VERSUS — Restaurant in Boston

I LOVE Versus. I have only been here a handful of times (maybe 10 total?) since I also work in the industry and hours don’t line up well. Pre covid, anytime I got the chance to go out in Boston this was it!! Every time I go here, there is nothing but good vibes and I end up making friends through playing games. My first time here (post covid restrictions) I was pleasantly greeted by security. The doorman (cashier?) was PLEASANT AS ALWAYS AND REMEMBERED ME AFTER A YEAR AND A HALF AWAY. Above any bartenders and servers, he has always been someone who knew me on sight (even after only meeting a few times— as someone who works in the industry that is impressive for a high volume place)—honestly give this person a raise. I wish I could get out more, and if I could it would be HERE. But the fact that this person remembers people he’s seen a few times over years— impressive. Bar was busy with happy people and good music. All games were being utilized with little Wait time; if you’re waiting for shuttle board expect a little wait. Played most of them; they seemed to be all working well. Bartenders were pleasant and fairly quick. My only complaint would be last call being at 30 minutes before closing with no warning as opposed to 15 (which I thought was universal and typical). One bartender denied me any drink at 11:34 (claiming that I missed last call), but that was reprimanded by the bartender who did serve me a draft beer. (Manager on board later called last call at appropriate time [to me and what I thought was all bars] around 11:45)

I still give it 5 stars because 90% of the staff here has always been welcoming and good at remembering people who are not even super frequent when they see high volume. That is huge. And it is just also such a unique and fun environment. And every time I have been here, I find it a fantastic place to listen to music and make friends/memories. I have and will continue to bring my friends here when I can make it work with...

This was an awesome place to go and well worth the money, but unfortunately, it is pretty clear they haven’t taken their COVID precautions seriously or haven’t thought them through.

To preface this, once my partner and I walked in, we inquired if there were any special precautions to adhere to. We were told to basically keep our masks on when walking around between games or when playing them except for the occasional sip of our drinks, but also that the seating was set up for social distancing.

At first, it was a great experience, but steadily more and more people came in, to the point were the main bar area felt extremely crowded. This became even more distressing because we were constantly seeing several people walking around without masks on at all. To make matters worse, the tables seemed to be unattended by staff because the people at the tables had to constantly come up to the bar to order. My partner and I were seated at the bar and several times we had strangers hanging over us ordering. Eventually we got so uncomfortable that we decided to leave. At that point, someone was pushing my partner out of the way to get to the bar while he was putting on his jacket and I had to just move because there was two people hovering over me while I tried to stand up.

We did see three employees there, all were extremely friendly and enhanced the experience. That was soured slightly when one of the employees kept saying he couldn’t help us or get us drinks, which is understandable except for him only being behind the bar. And again, the tables definitely appeared as if they weren’t attended to and that lead to so much congestion and lack of adherence to the mask rules.

Again, this is a wonderful experience and will definitely love to go again, but will probably defer until COVID is less...

They're not off to a great start here. The mix of games is somewhat random, and several of them are substantially beat up: the Mortal Kombat P1 joystick was more or less non-functional, the Iron Maiden pinball machine had multiple stuck bumpers, and one of the more vintage pinball machines didn't work at all.

Adding to that was bartender's at best inattentive and at worst downright surly attitude. It took well over five minutes to get served on a Thursday evening. Since there's almost no room between the bar and the handful of booths available, while you're waiting you're constantly being jostled by bar staff and other patrons trying to make their way to the other rooms.

Another feature of this less than ideal experience was that the entire floor—every square inch—was incredibly sticky. Like 1980s second-run movie theater floor sticky. Given that we were there starting at 6 PM on a Thursday, I'd be willing to bet those floors haven't seen a mop in a week.

And finally, the cardinal sin of an arcade/bar: there are zero drink holders on or near any of the games. Absolutely none. So unless you were playing or near a machine with a flat cabinet top, you were either balancing your drink on the glass of a pinball machine, leaving it on a table somewhere behind you (good luck finding an unoccupied one,) or placing it on the floor by your feet.

Given all that, as well as the fact that places like A4cade and Barcade have none of these issues, I cannot implore you enough to stay the heck away...