0 stars if possible…read more
Just came back from my son's birthday party and it's safe to say this is the first and last time I'll be looking to this location as a party venue. I decided to book the fun package because the mega fun package didn't have an opening for my preferred date and time. Considering I ordered enough food and upgrades that exceeded the mega fun package, I didn't expect to be met with less than subpar service.
I spoke to the lady at the front and she reassured the following: all drinks, utensils, plates will be at the table (drinks were not there until we asked for it twice), food will be out at 1pm, they will notify me when the cake will come out, and candles will be lit for us. Maybe this was where I went wrong by talking to someone who was only charging me for the party but not actually working the party.
I was looking forward to this party since I've always had a good experience as a guest, but when I got to my table, the stand for my son's party was broken and they wouldn't replace it. The food for my party was half hour late and I was expected to bring it over myself. The pizza pans are HOT! But they said here's some tissues and a 6 inch plate for you to work with... so that's what I did, and I got burned. I ordered extra food - boneless chicken and fries, and if you ever wonder what $15 of fries gets you at CEC, it's a few handfuls of charred fries, burnt at the ends, on a pizza pan with 4 cups of sauce in the middle hoping we'd be deluded enough to believe that sad presentation was worth the money we paid.
I wish that was the last of my complaints but, honestly, I would've overlooked all this if they hadn't screwed up the whole birthday part. The other parties had their cakes brought to them (yay for mega fun package! Again, my fault for last minute planning, so I get it). I asked for my cake, got my cake decorated it and was waiting for the person in charge of party planning to hand me the lighter. I was told it would be lit for me earlier, but it wasn't. My husband finally managed to get one of them to lend him a lighter and proceeded to try to light them. Well, not only did they see that we were obviously no where near ready for the birthday song, they did the count down for the birthday song anyways. We didn't have even one candle lit, so I yanked out all but his #7 candle and managed to light it WHILE THEY WERE SINGING THE BIRTHDAY SONG!
That's not even the end of it. So birthday cake is there, song ended disappointingly and I thought everyone would finally be able to enjoy the cake, but no, the cake knife they provided broke! So we had to wait an extra 15 mins for someone (scowl and snappy attitude included) to get a knife from the kitchen to help cut our cake (they don't let customers use it - fair). That's when we realized we had no plates and no extra utensils! Front desk directed us to the kitchen counter, so 10 more minutes pass as we wait for someone to notice us until I got fed up and went back to the front desk. Utensils finally acquired, cake finally cut, and the kids finally go back to playing. Thank God for their patience because i can't think of a worse torture at that age to have to stare at ice cream cake for 20 mins and not be able to eat it.
Oh and the kicker, after all that waiting, kids only had like 2 minutes left on their card. I can't even tell you how much time was wasted over all the little things that should've been done, but wasn't. I wasn't able to get the mega fun package, but apparently basic utensils, plates, and drinks promised in the fun package is not always guaranteed. Common sense is sorely lacking here as well. They won't give customers better knives to cut cake, but letting them handle hot food is ok. My fingers are still sore from carrying all those hot trays today. So I want to say it was all due to my poor planning skills but I can't even excuse the way we were treated today. Is it because we only bought the fun package? Even though I paid the equivalent of the mega fun package (minus the host)?
Sadly, I didn't get to take pics of anything since I was so busy running my own food and providing tableware for my guests - probably would've been faster if I just ran to five below downstairs. I don't even have a video of my child during the birthday song because I spent that time trying to light the damn candle.
Also, don't expect elevators or the AC to be working.
Do better Chuck E. Cheese.