Chuck E. Cheese — Restaurant in Johnson City

It has been what feels like forever since I stepped into a Chuck E. Cheese. So long, in fact, I absentmindedly had to ask my wife how to spell it to get directions on Maps. We had our son's birthday party there and let me say, if nothing else, they take care of you and your party! Our hostess was extremely attentive and felt genuinely happy to be a part of my boy's big day. The pizza we got, cheese, sausage, and pepperoni respectively, were pretty good all things considered. A tad on the greasy side, but otherwise I could eat the whole pie myself if given the opportunity. This location even still has an animatronic figure of the big mouse himself, which made me extremely nostalgic about my childhood parties and field trips. I also liked their use of safety precautions for Covid-19 and the implementation of those restrictions in the party program they put on for the kids. My son, introverted as he is, still enjoyed himself with the "video call" with Chuck E. Cheese. With the food and party aspects out of the way, I must get into why I could not bring myself to give 5 stars. The side of the establishment that is the arcade. I love arcades, as my other reviews probably show, and would frequent them if I had the money to do so. My son also enjoys them, and is very competitive in trying to get the best prize possible. That I can say is the highlight of the arcade experience: the prizes are actually very attainable. The cost is not nearly as expensive as other locations and the ability to pay outright to make up the missing tickets is a welcome change. With that said, it does seem to come at a cost. The first thing myself and one of the partygoers noticed was a much smaller arcade, and less games. This could be my memory being horrendous, but it seems they've changed from games of skill and luck to more actual rides, which do not give tickets, and picture opportunities. This, to me, takes away from an already small location and from the idea of an arcade in general. All in all though, I love Chuck E. Cheese, always have. And aside from the size of the arcade portion being decidedly smaller, I have no choice but to bring my kids back for more. What can I say? The mouse has a certain...

We celebrated our granddaughter's birthday with our friends, their son and daughter. (The daughter was also a birthday girl.) We did this last year and had a blast. This year, unbeknownst to us, everything had changed. To avoid holding other customers up inline my friend and I visited the Chuck E. website the day before and printed our coupons. We arrive only to be told tokens have been replaced by time cards and all the website info was wrong. Now you buy a "card" filled with up to 30 minutes of play time. The card must be slid at each game, meaning smaller kids have to have assistance at every game, every time. These cards can only be paused twice. TWICE, for kids eating, drinking, and taking potty breaks! So unlike last year when they would run play a game, return eat a bite of pizza, grab a sip, then run to a new game - we had to make them sit and eat before any games. Of course that meant we had 3 kids saying- I'm not hungry , I'm full, I don't want any more, on top of the choruses of, can we play now? Like all restaurants aimed at kids the food isn't cheap to start with. So to pay $300+ only to have none of them really want it, because they want to play, is a huge waste.

The food itself left something to be desired. The pizza ordered with no cheese was burned to a crisp, top and bottom. The other two were okay, but had it been ordered from a local pizza place - we wouldn't eat there again. The salad bar was basic, with limited choices. However, what they did offer was stocked, fresh, and clean. Drinks are self service, with refills. Of course the "nice" Chuck E. plastic cups are an additional cost which we opted to forgo.

Then there was the tickets they earned playing. We had a mountain of tickets. But get to the "goodies and prizes" counter only to see that any "toy" worth carrying home started at 1500 tickets and climbed upwards from there. A plain, plastic, spin top (that didn't even have a Chuck E. Logo on it) was 50 tickets. Really? Oh sure we could BUY the prizes. But there was no way.

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This was our first trip to Chuck E. Cheese with our kids, ages 4 and 5. It was a Friday, midday and not very busy. We ordered a meal combo (1 large pepperoni pizza, cheese sticks, two soft drinks) and two play cards (plastic reusable) with 45mins worth of play. We paid extra for the stretchy wristband. The cost was $80. The play card itself is $1, you can upgrade to a stretchy wristband for $3 or a watchband looking one. I do not remember the upgrade charge on that, $5+. The play cards work by holding them up to the pad on the game you would like to play. You get a green light and you are ready to play. The time starts with the first game and continues until the time is up. Kids can play as many games as they can in that time period. You can pause the card at the card kiosk so you can enjoy your food without your time counting down. You can purchase different time amounts starting at 15mins to 2hours and are good for the day of purchase. They also do play points instead of time. You buy a set number of points to use. Each game costs 1 to 3 points. Tickets for prizes are stored on the play card and can be combined with others to add tickets together. My kids had a combined 485 tickets after 45mins of play, with help from my husband and me. The prizes are your typically cheap, plastic junk that no one including the kids wants. We left with a mini car about 2in long, unicorn keychain, a small chef figure about 2in tall soild purple and plastic flip frog (that doesn't work). That's it. They have a big beautiful wall of fan fantastic toys you child will want but not be able to afford unless you spend hundreds of dollars to earn tickets. The very top shelf had a My Little Pony toy. One that retails on Amazon for $39.00. They want 8000 tickets for it. This trip cost me $80 for 485 tickets. I told my daughter I would just by her the toy and not worry about saving the tickets. It would take me years to reach this ticket amount. 4 stars because my kids loved it and we will go again but as a parent, the food is over priced and the prizes your child will actually be able to...