Rec Room — Restaurant in Lakeland

I’ve been here before. However it’s been well over a year since my last visit. I’ve gone before in the afternoon and evening. I’ll say this was a completely different vibe than all the other times before. I was meeting a friend from out of town. I chose this over my 3 other downtown favorites because of past visits being pleasant. I’m not sure I’ll return again. First, I was excited to see many more games and expansion. The bartender told us of the night’s drink specials which sounded great. The music was pretty loud to begin with so maybe I did not hear her correctly because my tab did not match the “specials” I thought she said. As the hour progressed our conversations got more difficult as the music volume was turned up with every song being louder than the last. It was a very strange vibe. Daisy dukes, cowboy boots/hats and LOUD country music did not match the arcade vibe. I ordered the same drink twice. The second drink was not like the first so I told the bartender. She was really debating with me about it. It clearly was NOT the same drink. So she proceeded to tell me that the first drink had been made wrong. The menu in front of me cleared that up. And she made the correction. But her attitude about it, throwing her co worker under the bus when she was wrong made me over it. By the middle of my second drink, my throat hurt from trying to talk with my friend. My ears were ringing from how loud the music was. So my friend and I stopped chatting and decided to leave. When I got my check, it was fair enough. Maybe I was wrong about the specials I thought I heard. But regular prices are fair. And when the drink was made correctly, it was a nice mix. This is clearly a college meet up spot with party girls BEHIND the bar doing shots and turning the music up with every song. If I wanted linksters, I would have gone there. I do own a business downtown and I’ve suggested this place as a fun social gathering to my own clients. It’s been so long since I was there and things have certainly changed. Not sure I will suggest my clients go there unless they are college kids only looking to party hard. This could be a great asset to downtown. But I don’t frequent frat bars as an...

I’d give this place 10 stars if I could. Here randomly on a Sunday night to unwind and decompress and I’m pleasantly surprised to find out my bill is slashed by 50% because I work in the restaurant industry. This is a true bar for restaurant workers to unwind. By the way, come get served by me at the Shack Riverfront in Palm Bay Mon-Fri and I’m usually cut at 3pm. Everything for me starts with the bartenders Matt and Chris. They set the whole tone for the entire floor with their flamboyant personalities and they play off each other….. their chemistry is crazy. They were joking and insulting each other and putting on a grand show for us. The Rec Room really put dudes here tonight that want to be here and serve. Even the little scuffle that happened with some bar patrons was handled quickly by Matt. This is a place you can take your significant other or come by yourself. There are arcades, a ping pong table, a PS4 hooked up to a big screen TV with a variety of games to play, and plenty of space to move around. This place reminds me of the arcade centers of the late 80’s and early 90’s, but remixed for 2022. Music is hip hoppish and top 40 uncensored. I love this place. As far as the vibe of the patrons, I find myself enjoying the rainbow of colors that came tonight. Their ages seem in the 20’s to the late 30’s. Quite impressive of an establishment to have so many people of different colors and creeds under one roof. The women were beautiful and the dudes were comfortable. Like I said before, there was a little scuffle between 2 patrons, but that was handled swiftly by the bartenders. In conclusion, this place is very lovely establishment and I’ll definitely be coming back when I’m in Lakeland again dropping my children off to their mother...

After booking a karaoke room and having a great night with my friends saturday night, we were gathering everyone up to leave. We found a girl friend at the bathroom who needed to be attended to. We skipped a line full of MEN to wait on a WOMANS stall with her. The men in the front were saying rude and disrespectful things to us, but I assured him we were waiting for a woman’s stall. Immediately after, a second man skipped the line and stood next to the initial man who then gave him a friendly handshake. I made a comment about the hypocrisy. They continued to make rude and disrespectful comments to me and my friends. I stood up for myself and the girls, and I shoved one of the men (i am in the wrong for that, i acknowledge that). I went to the bathroom and came out to being ambushed to leave (which is fine) however, as i’m walking out I’m trying to explain what they did. I was hushed and silenced. A female brunette “manager” wouldn’t listen, after multiple attempts of being hushed and silenced repeatedly, I said “so i could tell you I was s*xually assaulted in the bathroom and you wouldn’t care?” she replied saying “NO- get out”, THIS is what i have a problem with. A tall ginger/blonde security guard would also not listen to anything I had to say as we were leaving. The men did not get kicked out. The women were silenced. If you’re a woman and want the staff, A MANAGER, specifically a FEMALE manager, to at the least listen to you in a time of conflict, God forbid it being assaulted, don’t expect to be heard, expect to be silenced. If it was any other establishment, she’d be fired for telling me to my face she did not care if i got assaulted. But since it’s a bar,...