Across the Board Game Café — Restaurant in Winnipeg

Forget digital games and go out for an analog, retro generational, evening downtown. This is an real life interactive experience that should appeal to grandparents and grandchildren; parents and children; and those adults who want to remember their board game childhood. We had heard about the cafe from some friends, so this was our first visit, on this past Saturday night. We went with another couple, who, like ourselves wanted to try out some board games, which we all had remembered with some nostalgia. Well, some board games is a huge understatement. The ATB Cafe has hundreds of game box choices, arranged floor to ceiling, all along the walls. The choice is truly overwhelming, encompassing strategy to traditional concept, most of which I had never heard of or even conceived of.

We arrived; were seated at our table; wandered through the game shelves; then decided on appetizers, which took us about about 30 minutes but we weren't rushed by the waitress, which, in retrospect,we should have done faster. We had appetizers, which were well prepared and fresh, but we did not have enough time for more of the meal options because we ran out of time (which I will explain shortly).

The Cafe has a Gamemaster, this evening being Colin, who asked us if we wanted any assistance with games, so I asked him to show us one of the Cafe's more popular, easy to learn and play games, resulting in the choice of Anomia, a simple concept card game, that is less easy that you may think, when your brain is under pressure to identify and shout out an answer faster than your opponent. It was great fun, as were the two traditional games we played, Sorry and Masterpiece.

However, all good things have to come to an end unfortunately, and this became our first negative experience of the evening. We were having a good time and the 3 hour, 'time to leave your table rule' was a shock. Really, we have to leave when our 3 hours are up? "Yes." We had heard a staff member say this to a table nearby but it really didn't register with us. This is where the Cafe should clearly communicate to first time visitors that there are specific rules, the major one being the 3 hour table reservation, which they do enforce, with several staff stopping by the table with reminders of the time counting down. I understand why, because the Cafe was totally filled with gamers by the time we left, and we will set our expectations based on this for our next visit.

And there will be a next visit. This is a live gaming experience that you will want to experience again and again. There are so many games to learn and so many...

Updated review: Unfortunately this establishment has been going downhill for awhile now. I come weekly for Dungeons and Dragons. I understand prices go up. I also understand the need to update the menu to stay competitive. However, the most recent menu changes have been extremely disappointing. There is almost nothing I would like on the menu. In addition, what I do end up ordering is not usually good enough to justify the price.

For example, there is no consistency. Wedges are either undercooked or burnt. There's no in between. My husband ordered the soup today, and there was a thick layer of pure oil on the top. The server tried saying it was because of the beef in the soup, but beef soups do not have to have a pure layer of oil on top. One of my friends ordered the grilled cheese and it was burnt. Not a little char, but full on burnt.

Also, while the majority of servers are pretty nice, there is this one who is extremely rude and you can tell she hates serving the DnD group. She ignores people, I saw her roll her eyes and ignore someone at my table when he tried to get her attention, and she seemed irritated when he was asking questions about the menu. This same server made my sister in law uncomfortable when she was here because when my SiL ordered a coke, the server looked her up and down and asked, "A diet coke? Or just coke?". My SiL has not been back as she felt judged.

The pricing for the food is out of control too. There is no pizza under $20 and they are small enough to fit on a normal dinner plate. They got rid of all the good desserts too.

So, unfortunately, based on all of these points, I don't think I'll be returning. It's just not worth the $100 or so a week that we spend here.

Previous Review: It's always a pleasure to visit! They update their menu regularly. I do find that I'm not a big fan of the food. The tea and hot chocolate are amazing though!

And the board games! Every time we go, I always have to be dragged away from the board game store section, because guaranteed I will discover a brand new board game that I really enjoy. All in all, a...

Solid concept, mediocre execution. I went with a group of 7 other friends on a Friday night a few weeks ago.

Generally, the space is still the Fyxx (previous local institution that occupied the space) with white washed walls. The big tables are tightly packed in, for our table uncomfortably so - I was sitting in the main walkway. With wood floors, a high ceiling, no dampening, and huge tables, the place was loud when even half full.

Food/Drink: Drink selection was good. Beer was served cold and the sangria was excellent. They advertised a mulled wine on the menu that the waiter advised hadn't been available in some time, which was too bad. The chocolate cupcake we had was tasty, and the pizzas our group ordered were also tasty but expensive for what they were - baked on a pita instead of a crust. At $13 for an ~8" pizza I'd assume a real crust and a mention in the menu if not.

Games: On to the main event of the night: The games. Great selection, but the single game recommender was stretched thin and only visited our group twice in 3hrs. She was very friendly and knowledgable and made one good recommendation, but never checked up on the group after the second game bombed, and we weren't able to get her attention until our time had almost expired. The board game storage area was blocked by a huge group table that kept our group from browsing and selecting a new game ourselves.

Conclusion: The space and food service wasn't good enough to make it worth the price for our group. For knowledgeable board gamers that are living in small apartments that couldn't host an 8 person board game night, I can understand the draw. For a group of dilettantes that own a few bigger houses, for half the price of hosting an event at this cafe you could buy two new board games, a few boxes of frozen appetizers, drinks, and have an equivalent experience at half the price. If they staff up on the game recommenders and toss in some fabric to quiet the space a bit I'd love to give this spot...