Chuck E. Cheese — Restaurant in Phoenix

If I could have given zero stars, I would have. This place is expensive and you expect to get what you pay for but when I took my daughter here for her friends birthday it was ridiculous AND I got harassed by the manager ( Mariah S.) We got there before my daughter's friend and the rest of the party because we live close and I wanted to gift my daughter a 3 month pass as a late bday gift. I purchased a 3 month pass and food. I asked the manager if the pass allowed her to play on or with everything because at some indoor play places some things are separate. Mariah said it included it all. My daughter went and started jumping on the trampoline and after maybe 5 mins the manager, Mariah Y S, rudely told my daughter to get out. I asked why and she said it's $13 extra to use the trampoline. I was irritated but said I'd buy it. After buying a pass you get a percentage off everything. She tried to charge me full price.. twice. Got it figured out and my daughter was good. Until they kept kicking the kids out of the trampoline area and locking it with a padlock because the ONLY person who would attend to the kids was a young man who also happened to be Chuck e cheese, the person they called to help with arcade games, bussing tables and cleaning and wiping down tables and games. There are 2 "cashiers" who sat in the front and didn't do anything but cash people out which there was rarely anyone coming in so they sat up there and talked most of the time we were there and the manager, Mariah S, who spent her time bossing the cook and this young man around. I asked why one of the ladies from the front couldn't attend to the trampoline area because it's ridiculous that parents have to spend extra for something the kids are locked out of. She got really upset and sent one of them over. She opened it for 5 MINUTES!!!!! She then told the kids to leave and locked it. So again...since the manager , Mariah S, wasn't doing anything we asked if her or someone who wasn't busy could open it up for the kids. She did reluctantly for 7 mins. Then she told the kids to leave and she left. By this time my daughter's friend and the bday party are getting there and my daughter wasn't on the trampoline but my mother was talking to the grandmother of the bday girl and they told us they paid over $400 for the party and were told they would still have to pay $13 per child to jump on the trampoline. My mother said she would be contacting corporate. The manager, Mariah S, walked by and heard them talking about how ridiculous this is. After they got done talking my mom walked back to the table and was eating pizza with me when Mariah approached us, WITH HER PANTS UNZIPPED AND AN EXTREMELY STRONG FOUL ODOR PRESENT, and said "I know you're upset about the trampoline being closed most of the day but you can't talk to other people about it". I said excuse me, we can talk to whoever we want about whatever we want it's called freedom of speech AND we are with them for their granddaughters birthday, we aren't approaching strangers about your ridiculous management of chuck e cheese. She said i am going to ask you to leave for costing us business and I'm calling the police on you all. Mariah called the police on us for asking her to do her job. She called the police because we were going to notify corporate about how she "manages" this location. Not only did my children have to deal with not being able to play on the trampoline AFTER we paid. Not only did I WASTE my HARD EARNED MONEY. BUT AFTER I PAID $200 AND OUR FRIEND PAID $400 FOR THEIR BIRTHDAY PARTY, MARIAH CALLED THE POLICE WHO WERE IGNORANT AND AGGRESSIVE AND MY CHILDREN WERE THEN SUBJECTED TO HOW THE POLICE SPOKE TO AND TREATED THEIR MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER ALL BECAUSE SHE DIDNT WANT TO DO HER JOB! AND WE WERE THE ONLY BLACK PEOPLE IN THE BUILDING! I recorded it all and will be sending it to their corporate office and may also take further action to ensure no one else is subjected to this type of abuse of power, ignorance and emotional trauma that myself and my kids were...

We did a birthday party for our two year old yesterday (7/7/18) and it was terrible from start to finish. When we arrived at 12pm (party time reserved from 12:30-2:30) the person at the front had no idea about anything. Didn't know where our table was, where our host was, where to put our ice cream and cake (meanwhile, it's just sitting there melting). We finally get directed to our table at about 12:25. At about 12:45 we finally get our credits for the kids to play and soda and pizza ordered for the kids. The hostess didn't come by not one time to tell us what was on the agenda. (I.e times for activities, etc). We were playing with the credits for about an hour (it is now 1:40) before I chased down one of the party hosts to ask what is happening. When do we get started? Etc... They tell us the dance party is going to start in 10 minutes and to gather all the children. So we did. It is now 1:55 and the dance party begins. Great! Fun! Then the hostess brings the cake, cuts it, and then some guy comes over rushing us about going into the ticket machine (mind you...we just started cutting the cake and haven't even ate the cake yet). He said he can give us 10 minutes max because we HAVE to be out by 3pm. We go into the ticket machine at 2:05. We come back and do gifts, right in the middle of the gifts (2:10pm) the guy says we need to "hurry up because you need to be out by 3pm". Ummm...ok??? We still have 50 minutes. Comes back again at 2:15 telling us AGAIN to "hurry up". So rude. Then at 2:28pm he comes back AGAIN stating "his manager said we need to be out now. Not 3pm because of other parties coming in". Even though he told us 3 times...3pm. We had 2 minutes to clean up all of our stuff and head out the door. My question is, why was everything so rushed? Why was there no agenda? Why was EVERYTHING left to the last 45minutes of the party when we had 2 hours reserved? Why did I have to clean up the table, throw away trash during the party, and otherwise to the hostess' job? Why did I have to chase these people down to find out what was going on? And to top it all off? We didn't even get the tickets we were promised as part of the package. We came back later that night and the manager gave us the tickets and a few extra, but should we have had to come back in the first place? No. We actually came back to use our credits because we were SO RUSHED to get out of there that we didn't get to use them and the kids were upset. Also, as we were leaving, they shined their little black light on my 2yr old arm looking for the stamp. It washed off because we wash our hands frequently. In a very condescending tone she says, "sorry! I can't let her leave with you. Do you have a picture of her?" What?!?! No!! She's MY KID! Here's a tip... Either get a stamp that doesn't wash off so easily, or forwarn the parents that it washes off so we don't wash that area (it's invisible...so massive even put it in a place that can't be washed 😂). From start to finish everyone was rude, we did not get the service we paid for (and we come to these places so WE don't have to do all the work and not be so stressed. That's why we PAY YOU instead of doing it ourselves.), and your employees didn't do their jobs. I'm a business owner myself, and if I treated my clients the way we were treated, or gave them a service the way you gave ours, I wouldn't have a business. Terrible experience and will never be back. They only thing that gave you an extra star was that the pizza was really delicious! One more thing...when we came back to spend our credits, half of your machines were running out of tickets and when my 9yr old would request the tickets she had won, we got attitude for that as well. One would think paying customer's would receive a little bit more respect considering you wouldn't even have a...

Overall my rating is more about the company's product as a whole and not dissatisfaction specific to this location. Nostalgia does factor in as a small boost because it's nice that they still have the whole band on stage here. Not to say it's as cool as it was circa 1984, you do get to show your kids something closer to how you remember it from your own youth. (Actually, it was Showbiz Pizza in Amarillo, Texas that left the earliest impressions on me.) This is the only place I've run across that hasn't dismantled everything except the namesake animatronic rodent.

The entertainment skews toward a very young demographic. You certainly won't find arcade classics like Frogger from the old era. They're primarily based on quick turnover and dispensing of tickets rather than enjoyable gameplay. Few games would last even a full minute with real skill (one possible exception being Doodle Jump and the obligatory racing games.) While there are some newer games, there also many aging ones in the bunch that haven't changed in all the years I've been taking my son and it's fairly uniform across locations. Older equipment is more likely to suffer mechanical issues and broken controls too. Thankfully I don't recall any particular issues the last visit here, but it definitely happens. (Note that I've never been to the new one by Chandler Mall though I wouldn't be surprised if they took some equipment from the old Fiesta Mall spot.)

The new timed play option is interesting though it's not necessarily a better deal than buying credits outright. Some machines do still require a physical token and have been retrofitted to dispense one when you tap the card. (I wonder what happens when the supply runs out...) And since it's tapping rather than swiping, you'll want to be careful about accidentally dangling the card too close to a sensor--at least if you're not doing unlimited play. Lost tokens and awkward cups won't be a concern though, nor will jammed and finicky coin slots. They did also ask me how to split my 100 credits (50 each on two cards) and they didn't charge me a dumb fee for the plastic like they pull at some other places.

And on the topic of credits (or "play points") three for a dollar is a ridiculous rate so make sure to print an online coupon before you go, and don't forget that token packages at the counter will be charged extra sales tax that used to just be rolled into the cash price at the token dispenser. The new stations handle recharging your electronic card and accept credit cards though I didn't test out those options.

Ticket redemption rates are hardly a stellar deal, especially on lower-level novelty junk and candy, and I don't find the prize selection to be great. There are some opportunities to teach children about value and savings (and gambling) if you have some planning and discipline. And by the way, tickets still all come in physical paper form despite the switch to cards. In fact returning your depleted cards will net a small bonus at the counter. I think ticket munchers are appropriate and fun for young kids anyway.

I assume that unspent points don't expire and will work at all locations but this is worth confirming. Dave & Busters seems to require taking cards to the service counter and having them "migrated". Yes, I do know way too much about this stuff and no, I didn't start out intending to write this much.

Peter Piper Pizza (now owned by Mr. Cheese) is an equally convenient place where I can watch sports while kids do their thing. Picking between the two that'll often be compelling. If management is listening, the former P3 location at 32nd and Shea was an awesome place for Suns fans and gamers back about 1995. These are fond memories, yet sadly, as an adult in 2019, neither of the two brands makes me...