Nerdvana — Restaurant in Frisco

Nerdvana Food+Spirits is a great new restaurant and addition to the Frisco area. The menu is high-end Contemporary American and is a very diverse look at the country's cuisine - spanning melt sandwiches and salads to comfort food (deconstructed gumbo, fried steak medallions over mashed potatos and fresh corn), even up to steakhouse quality ribeyes and pork chops. They run a scratch kitchen - the ingredients are always fresh and never frozen, including the meat which I hear Chef Mike butchers himself.

The drink menu is equally as impressive, with cocktails and beers to suit any taste. They only offer craft beer and rotate some of them regularly among the local breweries.

The staff is prompt, attentive, and professional. One of the co-owners who visited with us told us they were trained in more of a "California-style" serving technique, where silverware is replaced at every step of the meal and the entire wait staff works as a team to ensure a great experience for the customers. The food is delivered hot so it can be enjoyed the way it was intended.

The atmosphere and decor is spot on for a restaurant and bar self-proclaimed "Nerdvana". The waiting area is adorned with small video screens depicting familiar characters from popular video games and an impressive 3D installation on one wall that displays a cast of the internal components from video game consoles past and present. The custom artwork on the walls subtly displays famous scenes from gaming such as the 1st level of Super Mario Bros. and the characters that inhabit famous games. Monitors around the bar display live E-Sports, Twitch streams, or quick games of Fifa or Rocket League that patrons are playing. There are also dedicated areas to sit down and play video games with friends. The menu cleverly replaces "salads" and "sandwiches" with "expansions" and "handhelds" and has gaming-inspired names for their drinks and some of their dishes. There are also viewing parties for large E-Sports events and I hope they add live gaming tournaments to their aspirations.

Parents with children (which I am) be warned that this is obviously a restaurant/bar. The bar is large and right in the middle of the space, surrounded by tables and booths. There is no kid's menu, although the kitchen will obviously work with you (I've heard the onion melt with no onions is a delicious grilled cheese). Don't expect to let your children run around and play video games while you eat. This isn't Chuck-E-Cheese. However, if you go in with the right expectations it is still a great place to eat as a family. After we ate we sat down with our 5 and 3 year olds and played Mario Kart for about a half hour. They loved it. (I've since been told that playing video games has been restricted to those 17 and older and the consoles have been relocated from the 2 lounge areas due to the carelessness of some disrespectful patrons)

If you're looking for a great place to sit down, eat great food, have fantastic drinks, and relax and play video games with your friends and family,...

Went for my birthday, as this place had good memories for me and my spouse. We were quickly seated at a PS4 table - the restaurant doesn't allow reservations and it's pretty hit or miss, especially if you'd like a particular console.

We used to be able to get a virgin version of one of their cocktails, but no longer. We got the paupu mocktail and an orange soda. I know their cocktails used to be very tasty, but I no longer drink alcohol so I can't speak to them now. There is a wide variety of flavors, especially floral flavors. I had to ask what was in the paupu mocktail since it was described as "starfruit," "raspberry lemonade," and "destiny." I had to sub an ingredient for an allergy but it was a simple process. Water is served in a carafe with cups for the table so you can fill yourself as you go.

We got fried okra and chicken bites. The okra is exactly what you'd expect no more no less, not quite as crisp as what it was a few years ago but still good flavor. The chicken bites were smaller, and the hadouken bbq sauce didn't have as much of a spicy punch as it did before. Portions were much smaller than we remembered.

We got the stardew salad (no pecans) and the guardian angel hair pasta. The salad was crisp and fresh. The goat cheese, dried fruit, and blackberry vinagrette gave several different textures and flavors that all complemented each other. It was heavier than most salads. The added on chicken was plain, but that's expected. The angel hair pasta had little flavor, but the added chicken provided nice flavor. The vegetables had a good amount of sauce to try to lend some flavor. The garlic bread was okay, but was very soft where we prefer crispier.

We got the 7th level banana pudding and blackberry crisp. The pudding was bland and tasted almost powdery. The banana pieces were soft and moist, and the vanilla wafers were at the perfect softness to enjoy with a spoon. The blackberry crisp was very tart, and relied on the icecream (tasted like bluebell) to round out the flavors. I think the actual crumble on the crisp could be improved.

Payment was handled with a handheld device the waitress had. She seemed to forget several times where we were in the meal (asking if we were ready to order any starters after we had ordered appetisers and they weren't served yet, etc). Due to the fact there are games to play, it does take longer to get through a meal. In the past this wasn't an issue but it seemed to bother the staff a lot more than before.

The focus seems to have shifted towards alcohol and the bar, where many people and groups were mixing and switching seats and no one was wearing a mask. I did not see if or how the controllers were cleaned between users. I know the bathroom stall I went to had a strong odor of urine and the floor was sticky. I told staff before leaving but it did not seem...

The concept of this place is really good. Being a gamer, I love being able to go to a bar/restaurant and play my favorite games while eating and socializing. They have PS4, Nintendo switch and most of the new games available to play.

One time I went with a larger group and they had so many rules. A different person came up to our group every 15 mins telling us we were doing something wrong.

First someone said we must all be 18 to enter. Then when we sat at the bar we had 1 member who was not 21 with us, and the bartender said she had to sit at a separate table. So our group had to split up. :(

Next they threatened to kick us out if we shared a drink with her which was kind of crazy. We were there to play games and have fun! Not be reminded about the law, we know that. If we wanted to give her drinks we could go to a gas station or a store, not at a gaming place.

Anyways, after that half our group was at a table and I was at the bar top, they were behind us. They could still see our TV so I handed one person at the table a controller to play super smash bros. We played 3-4 games when a new person told us they have to sit at the bar to play games on that TV. Seriously! We still complied even though we were annoyed.

So we continued playing games and got food and drinks for about 2 hours when a random waiter (not our waiter) comes up to me and says I can't have outside drinks in there. I just had an Ozarka water bottle. And I get it, that's a common rule at a lot of places but why didn't they tell me when I walked in. At least not 2 hours later, and should have been my own waiter.

All in all the food was great. And happy hour prices were good! Just the too many rules thing was a bit annoying that time.

I was with a large group of Indian people so that could have also been part of the problem. The next few times I've went it has been with all white people and they are way nicer when I don't bring a bunch of different race people!

I will definitely be back but I do not recommend to come with a large group especially if you are a...