Tokyo Station — Restaurant in Arlington

howdy everyone

for reference, I’m writing this on graduation weekend, after the Tokyo Station update

the tl;dr is $12 for a lot of fun western retro arcade cabinets, alongside a lot of Japanese fighting + rhythm games, so please consider stopping by

detailed review: First, I’d like to thank FreePlay for introducing more rhythm and fighting games to the FreePlay section of the arcade. My friends and I had a blast especially with Dancerush, as well as Guilty Gear Strive and Vampire Savior. If nothing else, I hope Freeplay adds even more of these cabinets + machines to the front of the house

I’ve been coming to this FreePlay location with friends for years now, and while I’m happy with the new Japanese fighting + rhythm games, I’m sad that they seemed to have gotten rid of their pub menu in place of packaged grocery store ramen. I felt taken aback walking into the entrance of the arcade on a Saturday night, on graduation weekend, and instead of seeing people excitedly waiting to get on the SF:Third Strike cabinets, or DDR machines, I just saw an empty front of house with some expensive claw machines and gachapon. I understand I’m not the target audience for the new front of the house setup, but each review is personal, so I would like to throw in my two cents here

That being said, I’m still happy with the new fighting game + rhythm game machines, and I hope they add more of them (would love OG Melty Blood) and I’m also happy to have J-Pop playing on the speakers throughout the night, but I also hope that management considers bringing back the original food menu alongside the Tokyo Station menu, and I’d hope management considers bringing back the some of the original cabinets to the front of the house to bring back the happy rowdy energy that made me fall in love with this location in the first place

I hope the next time I come, positive change will have been implemented, and I look forward to positively changing my current...

Let's be honest for a second. The price to get in is great at $10 +tax per person. The price to play old retro 8bit arcade is also great at $0.00, especially when you are on the leader board on several games beating your own son who attempted several times to win, which never happened. But, when you walk in the front door to pay, the 'host/hostess' didn't have a friendly vibe. It's like they didn't want to be there. Ok, so from the start I felt this 'I hate my job' vibe. Not my concern so off we went and played. The game selection grew since the last time I visited with my son after it first opened. This time we weren't waiting for douchebags to get off the games, instead there were several open. A guy was fixing a pinball machine while I was playing next to him which the ball got stuck. I let him know and he kept apologizing. No worries buddy, the game is free. I went to play another game. Simple. My son became hungry and we decided on the pepperoni and sausage, personal size so I ordered 2 with drinks which came out to $32. Considering they only charge $10 to enter, they have to makeup the loss somehow. If you don't want to pay that much, eat before you arrive. But you have to buy a Hanks Root Beer! The Best!  Anywho, we waited outside in the covered porch. The same hostess came outside to clean and I asked her if we can hear our order number called from outside. She said no. Again it felt she was upset about something. Ok none of my concern but damn. Cheer up. Anywho, we ate and played a bit more. We had to have been there a good 3 hrs. It's was fun, the bartenders and the cook were friendlier and the atmosphere has changed since the first time I visited. Good job Free Play. But talk to the...

I am giving this place a 4 out 5 stars. Maybe in the future they can upgrade the free play area and expand it somehow. While all of the games were nice, I think the free play area could profit more with expanding the building in that manner. One of the games in particular, Point Blank 2, was not working properly, as it seemed the hit detection on screen needed to be re-calibrated.

On to the ramen, it's kind of pricy. You pick your base noodles of what you would like, but they're all pre-packaged. I think the best part comes along when you get to choose your toppings. They're in house made and they were pretty good. I think the ramen's taste also suffers from being placed into disposable cardboard containers. It would be nice to see the noodles, broth and toppings being placed into actual bowls that are washed and cleaned back in the kitchen area. I was disappointed when I took several bites and got more of the cardboard/paper flavor rather than the broth and toppings.

Now, the crane games, pinball, and gatcha machines. All of these require a game card and are located in the bar area. The crane games are fun and have that UFO catcher feel. The tokens for the gatcha machines are expensive. I purchased 4 tokens for 8 dollars because I wanted an Inital D Keychain, which cost 4 tokens. Lol.

It was also a little too cold in the free play area. It felt like they had the AC on full blast and had it set to 60 degrees or something.

All in all, I think I will return, but, I think...