Empire USA Dakota Slate Pool Table Review: Real Slate, Real Weight

Three-piece slate, K66 cushions and leather pockets, and an installation you should not attempt yourself.

Specifications

Specifications above come from Empire USA's published product information. Treat pricing as approximate, since Amazon pricing moves.

What it does well

• Three-piece slate is the specification that matters. It can be levelled precisely at installation and re-levelled later, which a single sheet or an MDF bed cannot.
• K66 is the standard profile for pool cushions, so rebound behaves the way every other proper table you have played on behaves.
• Leather drop pockets are repairable and they age well. Plastic pockets are the part of a cheap table that fails first and looks worst.
• Cloth and an accessory kit are included, so the table is playable on day one rather than after another two hundred dollars of shopping.
• A 7 ft table is the size most bars use, so the play transfers, and it fits far more rooms than an 8 ft does.

Where it falls short

• Installation is not optional and it is not included. Slate arrives in three pieces that must be seamed and levelled, and this is genuinely a job for an installer with a machinist's level. Budget several hundred dollars.
• It is very heavy. Slate tables are moved by professionals, disassembled, and the cost of moving one is a real consideration if you rent.
• The room, not the table, decides whether this is a good purchase. A 7 ft table wants about 13 ft 6 in by 16 ft 9 in with a full length cue.
• Championship cloth is a decent starting cloth and it is not tournament cloth. Players who care about speed and spin end up recovering the table in Simonis, which is another four hundred dollars plus fitting.
• Delivery of a six hundred pound freight item into a basement is its own project and needs planning before the order, not after.

What owners report

Owner reports on slate tables in this price bracket are consistent: the table itself is generally as described, and the experience is decided by the installer. Tables that were professionally levelled draw praise for roll and rebound, and tables that were assembled by the buyer draw complaints that read as levelling problems rather than manufacturing ones.

Before anything else, measure. Our pool table room size calculator gives the clearance for your cue length, and what size pool table fits my room works the problem backwards from the space you have. The 7 ft versus 8 ft comparison is worth reading even if you have already decided, because the 8.5 ft oversized trap catches people whose room only just worked.

On the slate question itself, our slate versus MDF comparison is the honest ledger. Slate is better and it is also heavy, expensive to install and expensive to move, and there are rooms and budgets where MDF is the right answer.

Who it suits

• Rooms with the measured clearance for a 7 ft table and a full length cue.
• Buyers who intend to keep the table for a decade or more, where slate and leather pockets pay back.
• Anyone who has already budgeted for professional installation.

Who should skip it

• Renters and anyone likely to move within a couple of years, given what moving slate costs.
• Rooms that are tight on one side, where a shorter cue set or a smaller table is the honest fix.
• Buyers whose budget is fully consumed by the table itself, leaving nothing for installation.

Alternatives worth considering

Keep reading

• Slate vs MDF pool table
• 7 ft vs 8 ft pool table
• Pool table room size calculator
• What size pool table fits my room
• Pool table installation cost
• Legacy Baylor II slate pool table review
• Simonis 860 cloth review
• Best pool tables

This review draws on published specifications, manufacturer figures and the consensus of verified owner reviews. We have not tested this product ourselves, and we say so rather than implying otherwise. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.