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| - While the idea of this place is excellent, the carry-through is definitely lacking. Which is unfortunate, because from reading their website, I can tell their hearts are truly in this endeavor!
Why?
First, let me tell you one thing I liked about the store: the atmosphere. Since it's a new place, everything is clean and shiny and smells good, and the bathrooms are fantastic. However, there are parts of the atmosphere that also work against it, but I'll address that later.
The appeal of this particular cafe is that it's aimed at gamers. As a gamer myself, I found absolutely nothing on the menu that appealed to me. Gamers like simple food. My companions, who at least found things they liked, were only okay with the food. For the price, the amount of food is questionable; the salads are okay, some of the other entrees are not at all balanced. In their favor, the presentation of the food is excellent. The service is good, though I'd actually suggest that they clear away plates instead of expecting their customers to do so. If I'm paying restaurant prices, I'd like restaurant service.
Now, moving on to the game side of the store: the selection was not amazing. It was definitely solid; but it's only a little better than what you'd find at Barnes and Noble. In addition, one of the advertised benefits is being able to borrow games to play. However, this requires a "membership" of $48 dollars a year, or even more if you'd like to pay in smaller chunks of time. Like, it's $7 for a single-day pass. I can name at least one store that lets you use their equivalently-stocked game cabinet for free.
Service, while solid, was nothing exciting, especially considering the number of employees. It's cool to be able to order on either floor of the restaurant, but that's just flashy where some actual solid service would be preferred. The wait for food is actually okay, depending on what you get. I had to wait quite a while (10-15 minutes) for just two hot chocolates (which were gritty), but our entrees were delivered quickly (about 10 minutes). The major lacking in the service was that no one was really helpful in the gaming section. No friendly advice about games, no explanations, just... racks and racks of games.
Returning to the atmosphere: This place is a lot more like an semi-upscale hipster restaurant than a gaming place. Now, that's not to say I want to game in a place like most gaming stores, because most of them are fairly sketchy. That said, the group of gamers who came in after us looked horribly out of place, and I wondered if they felt as awkward as we did. Again, there is another store nearby that is an excellent place to game (and it's clean and family-friendly).
Another problem with the layout/store itself is that the largest tables are only made for 6 players, and the tables can't be pushed together easily. So, if you're like our group, and regularly have games with more than six players, it's going to be really hard to get everyone together. Also, it was possibly because of how warm it was outside, but this place was unbearably hot. We left because it was just too warm to continue playing.
So, overall, if you want to go to a nice looking place and have some slightly-overpriced and very niche food (and maybe play some games), it's an okay place. If you're looking for a home for your regular gaming group or family night, look elsewhere.
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