Andretti Indoor Karting & Games Glendale — Local services in Glendale

I really wish you could review the food and service there separately from the karting. We took our young adult son here for his birthday. We started out with a meal in the restaurant which was EXCELLENT. We shared our dishes among ourselves and we were all impressed. Our server was great, we wanted for nothing. We went a little bit light on the meal, and skipped dessert since we wanted to do some karting.

We got day passes, got checked in, and got our head socks and were shown into a briefing room where we watched a safety video that explained how the karts and track works - the karts are wirelessly limited as needed. They go up to 35mph which is pretty fast on a smaller indoor track. Lit railings around the race track change color to serve as a flag person - green for racing, yellow for caution, red for stop and wait for instructions. And finally, "no bumping, no running people off the track", race respectfully or you will be removed.

This stuff was a BLAST. On about the third turn, I pulled a totally clean pass on my wife who had been bragging that nobody was going to pass her lol. Then we got to the top of the track and were red flagged. My wife's long hair had escaped out of her shirt and we had to fix it.

We regained the green flag, and I let her take off ahead of me. I then started working hard to try and pass her. I was just getting on the brakes coming into a downhill turn, the next thing I hear is squealing/sliding tires behind me, and SLAM!!!!!!! I am hit from behind, HARD by another kart, that wasn't a member of our party. It pushed me about 10 feet (with my brakes on!) and they passed me on the right, followed by another kart that was jockeying and bumping with them for position. I stomped the gas pedal and rejoined the race again, only to be hit AGAIN and push passed, again. Now I'm starting to feel like a pinball, and suddenly I feel nauseous. Like, I am going to throw up. My chest is tight, and it's definitely not fun anymore. I kept at it, and I quickly figured out that if I didn't want to be hit, I had to pull over as soon as I heard squealing tires behind me, and wait for two people fighting and bumping to pass, then pull out again.

They say "rubbing is racing", but, this was more than that. We saw the exact kind of racing that the safety briefing specifically prohibited. It's a tight track and pretty hard to pass. Unless you just go ahead and make it bumper cars. Which, at 35mph is painful. If you sold this attraction as "35 mph bumper cars!" it would be more accurate.

I didn't want to play bumper cars, and felt pretty sick, so I pulled down to the exit and asked them to let me off the track, which they did quickly, asking if I was OK. I told them I felt like I was going to throw up but was otherwise fine. They directed me to parking, and I got unstrapped and out of the kart.

I waited until my wife and our son were done, and it turned out they were also upset that the race had basically turned into 35mph bumper cars. So the karting, which is the main attraction, was not real fun for any of us.

After a break to recover a little bit, we did some minibowling which is a great vibe and super fun. Then a few other floor games rounded out our experience for the night. There is a very good variety of floor games including various action, shooting, sports games, skee ball, hoops, all kinds of choices.

I was still feeling sick when we left and still off the next day. This wasn't my first karting experience, and I used to race motocross without issues. I wound up going to the doctor and he confirmed I didn't have any real issues from this other than perhaps having my bell rung. Today, as I write this review it is two days later and my left hip is still hurting from that first hit from behind on the track!

This is a really nice facility with great food and service. The attractions and games are awesome. Our experience with karting was high energy bumper cars, so if that is your thing, you'll love it. It...

Mostly fun, very expensive day. Ultimately, I won’t be bringing my family back. Here’s the good and the bad.

I went with my 9 and 5 year old. You have to buy in packages, upfront, as a fomo sales technique to get you to buy more. There was a newby-helper employee standing at the front door to help first-timers like us. She was very helpful, and answered loads of questions. We determined there were 2 attractions my 5 year old could do, for a total of 6 attraction tickets then needed between us. Additionally we wanted each of them to do a single race.

At the front counter, we had to price out: 6 attraction package (no races), plus a Mario race, and a junior race, a la carte and a 2 race, 4 attraction package, plus 2 attractions a la carte

Math and package comparisons. Bleh. We picked the cheaper of the two (the first one, same result), and bought an arcade card.

They do not offer a time play card without points. Most swipes/plays are $1, some $2, and I think I saw a $2.50 swipe one.

The junior race for the 9 yr old was the only scheduled one, and it was first. We showed up 10m before the time they gave us, not sure if we needed to be early. We did not. They put us in a small waiting room, which quickly filled with people. It was crammed in this small room, surrounded by people, and with the same video loop blaring over the speakers that my 9 year old got sensory overloaded and just wanted to get out of there after 15m. After confirming she no longer wanted to race, we left the room before ever being retrieved. I told the guys at the race counter she didn’t want to race (there is a sign up that says no refunds after helmet on, which we hadn’t gotten to). They said to go to the front again.

Back at the front counter again, the gal told me they don’t refund races (even though I had purchased her race a la carte, not as a bundle, and even though there was the other sign mentioning refunds). That was disappointing. They did transfer the race to my 5 yr old, so he could do a second Mario race, and put the price difference on my card as arcade credit.

Every person has to have their own card. I wish I could have just had one family card. More for me to carry.

Next, we went to do the Mario race for the 5 yr old. He had fun, but was rammed multiple times by another driver, and that ultimately made him not want to do his second race. Money wasted, since apparently, no refunds.

Then we went to lunch. They offer quick service faire, in a sit down setting, making it more expensive and slower. The food was good, and our server was excellent. Someone in a chefs coat even came around to see how we were doing. Lunch was probably the highlight of the day for me.

The restrooms were clean, roomy, and easy to get the kids through, without them touching stuff after washing their hands. There is a family restroom.

Then, arcade games. The venue is new, so all the machines are new, and pretty clean. I only noticed 1 machine out of order.

We did the 7D theater shooter. It was just us in line. The employee was super helpful, confirmed if we wanted a scary show or not (we picked not), and told us how to signal to stop the chairs from moving, or to end the show if we wanted. The kids had a blast with everything on normally, shootin’ at some robots.

Then the arcade ticket counter. An employee greeted us right away and asked if we wanted to check our ticket balance. After affirming, I heard 1450, and then took the next 5m or so finding two toys, one for each of the kids, that they were excited about. The first employee now gone, I told a new guy our selection, perfectly 1450 tickets, and he said we didn’t my have enough. Confused, I told him the gal said 1450, but he said we only had 1415, and were 35 tickets short. I asked if I could just buy 35 tickets worth (which he should have just let slide). He said it didn’t work like that. So, we ultimately ended up with 1 wanted toy, 1 unwanted toy, and 1 disappointed...

What a terrible experience. My husband and I went today with our 3 boys today to celebrate one of our children's birthday. The front desk lady was super kind to my children, which made it seem like it was going to be an amazing experience. They have never been go kart racing and they were so excited to try it for the very first time with their dad. Well, there was a male employee there who kept yelling at my 8-year-old son. Telling him to stop crashing into the walls and to turn his wheel. He was trying to turn the wheel and the slower the go kart is the harder it is to turn, and this was his first time, he was just learning and getting yelled at by this male employee. Then he stopped the race and told my son to walk off the track. He was so humiliated, and my husband got out and walked off the track with him. I was upstairs trying to watch and film the moment, so we had it for a special memory later. Not such a special memory now. My husband was telling me what happened when I went downstairs and I hugged my child, and he burst into tears. He was so embarrassed, he said and everyone was looking at him after he got yelled at by this employee and then had to walk off the track with everyone watching him. I think maybe Andretti should hire employees that can be kind to people and won't scream an 8-year-old child. There was no empathy or gentleness, or even an explanation. My husband and I don't yell and scream at people like that, and am I HUGE on customer service being in that field myself. We wanted to leave right then and there, but it was my oldest son's birthday, so we were trying to make the best of it. We went over to their restaurant and spent just over $100 bucks on food there and spent the entire time, consoling my son, trying to get him to smile and get him excited again (at least the waitress was absolutely awesome). We asked what he wanted to do and he said bowling. So we went over to the bowling area, and there was a female employee there, who told us it would be a 40–50-minute wait, they had to clean up and then there would be a lane available for us. So we said ok thank you. Went back 40 minutes later. We were then told sorry there is a large corporate party and nobody outside of that corporate party can bowl until after 8:00pm. Are you kidding me? You were not aware when you advised us earlier that you were just getting a lane cleaned for us, that there was a party that would going to be using these lane? This was the one other thing my 8-year-old was looking forward to. He was crushed again. We dropped approximately $434.00 there today. I completely regret it. It was an awful experience. Had it been a good experience we would be going there in February for my 8-year-olds birthday. But that is NOT going to be happening now. I would have given this a 2 star review, but the fact that my child was yelled at, felt humiliated and was crying because of this male employee, that it what made me choose a 1-star review. I will be telling all my friends and family about the awful experience there and also absolutely discourage anyone, from going there, I just wanted to get this review out there first. Way to ruin what was supposed to be a special birthday...