I'm one of those parents that has avoided Chuck E Cheese at all costs. I've done pretty good considering I have three kids and my youngest turns 6yrs old soon.
This year though, my son had been begging me to go to Chuck E Cheese for his 7th birthday. He's at the age where he really knows what he wants and it seemed to be the biggest thing on his wish list so I begrudgingly made it happen.
A month ago I made an RSVP for 4 kids and 2 adults (I originally wanted to throw a bigger party there but my budget wouldn't allow. Just to give you heads up, I only have 3 kids but 4 is the absolute minimum you can RSVP a party for. You can either split the extra tokens amongst your kids or like I did, I just invited one of his buddies to join us). Reserving a party requires a $30 NON REFUNDABLE (Even if you cancel the party all together) down payment.
I was nervous it would be a crowded, chaotic and stressful mess at the venue but it wasn't bad at all.
Pros:
*Everyone who works there is beyond nice. From the minute we walked in, we were greeted by either the owner or manager of the place. Not sure but he was very nice and thanked us for making this particular Chuck E Cheese our choice for a birthday party. Our hostess (Sorry if I butcher your name) I think her name was Kayhlee was amazing! She could have passed as my son's mother, that's how attentive and caring she was to him. I wanted to take her home with me and use her as a live in nanny. She was amazing. There was another young man working there, I think his name was Jackson or Jayson, he was so sweet to my daughter at the prize counter. Really everyone working there that night (Sept 27th at 530pm) was AMAZING. They seemed trained to deal with kids with the most upbeat and sweetest demeanor.
* Safety! Another concern of mine was I'd loose a kid in Chuck E Cheese but for starters, it wasn't as crowded as I had expected. Another thing is, as we were trying to leave that night, employee Jackson or Jayson IDK Sorry...noticed my stamp was smudged and no one could really make out whether or not my number matched my kids's number so he pretty much interrogated him. Not in a mean way but you could tell he really wanted to be sure they knew who I was before he let them leave with me. He apologized to me for the hold up but I said No, I'm actually very glad you did that. It made me feel even better about the place knowing the stamps weren't just for show and that they actually take the safety of the children seriously.
* Customer service, our hostess Kayhlee?? said to let her know what I wanted and she'd make it happen. Well I had a fairly long list: 2 medium pizzas, one cheese with no tomato sauce, one with all the meat toppings you have, 3 salad bars, 3 adult cups, extra plates and a sampler platter. I was worried it would be too much since she wasn't writing any of this down. I even spoke slowly giving her ample time to pull out a note pad and write it all down but she never did so I thought "Good luck remembering all that." Well she did remember it all! Also, at the end of the night I wanted to buy my son a Chuck E Cheese tshirt but they were all out. One of the ladies there said "Take down the display shirt and see if she likes it. Which I did, so I bought the display for my son LOL.
*Cleanliness, The place was fairly clean and attendants were pretty good and clearing the tables off in a timely manner. Bathrooms were decent. Salad bar wasn't messy.
I honestly could go on and on about the Pros. Let's just say, yes it was expensive (I spend about $85 that night, over $100 if you include the down payment I made earlier) but the service was amazing and they really did made my son's wishes come true. I've never seen him so happy. He danced with Chuck E. He got in the ticket blaster, He played, He loved the food, He loved the people working there. I'm glad I was able to give him this memory before he was too old for it. I think making him wait for a Chuck E Cheese party was worth it. I don't know how other Chuck E Cheese restaurants are but this one will be the one I recommend everyone go to, and it will be the one I take my kids to.
BTW We had enough birthday cake and pizza and sampler platter to pack into 4 take home boxes. I was worried it wouldn't be enough but it turned out to be MORE than enough. I didn't even have to ask for the take home boxes, they offered it to me. I don't think I had to ask for a single thing that night. The attendants are offering you help all the time. read more