Backpocket Pin and Pixel — Restaurant in Johnston

I had my son's birthday here and reserved a large area for the party with indoor and patio space. The party area worked well for our large group, ~90 guests, half divided with kids and adults. The space was composed of tables, booths, and one side of the bar was available for our party.

The space was reserved for 3 hours with a 30 min buffer time before and after for decoration set-up and clean up which I utilized. The pricing is very reasonable from the space reservation perspective.

The event coordinator was easy to work with, communication was great with several exchanges through email. I confirmed my food order and beverage/bar preferences through email. With a large party for our bar orders, I selected a ticketing system to limit what beer and alcohol orders ended up on my tab, they are pretty flexible with how to handle bar orders.

They had several food options and I opted for one of the buffet options with some appetizer, platters, and pizza order additions. The chicken wings and tacos were tasty. The wings had a variety of sauce flavors and the pork tacos were pretty delicious.

They recently changed their 'pretzel bites' from when they originally opened, the newer ones were not as tasty and looked like the Pretzilla brand bites that you can find at the grocery store. The sliders were not the best, as the meat was pretty dry. The pizzas were a hit with the kids. I was allowed to bring a birthday cake for my son as the only dessert option they have are churros.

I also reserved two lanes of duck pin bowling for our party, with the kids enjoyed. There were several times where the bowing balls got stuck and the workers were very helpful retrieving the balls.

The kids enjoyed the arcade and the games only take quarters. I brought a stash of quarters for our party and let guests know to bring more if needed. There's an ATM and two change machines near the arcade as well. It would be nice to have party packages for the arcade. When Bockpocket first opened, several games were out of order because the games were filled up with quarters. During the party, we only encountered it once and a worker as able to help one of our kids to get the game to function.

The parents enjoyed watching the Iowa vs Iowa State game on several of the screens near the bar. It would be nice to have other screens available on the walls and not just above the bar.

Overall, I would consider hosting another large party at Backpocket. There was plenty of space and both kids and adults were able to enjoy themselves. I would stray away from the sliders when ordering from their catering options, and it would have been better if they had more pitchers available for drinks. We had to order individual drinks for all, including lemonade and root beer for the kids at our party. Backpocket should be considered when anyone is planning an event. Service was great, environment was enjoyable, and food was good (depending...

2nd Update: From 1 star to 4 stars It's getting better each time I've visited. Was in with a larger group today and while it was slow, the food came out really quick and good. Everyone was very pleased with the food and service. Finally got a chance to play Duckpin bowling as well and it was fun. The Pretzel Stout is by far my favorite beer there. Absolutely incredible.

Update #1: tried again. Take out this time. Wings still good. Cheesballs-complete fail. So overcooked they are barely edible Original: There is so much potential with this location. Feels like owners spent all their money building it and forgot they need to have staff to operate it or they have never operated a bar/restaurant before.

The wings were fantastic, some of the best I've ever had!! I prefer bleu cheese dressing but wasn't asked that, but the dipping sauce(i think ranch) they came with was still really good

Unfortunately, that was the only bright spot. I also ordered the cheesy bread, it was good but nothing special. It was served with cold sauce and had the cup placed right on top of the bread(hopefully it was clean). Also, the only napkins available came in the cheapest possible single use pre-wrapped silverware packages.

Sat for 10 minutes at the bar before finally getting up to stand in line for 10 minutes to order a beer and my food. Heard several customers say they wish there were actual servers because it was relatively busy. Had more people working in the kitchen than on the floor.

They had a private party that was set up in front of the only walk out door to the front patio. Heard guests complain about that, awkward to go out and enjoy the patio. Saw an employee walk from that area to the bar, with his gloves on, filled his drink, wiped his hands on his pants, and drank from the cup, all without removing his gloves. Even went to the buffet line to help adjust some of the food with the same gloves on and went back into the kitchen.

My beer glass sat empty for 15/20 minutes with no staff asking if I wanted another one. Wasn't about to get up and leave my food to stand in line for a refill.....

Overall, it's an ok place. May give it a try again. Food is good but service needs a lot of work. They have hand-held tablets to make it work a lot better...

First and last time visiting. Brought my family to eat lunch. At the time, it appeared they were short staffed. We were greeted and told we can dine in with a server or sit outside on the patio without a server. My family and I sat outside since it was very nice and used the QR scan code to place our order through the platform Toast. I used Apple pay and used my IPhone to pay for the order. I have used Toast for other restaurants. Apparently Backpocket Pin and Pixel has this set up to leave a tab open. I am not familiar with this electronic version. As I said, I sat outside with no server. I received a text when my food was ready to be picked up at the window. I walked into the restaurant to collect my food and sat outside to eat it and then brought all my tray and plates back in to the designated bus area. I did not see any language or received a text from Toast that I have a tab left open that I must close or I would be charged 20% for the restaurant to close the tab. I did not order any alcohol drinks. Pepsi and Mt Dew. I received a text later that night 5 mins before with my final receipt which showed a 20% tip added. I did not have a server and I did not authorize this charge. I called the restaurant and spoke with Jason. He explained to me why the tip was added. I told him I was not familiar or aware of this tab policy. After some discussion, Jason reversed the tip and corrected my final bill. I think the language needs to be more clear and a box you have to check to what you are agreeing to. I did not agree or spoke to anyone to open a tab. I don’t drink alcohol and did not sit at the bar. I’m sure many other customers are having the same issue. Don’t forget to close your tab that you didn’t agree to open at Backpocket...