It is what it is, so what else can be said? It is to my understanding that the food here at the Batavia location is better than that at Streamwood/Hanover Park one, but I honestly don't know as I've never been. However, with that said, even the food at this location is nothing to get something too excited about. We ordered a sausage pizza and I would say it is better than a Tombstone and better than Little Caesar's, but beyond that you are pushing it, so nothing memorable. We also ordered two salad bars, and though it was mediocre, it was a good alternative that I was happy to have and I'd definitely order it again. The good news is you don't have to order food if you don't want to because that over-sized mouse is all too happy to let you and your children come in and drop as many coins into his machines as you want.
This place is sheer heaven for a kid and yet simultaneously hell for any adult or parent. Perhaps that's why kids love it?! The games are all newer and fairly inexpensive (they take one "coin" which is equal to .25), so you don't feel like you are dropping a ton of money while there, but that is also coming from the parent of a 2.5 year old. I can't imagine the amount of coin you could/would drop if your kids were older. I certainly could have gotten my son a happy meal, had him eat it in the car, walked into Chuck E. Cheese with a $10 and the entire afternoon could have been over for less than $15.
We did go on a Thursday night so I am sure the crowds were lighter than the would be on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, but it was still pretty busy up until the time we left which was about 8. I have been duly warned that if you value your life you will avoid that place at all cost on the weekends as it becomes birthday party central. Thankfully, they do have the safety feature of hand stamps at the door where the only people that can leave w/ you are those that share the same hand stamp (i.e. your kids since you both walked in together). Not only did I personally watch them stamp our hands, move the stamp around so that our stamps would be unique, but also check each and every hand under the black light as people left the building. Definite kudos for this!
My other HUGE warning is that if you don't watch out for your child no one else will! I found that out big time here at Chuck E. Cheese. They do have a slide and jungle gym attraction here, and of course it is a mecca for kids; however, it is really only intended for small children, but that neither keeps larger children out of it nor does it occur to their parents to point that out. Kids were climbing UP the slide, despite that being the only way down, and in a dark, covered slide that can be scary and confusing for a little guy. As I was standing there waiting for my son to come down I hear him SCREAMING as he is on the way down, and as I meet him at the bottom he tells me that an older kid pushed him down the slide- beautiful thing when kids are climbing up it huh?! The straw that broke the camel's back was the 4 year old girl who LAID across the end of the slide, and then hung upside down from it- despite me telling her no fewer than 6 times to get off the end because other kids were coming down. For a brief moment she looked at me kind of like my dogs do- head cocked and fogged over. The rest of the time I could have sworn that she was hard of hearing because she didn't even acknowledge me. WHAT?! At this stage of the game, you'd think that her parents would have witnessed any or all of this as it had gone on for several minutes, but no one ever came over, no one ever tended to her, and certainly no one came to me to ask why was I telling their kid to move. Finally her 8 or 9 year old sister came over and gently took her hand and led her to a different game... It was at that moment that I seriously thought I'd entered an alternate universe!
The good news is- despite the so-so food, loudness, children running around wild, the potential to drop half of your mortgage money and end up with only a super cool pair of Kanye West-esque shades, the parents that are stuck on stupid, and the cost of a bottle of Advil- your kids will LOVE it and better yet: THEY SERVE BEER! read more