I'd give this place 1.5 stars if i could but since it's not an option, I'll go 2, since the actual functionality of this establishment is fine.
The good: Pool tables are in excellent condition. The prices are reasonable for playing pool.
The bad: Drink prices are high, especially considering the location. Food prices aren't cheap either, but not as contrasting. Some servers are slow and seem disillusioned. I'm sure the job isn't Disneyland but as someone who worked worse jobs to pay my way through University, any job that requires customer service, well, requires customer service! One server was insanely rude to my friend. He complained as we left and asked to speak to the manager. He was told the manager wasn't in. When asked when he would be, the server said she wasn't sure. My friend came back two days later and asked to see the manager. A different, more polite server said the manager was on vacation. Alright then.
The ugly: Two years ago the little strip mall adjacent to Bedford Place Mall was fine. Now, residents in the area, mainly seniors, get to enjoy interesting looking patrons/staff smoking and cursing outside. Incredulously, they start a bit after noon. Like I said in my Bubba Ray's review, it's astonishing, as someone who works 40-60 hours a week at a good job but only after working my butt off studying and moreover, paying my way through school by working, that people can afford to drink pricey booze and smoke 22 dollar a pack cigarettes on a Tuesday afternoon. I saw an elderly person ask a young man with a cigarette and a neck tattoo to not smoke in front of public establishment. His response was to give the lady a terrifying look and to flick with cigarette about 20 feet (which was in a weird way, impressive. I'm sure he has had lots of experience to develop such a skill). I'm not sure if by design, but the cigarette went so far it hit some poor person's car. He strutted back into Dooly's, without saying a word. The look he gave on the other hand, probably made that lady resent opening her mouth. This outraged me, but considering my disdain for conflict, I asked my brother, an officer in the armed forces to speak with the manager. He said he wouldn't complain since he himself hadn't seen the incident, but did offer to go down and play some pool and have a beer and "observe."
This time we went around 8pm on a Friday. Many people went out and smoked right outside the building, violating smoking by-laws which require smokers to a) smoke 5m away from an entrance and b) not to litter. Moreover, people were using those vaping things in the bar. Neither of us are big fans of inhaling nicotine. At this point, we asked to speak to a manager and were told the manager would be in on Monday. Manager's apparently don't work too much.
As we left, we saw a man, who appeared quite intoxicated, get into his car and drive away recklessly, narrowly missing a parked car. There were about a dozen people outside in the cold, smoking away, throwing/flicking their butts away randomly. Quite the scene. We called non-emergency police services and after voicing our complaint, were told that police had been "around" and noticed no problems. An officer called us and as I tried to explain people were drinking and driving, was told, facetiously, "thank you" and hung up on. That is another matter I'm handling through different avenues.
If HRM would like to generate funds quickly, put a competent police officer in an unmarked car in the parking lot of Dooly's and Bubba Ray's and I'm sure he/she could write 10-20k a week in littering, smoking violations and DUI tickets a week and that is a light estimate.
Pretty heinous that our tax dollars pay the salaries of the police, yet we are hung up on for complaining (or trying to) about unruly people, flicking cigarettes around, making other establishments less appealing and driving around drunk. In the words of the officer we spoke with, "We have a great relationship with them (the aforementioned establishments)." I'm not sure if he meant his girlfriend worked there but that's a farcical statement. This situation seems inevitable to escalate, and must be indirectly lowering the property value of all the property in the surrounding area.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/attempted-murder-charge-in-bedford-strip-mall-stabbing-1.2100689 read more