Upstairs is a bar and arcade. Not a huge selection of games and the air hockey table was broken. There's several "booths" set up, face painting, taro reading, and caricatures, they all cost $. We went with a group of young adults and 2 kids. We sat in the "small bus" since we had a group of 9. It was great since it felt like we had our own room but could still view everything. We had Lilo (Lilo & Stitch). She did a great job. We saw Woody (Toy Story), Robin Hood, Ariel, Velma (Scooby-Doo), Princess Leia, Joe Dirt (our favorite!), Princess Peach, Mario, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Belle (Beauty & the Beast), G.I. Joe, Superman, Mr.Incredible and a few others. The food isn't nasty, but not the best. The fried calamari is standard fried calamari. I ordered the brisket of the "Young Adults" menu. It was good, not great, moist but not too flavorful. I didn't like the veggies that came with the meals because of the seasoning, but they were cooked perfectly. The mashed potatoes were standards mashed potatoes, not bad but not great. They do use red potatoes which I also enjoy more than white. The portions are great, but (again) the food isn't... That being said, this is a place for kids. The adults weren't too impressed, but the kids couldn't have cared less about the food since they were too occupied with the surroundings. The non-alcoholic bubbly potions are fun and tasty. The yellow tasted like organey-pineapple with fizzy, the blue tasted pretty much the same. The kids loved that they came out "bubbling". I'd say: It's easy to spend a lot here, so stick to the "young Adults" menu, servings are the same as the regular menu and it's cheaper. "splurge" on the bubbly drinks, the alcoholic drinks are good too and not too pricey. They INCLUDE gratuity, so READ your bill!! Don't expect anything fancy (food is on par with Applebees). All the extra's cost $. Full face painting was $15, but you can do half or just a little design for less. The psychic prices ranged from $8-$45. Kid would give this place 5 stars, adults probably 2 or 3.... But since we weren't there for the adults, I give it a solid 4, if food was just a little better I'd given it 5. read more

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Well..let's c..it's my daughter and sons b day between 2 days..so we have been hearing about this place from a co-worker..so we decided to come here ..first they lost my reservation..no big deal..I waited about 10 minutes..BTW ! Sunday @7pm..I didn't notice any smells the whole time there..we had Thor as a waiter..he's pretty good..when he was with us..he was nice..talkative..but we didn't get 1 autograph ..car salad bar is a nice thought..but not very good..there was a rush..and u have to wait in line..dinner..I ordered the mtm..well done with mushrooms and onions and baked potatoes..note they do charge extra for all 3 items..kids both got popcorn shrimp meals and hubby got shrimp Alfredo. .it ok...can't say for dessert because we had brought our own birthday cake. ..all in all..it was ok..86.00 plus a tip..so 110 ..wouldn't go back but at least we tried..btw..i really wanted to c Captain Jack..but out waiter told us he got fired..so they had a new one ..but of course he was in that am .so we missed ..o well... read more

Magic Time Machine - Bars Near Me - Dallas, Texas

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A must go to place when we're in town! Awesome food, amazing service & super cool atmosphere! I had the prime rib and shrimp - my husband had the bacon wrapped fillet mignon! Excellent. read more

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Ribs are cold and disguisting. Salad table is serviced by the guy whos also swapping/mopping the floor in the meantime

A lot of fun, great for kids! Mario was fantastic, great personality and very funny. The staff is good about signing autographs and taking pictures with kids. The food is good. We all enjoyed our meal. Go for the fun! read more

Magic Time Machine - Mario is very fun! - Bars Near Me - Dallas, Texas

The food was good but the service was a little out there I suggest maybe staying away if you don't have children because the waiters are dressed up and the seating area is like something out of a fairytale book.the only thing I want to say about this is great service but mainly it looks like Disney puked on a restaurant read more

My family drove from Fort Worth to celebrate my son's 7th birthday at Magic Time Machine. I remember coming as a child and thought he would enjoy it. We waited for a little over 45 minutes. Fine. It's Saturday night. No biggie. Well, after being seated, we sat for another 20 minutes at our table. Not a soul came by to say hello, acknowledge us, or much less offer a drink. The high chair was ready at the table, but was covered in food from the prior occupant. Again, no big deal. I pulled out my baby wipes and started to wipe it off. Well, upon closer inspection, the brown smears were either chocolate cake or a diaper blow out. I didn't dare find out. There went my appetite. My birthday boy was still so excited, though. 10 minutes have passed at this point with no greeting from any server or staff member. I decided to walk back to the hostess booth and see if someone was coming and if they could bring a new high chair. They assured me someone would be right over. We waited another nearly ten minutes. NO ONE CAME. I went back to the hostess booth. They said they would notify a manager. At this point my birthday boy, nearly in tears asked to go home. My husband started walking him towards the car. I waited for a manager a couple minutes and the waitress (first we had seen her - Tinkerbell I believe) walked up and asked the hostess where table 14 (pretty sure that was our number - we were in the carousel room seated by the drum and radio) went. The hostess pointed me out and said we were leaving. She looked at me, apologized, and then told the hostess, "oh, I was wondering where they went. Sometimes people see the menu and get sticker shock." Umm..I'm standing right here. And if I drove an hour to your restaurant, waited an hour, then sat and waited another 20 minutes....pretty sure I am ok with the price. Really? I have NEVER written a yelp review, but maybe I can salvage some other child's birthday outing. My poor sweet boy is settling for takeout as little brother's bedtime is approaching. The manager didn't return. We just left. I'm still processing what just happened.... read more

Interesting place. Could use an update but I'm more curious why the staff wear costumes if they aren't going to interact with you in any way that relates to their costume choice or even acknowledges they're wearing a costume. At least joke about your character or engage in a humorous manner or something. Just felt odd. Food was fine and we left full. read more

It is hard to give a bad review because they didn't do badly. The food was good when we got it and we were seated with Jack Sparrow which was awesome! They were super short staffed on the first Monday of Spring Break so it took us an hour and 1/2 to be sat at our table. Then it took us almost another hour to get our food. Again not bad reviewing per say just short staffed. Overall fun experience. read more

Very kitschy, if you enjoy that kind of thing. Food is average at best and highly overpriced. You could get the same taste from a frozen dinner at one third of the price. Feels kind of dirty- I saw a bug near the salad bar. Kids might enjoy it, but as an adult you can do better. read more

So, I have come to set the record straight about this awesome place. I was there yesterday 5/3/18 for my birthday and it was amazing! Yes, this is an older place that has a slightly old and closed off smell, but it is still great! It's really big with a variety of different themed rooms and dressed up waiters/ waitresses. My waiter was Luigi from the game Mario and he was really funny. Now, on to the food, which was really good (I'll include pics). I had the special (sirloin steak with fried shrimp), my grandma had the shrimp scampi (she loved it) and my friend had the catfish and shrimp (she loved it as well). My steak was good, a little more fat than I prefer, but still good and the shrimp was very tasty. I also got the magic potion drink which was so cool to watch bubble up and it was delicious. There was a photographer, caricature artist, and balloon artist. They even do karaoke Thursday and Friday nights in their upstairs lounge. This place has it all! I almost didn't go because of some of the horrid reviews, but this is the kind of place everyone should experience at least once in their life. Yes, it may have seen better days and could use a little fresh air and Febreeze, but this was one of the best birthdays! read more

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The worst restaurant, lousy service, low quality food, don't spend your money there. There are more expectations than reality. read more

Food was absolutely horrific. Nearly tore up my insides. My family was disgusted when the food came out. The restaurant was just a spectrum of smells, ranging from a hooker, to a homeless man covered in excrement, to the homeless man banging the hooker. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone. read more

I personally would not come here again. The service was very slow and the food is not good. Steak had no flavor and very dry. Will not recommend to anyone. read more

Quite possibly the worst service I've ever had. When I asked for a beer list, the waiter suggested I go to the bar to see what they had. Drinks arrived 20 minutes later. We were invited to the salad bar about 5 minutes before our meals arrived. The salad bar was poorly attended and picked over. After I handed my credit card for the $54 bill, the waiter gave me a $233 credit card receipt to sign. The food was pretty good, which is why I didn't give them an Eek. This is a great concept, but to pull it off you need management to run the place correctly and to train their staff to meet the special service requirements. The place was a bit dingy, and our waiter never lived up to the unique interaction billed on the company's web site. I was only too happy to leave once they got my bill correct. read more

This was my second time at The Magic Time Machine. Once was 9 years ago with some friends we came to town with and the service was great, restaurant clean and food also great. I was excited to bring our children here on our quick trip to town. What i will say was great was 1.)the Magician!!! He was fantastic! 2.) the food came out great too and we enjoyed it. What was my biggest issue was the smell entering the restaurant first. Then our waiter smelled so bad we were hOlding our breath when he came to our table. He was so kind and great with his recommendations and attentiveness. But the lack of good hygiene left a smell in our corner of the restaurant that was so thick my vehicle smelled because it was on us. Needless to say, that concerns me about the quality overall of the hygiene of the whole place. We will likely not revisit, which makes us sad because the food was awesome and the idea of the whole place is too! read more

Had an amazing time. Our waitress "cruella" was super fun and kept us laughing the entire time. We love coming here during our Dallas trips and will continue. Thank you! read more

To start the place smells like an estate sell. Not very appetizing. The food tasted fine but left my entire family sick for almost 2 days afterwords. And there were many unidentifiable stains on the walls. Captain Jack Sparrow was the best part of the whole evening. He made a completely unbearable experience into a hilarious one. Good job Jack! read more

This was one of my favorite spots to go as a kid that's carried on to adulthood; the atmosphere is very whimsical and fun. They are usually busy but have a waiting lounge upstairs with a game room for children and drinks for the adults. The best thing in my opinion are the potion drinks. I give it three stars because the food here is the only downside, it's over priced for the quality. read more

After ten years away, we returned. Ambiance is interesting. Lots to look at and experience. But meals were just not good. Burnt. Cold. Other "stuff". Also, service very spotty. Just a real disappointment after so much hype. If you visit it, arrive for the neat attractions - just be prepared to be underwhelmed by other things. read more

Outdated , had a raspberry daiquiri which was weak. The salad bar was unattended so it was quite dirty. Cinderella was positive and upbeat !

My first visit to the Magic Time Machine was in San Antonio in August of 1973 for my 15th birthday. I also went there for my 17th-19th birthdays, Prom, siblings birthdays etc. Over the last 45 years, I've been many times, both in San Antonio and Dallas. The disco clubs are gone, but the dance floors are still on the ground. The booths are pretty much the same, the areas packed with themed booths and tables making it very cramped. Both are in dire need of cleaning as without removing booths, tables and decorations its impossible to clean many of the areas thoroughly IF at all. Do to the lack of windows and subdued lightnig in many areas , it's hard to see how bad the situation has become but the musty mildew smell that permeate both locations is unmistakable. 46 years of dust in some areas of decorations can be seen. In one instance they put a rubber glove on a dry ice drink that expanded and popped off to fly and hit an upside down flower pot. The dust that rained down was unbelievable. The place has more than paid for itself but 45 years of kids spilling food a drink down the back of booths and onto carpets, the occasional throw up, and the years when smoking was allowed is now part of structure. It's time to close down for a massive remodel and cleaning. The Roman Orgy and the rest of the tired menu is in need of Dave Ramsey and the wait staff needs some more variety other than the last 2 trips 4 months apart where we had 2 different Forest Gumps, both of which were played better by my 30 year old when he was 9. read more

This place is great for families or anyone looking for some fun entertainment. Merida, our waitress, had THEEEE best accent, you would think that's actually how she talked. We went on a double date and Merida, Jack Sparrow, and Tinker Bell were all so very accommodating! The food is good, but not great. Good flavor, lots of variety, and you pay for what you get (including entertainment). We went on a Saturday night and it wasn't too packed. I had never been upstairs before, so we went up to check it out. There are arcade games, a bar, and a dance floor. Fun hang out place for adults. The smell of the place isn't horrible, but it smells the same as it did when I was a kid. Its an older building but I think it just adds to the character. Will be back :) read more

I have been here two times now and have not been disappointed yet. The first time, I took my three kids and we did one of the magic potions, the boys hunted autographs, the magician came, and we had caricatures done. The food was good and everyone had a great time. This second time, I took my boyfriend and one of my sons. We went on a Tuesday night and they were not that busy so we did not have to wait long. We were seated by Harley Quinn and our waiter was a Jedi Master. Our waiter was very knowledgeable and very personable. Unfortunately the caricature artist was not there, but we had an awesome magician and a fun photographer. Since they weren't that busy, we got to visit with both our waiter and the photographer. We had a really fun time and plan to go back to get our free appetizer and hopefully my boyfriend can get his caricature. read more

We LOVE coming here! The food is OK, but the staff in costume & in character make this such a fun place!

If you were born before 1980 the theme would have been kindof neat, but the food was overpriced and wasn't very good. We have two boys and they wanted to sit us in the Ragedy Ann room. And who offers a salad bar without cheese, croutons or bacon bits. read more

Well after 10+ years I returned to the Magic Time Machine - they held true to the TIME MACHINE part. Same carpet, same chairs, same pretty much everything. Had an odd smell to it. We went with some friends (9 of us - so yes gratuity will be in this Yelp!)... where we waited about 40 minutes on a less than busy night before we were seated in a both that BARELY held 8. I had to find a chair and drag it over. Our waiter - Speed Gonzalez. The guy portraying Speedy should NEVER have chosen Speedy as his persona, maybe his cousin, Slowpoke. We waited 20 minutes for drinks (water and soda) and then took the guy oh 15 minutes to try to explain the menu, clearly he wasn't well versed, then we were lead to a Salad bar setup in an other school hot rod convertible. Messy and definitely not well stocked. Got back to our seats, waited I want to say a good 40 minutes for our food, had to ask for ketchup 4 times for the kids fries. Their menu for something they call the ROMAN ORGY was misleading. They said Chicken and Brisket. Their brisket my friends is a pot roast and tastes nothing like brisket. No smoke, no bark, nadda. Tasted alright but way over priced considering what it was supposed to be. One of the kids pizza looked and pretty much tasted like a Tatino's Frozen pizza. Ribs chewy, over cooked and covered in what tasted like KC master piece sauce. Lets go back to Speedy - the dude that NEVER came by and refilled our glasses or to check on us. Do you know my friends kid had to go find him and let him know we were ready to pay and leave. He comes back and we find out that the bill is $156.00 ... no bad considering there were 9 of us. Then on top of that there was a $26 gratuity assessed. 18%. No where on the menu did we see that stated by the way. We kind of figured it would be but at the standard 15% or so. By no means was the service we received worth $26! Just because you get a party of 8 or more does not mean free TIP. You should still be required to provide decent service especially when your claim to fame is your dressed up wait staff. We saw, I think 3 costumes that were decent: Dread Pirate Roberts, Wonder Woman, and I think (not sure) we saw a decent Paul Bunyan. Rest of the outfits looked like something out of a thift store and thrown together at the last moment. Sorely disappointed. Bathroom - was a disaster - towels all over the floor, sinks a mess, no soap, toilet was well yeah ... Long wait - with poor hospitality Decor - Old, smelly, out of date, somethings appeared broken Service - my dog provides better service Food - I give a 3 out of 10. I would have enjoyed Chilis or Taco Bell more. Over all we will not be back - EVER! read more

After reading some of these reviews, we were skeptical of trying this place... There is a difference between dirty and old...this place is OLD...it does smell musky but its by no means overwhelming or suffocating. Everything was very clean... But it is worn and needs repair and updating from destructive children. The food portions are HUGE. The bubbling adult drinks are not very good... I had the half and half... The chicken was tasty and juicy. The ribs were not my favorite... I have had ribs I prefer more but these were by no means bad. The mashed potatoes were amazing. My friend had the 3x4 trio. Her steak was cooked correctly and was flavorful. The chicken I personally felt had to strong of a taste but she was very happy with it. The shrimp were huge and flavorful. The bread pudding was good but I personally don't care for it with the fudge topping so after I removed that I was very happy. We will go back it was a fun way to spend lunch read more

Magic Time Machine - Half and half - Bars Near Me - Dallas, Texas

My biggest problem was with the staff. I do work in the industry, and I understand more than most how a restaurant runs. First, the waiter took about 5-7 minutes to even acknowledge us. This was after I watched him greet a table, go get their drinks, greet another table, and then go get their drinks. We were all sat at the same time. Yes, he was triple sat, but he had no sense of multi-tasking, which is a REQUIREMENT for any server. Second, if the only two kids in our party are little girls, WHY would the hostess sit us with G.I. Joe. Come on! read your freaking guests for Christs sake. The portions were fine, but I could have had micro wave dinners that were of greater quality. I will say, the ambiance and salad bar were the best things about the place, but it wasn't enough for me to take my nieces back. People who like this place are only interested in the nostalgia of it. It's neat, but unless they make some major improvements to their staff and food, then they can continue to decay and eventually go away! read more

Had been wanting to check this place out for quite a long time. People had said a number of great things about how unique it was. Four of us met up with two kids under age 1. Upon entering, I was pleasantly surprised by the décor and the layout of the dinning area. The wait staff wore costumes. Our guy "Superman" did his best to be interesting and had some decent jokes. That was about as good as things got. In looking at the menu, I was taken aback at how limited the menu was and how it was all overpriced. Upon going with the least-worst sounding option, our food arrived. Boring, bland and bleh - not even Superman could save this disappointing dish! I am giving one extra star only because of the effort put on by our waiter. read more

We were in Dallas on Spring Break and a friend recommended we go to this place. We took the chance and were very impressed. We arrived early as we did not have reservations and were seated almost immediately. My son is 4 so we were seated at the Sesame Street table. We loved the decor and my son loved the magic potion. Prince Charming was our waiter and was very attentive despite the fact that they were busy. My husband and I shared the half and half. We had so much food left that we took half of it home. Amazing experience and they encourage you to walk around and see all of their tables. read more

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Well, this place is obviously experiencing shortages just like everyone else these days, and I have been typically very understanding of the shortages. I haven't written one other bad review because of it, But this was just such an exceptionally bad experience. Our party of nine arrived at 5:30 PM on a Sunday, and we were told there was a two hour wait. There is a small waiting area so almost everyone was outside. We waited in our car for the first hour then headed over to the southern restaurant next-door for a drink and to kill some time. Two hours and 15 minutes later we got our table, and there were maybe 10 to 12 tables seated in the entire restaurant. My assumption is that they were either understaffed in kitchen or serving or both. They seated us in a room at the back of the restaurant by ourselves. I've been to a Magic Time Machine before, and one of the nice things for the kids is that other servers/characters stop by the table. No one came to our table besides our server, including the balloon man. Every other kid in the restaurant had balloon hats when we left. We had four kids and five adults in our party. Our server introduced himself as the anti-hero and told us this was like a Dick's resort for kids and proceeded to be rude at some level for the rest of our visit. The salmon was good. And we had no complaint about the food in general. It is slightly overpriced, but anyone who comes to this restaurant is usually coming for the experience for the kids, so we get it. When the server brought our three desserts out for the table, my husband and I asked if he could take our plates. Mr. red scarlet Spider-Man then told us that he didn't realize he was supposed to be a busboy and sat our 2 plates down on the table next to us and didn't move anyone else's. So we ate our desserts with seven other dirty plates crammed between us. read more

Grew up in Dallas but had never been here before. I went for the first time Saturday. I can see it had it's heyday back in the day. But it is time to close this place. Everything was dirty. Walls, carpet, there are no windows so it smelled like musty. I can only imagine what the kitchen looked like. We were so creeped out that we just got the artichoke dip. It was a Saturday and there was no one in there. No music, no customers, we had a party of 15 and packed out the place. I know this was a cool place back in the day but it needs to close. Where's the health inspector?? There are too many nooks and crannies in this place to be actually cleaned read more

I went to the time machine for my 31st birthday party! Our servers were star lord and the white rabbit. They were 100% outstanding! Best birthday party I have ever attended. They were fun and energetic and I had a great time. The food was fantastic and so are the magic potion cocktails. Would 100% reccomend to anyone looking for a fun time. read more

This place was great!! Our waiters, red riding hood, was great!! The themed rooms were cool and the food was good and came out quickly!!! Food was priced adequately and portions were good. We will be going back! read more

I went here with my girlfriend wednesday, August 3rd. It was the worst service I have ever recieved. My food was very bland and over cooked on the breading of the catfish and shrimp. The worst thing of all was our waitwr "Woody". He didnt play character for us at all and he was extremely rude! But yet when it comes to an elderly couple, another younger couple and kids he got in a bit of character. I seen other characters play their part! We then asked for the manager and this old man shows up, saying covid times and other excuses. Thank the gods he took one of the dishes off, which was the ribs and chicken my partner got but seriously??? Covid is the cause of your waitstaff to be rude as heck? Oh oh oh! When Woody got us the check, he threw it very rudely! Im not joking! He looked visibly PO'ed after we complained to the manager. Guys... It was my very first time and my partner talked soo much about it because it was her favorite place as a kid and I really wanted to love this place. Oh I love the concept and the decor!...but...I WILL NEVER BE RETURNING! I will also be contacting the BBB for the manager to not take my dish off atleast! I hate conplaining but omg! This was a very awful experience! Hopefully the one in San Antonio is better! read more

We came here for my daughter's 8th birthday over the weekend and it was a blast! We were seated instantly and it appeared to be pretty busy when we first came in (Saturday evening). I used to come here as a kid and it was crazy how much is still the same. A lot of the reviews say how outdated it is but for me, that's what made it so cool! We had Nacho Libre as our waiter and he was hands down, amazing! The only suggestion I have to place is to update the menu! Food isn't great but honestly we didn't even care. The experience alone was awesome and worth the money you pay. It's worth giving the place a shot. The drinks (for adults and bubbly drinks for the kids) were really good too which also made up for the not so great food. Seriously though, if you visit- try to get Nacho Libre as your waiter. You won't be disappointed! read more

We waited 1 hour and 10 minutes just to find our food almost warm and bland. Thankful that I had the calamary in the 1.5 hours I was there. This is my second and last time at this place. Not for the service which was acceptable, but for the quality of the food. Really overpriced. read more

The bar was amazing. Food was great. Kids loved the atmosphere and the game room. Great place to celebrate my daughters birthday. Loved the themed sections read more

One of the most uncomfortable places to be. It is dirty which means it is dirty. It felt very depressing and the salad bar....when was the last time they cleaned that thing. Not appetizing at all it actually makes you think should I just walk away! YES. If you feel this way when you are there trust your gut and go. read more