The Hexagon Board Game Cafe — Restaurant in Edmonton

Went out on Saturday evening to celebrate a friend's birthday. Called ahead to ensure they would be able to seat about 8 to 10 people. They said it's no problem and that they will push two tables together. Got there and they gave us seating that could barely seat 6. Server seemed very down and unexcited to be there. He explained the rules and the cost in the most monotoned voice, gave us two thumbs up and walked away before we could say anything. We pulled up two chairs extra to seat our extra friends and squeezed them in. After about 15 minutes in, a tall guy came up to us, and told us we couldn't sit there because he needs more room in the hallway and you know what, it's fine because I get it but he said it in the most condescending tone he could, I didn't even know if he actually works there. (No one was wearing name tags) 3 of our friends left to go stand in the front because where else were they going to sit? (So far we're at 9 people). Then Monotone Guy came back and informed us that there will be a mondatory 18% tip added to the food for groups 8 or more so I told him, there are only 6 people because 3 people cannot be seated. And that, we aren't even going to order food anyways because our friends won't be able to eat with us. He said, well the Mandatory tip will be applied to the $4.50/person for the game then. I told him, I am not tipping on it and I shouldn't be forced especially since service is very lackluster. Right away he was like "I'll get the manager" and instead of this "Manager" coming over to de-escalate the issues, he came over and very LOUDLY announced that we have tip the Mandatory 18% for groups regardless and speaking so loudly as if he was trying to embarrassed us into agreeing to it. This tipping culture is really getting out of hand. If you give people good service, your customers will happily part with their money. If you have to Mandatory charge your patrons gratuity/tip then maybe there's something internal happening that should be address, maybe take a customer service class and train better employees. I cannot recalled the last time I've visited a place in the hospitality industry and had such a horrendous service and I didn't appreciate the drive down memory lane. Safe to say, I will not be back and I will not be recommending people to visit your establishment. We were excited and willing to spend money here and you absolutely ruined someone's birthday where she would always remember "that time when she had bad customer service on her birthday" so if you guys were hoping to be remembered as the worst board game place to visit in Edmonton, you have succeeded the title in 10...

I just moved to the city where 2 of my daughters live, and they were eager to take me here for a few games and some food. They told me it had good food, and most importantly, a very large selection of games to play. They were right! Over 1000! They said the menu for light nibbles was yummy and they were licensed. Great! We chose one game they'd played before called Red Flag, which was a hoot! The second was a game unknown to us all: Harry Potter CLUE. It had lots of rules that my ancient brain needed time to absorb, but ended up being SOOO much fun! Being Potterheads, it was a MUST PLAY! smile I think we may have to go buy it... The Cafe staff were friendly and prompt and the atmosphere had a family friendly vibe. Spacious and clean with a good variety of sitting choices: small tables, large tables, booths, some elevated with stools, some lower on the floor. The bathrooms were ambiguous and marked for both male, female and gender fluid (or something to that effect). Very thoughtful and accommodating I thought! Now for the few negatives: one daughter asked if there was wine and there was, but the waitress didn't say it came in a half bottle and it cost 20.00. Pretty pricey as well as unexpected! They really should make that clear for those not close to the menu, which is written, quite charmingly, on the wall. (All 3 of us wear glasses and were at a distance...so we didn’t want to go stand infront of other tables and gawk weirdly above them at the wall. It's awkward.) The food/drink prices ARE steep. But to me, that is but a small drawback and one is ONLY obligated to spend $5 dollars to stay, along with the 3$ per person per hour to play. Bottom line: VERY fun place to go with friends and family for good fun and...

Keep in mind that the middle-ish ranking is only for my personal use case, and therefore might not be relevant to all. I tend to use board game cafes as a convenient meetup location, and not as a way to get access to games. I generally bring my own games to play, and only really want a pleasant location that avoids someone having to host.

The Hexagon gets a lot of points for style. The location is gorgeous, open, in a nice area of town (apart from parking), and has great washroom availability. The washrooms are all gender neutral as well, and two of the four are handicapped accessible. When we showed up, the lady who checked us in was very pleasant, friendly, and stopped by a few times to see how we were doing and chat with us about the game we were playing. I didn't try the food, but they had some nice teas up front that looked tempting.

All this being said, my sticking point is on the price. It's $2.50/hour/person, which can really add up if you are playing a longish game. The staff were kind enough to give us a discount since we were there for so long (7 hours) and brought our own game, so props to them for that. Still, for why I go to gaming cafes, it's not really a great fit.

If you are planning to go for a date night, or a 1-2 hour hang out, I'd say that The Hexagon is a great location. It's easily the nicest looking of all the board game cafes I've gone to in Edmonton. For me, I'd rather go somewhere slightly more affordable, with the trade off of less pleasant ambiance. Either way it all works out, since I'm sure the people there on a date don't want to have to listen to us wargamers grumbling about our...