F1 Arcade Philadelphia — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Tl;dr - this place has potential, but some serious kinks need to be worked out.

I've been to the F1 arcade twice since it opened and both times the experience was fine, if a bit frustrating. The actual space was cool and the sim racing was a lot of fun. I can't speak for the food (we'll get to that), but the drinks were good and the price was comparable to a typical cocktail bar in Philly. Overall, I had a good time both times I went.

That said, this place is incredibly disorganized. The first time I went, 3 of us walked in and were able to immediately put our names down for about a half hour later, which was fine. When we got to the simulators, however, we sat for nearly 10 mins waiting for someone to start the races. We couldn't start them ourselves since everything seems to be controlled by some central point behind the scenes, so we just had to wait until someone noticed. Once they did get started, everything ran smoothly.

The second time, a group of 6 of us made a reservation beforehand. The confirmation email told us to check in 15 mins ahead of time, but when we tried, we were told we were early and to wait until 5 mins before out reservation time. That's fine, we'll just order a drink and maybe some food. The tables are first come, first served, and there are no servers taking orders (at least, that we experienced). Rather, all orders should be made either at the bar or via QR codes on every table. Except, the QR codes didn't work. And I don't mean just the one on our table, not a single QR code in the place seemed to work. I noticed when I was there the week prior that the one on our table didn't work, but figured it was just the one and ordered drinks from the bar instead. This time, we tried multiple tables with multiple phones, but we just kept getting a 404 error on the toast website. The bar was swamped, probably because none of the QR codes worked and the only other option was to try and flag someone down.

Eventually, we were allowed to check in and were brought to a side room by one of the hostesses. She tried to set us up, but the sims had apparently stopped worked for the group there before us 15 mins before the end of their session and they were still waiting on someone to come fix it for them. She left us at a table nearby to find someone to help and came back about 5 mins later to take us to a different spot. She told us we'd have 2 simulators, told us the numbers, and said the group on them were just finishing up their races. Perfect! However, after watching the group do 2 more races, we noticed that they were actually on race 18 of 32 on the sims we were supposed to be getting. It seems like the hostess also noticed this because a different woman, I think a manager, came over a few mins later and took us to a third bank of sims. There were only 3 in this spot, so they let us use the third one as well, which was nice. It took a few mins to get all three synced (and this syncing somehow involved yet another broken QR code), but finally, 30 mins after our actual reservation, we were finally able to go racing.

Overall, I did have fun both times, but the whole place feels like a lot of thought was put into the vibe without much consideration for the actual experience. It's supposed to be a bar and an arcade, but ordering food and drink was made as hard as possible and the only game needed at least 3 staff members to actually use. The staff is very nice, and helpful when they can be, but it doesn't seem like much training was done before opening. I'm a big F1 fan and would love it if this stuck around, but in its current state I can't imagine it lasting much longer after the allure of being shiny and...

I won a gift certificate through their raffle at rittenhouse row festival so me and 8 of my friends went. When I originally made the reservation I asked if we should come early to order food and eat before we race and the event manager Matt told me they can’t reserve tables for eating they can only reserve the racing time. When I asked if they were usually busy on Fridays around 5 since that’s pretty early he basically laughed in my face and said yes the weekends are busy but we can eat while we race because it’s “team racing” and only a few play at a time so we did not come early. So I was pretty surprised when we got there at our racing time at 6 to see the place basically empty and there was tons of open tables. Someone explained how the racing worked and said a server would be over for us but after 20 minutes no one came over. There are QR codes on the tables that say order here but when you scan them it takes you to a 404 error broken link. I approached a server and asked him how we can order food and drinks. He told me there was supposed to be another server coming over but since they never came over he would help us. He was awesome and on point all night, I wish I got his name. We got both classic cocktails and drinks from their menu and everyone enjoyed them. The food was also great, for nine of us we did 9 appetizers for $98, 24 tacos for $84, and 2 flatbread pizzas that were about $18 each. It was a lot of food even for 9 of us. Everyone enjoyed and said the food was great and we appreciated they had good vegetarian options. Because we had so much food we barely used the racing machines. We did not really understand how deciding the teams and races and it just displays names on the screen and counts down to a start time which isn’t much time at all. My name popped up as our server was taking our order and I asked if there was any way to pause the race so I can order and there isn’t. We mostly just let the races run through without anyone playing them. I wish we were better informed and had come early to eat so we could have tried the racing more. It was $29 per person to race for an hour and twenty minutes. Overall we had a good time but if I had paid for the racing myself and not won the gift certificate I probably would’ve been pretty unhappy. I’m also pretty sure they charged me twice for the racing both when I made the reservation and when i checked in on arrival because they told me I had a $739 balance when I checked in but when I checked out the gift certificate only had $478 on it. So we actually paid $522 for the racing sims that we barely used. But it was a free gift to me and they are brand new and probably still figuring out how the gift certificate system works. You can not make a reservation with a gift certificate on their website and when I went in person to make the reservation the event manager Matt was pretty insistent that I should do it online and after awhile of showing I couldn’t when he finally did make the reservation he asked me for a tip. I tipped the server who took care of us in cash and I’ve never been promoted to tip a host anywhere for making a reservation especially after being told to do it myself online so that was really off putting to me. I felt like maybe because it was a gift is why the event manager was being so unwelcoming? Who knows. The vibe on Friday night here seems to be “dads night out” which I think is actually good for this neighborhood where a lot of bars pack you in like sardines and can feel like they’re taken over by 21 year olds. When we left at 8 it was still...

F1 Arcade has the absolute worst service I have ever encountered at a restaurant. We went here last night after our show, we waited for 30 minutes for our table to be cleaned or for anyone to even say hello. We asked twice for our table to be cleaned, no one came to do it. After 30 minutes, I went and got a rag and sprayer myself to do it, at which point they finally cleaned it. Finally, after almost 45 minutes of a server making eye contact with us but saying nothing, we approached her. She then got a server who came to take our order. One of the servers who had been at the bar for 30 minutes blowing bubbles with his co-workers instead of addressing us.

We ordered 2 chicken sandwiches, Wagyu sliders (rare), flat bread, tacos and a burger. We also ordered rounds of drinks.

Tacos came out first by themselves. No drinks. Then the chicken came out as platters, not burgers. Still no drinks. Then came the flatbread. Still no drinks.

Half of our food came out and we didn't even have waters or a coca cola yet. The food should come out together. Not staggered in 5 minute intervals.

At this point we tried to tell our server our entire order was wrong. It was so pathetic they had to get the manager involved.

They tried to spring free games on us as a way to fix it, we did not want to play games.

The manager finally came over to say he would comp our meal after all the trouble we had, which we thanked him for. After being here for almost 2 hours, we finally got our food. Though my burger still came out last after every other person, and finally, at last, the coca cola.

I then ordered another beer on a separate tab so I could pay for it and give the waiter a tip. (It was not his fault, he rang things up correctly.)

We waited for 30 minutes for that beer. I reminded the server twice, by reminding him I need to pay for it so I can tip him. We never got that beer. He charged me for the beer we never got, I tipped him, and we finally left.

Now, today, I have a $170 charge on my card for the disastrous meal we had. I have been calling all morning but you are "too busy to take calls" yet Google says you are less than busy.

The employees here just hang out, the manager is scatterbrained and buddies with the employees. Its very clear there is 0 work culture here.

If I could give -10 stars I would. Now I get to spend my morning tracking someone down who doesn't answer phones to discuss why I was charged. I have been calling for 2 hours, this is my 6th attempt now. No answer.

I have never been more pissed off at a restaurant in my life, and will be sending this to Shelley Williams email, your VP of sales.

This entire place is a pathetic excuse for a restaurant. Pure embarrassment. If I do not hear from anyone today about this matter I will come down there personally and find the manager...