Chuck E. Cheese — Restaurant in Florence

Chuck-E-Cheese is definitely not what it used to be. It seems every time we go here now, many of their games are not working. What is really the most frustrating part of it all is the way that you cash in the tickets. The kids have to feed them into this little machine called the Ticket Muncher. The problem is they only have 4 Ticket Munchers at this location, and the biggest problem is at this location it seems every time we go 2 out of the 4 Ticket Munchers are broke, so when you are ready to go and you have a headache from all the loud kids, you are stuck waiting in a long slow line so your kids can cash in their tickets for cheap prizes. I really think Chuck-E-Cheese needs to do better on the prizes also. I usually end up spending about $50 here if we are just going to play and not eat , and my kids always end up leaving with just a handful of Tootsie Rolls for prizes. Seriously? I always think to myself wow I could have just went to Kroger's and bought a whole big bag of Tootsie Rolls for a few bucks. I understand that you're mostly paying for the kids to play the games, but I noticed most of the games are very short, they only last a few seconds. I think they need to make the games longer too. My kids always leave disappointed with their prizes . I mean come on, this is not a casino , this is a kids place let them win more than Tootsie Rolls. I guess it's cool they do put the tokens on a card now oh, so you don't have to worry about your kid dropping them, but I think they should put the tickets on the card to somehow because half the time my youngest leaves his in the machine. I will give it 2 stars because they put the tokens on the card now , and they do have coupons available online which makes it not quite as big of a rip off, but it's still pretty...

NOT a fan of the changes.

Changed from coins to electronic cards. These are great for older kids' places (D&B) but this place is for little kids, who do not do well with the cards. Having a handful of coins was 1/2 the fun.

Many broken games. Some of these would still debit the e-coins, though, so the kids would re-swipe not realizing it was broken. The management did refund our lost e-coins.

Toddler area removed. Why? This was perfect for pulling out the babies without excluding them. Instead added 'Deadly Fall Giraffe Ride'.

All free entertainment removed. Again, why? Now there is NOTHING for kids to do once they've swiped away their cards, but others are still playing. Again this hurts the littlest kids' experience most.

Long wait times for ticket machines and prize counter. Seriously this took far too long. If you're trying to get out anyway with more than 1 kid, the last thing you want is to spend 25 minutes cashing in tickets for the trashiest junk prizes on Earth. The one good thing about the e-card - automatic prize point management- they didn't implement. The tickets are 1 penny each and translate to a prize worth 1/100th of that, why do you have to wait in line to shove them into a machine, then wait in line to pick a prize?

Everyone agreed the pizza was tasty. The salad bat looked scarry. The staff was mixed - some friendly and engaged, some staring at phones.

If you have slightly older kids do Dave and Busters. It's more expensive but up to date and your kids leave with a decent prize.

If you don't, take the kids to the mall, let them run around the play place, ride the train and carousel and visit the 'arcade' on the top floor, then buy some bulk candy. Or hit up Cici's, play the games there, then HPB...

Update: I did reply to the message left for me. They apologized and wanted to send me play points and tickets. That was awesome....except that when I recieved the play points and tickets they wanted me to take the letter I recieved from them, with my name & address, stating that there was an issue they( the owner) spoke directly to them about, to the manager to recieve the play points. Ummm, no thanks. I dont know those people or what type of temperment they may have. Would my food be tainted? Who knows? Id rather be able to go in, unannounced, and see if things really did change.... not just because they have a letter identifying who to do better in front of. I may still visit this location bc as I stated in my review, we had a great day, the food was good and the staff we did talk to were very friendly.

I hate rating this 3 stars because my grandchildren had a wonderful time, we all did. I havent been to Chuck E Cheese in a few years. My rating comes from having to wait to get our hand stamped, having to wait for someone to come take our order( both times there was no one in line but us), having to carry our hot pans of food ourselves to our table, having to ask for our own plates and forks. A few of the games did not work and were not marked out of order and when we left there was no one there to check our hand stamp...which gave me a little scare bc they've never failed to check us at the door years ago to be sure the children leaving with you in fact arrived with you. There's no use to hand stamp if it isn't used. The food itself was good. We all enjoyed the pizza and spending the day together. I'll still come to this location. Maybe next time will...