Skateland — Restaurant in Mesa

So this weekend I had a double bday party for two of my kids here. We had the worst experience possible! For starters our hostess was pleasant, however she seemed very frazzled. Therefore asking for more cups, plates or whatever the case was, we seemed to have to search for her almost every time. The music was horrible and it seemed like everytime we got on the rink the music was stopping for the DJ to talk. To make matters worse there were so many birthday parties and people there that kids and adults were constantly running around taking our skate mates or running into each other. Then towards the end of our party I noticed that all my kids birthday cards that I had just separated were gone. The entire stack! Everyone in our party started looking through trash cans, in bathrooms, walking the floor and behind the arcade center. They searched and searched and they never came up. In the midst of everyone looking for them the hostess was still trying to get everyone together to sing happy birthday and cut the cake. My kids unfortunately decided they did not want to sing nor eat cake. Actually everyone in our party was so upset that kids were crying because of a thief. When I asked about the video survellience the manager stated that they could not access them nor was she sure if they are even recording!! Then to top it off, 7pm hits and as upset as I am, I am told I need to pay the bill. Which ok, no problem, I reserved the party and had guests and everything, but when I seen the bill it was at almost $500 from the first quote of $253 balance after the deposit. I only ordered one extra pizza and bottomless drinks. I was told initially 3 months ago when I reserved it that I wanted to pay for 15 kids to skate. They assured me that once it hit 15 kids they would let me know if any other guests arrived and I would be asked if I wanted to pay for the children or if the parents needed to pay. Well I was not asked and a total of 23 kids ended up on my bill! I was given a total of 17 bags of tokens in the beginning. So once I actually thought about it, I never recieved the other tokens for the other 6 kids, the gifts of a light up toy and glow necklace for each paid kid, nor did I recieve the other 2 slices of pizza each for those kids either!!!!! Still I paid my bill! I am beyond frustrated! Because of a thief and horrible service my money was completely wasted and my kids walked away with 2 gifts and no cards, no happy birthday or blowing out the candles!!!! They were too busy looking for thier cards that they never cashed in thier tickets and most kids didnt even spend thier tokens because they were busy looking for my kids cards! This is seriously the worst place to have a birthday party! I will never recommend this place to anyone for a birthday party! The organization of it all was horrendous and...

DO NOT BOOK A BIRTHDAY HERE. This was the worst coordination of a birthday party I have ever been a part of. We have used a lot of event places but this by far was horrible. They completely overbook themselves. We confirmed 15 people 2 different times prior to the party, when we got there they only planned for 10, I had to keep reminding them. We didn’t even get in for our party time until almost 30 min after what was scheduled. We sat outside while they got things figured out. Our whole party was there yet they just had us sit outside trying to find an employee to take us to the table. Getting skates was a nightmare as the line starts outside the door from entering so we had to find a way to get some on the side. The coordinator went over the timeline but literally nothing went even close to that. I understand some things can tun behind but when it’s a time frame you’ll be kicked out at the end of it’s important that we can eat our damn cake. We never got refills on our bottomless drinks, my daughters shout out and song request was cut short, she barely went around once before they faded into another song. We had to beg for our cake to be brought out. Once it was they only put 6 of the candles I brought and she was turning 8. I had to have her go back and get the other ones even though we had an 8 giant on the cake, she was shocked at why I wanted 8 candles. We didn’t have all her friends because the time was so off, they didn’t announce over the PA system so we had to just sing anyways. Then she was the only one who could light them, half of them went out before we finished singing so half of my recording of us singing to her I had to relight the candles with the other lit ones so she could blow out them all.. then we had sung and started to cut the cake, we had no forks, no napkins, had to wait for her to go get them at request. The game cards were given to us with 45 min left and only 10, so again had to wait on more. Our coordinator was always no where to be found. I complained to the manager and he explained they had a 500 person halloween event… this party is $550, don’t overbook yourself. He took off $47 which were add ins I added that day… super disappointed with everything.

Update: I was contacted and sincere apologies were made. I do feel things were made right and the customer service was commendable and appreciated. Possibly check in prior to see how busy your party day will be, that’s what I would...

I am new to rink skating therefore I am checking out the local options. I came to the Mesa Location because the Chandler location doesn't offer public skate on Thursdays. These 2 rinks although both labeled Skateland do have very different feels to them. Pros of Mesa vs. Chandler:

1. VERY Clean and bright compared to Chandler in terms of the carpet, the rink, and the lockers (much much better and safer lockers).
2. Just felt more welcoming overall.
3. The ref for the rink was "on it." He was solid at lest on 8/11 at 5:30pm. He was reminding everyone of the rules and was monitoring everyone well.
4. The music mix was more diverse.
5. During the 5:30pm skate they worked in fun themes like partner skate songs and glow songs.

CONS:

1. at least for Thursday 5:30pm, it was FULL of kids w/ the skate assistance. No biggie normally but my gosh these kids were using those things like weapons..all over, in every direction. I saw very few parents monitoring and it was a big mess to try to skate for the first 30-40 mins. I almost left actually. Not sure if this location just attracts more little learning kids overall , or just on Thursday. I plan on trying another weekday to see the mix. Most the parents did not supervise their kids or skate near their kids do it gets chaotic. The referee did try to monitor but there were too many falling kids w assist guards literally flying !
2. Not much wall if you are a true newbie so I imagine scary to start off at without having something to cling too.
3. Their rental skates are very hard/stiff plastic boots (quads) so the skates felt sturdy but also can be very heavy and tough. The skates at Chandler were a lot softer and in my opinion easier to maneuver.
4. The ladies bathroom at Mesa is tiny and not in the best shape or best cleanliness.
5. the rink here is very slick in my opinion which can be good or bad depending on your skill level.

Parties: if you hosting a party the Mesa location seems much better than the Chandler. it just looked and smelled cleaner and had more table space...so FYI if...