The Slice Pizza and Games — Restaurant in Cookeville

The food is wonderful, a big surprise since this place has a deceptive appearance and looks like it WOULD serve you frozen Walmart pizza, but everything is fresh and they have local TN brews! You would think with this my next critique would be uncharacteristic of a place serving fresh pizza and local brews, it took me by surprise to.

The glaring downside is the INSANE wastefulness of this place! I support local small businesses as an alternative to greedy wasteful corporations, so when I go to one that has the same kind of practices inconsiderate to sustainability and the community it's a big disappointment. Got a couple beers, went to if they recycle (since there is a local recycling center literally what- 10 minutes away? It might take 30 whole minutes out of the owner's busy busy week to recycle some glasses and cans) and she says no apologetically. Disappointing but oh well, we play our games and get a few eraser prizes. These are plastic capsules with one tiny thing in them which would be fine IF... they reused them. And they DO NOT! I bring up my handfuls and just say "Please tell me you at least reuse these" and the worker is apologetic says "I've collected bags of these before and brought them to the owner to reuse and he just stared at me like 'What do you want me to do with these?' because they come pre-encapsulated" to which I say "That's ridiculous- It would be so much cheaper (since this is what business owners care about at core) if he reused the capsules and then got the prizes separate in bulk online" and she just sighs because this has been a problem workers have brought up before.

So to the owner, if he reads these, hi! We ACTUALLY care about our community here. A place with flimsy tables covered in gross plastic tablecloths, serving up food on flimsy paper plates, cheap plastic cups and cutlery, and one that doesn't value environmentalism and sustainability is not going to last forever in Cookeville. (Trust me, I came from the era of the Barcade and knew the owner, and I saw its slow demise for the same stunts you're pulling in real time) If you don't believe me, take a drive down past Broast when they have their local market out with all artisans and farmers from our community, or the Pizza Bus giving out pay-what-you-can fresh made pizza and see how loving and sustainable our community is. I promise the ONLY reason this place stays open is because of half-off Tuesdays, the scummy $5 a play prize machines, and because it is really the only place like this around here. If another place were to open that had art from local muralists, reused and recycled, and had support for other local businesses around, The Slice would die out in MONTHS. This place looks and acts like a rip-off Chuck-e-Cheese. It has no character and no love in it, just cheap tables, cheap dinnerware, and just looks like someone rented out a section of a strip mall and slapped some arcade machines in there, white walls and concrete floors and all (because that is exactly what it is)

My suggestion? Seriously, go around to local places. Get immersed in our community, go visit other local businesses and see how sustainable and community-centric they are. It's clear this is not a community-loving place that just stands alone in a little strip mall and hopes that enough children swiping their parents' cards over and over again will keep them open. Good luck with that, isolation does not work here, another place will come along that has just a drop more care than The Slice and it'll start hemorrhaging money- but ya know, reusing the capsules and getting prizes in bulk online might help with that just a little ;) or better yet, put some jewelry, stickers, etc from local artists in those things instead of BS dime a dozen plastic junk that children will play with for all but 5 minutes before getting bored. It's such a shame- pizza and brews are great, now imagine if the owner actually gave half a thought to our community and used produce from TN farmers, murals from local artists, and prizes and pastries from local businesses...

Incredible pizza. Chicken-and-bacon with white sauce is phenomenal. The standard cheese is great, too. Crust isn't greasy, has a great mix of crunchy and chewy elements. Would order their pizza take-out style if I lived closer. It's really that good. I kind of expected this to be almost an afterthought, like Chuck E. Cheese pizza (similar business model, right?) but I was pleasantly surprised. The pizza isn't the cheapest, but I'm totally ok with that given the quality.

Arcade game selection is a little small, but all of us have found something to enjoy. A big hit with our kids and their grandmother is the zombie water gun game. Games require a game card you can get at The Slice, which you then load up with funds. It beats carrying a lot of tokens or quarters. Also nice is the fact that the games all reward tickets, but instead of printing a row of paper tickets, the tickets are deposited on your game card. You can check your ticket balance any time using the card-reloading kiosk, and there's a prize kiosk next to it that features a number of prizes for those who have a lot of tickets or just a few. Your ticket balance stays on your card, so you can continue building up tickets over multiple visits to get a sweet Lego set or other bigger prizes. Don't throw away your card!

The Slice can get crowded. We've been twice on Sundays in the last month, and the after-church rush plus birthday parties have made the place get pretty full. Staff are very friendly and do a good job keeping the place clean without running away with your drink cups while you're playing a game, though.

Overall, I hope this business does well and...

It's a very good little arcade with a nice selection of games. Unfortunately when I went they did not have many prizes, but I imagine they just get cleared out during weekends. I wish I had been able to spend my tickets, but I will definitely be back. It would be GREAT if you could exchange tickets for things from their menu, it would be awesome to be able to get pizza and fountain drinks for tickets. Since the prizes are all for children, when you're an adult just going out with friends your tickets just pile up. I'd definitely come more often if there were more incentives for the adults for menu items, and I know parents would love to be able to get coupons and freebies with tickets when they have a lot of children to feed. Even just personal cheese pizzas and fountain drinks would be a great exchange for those who don't want toys. I would love to see more fun engaging things like this, raffles for big prizes in exchange for tickets could be interesting too and keep folks coming back. Either way love The Slice, great place to go on a Tuesday night for 50% off the plays!! $20 is all you need for a fun...