Dave & Buster's Dallas — Restaurant in Dallas

Let's start from the beginning. Where else would you start, right?

This was my first time ever to go to a Dave & Buster's. So, from the moment when we walked into the door, I didn't have a clue where to go. There was a sign that read "Start here" with an arrow on it, but it just led us to the gaming area. I didn't know if it was open dining or if we had to be seated. I just didn't have a clue. My wife and I finally found a counter of sorts that had about 4 people behind it. Three people had on uniforms, but one looked like a manager. He had on a nice button down shirt and was very well dressed. We talked to him and he did tell us that it was open dining and he told us we could sit where ever we wanted.

We chose to sit down at an area that didn't have anybody else in it and the man told us that he would have someone come to take our order. A couple minutes later, a young woman did indeed come and take our order. My wife and I ordered two meals with an appetizer. After a few minutes, the young woman brings us the appetizer. So far so good, right? But here's where it get's wonky.

After the young woman brought us the appetizer, we never say her again. She never checked on us. Didn't bring us our food. Didn't bring us a ticket. Nothing. The food was eventually brought to us by another young man and we were at one point checked on by another older woman, but after that, nothing. Didn't hear from another person the entire time that we were there.

At one point I wanted a refill on my drink and I was looking around for someone. Anyone actually, but there was no one around. No one at the desk where the four others were when we first got there. No one in our section. I asked my wife at one point, "Where are all the employees in this place?" I finally saw another woman at the bar where the drinks were. I went up with my empty glass and stood by the counter while she was behind the counter. She had to have noticed me standing there because she looked at me like four times, but I was never asked if I needed help. Another guy also went behind the counter and never asked me anything either. I hate to admit this, but the fountain machine was right next to the edge of the counter and since I didn't get any help, I reached over the side of the counter and refilled my own drink.

When we finished our meals and were ready to go, I still hadn't gotten a ticket. So I thought maybe we had to pay another way. Once again, this is my first time here so I wasn't sure how things worked. I found the girl who took our orders and she was helping other people so I waited for her to not be so busy and I was trying to get her attention, but I almost felt ignored. It was strange. I actually had to find another woman to go and get her because she went into an office or somewhere and I didn't see her again. Finally she came out and asked if we were ready to have the ticket.

We finally paid and were able to leave but it was like pulling teeth to try and find help in that place. The food was great. No question about that, but the service was exceptionally poor.

Would I come back again? Probably, but there service needs drastic...

I want to start by saying, such an amazing date night!!! We had so much fun!! The bartenders were… well… special. The worst part of the night was ordering and waiting for the bartender to remember we ordered, bringing shots of Jameson and fireball with lemon wedges (as a bartender I understand the importance of garnishes-but really?!?!) followed by the fact the tab was not accurate to the drinks we had. Two drinks ordered each time, yet they charged us for two Jamesons when we didn’t both order Jamo, and the prices are HIGH! Not sure how anyone can charge $8 plus for fireball when it’s $1 a shot at the liquor store- I get going out it’s different! I’m a bartender! But that’s high for fireball. My boyfriend stops going to places for that price. Should not be more than $5. We asked to get a play card, we were handed a menu- when we said we had eaten before we came- the bartender said ok and walked away. Later said happy hour was starting- but had no happy hour menu nor stayed around long enough to explain any happy hour prices. Had there been more patrons than bartenders, I would have understood that. With the prices being $8-9 per each of our shots and the fact there was one two other couples/groups at the bar for three bartenders- the less than 1.5 oz per shot was an embarrassment. Unfortunately what I learned tonight (my first experience at Dave and busters) was drink before you go - only have one or two drinks there. The tab being over $200 for having to ask for our drinks more than once, the shots being short, and the tab not being accurate let me know this was not the place we we will come and drink and hang out as we did. The games were fun!! (The hungry hungry hippo game was not accurate in score keeping-i know my boyfriend “ate” the balls as we played, but the score showed me 27- him 0! The basketball connect 4 was an embarrassment of a swipe of our card- while aim is a factor, this game was over far too quickly!) the zombie shooter game was so fun! The air hockey was why we went, and fun (short timed-didn’t last long, but we played several games and enjoyed it). I had an amazing time-but won’t be a regular with the fact they charged us for my jamo more then his fireball ($1 difference-really… we would have tipped more had we not been “worked”/over charged/taken advantage of. I know what Texas pays their bartenders! Over charging isn’t the way to get better tips!! Under pouring is disrespectful. Get your counts down while pouring and charge people what they order correctly!! We still have money on our card and will be back- we will eat and drink before our next visit. We will have a couple of drinks there and not make it our drinking destination! I did learn Sunday is service industry night! That was nice to learn- but with these prices- I’ll keep enjoying my bar that does $4.50 Jamo for service industry people every day. Thank you for the experience and the fun- but what an experience to be taken advantage of. Guess ringing in the two separate shots was too...

Gotta admit, was there yesterday the 28th for the " all you can eat" wings ... long story short... go to pluckers or BWW! Here's how it went down... there's 2 choices to choose from- Buffalo or BBQ. The initial server didn't establish this upfront which caused major confusion even tho we said we each would like the " all you can eat " ( 3) of us... I accidentally ordered a different option outside the 2 unknowingly since it wasn't flagged to the server I just mentioned the unlimited option... I was also very confused when I asked how many wings we got per setting and I thought it was strange because she made it seem like 1 plate of 10 wings to share umongst all 3 of us per time... again there was confusion considering we asked for 3 unlimited... This second issue was solely on us , after discussion at the table we did the math and it didn't make sense for the two girls at our party that can't eat more than 5 to 10 to get unlimited so we had a couple hiccups with more confusion ( should have just accepted our losses and went to pluckers at this point due the vibe feeling this chaotic... again this unnecessary chaos was on us partially but also stems from the initial red flag not caught by our original server...

We then some how end up with a completely different server who I can't say was a " bad" server... he got our refills, put our orders in and I guess helped resolve what he could... on the other hand the guys personality was very cold, dead and you can tell he clearly either didn't like us very much or was just fed up at his job... I will say we did every thing we could to try and bring his mood up with apologies, jokes etc... he didn't once Crack a smile or even a grin... borderline rolled his eyes at us...

The final issue was the eating part... was told I'd get 10 to start, got 7 to 8... Had to wait 15 to 30 minutes per round of wings and each time they seemingly were less and less at a time with longer wait times in between...

Here's my take, I get serving " unlimited wings" to a consumer may be very annoying and financially straining to a business but I think it's unfair to market the idea and expect anything less.

As a consumer I was committed to show up on a Thursday, pay the 24 fee, tip and enjoy my evening out with my family... I would've expected the company to hold up their end of their bargain.

Although the games...