BOOM Bar in Hanoi, Vietnam

BOOM Bar is a casual sports bar at 51 Luong Ngoc Quyen in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, combining draft beer, a pool table, food and televised sport in a central backpacker-nightlife location. It is much less formal than the city’s speakeasies and jazz clubs, making it a practical choice for travelers who want an uncomplicated drink, a game of pool or a place to watch sport. The main tradeoff is that it is an informal, visitor-oriented bar rather than a destination for specialist cocktails or quiet conversation, especially later in the evening.

Current directory data places BOOM firmly in the sports-bar category. Restaurant Guru lists the venue at the same Luong Ngoc Quyen address with outdoor seating, booking and delivery, while recent Google-derived comments repeatedly mention pool, draft beer and a relaxed atmosphere. The bar’s location in the Old Quarter means that street activity is part of the experience. You are not entering an isolated lounge; you are stepping into one of Hanoi’s busiest evening areas where bars, food stalls and foot traffic overlap.

The strongest reason to choose BOOM is flexibility. Current hours are listed as 09:00 to 02:00 every day by Restaurant Guru, a schedule also consistent with the current map listing. That means it can function as a daytime beer stop, an early-evening sports bar or a late-night fallback. Tripadvisor currently shows a conflicting 24-hour schedule, so the more conservative 09:00–02:00 hours are used here. If you are planning to arrive very late, check the same day rather than assuming continuous service.

Food is available, and current directory material associates the venue with simple bar-friendly dishes rather than a formal restaurant format. Recent reviewers mention beer and pool far more consistently than any particular meal, which is a useful clue about the bar’s identity. Eat here if convenience matters, but choose another place if dinner quality is the central purpose of the evening. Menus change frequently in Old Quarter bars, so no old dish list or price is treated as guaranteed.

The pool table is one of the more consistent features across recent sources. Several 2026 and late-2025 visitor reports mention having a drink while playing pool, suggesting it remains part of the active experience rather than a legacy detail. That makes BOOM suitable for small groups who want an activity without booking a formal entertainment venue. At peak times, however, a single pool table can become a bottleneck, so do not plan the whole visit around guaranteed immediate access.

The address is easy to integrate into an Old Quarter evening. Luong Ngoc Quyen runs through the dense nightlife and dining zone near Ta Hien and Bach Ma Temple. Visitors staying in the Old Quarter can usually walk. If arriving from elsewhere in Hanoi, taxi or ride-hailing drop-off near the street may be easier than trying to reach the door directly during crowded evening hours. The bar’s central location also makes it easy to leave quickly if a match, crowd or music level does not suit you.

A reasonable visit length is one to two hours, longer if you are watching a full sports event. That estimate depends heavily on purpose. Someone stopping for one beer may stay 30 minutes, while a football match can hold a table for several hours. Because sports schedules change daily, ask the venue whether the game you care about will be shown rather than assuming every international event is available.

Accessibility information is not reliable enough for a positive claim. Restaurant Guru lists outdoor seating but does not document step-free access, toilet accessibility or interior thresholds. The street itself can be congested and uneven, particularly at night. Travelers who use wheelchairs or need predictable accessible facilities should contact the venue or choose a larger hotel bar with published accessibility details.

BOOM Bar’s strength is that it does not require much planning. It is centrally located, open for long hours, inexpensive by current directory descriptions and built around familiar bar activities such as pool, beer and televised sport. Its limitations follow from the same formula: it can be noisy, busy and less distinctive than a specialist cocktail or music venue. For travelers who want a casual Old Quarter stop, especially with friends, those tradeoffs may be exactly right. Use the current 09:00–02:00 schedule as a planning guide, check late-night hours on the day, and treat the venue as a flexible part of the evening rather than a formal reservation-only destination.

Current directory data also lists outdoor seating and the possibility of booking, useful options when the Old Quarter is busy. Recent 2026 visitor comments continue to mention pool and beer, which supports the venue’s current casual-sports-bar identity without guaranteeing that every table, game or match will be available at a particular time. If a specific televised event matters, contact the bar before setting out and treat the published long daily hours as a guide rather than a promise for special dates.