The Rec Room Roundhouse — Restaurant in Toronto

I've been a regular at the Rec Room for several years but only decided to write a review now. I mainly come here for the arcade games as I usually would rather eat elsewhere when it comes to lunch or dinner. So it's pretty much pointless to check my bags at the entrance for any food or drinks on me as I don't even plan on consuming their stuff even if I had an empty stomach, unless it's free or part of a promotion lol XD. Cuz you know why? The food here is not good lol.

They have a great selection of arcade games and my favourites are Down the Clown, Basketball, Pop the Lock, Crazy Tower, Hoopla, Quik Drop, and Grand Piano Keys as I can get jackpots on them frequently (or the highest score when it comes to Grand Piano Keys). They have a wide variety of prizes for redemption, such as MK, Kate Spade, and Coach purses/wallets, Nintendo Switch (as well as games and controllers), huge legos (i.e. Eiffel Tower, Bowser, Millennium Falcon, Iron Man, etc), Apple watches, Yeti bottles, Bose bluetooth speakers, Robot vacuums, etc. However, it's better to redeem them at the Mississauga and Barrie locations though.

However, there are several things they certainly need to improve on:

1. Their games break somewhat often and sometimes the employees are not even aware of it until I tell them about it. For example, on more than one occasion, one of the pegs on Hoopla wasn't registering the hoop that I had thrown and hooked onto it, which prevented me from progressing to the bonus round to get the jackpot. However, I didn't tell the employees about it and low and behold, the next time I went, it was still broken. This time, when I told the employee about it, he told me he wasn't even aware of the malfunction but that he will look into it. Then you have the Beanbag Toss game. Some months ago, the red hole wasn't working so it didn't register when you get a red streak bonus. Not long ago, the blue and green holes stopped registering the blue and green streak bonuses yet the red one is fixed. The employees were not aware of the issues until we told them. As for the Crazy Tower game, sometimes the game deducts your credits when you scan your band on it yet it fails to let you play, which results in you getting zero tickets but having 4 credits deducted from your band. Every time when this happens, I end up having to tell the employees about it so they can return the 4 credits to me. These are just some examples of the malfunctions and I really hope that they can be more diligent about fixing the games or even just have more frequent inspections on the games.

2. Whenever they close their WHOLE ENTIRE arcade for HOURS ON END for private functions, they don't have the courtesy to inform you via Instagram, Google, and/or their website. Instead, you only find out at the entrance via some sad looking notices/papers taped on the doors. They should thank Ohyo Spree and Octo Zone for holding down the fort for them!

3. Some of the employees are clueless when it comes to processing their deals/promotions. One time, the employee took so long to process the deal on our band (40 min+) that it made me miss out on the chance to play the basketball game to get a jackpot of nearly 300 tickets... So not cool =(

4. The downtown location is a lot less spacious than the Mississauga and Barrie locations so sometimes people will shove past you while you're playing a reflex/reaction/timing game that requires deep concentration such as Pop the Lock and Crazy Tower. Surely there are ways to better organize their machines, such as opening up the back room (and think tetris! XD).

5. Even though they already have a wide selection of games and redemption items, it doesn't hurt for them to get some more such as Strike it Rich, Gear Up, etc. As for the redemption items, it would be nice if they can get some kitchen appliances or some other practical items in addition to those they...

Main Point - Go for the games but skip the food

It's fun, cool games. Using a play card is way better than carrying around a bucket of coins. The Hall area only has two pool tables though. Cute little photobooth - it allows you to redo your photos one time. I enjoyed the driving games. I liked the motorcycle one because you're actually sitting on a bike. They also have Mario Kart, walking dead, halo, a VR game, and PAC man, among others.

The place is big and small at the same time. There are a lot of game options but I thought there would be way more games considering the location and establishment. So because t's so crowded, there's a lot more waiting than playing.

The experience started off kinda weird. I wasn't allowed to bring my chocolate bar in and a bag of shark candy that I bought at Ripley's. They have like... Security type people at the front that check your bags before you enter. I think they should have a better system in place for those who buy such items at attractions within the vacinity.

My low review is for the food. It's not terrible but ... it's not worth it. A dinner for two after tip came to $200 ( had some drinks and an "appetizer"). The food all came out at once, which made me instantly regret ordering a shareable item. The food is not seasoned, so it's very bland. I make way better tacos from a ChefsPlate meal than they served. The steak was only good because the cut was good and tender. A steak from a breakfast place has more flavour than their NY strip did. The tempura jalapeños were good because of the dill dip. The only thing with flavour was the dill dip.

My date did end up getting a side salad because they wouldn't substitute the mixed veggies for a salad. The mixed veggies were just green beans, and the salad was full of the yellow and white part of the lettuce, which is the worse part.

Basically the food is so underwhelming. Not bad enough to send it back but not good enough to ever want to eat there again.

The staffs nice enough. I had a great server and she was patient with me as I did ask a lot of questions. Some staff didn't project their voice which made it difficult to hear them.

Ultimately, it's a cool place to experience at least once and makes for a unique date night if your...

🦋 This location must have one of  the best surroundings in all of Canada. The CN Tower stands strong and proud alongside the gigantic Rogers Centre, which are steps away from the Rec Room. Ripley’s Aquarium is beneath the CN Tower, which makes this location a tourist’s haven.

The place is absolutely massive! There’s a huge arcade area with lots of really cool and interesting games - a Dave & Buster’s meets Playdium kinda thing. There is a HUGE bar in the middle of everything and lots of big TVs up on the wall. The bar is so big that we enjoyed our space no matter how busy it was. Behind the bar is a big patio that overlooks the absolutely beautiful Toronto skyline. They had live singers doing cover songs while we were there. Going back inside, continuing past the bar is a really big and open dining area. The chairs are comfortable and the tables are big, which is a + since we like our room when we eat - grrrrr😬.

We ordered:

Loaded nachos

Impossible burger (2)

Loaded Nachos

These were actually really good. They are dressed with a nice assortment of veggies, and the crema they have on it was tasty. The nacho chips were thin, which was really nice since we didn’t feel like 🐳🐳 after we finished them…and boy, did we finish them 🤤.

Impossible Burger

The burger was exactly what we were hoping for. It’s not loaded with different things and is actually quite an “original” burger. This is what we loved. They had their own Rec Room sauce on it, which was really delicious. The Impossible patty is so good. It’s not too thick and isn’t greasy at all. It was charbroiled, which adds that amazing taste to it.

We went there for Quin’s 11th birthday and the waitress was really cool about it. She saw that we had put a special occasion as the reason we were there and offered Quinn a variety of desserts to choose from - he chose the sundae 😎.

The Rec Room continues to bring us back for more food, drinks, and games. We always love our time there, and this time, we even spoke to a bartender for 10 minutes and learned how cool of a life he’s lived. Thanks to the Rec Room for hiring good staff and reminding us that we can always choose to be the kids we are in our hearts.

This is our experience....