Token Game Tavern — Restaurant in Knoxville

I have visited several times at this point and now feel I can post a knowledgeable review. I really want to like this place. It has a wonderful selection of arcade and pinball games and is reminiscent of the 90's style arcades I went to as a kid. Most of the arcade classics, and a few new ones, are well represented. I've spent quite a bit of time playing Turtles in Time, Marvel vs.Capcom and Simpsons. I also appreciate the free-to-play AT THE BAR consoles with a variety of games, including NES, SNES and Switch. Separate from the bar though still easily accessible are systems such as the N64, a Steam machine and a Wii, all free to play assuming you are having drinks, and I may have missed a few consoles that I've not yet tried. All told, the 'game' aspect of Token Game Tavern is well represented. Also I feel I should mention that all the servers I interacted with were very friendly and helpful.

Let me elaborate on why I did not give this place five stars. The most important is the 'tavern' aspect of Token Game Tavern. Frankly the beer selection is not the greatest. They seem used to dispensing standard bar fare such as Budweiser and PBR. They do have a variety of local/craft beers available, but the vast majority are in bottles and cans and are not on tap. They have at most 6 beers on tap at any given time and maybe one of the tap brews is a local beer.

I've had two full meals at Token and both were sub-standard. The Carnitas Tacos were extremely disappointing. They were unflavorful and extremely tiny - I finished three of them in six bites and less than a minute. The server brought a bottle of commercial hot sauce with the tacos as though expecting that I would need it. Unfortunately she was correct as the tacos were quite bland and the pulled pork tasted completely unseasoned. The Reuben that I had on another visit was also substandard, mostly due to the bun. They served the Reuben on a soft hoagie style bun rather than on toasted rye bread. The sauerkraut tasted canned and the corned-beef seemed improperly cooked. I'm almost certain the potato chips served with the Reuben came from a bag.

Lastly, and perhaps this is of least importance, but it upset me as a gamer, was an experience I had the last time I visited. Normally all the TVs above the bar are either playing various console demo screens, or are actively being played by a patron. I definitely prefer watching the demos of various video games, or people playing video games, while I have a drink to watching random ball games or talking heads discussing sports. That's one of the main reasons I would choose to drink at Token over a sports bar. However, the last time I visited Token, one of the TVs above the bar was tuned to a golf game. I have nothing against people wanting to watch golf in a bar, but why on earth would you go to a video game bar and demand to watch golf on one of the TVs dedicated to playing console games, when you could go to literally any sports bar in the city to watch golf? Quite apart from the food, which is just bad, it's these sorts of small issues compounded that are going to discourage me from visiting Token for a drink...

$10 can of RedBull

I just want to say right off the bat that I really enjoyed this place! My husband and I went tonight as a fun date night, and we had a great time! The atmosphere was good, the food was good, the video games and arcade games were good, and they had tons of board and card games. I definitely recommend coming here with friends or on a date. But the mixed drinks is what made me leave 4 stars instead of 5. For reference I am a pretty light-weight drinker (one Long Island iced tea from Chili's is usually enough to make me very very tipsy, even with food). I had a Punch Out first, all I tasted was the bitters and the club soda. I noticed while the bartender made the drink, the tall glass was filled to the brim with ice and then the drink was poured in. I decided I wanted to try a Super Smash next, which tasted great and was pretty neat looking in the fact that they actually put the whole can of RedBull in the glass - but again, almost all ice. I didn't really like either of those drinks, but I finished them anyways because we paid for them.

I had two mixed drinks made with liquor, for $20, and I didn't even get a little bit tipsy. Nothing. It was like I drank water. My husband, on the other hand, had two $4 bottles of Tennessee Red (normally he can drink a 6 pack of Killians and not be drunk) and he was pleasantly tipsy, so I drove us home.

There is a similar concept restaurant in Brunswick Ohio called Geeked Out. One of their small potions is enough to take the edge off, two will definitely make you tipsy. I love the concept of a restaurant and bar like this, and I was excited to find one here in Knoxville when we moved. I do like Token better than Geeked Out for several reasons - but Geeked Out definitely wins on the quality of the mixed drinks. When we go to Token again we will be getting only bottled and canned drinks. There is just way too much ice and not enough actual alcohol in the mixed drinks, especially for the price. That Super Smash drink is essentially a $10 can of RedBull.

Again, we had a great time and loved the venue. We spent 2 fun hours there and about $80. Great concept on the drink menu (they are inspired ideas and look really cool) - but the actual drinks themselves need to be made better/with way less ice. I sincerely hope management considers this...

I really like this place but the stars are for improvement bases. There was a "wait" when we arrived. We were the only ones waiting. We stood there for 10 minutes while my girlfriend told the hostess that the table next to the door asked for their check and were leaving. They left before the table the hostess wanted to give us left. A couple 10 min after us came and and immediately sat at the table we were pretty much waiting for and the hostess didn't even bat an eye. It wasn't reserved or anything. So we waited so more for our table. No big deal. The bad thing about it was that our server took forever to even get us our drinks, when we got our food she didn't even check on us until we were almost done... It would've been nice to have little things like napkins or ketchup for out burger and fries. The two stars was for the food only. Then we sat for 10 more minutes until we stared her down to give us our check while she politely stood there for us to type in our tip.. (girlfriend wanted to leave less than 20% bc she's a server who deals with insanely high volumes and even thought it was trash service) but felt uncomfortable bc you have to sit there and type in the tip while they're staring at you with only the options of 25% 20% or 18%. Which definitely wasn't deserved. I thought it mustve been because they were a bit busy ISH. But having a server girlfriend who knows what busy vs bad service is made me understand that we should've just ordered To go and saved $30

Edit: since I can't reply to the reply from the owner... The issue wasn't about it being a holiday or about having the option to have a print off receipt (which wasn't offered) it was solely about having servers that can handle it being slightly busy and not those that wander around like people aren't watching and waiting even a hostess that is assertive and knows how to handle situations to make your business run smoother so there isn't a bad taste for a first impression. The place is amazing and the food was great but maybe wait until the bar is open and the service is better...