The Hideout

I’ve only been to «The Hideout» once, and I’ve officially nicknamed it «The Pimp n’ Pool».
This place seems like something out of a Snoop Dogg video, minus the clouds of pot smoke. The pictures on here really look nothing like what I saw — leather couches everywhere, pink and purple lights covering every corner of the room, and basically wallpapered in pictures of naked women (and I don’t even mean the typical stripper posters and everything; we’re talking grainy, black and white, 1940s kind of shots, which is a little weird.)
The pros are there are plenty of tables and it’s free to play (you leave your ID as collateral in exchange for a tray of balls). Unfortunately, that more than levels out with some of the most expensive drinks in the city (I don’t even drink much, but $ 4 for a rather small, and watered down, coke is pretty rediculous).
I also saw an earlier review complain about the service, but my question is… what service? We were there a couple hours and got served ONCE. Everything else we had to go across the room to the bar, and even then were treated with a rather short, almost annoyed attitude from the bartender.
All in all, I’d rather pay the $ 1-​$ 1.50 per game you pay at most places to get some decent service and lower drink prices, and not be surrounded by a sleazy, «shag pad» like atmosphere.

The Hideout is a pool hall with perks.
The primary perk being the fact that it’s connected to the French Maid Speakeasy strip club.
As an aspiring artist, I find it beneficial to my craft to stay well acquainted with the female form. The convenient location of the Hideout affords me the opportunity to play pool in between research trips. That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it!
It’d probably be a more believable story if I could sketch even a reasonable stick figure, but hey.
My own «sketchiness» aside, the Hideout is a fine place to shoot some stick on the cheap. They’ve got lots of tables and it’s more affordable than most other Calgary pool halls.

A few of my friends were talking about playing pool and they kept throwing the name of this place around. I’d love to be a pool shark (In real life I’m really, really bad) so I’m always up for the chance to practice my A game, and I was 100% down. I was playing DD for the night, and as they directed me through the back streets near Chinook Mall I grew very suspicious. As soon as I pulled into the parking lot, I knew why. The Hideout Door shares a parking lot and a building with the French Maid. I dug in my heels and refused to go into a strip club to play pool.
Finally we went in, and low and behold they were seperate establishments! Not a stripper in sight! My friends grabbed drinks, and I grabbed a coke. A buddy dropped off his ID so we could grab our (free!) balls, and we grabbed a table. The tables were cramped together and a few were in pretty bad condition, but there were lot’s to choose from. We played a few games and had a good time. There were several other mixed groups inside.
I’d definitely come back to play pool. The service was pretty bad, with expensive drinks and really snotty servers, but we didn’t deal with them enough for it to become a major issue.

Ok, first of all, I understand that the pool is «free», and that many «A» players, and Masters play here quite frequently.
I came here a couple of times, to play pool, in groups, only to be greeted in a rude manner.
What?
This is the first place I have been given a set of pool balls, looked around, turned back to the female bartender, and said «you know what, F*ck this place»
This place is good if you want to practice your skills on a «Bar Box» (3.5′ x 7′ table)…but horrible if you are with a group (and/​or) want good service.