Bailey’s Pub & Grill

How I heard of this place: Our friend Bryan, one of two good friends helping Chris and I move into our first, new apartment together as husband and wife, suggested it as a near-​by, convenient and good enough place to grab a bite to eat after an entire morning of loading, unloading and moving furniture and stuff.
Type of cuisine: Pub grub. Lots of high-​sodium, greasy foods, ranging from burgers and sandwiches, to wraps, salads and wings, nachos, quesadillas, spinach artichoke dip, cheese fries, Bavarian pretzels with dips, and entrees ranging from blackened mahi mahi, to jerk chicken, fish & chips, campfire pot roast, and pizza.
Ambiance:“Fox and Hound Restaurant Group currently owns and operates entertainment restaurants under the Fox and Hound® and Bailey’s brand names that each provide a social gathering place offering high quality food, drinks and entertainment. Our restaurants offer a broad menu of mid-​priced appetizers, entrees and desserts served in generous portions. In addition, each location features a full-​service bar and offers a wide selection of major domestic, imported and specialty beers. Each restaurant emphasizes a high energy environment with multiple billiard tables, satellite and cable coverage of a variety of sporting events, and music videos. Simply put, we offer the Best Party in Town — 7 nights a week.” The large establishment is somewhat unassuming when one enters through the quiet Ballston Common mall corridor, where few people linger, no chairs/​benches to be seen and just a large, empty, tan-​colored hallway loom ahead. Once in the dim-​lit space, however, the dark greens and browns of an old man’s den await, brass railings and all, with seating in the enclosed smoking section to your left and the remainder of the bar on the right. Tall bar seating is available at dark brown, wooden chairs and tables throughout the establishment, as is regular seating. Large-​screen television sets, at least five of which I counted on the non-​smoking side, are displayed high and accessible to all. Hokies, the mascot and fans of Virginia Tech crowd the space in maroon and burnt orange jerseys, cheering for their team in the first game of the college football season. Waitresses clad in tight, black clothing slowly and un-​deliberately make their way between the tables to assist waiting patrons. Music from the 1980s plays on the stereo system overhead prior to the start of the game. Few windows, fewer lights and the lingering stench of old smoke make Bailey’s the old-​time bar one may have frequented for the past forty years.
What I ordered: In our party of four, we started with two Root Beers, which had to be changed to Cranberry Juice ($ 2.49 each), due to lack of Root Beer in the bar, one iced tea ($ 2.49) and one Sprite ($ 2.49). For our meals, our dining companion who had been here before, went for the more simple Buffalo chicken Ranch Wrap ($ 8.99), a sun-​dried tomato tortilla stuffed with grilled chicken breast tossed in buffalo sauce, pepper jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, and ranch dressing, served with a side of fries. He recommended that I go with the Black Forest ($ 8.49), when given the option between that and The Turkey Melt ($ 7.99), which sounded more novel: a giant Bavarian pretzel roll topped with grilled turkey, bacon, Monterey Jack cheese, lettuce, tomato and a special honey mustard dressing served with a side of seasoned fries. My husband ordered The Black & Bleu Steak Burger ($ 8.99), medium, with peppercorn-​seasoned steak, topped with melted bleu cheese and applewood bacon. He requested a side order of cheese fries (additional $ 2.99), upgrading from the seasoned fries that typically come with the meal. Our fourth dining companion requested my suggestion, and omitted the need for anything with bacon; we went with The Alpine Burger ($ 8.99), with sauteed mushrooms and topped with melted Swiss cheese.
What I loved: The cheesy cheese fries were my favorite on the menu! The seasoned fries could only be enjoyed drenched in ranch, due to the over-​the-​top levels of salt. The bacon on my sandwich could have been crispier, and was enjoyed, instead, by my husband. The pretzel roll was quite novel, soft, warm and delicious!
Why I loved it: Convenient location, great for a meal on your own, with two hundred drunken sports fans to rid yourself of the lonely blues.
Cost: Low to average ($ 8-​$ 18 per lunch entrée)

This place sucked. Went there a handful of times to watch either a football game or something and every time it was dik packed and way under staffed. There were 2 times it took 20−30min to get a beer from the bar. Stupid… and the smoking, christ. glad it closed

The smell of smoke was so horrific we had to leave. The entire wing Ballston Commons Mall REEKS of smoke. I wanted food, not second hand smoke. We starred at the people who were smoking confused by both the laws and WHY anyone this day and age still smokes, then promptly left.
I thought smoking inside was illegal now. I’m so confused.

Huge place. Truth.
Smells bad, especially in the enormous smoking section. Cigar smoking and all on that side. Tons of TVs. Service isn’t very good. Food was very average. I’m not into this place at all really.

I’ve had much better service at home– plain and simple. I recently visited Baileys with a friend to catch the NFL Pro Bowl as well as the WWE Pay per view event. Given the list of events happening it was somewhat busy that night.
Upon sitting down at a table, I was provided with a menu and given a water by a waitress who I would never see again for the remainder of my time there.
Over an hour passed with several servers bypassing my friend and I as they tended to other tables with larger groups of people. After about an hour and a half I was finally able to get a waitresses attention so we could order food and drinks. I should have been satisfied then except that they somehow managed to mess up my food order. I brought this to the attention of the manager and he politely took it away and shortly brought back the correct item.
Finally after the event was over, we asked for our check which took another 20 – 25 minutes to get. Overall, the service was slow, the food was sub par and the atmosphere was not that great. This was the last time that I will ever go there and advise anyone else to do the same.

I’ve been here twice now, and I’m not really impressed.
The first time is what is getting the place two stars instead of one: our waitress was pretty cool, and the chocolate chip cookie and cake with ice cream are phenomenal. Probably some of the best restaurant dessert I’ve ever had, and cheap too — only about $ 5/​dish. It was pretty dead, we were one of maybe three groups in the whole joint. It smells like smoke from the outside, but once you get into the non-​smoking, the smell is virtually nonexistent.
The second time is what nearly got Bailey’s a one-​star review. We arrived at about 1:10am, 50 minutes prior to closing. Upon arriving, we were greeted by a very unfriendly bouncer with muscles bigger than a Metro train. Obviously his job is to be gruff and maybe he just dealt with some prick, but he is still representative of the restaurant and he did not give me a good vibe going in.
We then entered the non-​smoking area. It was absolutely dead. Four girls sat a table — that was it. One waitress was working the whole area (which is fine since there was only now two groups of customers). The smoking side was relatively hopping, but that’s not where we wanted to be at the time. We sit at the bar which looks pretty unoccupied, but we figure eventually someone will come through — all the liquor is there.
Nope. The one waitress probably buzzed passed us about 6 times. She can’t be that busy, she only had one table. If she had more in the smoking section, she could’ve at least greeted us and said she’d be with us in a moment. Nope. We sat there for a good 10 minutes before we agreed «to hell with Bailey’s,» we were getting no service, so they did not deserve a dime of our money. We retreated, and I will not be back. The mall sucks and I thought a bar in the joint might be the saving grace, but they just do not care about customer service, which is huge to me. Spend your money at A-​Town instead, or go to one of the bars in Clarendon, since they practically roll up the sidewalks in Ballston at 8pm because it’s basically the ‘burbs and there’s no nightlife here.

My bf and I recently watched a football game at Bailey’s. They have several big-​screen TVs and comfortable areas to sit while game-​watching. I ordered a Philly cheesesteak (thinly sliced steak, peppers, onions, mushrooms and a special blend of cheeses on a hoagie roll. served with crispy fries), which was only fitting since we were rooting for the Eagles. We also ordered the Guacamole & Chips halfway through the game. It was a fun experience, full of football, fans, and good food. It’s also conveniently located in the Ballston Common Mall. I’d definitely visit Bailey’s again to catch a football game in the future.

Decent place. The Tuesday beer special used to be better, but it still pretty good.
Honestly, I wouldn’t go to this place if it didn’t allow cigar smoking. I avoid the Bailey’s in Crystal City for this very reason. Because it does allow me to smoke cigars, I’m here roughly once per week.

Stopped in on Easter Sunday just to play some games.
First we were greeted by all the staff sitting at the bar talking with each other and strongly encouraging us to buy Bud Lights since the bartender «had to win a bet.» When we said no, they continued to pressure and harass us.
Second, we played both pool ($ 12/​hr) and ping-​pong ($ 9/​hr). Upon taking out the equipment we were told they would be prorated based on actual useage, i.e. not charging the full amount if you use less than hour. This was done for the pool with a total of $ 4. However when we returned the ping-​pong after about 24 minutes, they charged us the full $ 9 and refused to honor his word and what they had done minutes earlier.
So in summary: Staff were incredibly rude, disrespective, high pressure and lie. I can promise you I won’t be back.

Met family for lunch here. It is located street level inside a mall. We first ordered drinks. I didn’t pay attention to the photo of the cocktail… I could have taken a swim in it. It was good, but I expected something more tame. Hey, its a sports bar, i should realize that.
I liked my hamburger sliders. Hubby had chicken sandwich. Family ate and drank well. The waitress was so nice. Only thing, well, they still allow smoking in restaurants and even though we were in non-​smoking area, we could still smell smoke. Oh well.
Nicely set up, large place, tvs everywhere, ahhh, a classic sports bar. BUT hey, get rid of the smoke would ya?

We walked in to note the smoking side is to the left of the front doors while the non smoking side is on the right. We opted for the right side, which didn’t matter because it smelled like smoke anyway.
I couldn’t believe tennis was showing on most of the televisions WITH the sound. Really, tennis?!? Unfortunately, this was probably why the place was mostly empty.
Luckily for us, those were the only two downsides. We ordered the guacamole burger ($ 9.49) and the combo platter (ribs and chicken breast) ($ 16.59). We loved them!
Just for its large size, it’d be a great place to watch the Super Bowl.

Ugh — where to begin. Just not a good experience going here tonight.
For starters — we opted to sit on the non-​smoking side of the bar (there is also a smoking side). Too bad the «non-​smoking» side still smells of smoke. There are tons of TVs, so it was good for us because my boyfriend wanted to watch the football game.
While reading the small beer list on the regular menu, we noticed a mention of a «Better Beer Book» we should get from our server. Why is this not on the table? Why did I have to wait for a server to show up, act puzzled when I asked for the book, then I have to wait for him to come back again after I’d had a chance to review the book. I will say — once I got the book — it was appreciated. The beer selection is nice — why not just put the book on the table? (Our waiter had to go to the other bar to get our drinks — so that took longer. He did apologize and let us know though. I’ll give him credit for that.)
Now onto the food. We ordered an appetizer of mac ‘n cheese bites and two burgers. After a lengthy wait, the appetizer came with the burgers — not before. Kind of defeats the purpose of the appetizer if you’re serving it with my meal. The mac ‘n cheese bites were good. The burgers — eh. My boyfriend and I both ordered our burgers medium. My boyfriend’s burger was about right — mine was rare. My burger was also supposed to come with BBQ sauce on it — which was barely there and the burger was very dry. The fries were borderline cold and also had some seasoning on them that I didn’t like (Old Bay maybe?) — so I barely touched them.
We contemplated getting dessert, but because our server rarely came to our table and we couldn’t find him — we just asked for the check for fear we’d wait another half an hour for dessert. The waiter brought the check and then disappeared again. We waited over 10 minutes for him to come back before we gave up and left cash on the table and walked out.
We wouldn’t be going back — ever.

Sorry — this place is really bad. The food is edible and is a step above a fast food joint. They also have 100 beers available (tap and bottle).
Where to start — the waiter knew nothing about the beers or the menu. The beer menu was so sticky and gross we went to the bathroom to wash our hands after touching it. It took 10 – 15 minutes to bring us our beers (there were 8 customers, 2 servers, 2 bar tenders…).
The salsa is pretty spicy (only saying this because they didn’t advertise it as such). The crunchy chicken tenders are battered and fried like fish (not chicken… and as such they were soft bready and greasy). The salads were drenched in heavy dressing (negating your attempts at healthy). The $ 2 side of broccoli was laughable — small and steamed to the point of being mushy.
The service — the staff was playing on the phones the whole time. The waiter didn’t really know the menu or the beers. He took a really long time to bring us anything and then brought our stuff to the wrong table or brought us the wrong stuff. He didn’t take away the dirty dishes… we were trying to be patient, he seemed new, but it was just too much.
If you like TVs, this place has a million. Even in the bathroom. I thought it was annoying, but some people like it.

Found Bailey’s Pub and Grill through Groupon. Though it was a bit confusing with the name for me because on the Groupon it said Bailey’s Sport and Grille but with the address at Bailey’s Pub & Grill — so I took my chances at this location, which is the correct one. Just to clear up, there is a place called Bailey’s Sport and Grille also in Arlington — a bit confusing from the Groupon end (i think).
Came here on a Wednesday’s late night. Had Bianca as our waitress at the «non smoking» area.
***You need to give them your credit card before ordering. (unsure if that applied for just ordering non-​alcoholic drink and foods only)
Services: 5 out of 5 Bianca
Foods:
4 out of 5 Fish & «Chips» (very crunchy on the outside)
4 out of 5 Tavern Burger
3 out of 5 boneless buffalo wings
Cleanliness: 4 out of 5 from where we were sitting ONLY — unsure about the other area in the bar. When we sat down, there were cup water mark on the table, guess didn’t get a chance to wipe that down? and saw a crumb on the seat, but other than that it was clean. Saw Bianca did a lot of sweeping on the floor throughout almost one hour we were there.
Non smoking area smelled like smoking, really bad. I’m super sensitive and had a bad headache due to the strong smell of it. But one thing I do give credit is that there weren’t a cloud of smoke in the air from the entrance to where we were sitting. I see it very light, but the smell are definitely very strong.
Parking: you can park in the Ballston Common Mall or on the street — meter parking is paid up to 2 hours. I think after certain time you do not pay (I think 6PM?).
Would I come back here again? NO, mainly because of the smoking smell (even at the non smoking area). I’m very sensitive to the smoke smell, and couldn’t sit there at ease to enjoy it :-(even though the service is great and the food was good.
Would I recommend this place to other? YES, I would recommend this place to others if they are oK with the smoke smell or a smoker.

With 30 years in the restaurant & retail industry, I consider myself to be a lenient and laid back guest no matter where I go. This place pushed me to the edge.
After waiting for what seemed like an eternity to get acknowledged by the bar staff, with 10 patrons already served a bartender finally arrived with a menu. 50+ beers on tap and I chose the Rouge Dead Guy. OUT OF STOCK! Annoying,. Her response is that we haven’t updated our list. I ordered an alternate beer and smoked a cig.
The bartender did a walk by and that was basically it. I has a little hungry but I just passed on the food. The website is forcing me to add at least 1 star. You should have a thumbs down button!
Wait! Here she comes! And there she goes! Deuces peeps! I’m out of here!

Bailey’s is a huge sports bar located inside the Ballston mall. There are a ton of huge TVs and great spots to sit and watch a game. If you are going for a big game, I recommend getting there really early if you want to grab a good spot in front of a good tv.
They also have a ton of games (shuffleboard, pool, darts, pingpong, etc.), so that is a plus.
The food is pretty good. Your standard bar food menu. The drinks are average priced.

As a food and bar patron, Bailey’s gets the thumbs up from me. Is the food amazing? No, but it’s pretty much decent average bar food. Are there great drink specials? Not tremendously except during big sports events, but it’s also not super pricy either. So as far as sports bars go, Bailey’s is definitely A-​OK.
As a Virginia Tech alumni, Bailey’s is amazing. As one of the most well-​known Hokie bars in this area, there’s not many sports bars that offer the same experience on Virginia Tech football game days as Bailey’s. Because of the large number of alumni in this area, it’s usually really tough to find a table or seat at Bailey’s unless you go really early… but assuming you do find a table, it’s a great atmosphere for watching games.
In my younger days, straight out of college, my friends came here nearly every week for games. I still frequent Bailey’s from time to time for big games or bowl games, but not as often as I used to. That has nothing to do with the quality or atmosphere of Bailey’s though, it just has to do with convenience.
I definitely recommend checking out Bailey’s the next time you’re looking for a sports bar for your favorite football game.

The food is just okay. The real reason to come here, however, is the beer selection and for shuffleboard/​darts. It’s a great place to have a fun night with friends while watching sports (there are a ton of tvs).
The front room is very nice with reservable leather seating areas in front of hd tvs. BUT the entire front section allows smoking which is a shame and immediately docks a star off my review. The back section is non smoking but unfortunately to get there you have to walk through a cloud of smoke.
I’d recommend the place, but only if you’re there to play the games and drink.

They changed their interior so much from my last visit!
Definitely more spacious.
Bartenders were EH.
Drinks, were EH. Nothing special to Unilocal about.
Only thing I enjoyed was the company and conversation.

Blegh. I don’t like this place very much. Every time I have been here has either been forgettable or somewhat lousy. One example of the lousy was for St. Patrick’s Day. As per usual, it was near impossible to get to the bar or get the bartender’s attention because of the massive hoards of people cramming the bar area. It is especially annoying because Bailey’s is a HUGE place, so when a group of people have gotten their drinks at the bar, they should then move somewhere else so other people have a chance to approach the bar. That’s a pet peeve of mine. Anyway, I got their St Patrick’s Day «special» of an overpriced green Bud that turned out to be flat. Flat as in it tasted like it had come out of a can that had been sitting out for days. It was painfully crowded, and the only place there was room to sit was in the smoking room, barf. We left as fast as we could.
That’s just one example. I have never come here and then thought it was a great night out. Also, why on Earth do they charge a cover on weekend nights? They are located in a mall, and they offer an experience that is mediocre at best. I have a blast almost every time I go to Rock Bottom, which is located in the same mall and doesn’t charge cover. Go there instead.