Happy Joe's Pizza & Ice Cream - Galena — Restaurant in Galena

I had called ahead a WEEK AND A HALF to reserve the back room near the "arcade". During the phone conversation I made it clear to the lady that I was speaking with that I wanted that back room reserved for a birthday party. I gave her the date and time and how many people and she said she marked me down.

Upon arrival, I was immediately greeted by an employee and was told there is already a party in the back room, but they set me up with some tables in the main dining room. This is NOT what I requested and a manager came to speak to me. She stated, again, there was a party in the back room, but there should still be room for my party. Fair enough, but I specifically called a WEEK AND A HALF in advance to reserve this room. Upon discussing with manger, she had the nerve to tell me in our phone conversation that there was never a mention of reserving the room, just the fact that I was having a party of 15 at a certain date and time. This is incorrect and for her to say I didn't specifically request the room? I was floored.

The worst part of all of this was not once, not ONCE, was there any sort of apology or anything from this "manager". I put that in quotations because she did not handle herself like I would expect a manager to. Almost every employee I or someone from my party interacted with had a poor attitude. Terrible customer service.

To continue on, the "arcade" is a JOKE. There is roughly 16 games in the little room and I think 7 of them were working, maybe 8. Not to mention the ticket eater/counter was out of order and the machine that converts your bills to tokens essentially requires dollar bills fresh off the press from the mint in order for it to take them.

One thing I will say, our server, Megan, was excellent. She fulfilled every request and was friendly. Great job, Megan! You don't deserve to be lumped in with the rest of them.

In summation, I'm very dissatisfied with my recent visit to this Happy Joe's. It hurts me to post this as I have fond memories of frequenting this establishment as a child. And it pains me to say that they have officially lost a customer in me. Not only me, but my entire family will never be back.

I truly hope this review gets read and makes it back to the manager. I wasn't able to get her name, but there is a severe lack of leadership and accountability at this location. I truly hope things get better for this location and wish that anyone who visits in the future does not have to deal with the BS that...

I almost feel bad reviewing this establishment when a) I'm probably not the target audience, b) we came towards the end of the evening, and c) we're out of towners and will most likely not return to this area in the near future. That being said, I hope my constructive criticism helps improve this restaurant and not disparage them because it definitely has potential.

Right away, I felt like the decor clashed, and perhaps one theme would have better suited the building. It has the '90-'00 vibe of a Chuck E. Cheese/circus type paint job, with the very neat but rustic train set circling above, and a hint of U.S. history. The establishment itself was very dirty, between tables being sticky or dirty, bathrooms being gross, and food and garbage across the floors. Again, granted, we came at the end of the day, and I'm sure their money maker is their lunch buffet.

The menu had a lot of very random order options; things you wouldn't necessarily put on pizza, but perhaps it works. If those odd choices don't actually sell well, maybe clean up the menu and stick to the more traditional options. I wasa bit shocked at the cost of the food, and I very much felt like their pizza was indeed a frozen pizza that was "spruced up" to some extent, even though I know it was all hand made. When we ordered ranch with our Dippy Sticks, we got blue cheese instead, which wasn't that big of a deal, but it added to the experience. The restaurant seemed understaffed, and they honestly looked sad, despite looking like they were trying their best. The front girls seemed kind, and no one was rude, but there was this sense that they were just trudging along, hoping the night would end soon.

It just all felt sad to me, and I debated writing this review because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but I do think the restaurant needs an overhaul to bring some life back into it, as it truly does have some neat potentials, but they are just shy of hitting that mark. Hang in there! I do hope this place thrives, and like I said, we're just a one-time visitor from out of town, so maybe you guys know what works for...

Try the food and skip the games.

The service was decent, the restaurant was clean, and the food was ok. We had the nacho pizza and kind of regretted it. It was as advertised I suppose but was messy and underwhelming. They throw a bunch of taco sauce packets on top of the pizza, which was off putting since I don't believe these as usually stored in a sanitary fashion, though Happy Joe's may keep them clean and handle them with gloves considering this is what they do with them. The nacho pizza seemed pretty dry without adding sauce. It would have been better to have tried a regular pizza to get an idea of the quality of the crusts and sauces. The pretzel appetizers were extremely good but very buttery also the seasoned tots were tasty. A children's hamburger was huge and well presented. They brand Joes' logo on the bun, which was a nice touch. The portion sizes are massive so we didn't try any ice cream or other desserts unfortunately.

After eating we go into the "arcade" and are immediately disappointed. 70% of the games do not work and some only take quarters (after you've converted your quarters to useless tokens, this is not welcome news). After our disappointed 5 year old plays one or two of the games a few times, we take the tickets to the machine to get counted and receive a voucher. The tickets are entered and counted but it refuses to print the voucher. We spoke to a staff member who gave us credit for the tickets anyway and allowed our child to pick something in that low value range. He selects a ring pop and after leaving I open it for him to find it smashed. Cue eye roll. Clearly we should have just...