left when it closed around 2AM and encountered all sorts of shenanigans during that time. I had a good time, but experience is relative!

Used to be our go to place for happy hour and football. It has gone way down hill and is pretty sleazy. Wouldn’t go near here after 10 pm. Too bad. Used to be a nice mix of people both locals and visitors.

Visited here once and won’t return. The service is terrible, food sucks, and the drinks are watered down.

I just experienced the most racist series of events from any establishment I’ve ever encountered while at Hard Times. Myself and two friends (all white) entered to play a game of pool and have some food and drinks. Upon arriving we waited for ten minutes to turn in an ID to get a pool table. While waiting by the counter, an employee approached a black male who he obviously knew who had just entered. He immediately took the individuals ID, grabbed pool balls, and brought him an his party to a table. After returning we were finally helped. We began playing pool, at a table in a clear field of vision of the servers. After 30 minutes, the tables to each side of us (players were African-​American) we’re both delivered food and asked for drink orders.
35 minutes in without service, I went to the juke box and decided to purchase credits to play a mix of music. 8 songs, varying from Rock, country, and rap. After the first song, the manager approached the juke box and turned the music down. Immediately offended, I set my cue down and approached him from across the restaurant. While walking over there he skipped over my paid for songs until he reached the rap one. I understand that business wise, if the crowd doesn’t want to listen to a certain style of music, it can detract from business. But why offer the ability to choose that music to your customers if you don’t want it played, especially if your customer has to pay for it, why offer it?
Upon approaching the manager I asked if I could have my $ 5.00 back from the jukebox. He sighed and asked «was this you? We had another group of… People in earlier. But they left so i was trying to figure out how this shit was playing.» I then said «No, it was THIS group of white people». He stared at me and stuttered, «I’ll bring it your table»
After 15 more minutes of no service, and not getting my $ 5.00 back, we grabbed the ID from behind the counter and left.
This was the most despicable service I’ve ever suffered from any restaurant, and will not be going back again. I will also be asking for a formal apology from the General Manager, and contacting the company.
BTW, the food here sucks, and is extremely overpriced. The drinks are watered down and you’re overcharged. If you want to play pool somewhere with decent beer and food, then drive to the other hard times in Fredericksburg or Springfield. Or hit the Goldmine or Double Eagle in Waldorf.

This review is for the drinks and the pool tables. Didn’t try the food. Menu didn’t spark my taste buds. Not feeln’ the «chili Mac» thing. Anyway, Brandon the bartender was friendly and can make a nice drink. If you’re unfortunate to be stuck and bored in Waldorf… check this place out.

Food is better than average bar fair. I can’t really say anything (at this location) really sticks out to me. They do a lot of stuff for the locals here during the week which is nice. Plus, I think they’ve cut down on some of the degenerates that use to plague this place. Beer selection is good, but could be colder.
Come during the day if you have a family and during the night if you’re looking for that controlled house party vibe.

I mean the beer special alone makes this place worth the stop! If I were just looking for a place to go grab a beer, not a shadow of a doubt I would stop through. But I went for dinner as well…
Had the wings (they do all you can eat on Fri). The wings don’t have much spice, but they do charcoal them sometimes, which added some good flavor. Wings were pretty crispy, service was ok, but they just made you wait out the wings, and only brought 6 at a time. Its all you can eat, so I guess there isn’t much you can complain about right?
Again, beers and maybe watch a game… Yeah, I will be back! For dinner… Probably not.

2.5 stars
I have been here several times, at different times of the day, to not only play pool but to eat as well. I used to come more often, but now I rarely go (only when the husband has a hankering for chili burgers). My last visit was on 10.30.12 @ 1:30 PM — place was relatively dead except for a few old dudes playing pool. Since the spouse and I both had the day off because of the hurricane and we needed to kill some time before our movie, we went to Hard Times to get our eat on and to play pool. The bartender/​server was more concerned with his cell phone than taking care of us. He then forgot to put in my food order (which he blamed on the kitchen) while my husband’s food came out just fine.
2 games of pool (per person) + 2 beers + 1 iced tea + 1 chili burger + 1 order of chicken tenders = $ 40
Not worth it. Although I will say, their chicken tenders are REALLY good.

It was okay. We found karaōke night, unfortunately. Normally, I’m all for karaōke, but I have to have a few drinks in me first, and that was part of the problem here.
It might have been that M, A, and I stopped here after a fantastic experience at Boston’s, and so Hard Times lost in the match-​up.
The service took forever, even sitting at the bar. $ 14/​hr for a pool table, and we were told our waitress would be circling around to make sure we had what we need. Not so much; she was sitting at the entrance to the kitchen with her phone while we waited for two beers and a martini. The drinks showed up twenty minutes later, and sat there with the empty glasses while she left and never reappeared.
Focus of the bartenders seemed to be the regulars at the back of the bar and the bachelorette party that was shrieking about being «Soooooooo drunk, ohmigod, like really! Ohhh, try the 7-​whatsit! 7-​whatsit!!»

Ok they’ve changed their wings they are bigger and not that great tasting! (obay wings)! The drinks were VERY weak today no buzz at all!