Barcade — Restaurant in New Haven

I've been itching to check out the Barcade locations in NYC for the better part of a year, so when I found out there would be one so close to home I was thrilled. I waited a few weeks for things to settle down after their grand opening, and finally made the trip to visit last night.

I'm an avid gamer and I love craft beers, so what's not to love about this place? It brought me back to the days of my youth, slinging quarters on the edge of the Street Fighter II machine calling dibs on next. The difference? I'm of legal drinking age now. That's a beautiful thing.

The bar itself is reasonably clean. There are a handful of tables that are first come/first serve, and there is no waiter or waitress to take your order. Walk up to the bar, order your food and drink, and if you're getting food they hand you a number, which you place on the table of your choosing, and they bring the food out to you. We tried the tater tots with caramelized onions and cheese, while my friend ordered a chicken sandwich that replaced the bun with Belgian waffles, and had a sweet and spicy dipping sauce that was magnificent.

The beer selection is pretty solid, but I found it was a little heavy on a couple of brands. They had somewhere between 15-20 beers on tap, if I had to guess, and you can order regular mixed drinks as well.

But the real attraction here is the arcade, which is a throwback to my childhood in all the right ways. There are dozens of machines here from all eras - From Pong to Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. The machines are all in good working order, and well maintained. They use tokens, each token costing $0.25. Most machines take one token, some two. $10 here will last you a long time.

I did find that the service seemed a little understaffed, and I feel that one more bartender and food runner would've made a huge difference, especially on a Friday night. That said, my friends and I had a great experience at Barcade and would...

Take a quick look at my picture. It's terrible. I moved and took it on a quick whim. Mostly because I was pissed off. This image is like this establishment. I remember coming to this place during launch week. The ambience was awesome and it looked to quickly establish itself as a staple in the community. That all went away a couple nights ago. I won't be coming back here on simple principle. It seems there's no management here, just some employees working a job. It seems the ownership is making some solid money, enough not to care or give a a hoot about bad reviews. I came in at 11:35, albeit they close at 12:00 am. I was not greeted I was instantly told, hey we're closed. I said politely, I believe you close at 12 am, I am just here to play some games. There was no response and I was ok with that. I proceeded to enter further and proceeded to get some coins from the machine. Another employee quickly moved over to that machine and started to shut it down. I said can I get some coins, he said, "sorry man we are shutting down" he wasn't rude per se but the act of coming right over to shut down the change machine showed me exactly how they work. It's cool though. They can keep their place. The food was subpar anyway. I hope my review will turn away...

Friends and I came here at 1:30am for a last drink. After we all paid, they proceeded to try and throw us almost immediately (before 2am). I told them to chill out, since I just ordered a beer and planned to finish it before closing, and that I (jokingly) didn’t want to rush and get alcohol poisoning at 1:50am. The bartender took the final third of my beer away from me and told me to get out. I’ve been going to bars for 20+ years and I have NEVER seen anyone so gung-ho to close up by 2am that they took my paid-for drink away from me and claimed that my assertion of them rushing me was somehow a threat to THEM.

Never go here at the end of the night. Ever.

Think whatever you want of this review. My party and I were sitting quietly at the bar and chatting like normal people when they decided they didn’t want to work anymore and...