1-Up Lounge — Restaurant in Bellingham

I’ll preface this review by stating I have several years in customer service. I also have an immense repertoire of bar-going and nerdom. I understand that it’s not to be expected to be treated with stellar customer service in a bar or typically introverted environment, however, my visit here gives me hope that either nerds or the next generation in general is starting to figure out how to pair the two.

We live about an hour away and randomly came across this listing on google hoping to find something to do away from home. There were other similar listings but chose this one because the hours align with a traditional bar environment.

From the outside, we expected either a hole in the wall or well-hidden secret as it is nuzzled into the inside of a complex. Upon arrival, we were a bit shocked to see it as busy as it was on a Thursday night. Most seats were taken, but we were optimistic as the inside is pretty rad. It has the ambience of a cross between a classic, old-school record store and a friend of a friend’s house party full of gaming nerds, alcohol, and open controllers.

Despite how busy it was, we were determined to snatch up a drink and get “next” on the NES. We made way to the bar, and as it is in most bar establishments, we stood around looking awkwardly uncomfortable dividing the mesh of equally thirsty bodies around the bar. Right at the point of feeling any noticeable wait time, the gentleman behind the bar in a seemingly monologuing fashion started to verbalize his immediate to-do list whilst switching to our attention in saying, “and I will be right with you.”

As insignificant as it may sound, this small gesture set the tone for an absolutely enjoyable experience. There’s nothing like someone acknowledging that you’re there even when it is too busy to breathe. As we found out later, a wedding party unexpectedly showed up adding to the usually more manageable workload.

The drinks were gamer-themed, affordable, and delicious. We ordered some local ale and a few mixed drinks, first off of the menu, and then were happy about their accommodations when we requested more intricate libations.

While waiting for drinks, we noticed random game controllers strewn across the bar. Both myself and my cohort picked up random ones and started clicking to figure out which TVs they were connected to, and without so much as a word to each other, were both whisked away into our respective games.

As you walk in, there is a hefty list of respectable rules posted by the door. We appreciate seeing it as it displays an expectation of how they envision their establishment and what a customer should expect. The bathroom door flyers and Facebook page suggest a fantastic and lively gaming/nerd community. The equipment is a variety of older generation tech to pair with old-school gaming systems like classic NES to modernity of big, mounted flat screens with appropriate graphics. The music playlist during our visit was likely as close to our car playlist as possible.

In all honesty, I can’t recall all of the systems or games we played, but I did enjoy Ms. Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros 3, and Guitar Hero 5. Expect to be a little cozy if you spot a game you want to play clustered in with other gamers, but the availability of furniture such as a bean bag chair will help you to feel comfortable to relax like you’re at home. Based on this experience, we hope to be back soon. Special thank you to Hugh who put up with us right until closing time as we were so wrapped up in the game we didn’t notice how long the place had been cleared of other patrons. Hope to make the...

I personally love the 1-up lounge, I go there with my friends all the time! You can find almost every console here, and it's extremely simple when it comes to changing games.

However, it's kind of expensive. Their drinks range from $10 - $15, and their food options are around the same depending on what you get. But, that's not why I gave 1-Up only 3 stars.

The real reason is because of their trading system. You can bring in your old games and trade them for store credit, a.k.a taking money off your tab. The idea is phenomenal, but the execution?...Not so much.

I've brought in games 3 times. Only once did anything actually get taken off my tab.

The first time, the server said he had to grab a manager to take them. I was in the lounge for about 3 hours, and the manager never came. I brought 8 games.

The second time, I brought in 3 games, and had two drinks and a game change (which is $2) taken off. Fantastic! I was very happy.

But the third and most recent time, I brought in about 12 or so games. The server said she had to grab a manager, but he had just left to grab something from the nearby haggens. So, me and my friends waited for around 30 minutes. Then, she told me that after the prices of the games were deducted, my total was around $48. And I was sitting there thinking "That...doesn't make sense..." but I already bothered her so much, I tipped and left.

But on the way out, me and my friends calculated everything I had bought, and it came to around $47. They didn't take anything off my tab at all! Again!

It really feels like the employees don't understand how the trade in service works, and that's a HUGE problem. It's not the fault of the employees I don't think, but rather who trained them. Either the training about the service need to be more extensive, or the process FOR the service needs to be simplified and streamlined.

I'm just really disappointed that my favorite part of this place just hasn't worked 80% of the time...

Here's the story that sums up this place: I recently moved across the street from 1up and instantly dug it. Because of the move from Baltimore, I did not have any games for a month. Tough for an og gamer like myself. I luckily received a "broken" PS4 from a friend. I got the wires, a controller, factory reset it, then, it won't recognize the controller. Since I bought a mini controller not a legit dual shock, I could not initialize the console from the reset. I asked Collette, a very friendly gal who was working during the day, if she could help me by letting me borrow a controller in exchange for my wallet as collateral. She graciously accepted. I kept running into problems unfortunately. On my third and final try, a different employee with badass hair named McKenzie (charming) told me my problem was I needed a data transfer cable. And vwaala! A working PS4. So now, while my games download, I had to shout out how awesome Collette and McKenzie are. Thank you so much for welcoming a fellow nerd into Fairhaven. I will definitely be back and to the game shop next door for Magic night. Overall...Super chill vibez. Affordable. Good food. Strong drinks. And again, a very sweet staff. It's simply a must go if you haven't...