GameWorks Schaumburg

Reviews 4

MI

Michael Brian

I was here last Saturday on a date to get a bite to eat and play some games with my companion. Originally, I didnt plan to eat here, however the Big Bowl nearby had a wait of over an hour. So we decided to eat at the game center. Naturally, I was not going to expect the best meal here but I was pretty hungry since I didnt eat lunch that day. The regular dining area is probably the smallest part of the establishment with a bar in the next room. The dining area was not too busy that night so getting a seat and getting served right away would not be a problem. The hostess greeted us kindly and walked us to a table quickly. We didnt have to wait long for water and our server to arrive. The drinks we had ordered arrived promptly while we were trying to look through the menu. I decided to get the fried mozzarella sticks and the baked mac & cheese. We waited about 5 minutes for our cheese sticks to arrive, and to our surprise they were better than the usual frozen cheese stick you normally see in many fast food joints and restaurants. These cheese sticks were slimmer and not the uniform size as many cheese you see. They tasted much better and were crispy. The cheese sticks were cooked through as well. The mac & cheese was average, which was expected. The dish was lacking texture, it could have used some more bread crumbs to give it a slight crunch. The elbow noodles were properly cooked, not overdone and soggy. Would have liked the cheese to be creamer, but considering where I was I really cant complain. Once dinner was over, it was time to do what we came there for, play games! The facility has a wide variety of gaming consoles and stations. Upstairs there many shooting games which I love like Time Crisis and House of the Dead, personal favorites of mine. An old game I love playing there is skee ball, there about 5 machines. If you like racing games there is a dedicated room for racing games. If you like shooting basketballs at moving backboards, Gameworks has those there are well. Now if you going there to play retro arcade games dont come here, because they dont have of those old school arcade games here, go to Headquarters Beercade or Emporium Arcade Bar in Chicago. One thing to know when you come here, if you plan on playing the more expensive arcade shooting games and racing games it might be more beneficial to get the one hour games cards. You can probably stick with the pre-paid cards with the ticketed games. One criticism I would add is that the prize area could lower the ticket prices, many of the ticket prices for prizes are just way too high. Regardless, if you enjoy the higher end arcade games, skee ball, and basketball, this is a nice place in a convenient place close to everything around the mall area.

CH

Chris Langer

Im really sick of this place after a decade of patronage. After a long break, I decided to start coming again this summer because they got DJ Max Technika 2 and DDR X2. Didnt hurt that they still had Maximum Tune 3, although they got rid of Initial D 3. I suppose the easiest way to sum my feelings up is, this place is a bad arcade situated on top of an alright bar/restaurant combo, and dont expect that to change. I stopped going a few years ago because of the (what I thought then were) high prices and poorly maintained games. After coming back and seeing even higher prices, I decided to stick it out because of the new machines. DDR X2 ended up being frequently broken (pads) on top of having horrible volume for the environment. DDR X and DDR SuperNova were not much better. Wangan Midnight 3 is a head-scratcher. They wont allow time play cards on it because you can pay extra to save your game to a magnetic card. Management calls this a redemption game. The funny thing is, random people just buy cards not realizing they dont need them for one or two quick plays, and the machine is frequently out of cards for weeks at a time, making it pointless for regular players since we cant renew our cards. No cards? Still no time play! DJ Max Technika 2 was amazing to play for a while, but there were insanely long lines because people ended up abusing time cards on it. Management took off time play for the machine instead of punishing the few players, ruining it for everybody else. Overall, I kept noticing the prices for games creeping up. I had finally hit VIP status to get a 10% discount but that was instantly negated by a price increase. Its getting out of hand... they will charge OVER twice what pretty much every other arcade (besides D&B) will for games. I can find DDR machines to play for 50¢ in better shape than what Gameworks charges over $2 for. I have not been in recently to sample the new menu, but if youre looking for a slightly pricey lunch or dinner, this place isnt bad for that. Not being a drinker, I cant give much of an opinion on drinks but I hear theyre rather high. I just got soda with free refills and tossed the bartenders some tips.

MA

Maque Sim

Normally I maximize the amount of characters for my reviews but this is going to be short. Food is average. Drinks are average. Bar is average. There is literally nothing to say here. Burgers. Beer. 40oz Margarita slushees where somehow they master the hybridization of the classy image of 7-11 with the best mango malt liquor the corner store can offer. Every staff member appears miserable. Even the conversations with them go like this- Me: Thank you, sir. Have a good night. Employee: *sigh* Ill see what I can do. I actually typed that slowly just so you could feel the bemused disinterest. None of that would have bothered me. I was here for an adult birthday party and for that this placed served its purpose. I can have fun anywhere. What prompted me and my group to leave was the overly aggressive bald security guard working Saturday night. Obviously an individual that didnt get past the police academy. I understand businesses have to card people diligently. Ive been working in hospitality my entire life. But dude, I have grey in my beard. Besides that, at least wait until my group is done playing until you start poking people while theyre playing your crappy games. None of them are fun for adults anyway and were all making the best of an odd situation already. We already each spent $6 to play a crappy Nintendo 64 game for a minute and a half, the least you could do is have the decency keep your restless hands in your pockets until were done. I have no problem going back to prison. With that said, I had my right shoulder reconsructed less than a month ago. Had I been healthy, last night would have had a different outcome for myself and the dishonorably discharged cop. So, what does this amount to? Whole group of 20 people left at 930 and went to another bar where they dont have militant chodes carding people. By the way, I was sober throughout this whole interaction. I dont drink.

JO

Joshua Jarvis

We called this Gameworks location in the Streets of Woodfield for a reservation for my sons birthday party with his friends. We talked with a person named Starr whom was, in my opinion, completely dismissive and rude to the point I wanted to say forget it and go with another place. My son really wanted this for his birthday so we followed through with Gameworks despite the rudeness we received. She (Starr) lined out the cost, time and whatever goes along with it... and also along with EVERYTHING we CANNOT do (which apparently is alot). I would recommend not being so pressed on what people CANNOT do. Especially a customer already paying a decent cost to have a party room in your establishment. Her speaking in tone like shes being annoyed doesnt help either. When we arrived to our party, it was completely disorganized! We didnt know where it was located, no signs, nothing. I actually had to stand at the top of the stairs and direct families to our room because everyone was walking around lost just as we did when we arrived. This place is obviously not for children as there doesnt seem to be a system in place... a kid can walk right out the door with a stranger and no one would bat and eye in this place. I would give this review 1 star but this Gameworks is VERY fortunate to have a server like Luis! The man is a ninja when it comes to serving food, if you blink... youll miss that he just served the whole room or that he just cut an entire cake and pieces are already placed on plates with forks. Luis was the most helpful server Ive ever dealt with and if 6 stars were possible, I would rate it that based on his performance alone! Unfortunately, we dealt with the disorganization of the party and so 3 stars is sort of balancing it out and Luis cannot help where he works. I will never reserve from Gameworks for future parties if I have to repeat this instance again.