Main Event Albuquerque — Restaurant in Albuquerque

I am disappointed sharing this review, because we've previously enjoyed going to Main Event in Albuquerque. Based on our last experience, spending over $230 for my family of 4 to bowl and eat, we had such a poor experience that we won't be going back.

Our experience was nothing but bad service and malfunctioning arcade games. I think Main Event has a nice facility, but it doesn't appear they are able or willing to keep up with maintenance on their arcade games, or hire/train/retain good staff. It feels like the primary objective is to drive up consumer costs, without providing the service element that one would expect when paying so much for an experience.

I reserved our bowling spot and time, online. Bowling was $33 for 4 people for 1 hour. $50 for fun cards added on, $6 to activate the two fun cards, an $11 "convenience fee" for booking online, and with tax, that brought our bill up to $128 for this experience. Which, I totally didn't mind paying, considering it was what my son requested we do on his birthday. Also, we've had positive experiences at Main Event in the past.

When we arrived, our lane wasn't ready, despite it being our booked time (not a huge deal). I asked if we could have the fun cards we pre-paid for, so my kids could play while we waited to bowl. The cashier gave us 2 cards with 40 credits on it (which is enough for about 5 games). Of the 40 credits, my son used 27 of the credits on games that took his credits, but it didn't actually activate the games. I went to the cashier, waited in line, and was redirected to the ticket exchange to address the issue. This took about 5 minutes, and we were "given" the exact amount of credits that were used on the games that didn't work. That was inconvenient, and not a great experience for my son on his birthday, but I understand technical issues happen.

Because my son only had enough credits for 5 games (again, I paid $25), he asked if I could add more $$ to the card. I said yes, and when I went to the kiosk, I saw that $25 buys 200ish credits, not 40. So I went back to the front desk to explain that we were severely shorted credits. I pulled up the receipt on my phone to verify the amount I paid. I was told to wait for a manager. 10 more minutes waiting, and the manager arrived seemingly annoyed, defensive, and impatient. I asked for a refund on the fun cards, wanting to just be done at this point, and the manager said she wasn't able to process a refund on their system. It was "too complicated". She then verified that we were only given $10 of credits, instead of the $25 I paid for, so she offered to add $15 to each of the fun cards (so we could actually get what we paid for). I asked again for a refund, and surprisingly, she was able to process the "complicated" refund without issue (small and insignificant point, I was not refunded the $6 activation fee).

During bowling, we ordered pizza, wings, and pretzel bites. Our cost was $108, in addition to the $128 to bowl and play games. When the food arrived, we did not get plates or napkins (greasy pizza, buffalo wings, communal bowling balls...). Our waitress disappeared for 15+ minutes, so I left to find a staff member, to procure plates and napkins. The staff member looked clueless and directed me to the bar. I went to the bar, waited 5 minutes, and the bartender, to her credit, was kind and competent, and able to provide me with plates and napkins. After that ordeal, 20 minutes later, my family was able to eat, and I could rejoin them for bowling.

I worked food service in high school and college, and know it can be hard and unappreciated work. I also know the staff at Main Event seem to be primarily young adults, and I always keep that in mind when visiting establishments. If one of these incidents had occurred, I would have easily looked past it. But Main Event failed in every opportunity to fix their mistakes, or even express concern they were providing terrible service. I think this points to poor management, a poor work culture, and/or insufficient...

Went last week with my boyfriend. It was a weekday and their website offers $20 unlimited pass- well, they did not honor that in person. We paid over $60 for our game tokens (each) which was the "popular" pack. I don't know why they advertise a special on their website when they don't offer it in person. Seems like a rip.

We decided not to let that inhibit our good time. However- about every 3rd game we tried to play was broken! Broken headsets, broken guns, 2 player games broken so only one person could play. It was a major let down. We won't be coming back. For the amount of money they're charging at the door (and not honoring their deals) then on top of that, SO many games down? Get real.

There was no one to help parents or adults with the climbing/swinging portion- it was just sort of "take your chances" which could be a real safety hazard. I would not take children here- this place is just a few drops from a lawsuit.

Little to no staff on the floor for assistance. The laser tag was closed (I'm guessing that was broken too) and more than 1/2 of their VR games were broken or down.

We tried to break for food but no one was attending the food station. We stood there long enough that we finally saw someone bring out fries to another couple but he didn't address us at all. There were only two groups of people in the food area- most people were at the bar, so it wasn't like we were hard to miss.

As far as cleanliness- yall could do better. NONE of the hand sanitizers were filled, the sanitizing wipes were gone and the staff just reiterated that they were out (no sh*t, Sherlock). But with games (especially the VR) where you are touching some part of the game to your face- SHOULD be disinfected between people.

Lots of games ate our tokens and did not even have a sign on them saying they were broken. Staff seemed clueless on how to fix this, a sign would suffice- or re-upping our tokens on our card but they did not offer that.

Went to cash in our "tickets" to get some prizes and not only was that area super messy, there were no prices on anything so you had to keep asking "how many tickets is this? And this? What about this?" To a bunch of kids that were way more interested in socializing with each other and on their phones than being at work and helping customers. It took 3 employees to ring up a single person because no one had any idea what was going on. No one had direction or a clear objective to their job, it seemed.

I think if every broken game had a sign, then it would be more apparent that they had more broken games than working ones. Highly disappointed and dissatisfied with the whole experience. I'm honestly thinking about coming in with a GoPro and documenting this experience to send it to corporate because, I'm sure if they knew it was this bad, they'd clean up their act real quick. Only a matter of time before someone gets hurt from negligence. Expect to come home with covid because NOTHING is cleaned between players.

Save your money, skip Main Event and go to Dave & Busters where games work and so does the staff.

EDIT: Thanks for your response- I have already reached out to corporate but could not leave my entire review in the short commentary box so I’m hoping someone gets...

I’ve been in ABQ for 2 years and tonight was the first night I’ve decided to go to Main Event. I’ve heard good & bad from family & friends but figured I’d finally check it out for myself.

Initially it reminded me of a grown up version of Chuck E Cheese. Extremely loud & talk about sensory overload.

We decided to sit at the bar. The bartender/server Brigitte was amazing, she was extremely friendly, informative & attentive to our needs as patrons. We ordered a few drinks & appetizers. Drinks were served immediately & I was impressed that we didn’t have to wait considering it was a busy Friday evening. So I ordered a medium rare steak & when it came out everything on the plate looked great. When I cut into the steak it was like hacking into leather. My steak was well done, I seriously hate sending food back because I’ve watched the movie “Waiting” and I know people can be petty. So I sat there internally debating on saying anything to our bartender. But I also decided if I’m paying for dinner & a good time then I should probably enjoy my meal. So I regretfully showed and explained to Brigit that my steak was well done. She was apologetic & said it would be handled. The cook was standing in the bar area & she walked over to him & explained the situation. She then came back & said it would be taken care of. I was nervous about my upcoming steak because the cook & I did make eye contact & quite honestly he did not look happy with me. Some time passes & Brigit brings out another steak & again apologizes for the mix up. This steak looked like it had been out on the grill & flipped once on each side. I’m all for a bloody steak but this thing was still raw. To the point that it was not browned enough on the outside & only had the sear marks but you could tell just by looking at it that it was still raw. Sure enough when I cut into the steak I think it still moo’d at me because it was so rare. None the less I was disappointed in the pettiness of the cook. I spoke with a manager & showed him the rare steak that was brought out. He apologized & took my plate & said he would fix it. I explained I lost my appetite & didn’t want anything else. He ended up bringing our group a platter of chips, queso & salsa as a consolation. Again Brigit was amazing, manager was very nice but that cook was the downfall on my review. Will I go back? I’m undecided. Will I recommend this establishment to my family & friends? I’ll let them make the decision...