Recently had my daughters birthday here and overall just a bad experience. Hostess was 30 minutes late. Pizza order was wrong, then taken away and not returned. When I addressed this the hostess argued with me saying she had returned them, even though I had been watching the whole time. Kids didn't get to eat together, even though I called ahead to let them know there would be more than 10 kids, there was no extra table set. Kids had to eat on plastic table with gifts on it yet I was still charged an extra 11.99 per head. Another employee, Chelsea, who was in charge of party check in, spent time fondling and flirting with her boyfriend at the check in desk, making me wait even though she saw me walk up. Had to call her out on being inappropriate before she even stopped to help me. She then laughed as she apparently just found the situation funny and doesn't seem to value customer service at all. The level of unprofessionalism in the way this place is run is almost comical. I would never, ever, ever have a birthday party here again and would strongly suggest my friends don't either. Until this place is run better and not just run by a bunch of teenagers I will be avoiding it as much as possible in the future and urging my friends to do the same. What a disappointing experience. The only positive is that my daughter had a great time, since she didn't have to deal with all the BS and was able to just skate and enjoy with her friends. Still wouldn't come back. read more

This was our first time at Great Skate! The family went here for a group gathering today. We have 2 kids, one which was too young to skate. Which is totally fine. Told her she could play some video games. Literally, 3 out of 25 worked. I read the previous reviews & thought it couldn't be possible they weren't fixed. And, no they were not! As much of a flow the place seems to have, it's a shame they wouldn't fix them. I attempted to order the combo of 2 slices of pizza & a drink. They said it would be 35 minutes, because of all the parties. I obviously declined. We had to wait on the wrist guards, because they were still disinfecting them with Lysol, seriously on that...the 2 young men, staff was spraying them & waving them around so they'd dry faster. When we got them, they were wet. Overall, the place has soooo much potential! And, they excelled in some ways & just dropped the ball in others. But, I can't discount the staff, ALL were incredibly friendly! read more

2 stars simply for the nostalgia and my kids have a blast. It's standard 30 minutes in lines to pay admission and get skates etc. And worse, the food and food handling is NASTY. Today alone, I watched the birthday party host lick her bare hand from palm to finger tip, then continue on serving food and drinks. Not uncommon from what I've seen. Gross!! Overpriced and disgusting food. Eat ahead of time or just go in knowing that there are poor standards for food handling at Great Skate. read more

Horrible experience. I called ahead to make sure they were open and to double check their business hours(literally an hr or two before I jumped in my car to head their way). I drove all the way there to find out they were closing early because there were not enough people, long story short, an hr round trip drive for 30 min of skating. They gave me a free pass to come back, ok, that's reasonable. So I drive all the way here again and they aren't accepting the free pass tonight DAH!! No luck with great skate, not so much their fault that I live far away but generally one is given a free pass to make up for something or because you didn't make such a good impression . . . ? Might be a good idea to honor it. read more

Aweful place. They get the little kids off the rink to allow "advanced skaters" to skate. I had two kids in tears. Management is rude, beligerent and disrespectful. I would never go back there if they paid me to go ! (incidentally, we are from the surprise area and are used to clean and friendly places for our kids entertainment. If you are looking for the ghetto, this is your kind of place) read more

This is my favorite place to go to and a place to keep my body healthy. The staff was mostly nice , but when we we in the " advance skate" , I think i was a little too confident about my self and then there is a black guy who work there tell me to get out of the floor because he was thinking that i'm not a advance skater just because i was only 14 . But i was pretty sure that i can keep up with the advance skaters . And his action to tell me get out of the floor very rude and that can hurt people's feeling. Im gonna come back when that black guy got fired ;)) read more

The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars is because they have these things to help little kids to skate, but you have to pay FIVE dollars for them and you have to watch them closely or else other kids take them. We left ours at our table and they were gone when we came back. Most people probably just think they are free, which they should be. That being said, everything else was great! I love that they have people all over the skating floor to help the little ones enter and exit easily, they literally stop traffic for them. My kids had a fantastic time! Read someone else's about it stinking and was a little worried, I usually pick up on that stuff pretty easy, but I noticed no smell at all. read more

I really love taking the kids and we get reduced pricing on groupon. The only think I don't like is your only allowed to backward skate if they call it and they don't call it often enough other than that its great and loads of FUN!! I always ask for there older skates the newer skates have different sizing and are not broken in so they hurt .The newer skates are more mens sizing .The kids really love it and they just redid there flooring its even better. read more

I do not recommend anyone with little kids or a family to show up on $1 night. i witnessed last night a manager of the rink just go off on this poor woman because she asked him if next time they shut the lights off to maybe warn people. and she had a great point, when the lights suddenly went out my son got trampled. but anyway, this manager was throwing out f bombs to this lady in front of her kids. Ive seen this manager on several occasions cursing at people. i will never return to this place again and i recommend you keep your family away as well. i believe the managers name was Rodney. when this man is gone i may consider returning. read more

I booked a birthday party and pre-paid $50 deposit. Later I purchased a Groupon $75 birthday party package deal and was told there wouldn't be a problem and that the $50 would cover any additional items above the party deal & that I would get a refund for the difference that I don't use. I usually don't ever have any problems using Groupon but this time I saw & purchased the deal thru Facebook and not my usual email so when I arrived at the party the hostess came to ask me for the Groupon.. Because of it being thru Facebook it wasn't in my usual Groupon email account and it took me over 1 hour to desperately look for it! The hostess kept making concerned faces and kept coming back to check up on me & see if I found it. This process took me away from the party and put me in panic mode for 1 hour out of the 2 & 1/2 hours of the alloted party time!! All my guests kept asking "Is everything ok? Are you ok? Do you need any money?" I felt so embarassed.. Finally at the end of the hour of searching I gave up & went to speak with a Manager to explain that I couldn't find the Groupon & he simply & quickly said "no problem" he would find it on his end! I was so pissed off cause ALL THAT TIME spend stressing & away from the party for nothing, when the hostess could've told me from early on, not to worry about it!! But whatever, I wrote that off to inexperience on her part and also "my bad" from not being prepared as I normally would have.. Then at the end of the party when the hostess came to me and said "Here is your ending balance, you owe $15 (or something like that) for the extra pizza you ordered" I asked her about the $50 deposit and she said she hadn't seen that I had made a $50 deposit but she would check.. she left and came back and told me "You're right, I found the $50 so you're good, you don't owe anything, you're all paid up, thank you." and left??? So that means she tipped herself a $30+ tip? I was too frustrated at the end and also I had already planned to leave a tip anyways, so I just left it as it was & let her keep her well deserved tip (rolling eyes) I would have given zero stars because of the experience I had but I gave 3 stars because if I had not gone thru all that.. everything else was good. Happy with the party cause the kids had fun, didn't have to cook & clean up as usual... BUT!!! also keep this in mind if you are planning for your kids to actually have "fun" at the party.. because of this hour that I lost and also the kids still skating and having fun, we wanted to stay longer.. 15 min before our time was up we were told we had a choice to leave or stay.. but if we stayed we had to move our party to a regular table that was not part of the "party area" because they needed the table for an upcoming party. So we had to gather everyone's belongings and headed out- fingers crossed- that we would find an available table.. The place was pretty filled up and we BARELY found a table. It took us walking up and down the place a couple of times to find a spot! Keep this in mind if you do book a party here. You might want to pick the latest party slot so that you are the latest party in the table & ask if you can still linger & keep your table longer? Or just be mentally prepared to have to move everything over & have someone "stake out" available tables throught the party cause you could very well end up holding all your belongings and standing around without a place to sit on if you don't plan ahead. read more

So been going to great skate for 20 + years never in my life have I ever seen them allow a stroller on the rink. Not only was there 3 strollers on the rink the parents themselves didn't know how to skate so how could they possibly put a baby in danger like that? And endanger the other kids trying to skate. I got ran over twice by strollers... this is ridiculous! Could not enjoy my time there at all. My kids didn't even skate the rest of the time there because of getting run over by strollers. Lost my business read more

Recently started coming here, and it's just great, clean fun! Friendly people, good crowd, nice staff. For elementary school age kids, hit up the Kids on Wheels on sat morning. They play radio Disney top 40. Very appropriate. read more

A couple months ago a worker named Taylor was at the register checking me and my 3 friends in. We told her 3 didn't have skates but 1 did.. she was explaining that if you are not skating you still have to buy skates. So we paid for our admition and agreed to play for skates we don't need. The price came out to be $50.79 after we paid our money she shut the window and walked away. So I went inside and asked her for our money back if she wasn't going to let us in. She said get out and not getting our money back. I walked outside and told my friends I couldn't get my money back. Of course they were mad. So then the maniger walked out and told the officer to tell us to leave and so he did while we were trying to explain how she took our money and there was no sign of no refunds... but we didn't go inside or anything so we should've gotten our money back. great skate is a bad place for your kids. Taking there money. Parents need to be aware because this should be a place where kids can go and have fun not a place where they take your money!!!! Never letting my kids go here. I suggest not letting your kids go here. read more

Very disappointed. Bought a groupon. Checked the Great Skate website, yelp website, and called and all avenues said that they were open. Drove 30 min and they were closed. read more

Here for the Prince Tribute and they're playing Michael Jackson, what a disservice to Prince. So sad!!!

an amazing place to just let all your anger out. plays good music. a good place to have a birthday party

It was packed full of teenagers that didn't respect the rules or any around people around them! I love when employees enjoy their job but when I see a referee skating and talkin with friends when he's supposed to be helping fallen skaters and enforcing rules chaps my hide. My friend fell and hurt her knee yet complete strangers had to help her up instead of the worker. We will NEVER return to this rink and we now skate at a better and cleaner rink in mesa, AZ. read more

This is my FAVORITE thing to do on weekends (besides dancing)... I always have a blast at this skating rink (and I am an adult)... The DJ's, the concessions, music and facilities are AWESOME and highly recommend to anyone that want's to have a fun time to go to Great Skate - Glendale, Az. read more

Decided to take my daughter and her boys for an afternoon of skating the day before Easter.... I took my daughter here a few times when she was young, have taken my grand kids here a few times in the last few years. Each time I come here, I get more disenchanted with it. Prices were high back then, and now are outrageous.... for their 2.5 hour "Family Skate" from 1 to 3:30 it cost $46.50 for my daughter and her 7 and 8 year old boys. That's $10 each entrance fee and an additional $4.50 each to rent roller blades. Roller skates would have been $3.50 each. The last straw was when they told my wife and I that it would be an additional $3 each for us to go in and watch them. The nerve of these people! I'm the one that would've bought them a pizza and sodas. I'm the one that would have bought them tokens to play games, and anything else their cute little eyes would have talked me into buying them. You would think they would do something extra make the people with the wallets want to stay. It's not like I 'want' to go sit in an uncomfortable chair for 2.5 hrs and watch them skate, I would rather walk over to Stinger's Bar and Grill and have a beer and eat food that actually tastes good. And that is what my wife and I did today as it's right next door. The waitress was very friendly, beer was ice-cold, the garlic parmesan wings were great and the waffle fries were delicious! The atmosphere was much more to my liking, seating was very comfortable and I probably spent less than half of what I would have spent on my grandkids if there had not been a a $3 "watching" fee. Apparently Great Skate is all about bleeding people for as much money as they can. They could have bled me for ALOT more money today, but instead their cheesy $3 fee drove me to take my money elsewhere. Today is the last time I'll take my grandkids here, there's so many more options. We're going to the Goodyear Skate Park tomorrow... . it's free! read more

I haven't been here in a long... LONG... time but I was reading up on all these reviews and have realized how much I miss this place. Last time I was here I was about 23? I'm 32 now, and I used to frequent Great Skate when I was 12-17, almost every single weekend until I was about 15. I miss it so much, I don't even live in the same state anymore, and these reviews have made me homesick. I guess what I'm saying is, this is a great place to make a lot of great memories that you'll remember for your entire life. Great Skate was one of the best parts of my childhood, and now I wish I could bring my kids and let it be the same for them :( I miss you Great Skate!! Keep doing what you do! read more

My kids love to skate at Great Skate. We always have lots of fun. We have had birthday partys and family events there. The staff is always helpful and kind. This is a great place for family fun night or out with friends. I have been skating for 30 years.I am so glad that they are still around so I can now take my children to enjoy the fun. Just for the record Great Skate is way better than Rollero. read more

Apparently if you are not sleeping on the managers couch you will not get any hours to work here. I guess hes got to make sure that his rent is being paid! read more

I have been to a lot of rinks all around the country, and Great Skate will always be one of my favorites. Compared to other rinks, it is ALWAYS cleaner, the staff is ALWAYS friendlier, and the music is ALWAYS better. Every rink you go to will have lines and are crowded during the popular sessions, and I guarantee that Great Skate handles it the best. I will continue going there for as long as I skate and I would recommend it to anyone! read more

My 7yr old cousin had her 8th birthday party here and the employees were rude and disrespectful, we ended up waiting way to long for our food and drinks and we had children that weren't invited to the party trying to take things from us and our table. Almost all gaming equipment were Out of Order and the place was filthy they also have way to much Double Standard stuff going on like for Example it was okay for other Customers to hats and stuff but me and my family got yelled at to remove our hats and they were not offensive or anything. So I would suggest not going to this location for parties or anything if you want to be treated with disrespect. I know I will most certainly NOT be going back. read more

As far as skating goes, this place is fun. Yes its old but who cares? Your just skating. My complaints are you are always WAITING!! I have been there for a party and for Teen Age Mutant Ninja night. Parties: CROWDED! and I waited in line for over 30 minutes to get a drink. It took them forever to get the pizza to the party itself and by the time it was there you could forget opening presents before everyone left. TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TurtleS night- oh my...lets see...waited in line for 1 hour and 5 minutes because they had 2 cashiers. 2! They could have set up another table for cash paying only. Finally get in and get my youngest settled...ran around the rink with him for about 20 minutes to get him used to skating again, then figured I would get in line for the pizza that was included with the ticket. Waited in line for 50 MINUTES! Then sat on the ground to eat. Also, they said in the email that it was skating with the TURTLES not skating with a TURTLE. Very misleading because it was the same guy who just came out in a slightly different costume . I had a very sad young lady who dressed up a April would never got to meet a turtle because the line was so long because only one turtle came out at a time. She almost made it once, but I couldn't be there to take a picture because I was in LINE for pizza. Oh well, she never made it to see him anyway. Great Skate has NO problem with you waiting. If you are going, do not give them your extra money. Eat before you leave the house! Great Skate...please treat your customers better by speeding up the wait time. I had better things to do then wait in line for 2 hours during your 2.5 hour event. I gave you my hard earned money and tiredly spent my Tuesday night with you and hoping my kids would have an awesome event. Oh and invest in security for these large events. I did not see any there and there was too many people there to not have any. read more

Great Skate does a spectacular job of miscommunication related to their open skate schedule. They have a website with detailed skate schedule and even a downloadable poster of their skate schedule indicating which days are not available for specific sessions due to private parties. However, today they had only 1 open skate, but their website and a skate referee inside the establishment incorrectly informed me that there were in fact multiple skate sessions today. Only after I had dropped my granddaughter off at this establishment and driven the 20 minutes to get home was I called by my granddaughter telling me that she had been kicked out into 110+ degree heat without adult supervision because they are only open for 1 session today. Well, I have now learned that you cannot trust written or verbal communications from Great Skate. I guess you can behave like that as a business when you're the only game in town. read more

so i was sitting there minding my own business, skating w/ my 8 yr old twins. as i came off the floor a man asked me to step aside w/ him. he said, "an adult witnessed you w/ a "weapon". do you have a "weapon"? i need you to give me the "weapon". i'll hold it in the office and return it to you upon your leaving the premises." "you mean my pocket knife?", i asked in disbelief. i had used it to untie a skate lace knot. "yes, my name is bob and i'll hold it for you till you leave." i told him that "arizona has no restrictions on knife length, (this one being a 2.5 blade), and it is not a weapon unless used as one. the federal gov. even allows this size knife in it's buildings." i gave it to him so my kids could continue skating w/o a fuss. then i found the "adult" who was so concerned about my "weapon", and beat him to death w/ my skate.....not really, but that is how stupid this was. i could have caused more harm by throwing change or chewing gum on the rink. they wanded me upon entering and the "weapon" did not set it off. there are no postings about weapons on their entrances, rule boards, web site etc. i have been in there numerous times w/ a larger bladed folding knife and never been questioned or had anyone even take notice. the off duty officer acting as security was kinda like, yeah, "they try to get me involved but i tell them, "they are doing nothing wrong." "it's your rules, you take care of it." never had an issue other than this, but it chaps my hide that they cow down to someone who is afraid of a pocket knife. read more