Short version:
AVOID. Management let an incredibly unsanitary bathroom situation persist for an extended period of time without adequately alerting customers or providing for alternative arrangements.
Long version:
There was a time when I would have given Scramble 3 stars. I've taken my kids multiple times since it opened a couple years ago. At first, I was impressed with the size and novelty of the space, but my enthusiasm waned with subsequent visits due to reasons already cited by other reviews: increasing prices, deteriorating equipment, overpriced yet unhealthy/SLOW food options, NO system at all for monitoring which adults enter or exit and with which kids. My kids still got excited about going, though, so I came to swallow these annoyances and accept Scramble as a necessary evil - a pricey but decent playspace for bad weather days.
But after what I witnessed today, even 1 star seems generous. Took my kids there on what turned out to be a pretty packed Monday. Around 11:20 am, I ordered food for lunch and headed to the bathroom to find one toilet filled near the top with pee and toilet paper. I used the next toilet instead, and then overheard someone telling her child that they were not supposed to flush the toilet after peeing because something was wrong with the pipes (this creative mom assured her skeptical kid that this was no different from using a port-a-potty). Sure enough, when my kids needed to use the bathroom a short while later, someone told us that there were water problems and management wanted us to flush only if absolutely necessary, i.e., only for poop. Not sure what happened, but we had just gotten into a stall when the pee/TP-filled toilet began overflowing; we rushed into the next stall, but no luck as the flood of pee and whatever else began quickly creeping across the entire bathroom floor. We were, per Scramble policy, all wearing just socks, so I grabbed my kids and hoisted them over the approaching puddle and jumped out of there myself. My kids assured me they were fine not going potty for a while longer, so we all just washed our hands and went back out to the tables to eat our lunch.
In the meantime, management taped off all the bathroom doors with signs saying that they were closed for "maintenance" and that they would reopen in "5-10 minutes." No announcement of any kind was made to the customers; I kept seeing confused people walk up to the bathrooms with their potty-needing kids and have to turn around. And no, the problem was not solved in "5-10 minutes." About an HOUR later, the bathrooms were STILL closed off, which meant that this place - filled with babies, toddlers, and young children (and all the accompanying germs) - had zero access to toilets, changing tables, or even sinks for hand washing for an extended period of time and during prime lunch hour. Yet Scramble continued to keep silent about the problem, choosing instead to continue admitting new customers, accepting payment, and selling food.
At that point, I decided to cut our losses and head out of there before the circumstances devolved and Scramble turned into a literal cesspool of kids pooping and peeing their pants all over the place. Unfortunately, in that moment, my 4 year old frantically informed me that he needed to pee and was NOT going to be able to hold it. I went to the front desk, indicated that the bathroom situation was completely unacceptable and unsanitary, and asked if there were any bathroom at all that we could use such as an employee bathroom, a bathroom at another business nearby, etc. I was met with blank stares (clearly, no one thought to make any plans to provide customers with an alternative bathroom arrangement) and then the feeble answer that the bathrooms would be fixed in "two minutes," which I did not believe for a second. When I told them so, they relented and allowed us in to one of the family bathrooms, which had a toilet full of pee that we were still not permitted to flush, but at least hadn't yet been flooded with sewage all over the ground. We did our business, washed our hands, and left Scramble immediately. They claimed on our way out that the bathrooms were fixed and being reopened, but I have no idea whether that was true since we didn't stick around to test the claim.
I am not a "squeaky wheel" customer and typically shrug off snafus and give businesses the benefit of the doubt. But what Scramble did today was beyond the pale. The moment they realized that there was an issue affecting the bathrooms, they should have alerted customers or even shut down (issuing refunds if necessary) until the problem was resolved. Instead, they haphazardly told folks "don't flush if it's just pee," which backfired when inevitably someone flushed either by accident or because there was poop. This was no minor mishap; it showed a complete lack of judgment and care for the health of customers. Shame on you, Scramble. read more