Joystiq — Restaurant in Merced

Update 9/30/2023: I came here in early evening with several friends for a birthday celebration. We all ordered food this time around. It came in a timely manner and I actually really like the ordering system they have. No waitresses, just order at the counter and pick it up when your "pager" goes off. Nice and casual.

Many of us ordered the Mezze Platter, it was pretty good, but the pita was a little dry and over charred. The hummus was delicious and fresh, and the fried zucchini was good.

A couple of my friends ordered Western Burgers with Fries; they were satisfied with them, nothing to call home about, but good.

One of my friends ordered chicken skewers that came with salad and rice. The chicken was unexpectedly spicy, but moist and juicy, and the salad came with apples on top and a sweet vinaigrette and that's all. Some choices for the salad would be nice and a little warning about the chicken. I like spicy and it just wasn't a good spicy.

Overall, I don't think I would order anything but fries and other bar food here, but we had a blast playing games and then later we had a blast playing games together upstairs. The bartenders are friendly and relatively speedy; all other staff is very friendly and helpful as well.

9/8/2023 My husband and I came here on a Friday evening for drinks and games. The bartenders were friendly, helpful, and skilled. There were more games than I thought and some old games that I haven't played in a very long time so it was a lot of fun!

We each played arcade games and some backyard style games for almost two hours, had two drinks and spent about $50 including tip. My husband orders Crown so we just expect the bill to be a little more but the drink are reasonably priced. He had two crown and 7s, I had a pint of a seltzer and a paloma with well tequila and it came out to $30 and we tipped $8.

We will try to food next time, but for a few drinks and entertainment, my husband and I had a great time. The atmosphere is just...

Writing this review based on my experience. Take it how you will. I was with a party of five for a night out here and we really had a good time there:

Pros: The atmosphere is lively, especially at the night time. The service was nice and I love how courteous one of the kitchen members (I forgot his name) were. The pinball machines were so much fun to play on as are the bar games upstairs such as Jumbo Jenga (pardon the spelling), Connect 4, and cornhole. Playing Nintendo Switch at the bar table was also a nice treat and a fun change of pace. Giant TVs, photo ops, great sized tables. ATMs & change dispensers

Cons: The food is very average. Not bad, just average. I’d play it safe and just get the apps because the entrees at first glance do not look good. The arcade machines are very hit on miss. Some games (Marvel Vs Capcom 2, Hydro Thunder, Simpsons for example) worked well. Others swallowed up your coins (Crazy Taxi), had non-funcioning parts (HOTD1 & 2), or just flat out weren’t operable (Killer Instinct; MK3). I wish the arcade cabinets were better maintained, but I understand that they’ve existed longer that the people that play them.

I would defitnitely recommend this place for a night out with your friends, co workers, etc. Don’t bring your children here. This isn’t exactly a family...

This is a needed business in Merced; however, they may need a course in Business Management. We went at 6pm and it was packed with little to no staff. The bar wait time was 30+ minutes with one bartender that didn’t keep track when someone came up to order. Maybe implement a line system for those not sitting at the bar. The Hazy (draft) was warm, over 60°.

There was no staff on the floor just walking around making sure no one was too drunk, fighting or making sure things didn’t break down. We had several games not work and the kitchen staff couldn’t help. We are out probably 10 dollars as the games are on the expensive side for an arcade. And the owner (according to a friend) stood in the bar not acknowledging customers drinking a beer and counting his till.

I would also like to add there is no security and there were homeless walking through asking for people to sponsor games for them. This is a kid friendly establishment with drunk people everywhere (keep that in mind before taking your kids) and homeless begging games off people.

If you don’t mind long waits, homeless, warm beer and kids running a roost, then this is the perfect...