Hard Times Cafe

I have been for Lunch at this location twice and both on Tuesday's for lunch and got the Texas 3-way chili and Tuesday is 'all you can eat' chili. both times service was decent, but keep in mind you are at a chili/bar and this is not the Waldorf Astoria. Both times I went, one serving was all I could eat. Yesterday, the portion size was really generous, i even got a chili sampler (after I already ordered my Texas chili) and the corn bread was good, moist, warm, slightly sweet, and the chili was very hot (temperature). So I haven't encountered any of the negative things that others are posting about, maybe Tuesday for lunch is the best time to go? I lived in Old Town Alex years ago and used to walk the the 1800 block to frequent the original location and of course the atmosphere there is great. had a different vibe back then (30 yrs ago) the location in springfield is just way too smokey. So Far i have enjoyed my visits here and hope it continues.

I was there last night with my son which turned 45, so he is no child. The party was about 12 of us. First the entertainment was canceled for the night, then we started out with a manager for a waitress then soon came a another women that had to take over. From there it got worse. Again we are celebrating a birthday for a 45 year old man. My son went out to smoke a cigarette and answer his phone. Mind you he was already in the building then went out. When he came in he was stopped by a security guard and asked for his driver's license. He complied. Once all was looked at he tried to come back to us and the guard says hold on, empty your pockets. WHY? He says empty pockets. Son just moves on with no intent to be rude. He follows him with now his possy of guards and is demanding pockets to be emptied, do you have weapons? WHAT? He goes on and is harassing my son. So to not get the situation escalated, we all just stood up and left. Mind you, we had just gotten the food we ordered. Needless to say we all went else where for a good meal, great company and finished out. Celebration. We will NEVER be back to that establishment. Rude, unfriendly, untrained security. Bad experience. Don't go there if you want a good relaxing evening with friends. They have lost 12 customers for life.

The food is great, and the bartenders are attentive and point on. The restrooms are clean. Excellent pool tables. Deserves 5 stars, but the guy working the door sucked. Asked my guy to lift his shirt, to show he wasn't hiding anything, and then asked me to dump my purse out. I asked if they had problems recently, and he said, "No, we always do this." We've been here so many times, and all we've ever been asked for was our ID's. Not once have we ever been searched. This was total bs. After we sat down, I watched and didn't see him search anyone else. If a chubby guy with a beard is working the door, be ready to be searched. What a d***.

The absolute worst, security there is a joke...not good enough to be a butler. Management are cowards and have no concept of de-escalation or communication skills when it comes to the public, because of their choice to hire children they lost not only the sale of an enormous party, but the patronage of them as well.Do yourself a favor and go somewhere else people, the food was unbelievably poor as well.If there were an option to give no stars it would have happened.