Fargo Billiards & Gastropub

Fargo Billiards and Gastropub (FBG) is first and foremost an immense pool hall and bar in southern Fargo. They have an almost overwhelming number of pool tables (both short and full), an outside patio area for sand volleyball, a bar that sits in the middle of the pool hall, and an associated restaurant/​kitchen. Overall, my experiences say that FBG is a fun place to hang out, shoot some pool, and enjoy an evening out with friends, but I almost certainly wouldn’t go there exclusively for the food or drinks.
Impressions as a Hangout
I really enjoy just hanging out at FBG. There are plenty of adult entertainment options and the overall ambiance is clearly focused on bringing people in to enjoy these activities, while also enjoying a drink or some food. The pool tables are well-​kept, and I have never seen the place so full that there weren’t plenty of pool tables to go around. Pool tables are rented by the hour and can be a bit pricey if you aren’t watching the time or subbing group members in and out. There is a trivia night (Tuesday), and they host all types of pool leagues and tournaments. During the summer months, they have a back patio with 3 sand volleyball courts, and there are summer leagues on Wednesday evenings. I’ve always had a great time there and they host groups of people well (although service varies between non-​existent and bad).
Impressions of Food/​Drink
In contrast to how awesome the entertainment can be, the food varies from mediocre to downright awful. This place is definitely! not! a gastropub in the generally accepted notion of the word. It’s more like bar food on a really large plate: fried appetizers of the usual sort, burgers, pizza, sandwiches and wraps. The beer-​battered walleye fingers (if it’s even walleye) are alright, and the pizza usually isn’t too bad. Among many nights there with friends, kitchen screw-​ups became the norm, and I couldn’t help but wonder in what manner the food would be goofed up this particular time as people ordered. Some of the more memorable screw-​ups: 1) putting all of the cheese on a plate for nachos before the chips and then blasting it under the heat lamp/​oven – the effect was a melted cheese wafer below the chips (oh, and they forgot the other nacho toppings that time), 2) a salad where like half of the ingredients had been left out. There were many other screw-​ups with food.
Terrible, terrible service
Being such a large place that caters to large groups, and often on especially quiet nights, wait service can be a bit sparse. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had some awesome waitresses on occasion, but service has been absent or terrible in the vast majority of visits. There appears to be pretty high turnover and almost no training or mentorship for new hires. Great service could really go a long way to improving both food expectations (see above) as well as improving the experience of those who are there for pool or otherwise.
Bottom line: Great place to hangout for entertainment, bad place to go for dinner alone.

I have had good service there and bad service there. Most of the time it seems to be bad. The tables are great and good for a group. The food is average never had anything bad there. I find that when I have been there the severs always seem confused.

Approaching the Gastropub, it’s got a less than modern «warehouse» exterior. You can tell it’s large and spacious, but it lacks any sort of visual «pop» while driving by. Inside, everything is very clean, well-​planned out and there are various options for everyone. On both «sides» of the building there are well-​maintained, clean pool tables. The pool areas have the right mix of light and and dark to give it the right setting.
I came for trivia night and it was quite a fun experience. The Gastropub reserves table tops at the center of the facility for trivia, so that there is no confusion about who is participating and who is not. Everything was very well organized and the hosts were witty, without being obnoxious. We even got a mini-​trophy for third place!
As for the food, I ordered a pizza. Naturally, I’m a little sketched by the idea of a pub being able to produce a respectable pie, up to my pizza standards. It was surprisingly good! The cheese was actually quite fresh, the sauce had the right amount of sweetness to it that I love and the crust was the right mix of crunchy and not too thin! Service was a BIT slow as it took probably 40 minutes for the pizza to arrive and the people at my table all got their food before me, even with orders going in after, but it’s all good. The server was polite and very well organized with our table of 9.
This joint is quite the fun place. I’d love to get involved with a sand volleyball team here and use those courts! I certainly recommend the establishment for what it is. I loathe bars, but this place is definitely not the typical bar demographic.

There is no point in going here if you don’t play pool. It’s a shame because this place is super close to my place. I was looking for a close bar to come to and enjoy the end of the work day. It’s impossible to do that here, it took 5 minutes to even have someone say hello and ask me if I needed anything to drink (mind you am sitting at the bar top). The lady who worked behind the bar was extremely unfriendly, no crack of a smile, no thank you, nothing. After I got my drink, I met another friend who wanted to then move to a table. We moved to a table, took us a good 15 minutes to get service then and it was probably because I said loudly «let’s go, I need to eat», a gentleman then greeted us, said they rotate tables and he wanted to make sure it was ok with the other server if he takes us. He asks in front of us, the lady he was rotating with looks at us and says she doesn’t want us (way to make us feel comfortable). He was an excellent server and knew we were hungry and tried his hardest to get the ball rolling. He is the ONLY reason I gave any stars. Needless to say I will never go back.

Awful food and extremely expensive for what you get. Waited an hour and half for a steak that I ordered medium rare that came out well done. The friend I was with ordered the fish and had to send it back, because it was so cold.

Hot damn! This place is huge!
It’s a billairds hall, diner, coffee shop and bar all in one stop! I’m kinda liking this mashup. Played pool on Sunday night as our last HooRah before leaving Fargo: tear: and it was pretty fun and laid back. For Sunday there were about 2 dozen people but since this place is gigantic, it didnt feel cramped in the least. Our waitress was cute and chatted with us but damn, it was slow tryna get an order in!
After 30 mins I asked for a menu and we ordered house soup (which um, there was a sign in the front that said soup o the day was beer cheese and we were über pumped to try this strange midwest delicacy but nooooooo. they didnt have it that night. mmkkayy). and some chili and tried the wallaye fish bites. Food came out fairly fast and it was all mucho tasty.
Cheap pool, down to earth vibe and good eats, makes for a chill billards hall.

The taco salad is hearty and delicious. There’s a decent tap list. The space huge. And when I mean huge — rows and rows, and aisles and aisles of vignettes with bar and lounge seating along huge designated areas of billiards. The main bar caters to a large room where most of the guests can grab a drink from the full circle bar.
The service was just like Fargo — nice, polite, and welcoming. But what really struck me was the different drinks and cocktails offered at the bar that seemed super sophisticated for an over-​sized bar with pool, but hey — I’ll take it and will certainly return next time I’m in Fargo!

If you are into shooting pool, then obviously Fargo Billiards is a go-​to. They have tons of tables in the building. If you’ve never been there, you will be surprised when you walk in the door and see all the tables, the seating and how nice of a facility this is. And that doesn’t even include the top notch outdoor area for sand volleyball and bocce.
If you’re not a billiards person, like I’m not, do not let that deter you from frequentling this place. They have a restaurant area, which I’ve yet to sit in, and in addition to the seating around the pool tables, they have an elevated bar area with plenty of seats. Also, for special events, they have separate rooms with pool tables, couches and cocktail tables.
I am always please by the beer selection and they have an extensive menu. You can find all that info on their website. Hitting their happy hour is a bonus when you can take part in the half-​priced appetizers. Mmmmm, nachos, walleye fingers, spinach & artichoke dip, nachos and their Gastrogaggle are just some of the apps.

Great place to take a group of people! I mean, like a BIG BIG BIG group of people. I’ve been here a few times, the first was for a work holiday party a year ago and they easily can accommodate and cater a large group of 100+ people.
Tonight I was there for the Unilocal Welcome Wagon event and with the group coming and going at various there was never a hiccup of service. We had at least three servers come to check on us multiple times, it was great.
The apps were great and the free taco bar during happy hour was a great bonus!

I was generally impressed with how large the inside of this gastropub was upon entering. The outside does not do it justice as it looks like a warehouse. There are many pool tables and a tree strung with tiny white lights. Nice leather chairs to relax in a group. I liked the selection of drinks, average prices. The wait staff was again average, not terribly friendly. We still enjoyed the spinach dip which was slightly spicy and drinks amongst friends

Great place. The inside looks amazing. The outside has an area for sand volleyball with the finest sand in town. Food is very good. Good selection of beers on tap.

Thought we would try Billiards out for lunch. It was very dark and I wasn’t sure where to go to be seated because there was no one around. Someone finally aproached us and we were seated. The food was ok but not what I expected. The kettle chips were over cooked and the Jamaican jerk sandwich tasted more like taco meat. I ate it but was definately not happy with the meal. I’m not sure if I will go back to try another menu item. First impressions really do mean a lot.

Just returned from running in the Gastropub’s 5K. The race is run PERFECTLY – one of the best in town. Here is what is good: course is certified, directions while running are clear, mile markers are easily visible, excellent volunteers on the course to help, GREAT food (for free!) afterwards, with a very nice blues band providing entertainment. These guys know how to run a race AND the beer selection is terrific!

We been there for the last time. Tonight we showed up and after being ignored for 5 minutes, finally had some get us a table. When we asked to put a pizza order in right away we were told that food would take at least an hour and a half. It’s not like the place was packed. There were maybe five other small tables. We got up and left and no one seemed to care.
The previous time wasn’t much better. Service was slow and really it seemed as though we were an inconvenience. Their big advertised appetizer special that they «make in house» they were out of. There was only one other table in the restaurant and it was 6pm. Really??? Our food took over an hour to get to the table and was cold when it did arrive. No one returned to check and see how we were doing. We had to chase the server down to get our tab. The food was mediocre at best.
We’d love to support local businesses, but they need to at least make an effort and meet us half way. Adiós Gastropub.

Don’t let the one star fool you. If I could give the Gastropub no stars I would.
The food is horribly mediocre. If I wanted to eat food purchased from the frozen food section of the local grocery store, then well… I’d go to the frozen food section and buy it myself.
Ordered the meatball sandwich with chips and it was a lukewarm travesty. Pretty sure they just popped open a jar of generic pasta sauce and drizzled it over frozen pre-​cooked meatballs.
This place has no business calling itself a gastropub. There is nothing innovative or exciting about the food they serve here. If you’re planning on an evening shooting pool, make sure you eat before you arrive.

Held an event here last Saturday for my Meetup group.
Had a great server (Taylor) who was constantly in-​and-​out of the room making sure that myself and my 20ish guests were taken care of. It was very much appreciated.
I made sure to get pool balls for the two tables in the room and both were occupied for the time we had the room.
The room was clean when I arrived and was comfortable and pleasant. I am thankful to all who were able to come out.

I went here for the first time last night. I was very pleased with the food. The service was good, but I wouldn’t call it friendly.
I went with two friends. One ordered the jambalaya, the other ordered the walleye and I ordered a chili burger (don’t judge, it was a craving). We also split a single Bavarian pretzel as an appetizer.
The place was quiet and clean. The bar was pretty full, so we sat in the dining area by the front door. Service was prompt — our drinks were always full. One of my friends ordered a hard apple cider. It sounded good, so I ordered one later. The waitress looked at me like I was an idiot. I shrugged and told her it sounded good. In the most sarcastic voice she could muster she told me «It tastes like apple juice.» No shit. I never would have known that my hard APPLE cider would taste like apple juice. Thank you for the education!
Anyway, the food was great. The Bavarian pretzel was awesome, but next time I will get my own and keep it from my friends. Yes. It was that good.
The jambalaya was pretty bland, and, while the menu says there is chicken and endouille sausage in it, we never did find any sausage. But, it was still tasty.
My chili burger was great. The burger had a good beefy flavor and the chili was good. The onion rings were excellent.
Not being one for fish, I didn’t try the walleye. It looked good. For fish.
Anyway, I will go to «Billiards» again.

Billards? Absolutely. Gastropub? Not exactly. More of a gastrodud.
I tried the bacon wrapped jalapeño poppers and the sweet strawberry bacon burger. The poppers were not very good. Way too much batter – more batter than filling. A much lighter batter and breading would make these so much better.
The sweet strawberry bacon burger sounds exciting. I imagined a burst of salty sweet goodness with my first bite. The combination is creative and could work, but the burger and bun failed. The uniform thickness of the burger tasted exactly as we suspected, i.e. a frozen patty. The bun was very dry. The bacon was under cooked and lacked flavor. I was expecting fresh strawberries and was disappointed to see it topped with strawberry glaze with a couple chunks of strawberries. The cheddar cheese on this burger is a complete miss. They should try either goat cheese or a gorgonzola with a fresh hand packed patty, fresh strawberries, crispier bacon and a good bun.
Service was fine, but it took a long time to get the attention of the waitress to pay. Beer selection is decent. We also watched another tables order sit under the warming lights for upwards of 10 minutes before it was served. With so many better places to eat in Fargo/​Moorhead I will not return to this place.

Awesome food. Great happy hour specials.

Great atmosphere and usually great bartenders. Fun place to hang out… Pretty good bar food. I love the fried mushrooms and sesame chicken salad! Recommended!