Dave & Buster's Ala Moana — Restaurant in Honolulu

UPDATE: The broken kiosk that double charged me never refunded and they cant even find record of the transaction in their system, so I'm just expected to pay double for this event. Rating is dropping to 1 star as I'm going to have to take this up with local authorities to possibly get my money back. Oh man. Where do I start?

So the kiosk at the front froze and cancelled my $251.xx transaction, and I had limited funds on my card to take my family out but the charge was left pending. The attendant didnt know anything about it, and he called over another attendant who then had to call a manager. I ended up waiting 25 minutes while my family waited at their table for an equal amount of time with no service because they were waiting for me to come back with the "Eat play drink" or whatever combo receipts (which I never got) so they could use those to get food/drinks. The attendant wasnt aware that I could just do all of this at my table through my server, so I wasn't informed. The manager couldnt fix the kiosk issue as it had froze (another kiosk had froze as well, the attendant informed me this issue was common) and thus I was unable to afford the night with the funds I had set aside for the evening, so I ended up having to haggle 3 different managers in front of my family for what ended up being a $30 discount so I could put it on my card. I could barely tip my server. Embarrassing.

One of my guests was leaving on a flight that evening. I had purchased 4 unlimited passes, and what good are those when you your time is being cut into due to the inefficiencies of the place? Two of my hungry guests ended up leaving and going walking around the mall.

The other 2 of us finally get food after about an hour at the table and end up getting to play games for a bit before having to spend another 15 minutes of our unlimited (limited to 90 minutes) play time speaking with a manager about a discount.

When I went to the bathroom 2/3 of the stalls I went in had poop everywhere. Disgusting.

On our way out, after nearly $500 in transactions, food for four and a drink each, and 2 of us maybe getting to play 10 games, the kiosk attendant employee was standing outside the door and was like "Man, if I was you I'd be annoyed."

I get having some kinks to work out, but going out to D&B shouldn't be a risk to having a good time, and I'm a pretty patient dude. Lots of bells and whistles that might draw people in the short term, but if they dont get it together here, no way that location is gonna last very long.

The bar food is good. The...

4/23/2025, 6:25p

I was so excited to take a look at the new digs. I had a few across the way at Inhabitant and figured, since I was in the neighborhood, perfect opportunity. Unfortunately, literally, 30 seconds after walking into the place, I was scolded by an employee and his cohort. I was interested in the 49 seat bar and the natural pathway from entering takes you along the left side of the bar and comes around the back taking a right, then towards the gaming, or along the other long side of the rectangular bar. Upon taking the right turn, your eyes are naturally drawn to the foodservice pickup area ala Cheesecake Factory. Unfortunately, while turning the corner with no apparent signage or stancions or even one of the dozen "bouncer look a likes" to control crowd flow, I get scolded. "Sir, I'm going to let you go this time, but you can't come back here. This is a service area for employees only". Having worked in hotel food and beverage management as well as convention management - in food and beverage - I turned around, listened to what he had to say, took a quick visionary swipe of the immediate area and responded "well then you should put up signage or stancions", and proceeded to walk off. It left such a damn sour taste in my mouth, my blood boiled. I returned to the scene and stared at a man who was wearing a blue polo shirt with glasses trying to get his attention from my angry stare alone. No luck as he kept on talking to an employee and never left the "do not cross zone". Turning my head and shaking my head with an unsatisfied look at my face, I was allowed to angrily walk out. Is it really my fault for the faulty design of the flow around the bar? This is rhetorical. I've never, ever given 2 stars in my reviews but here you go. In this day and age, everything counts, including corporate training. They will do well in the short term. Long run, once the novelty wears off, time will tell. Right now, they've lost at least one bar fly foodie. No pictures...

The new Dave & Buster’s at Ala Moana is slick—gleaming floors, a jungle of blinking machines, and people losing track of time and budget. It’s flashier, better. The games are fresh, the air conditioning is generous, and the staff? Kind, helpful, cheerful. Like they actually enjoy being there. And maybe they do. But then there’s the Instagram. Whoever’s behind it? Fire them. Immediately. If there’s a contest for worst-run brand page, D&B Ala Moana would podium. No daily specials listed, no replies to messages—like screaming into the void hoping for a happy hour menu. I had to physically show up just to figure out what deals were on. That’s a cardinal sin in 2025. Hire someone under 30 who actually uses the app. Speaking of deals, here’s the rundown—since corporate won’t post them: Monday? It’s all-you-can-eat wings. Dangerous. Wednesday is half-off games, which means your card lasts twice as long—especially handy if you’re terrible at skee-ball like me. Thursday is College Night: flash your university ID and you get $10 in game credit. Happy Hour runs Monday through Friday from 4 to 7pm—half off cocktails and beer. There’s also Late Night Happy Hour, Sunday to Thursday from 10pm to close. Same drink deals, plus $5 bites like fried pickles, queso fries, nachos, chips and salsa, and a cheese flatbread If you haven’t already, download the D&B Rewards app. It gives you 100 free game chips just for existing. You'll feel like you hacked the system. Now, if you’re buying chips outright, don’t be dumb. Skip the base-level purchase—it’s a ripoff: just 4 chips per dollar, and the supercharged version barely bumps it to 43.33. But if you go big—like $115 big—you’re getting 6.78 chips per buck. And if you supercharge that $12 for 905 chips? That’s an obscene 75.42 per dollar. It's practically a glitch in the matrix. That’s the play. So yeah. Go. Eat, drink, play. Just don’t trust...