Pixels Bar + Arcade — Restaurant in Rolesville

I like this place, but it’s got some issues. I’ll start out with stock flippers the picture of the upper playfield of the Foo Fighters game below that flip was stuck the week before when I visited and then again this weekend so I presume it was stuck all week long. There was another game that had a sticky flipper.

As you can see from one of the other photos, it’s really bright in this place. Brighter than any bar should ever be and definitely about a million times brighter than any arcade should ever be. So that’s an interesting choice.

They They have trash cans in the shape of donkey Kong barrels, but they’re just barrels with a huge DK vinyl sticker attached, poorly. It’s not the end of the world, but it just makes it look slapdash And it would look better if they just took the decal off.

Some of the customers like to make themselves at home like why not just put your jacket on the game next to you. So you’re gonna have to deal with those kind of people who have no idea what the arcade etiquette is or don’t care.

I don’t know if the owner of the establishment owns the games or if he gets them from a coin-op distributor. My guess is they own the machines. So anyway, the back row of machines behind the pinballs The Arcade cabinets I’m not sure these are licensed cabinets. I think they may actually be MAME machines with proper decals abd marquees put on them. What makes me suspect this is they all have LCD screens the joystick on the multi con is totally wrong and as such makes it extremely hard to go up and down my guess is they’re using an eight way joystick instead of a four-way joystick. You could say not a big deal but if you really like donkey Kong and you go down there to play a bunch of Kong cause you’re really good at it. Well, you’re not gonna have a pretty good time because it’s gonna be almost impossible to get anywhere on it Because it’s like pulling teeth to go up a ladder. At least all those machines are on FreePlay but if I’m being honest, they’re super suspect, They completely lack the feel of the real versions of those machines.

In addition to turning the freaking lights down, I know people spill stuff in bars, but still it wouldn’t kill you to get some carpet around the machines some cool arcade carpet they still sell it usually you’ll see it in bowling alleys, but it’s still out there. It’ll help cut down on the noise too, which considering it’s all concrete floors and flat walls and glass windows it gets super noisy not loud necessarily just clanging noise. And finally, what’s with all the Dave & Buster’s style machines? Do people really spend that much money on those? Maybe they do, but I don’t know. I feel like they have way more of those dog games than they need and they take up a lot of space too. If you’re gonna get something that big why not get a DDR? Surely that would make more money than the Jurassic Park on rails light gun game.

I would like to see more classic games, a lot more classic games in original cabinets with original controls that operate the way they’re supposed to. I’d like to see some of the less known games cycled out every so often. Does anyone actually play the games against the wall where the X-Men game and the Wayne Gretzky game is? My experience is that no one plays those anymore, If they’re not bringing in big money, why not replace them with something fun?

Now let me tell you if you’re looking to be impressed by a bathroom you need to see this place. Because they spent all the money on the bathroom. Not kidding the aesthetics of everything else except for the bathroom are half assed, but the bathroom is amazing. They spent so much money and had such attention to detail for where I quickly go piss and then come back to play games.

This place can make a killing out here, but they have a lot of work to do and it probably wouldn’t kill them to operate the place in a way that makes other gamers think that they actually know this stuff and aren’t just cynically opening up a bar with arcade machines because they think...

I stopped in after seeing this place on social media and thought it would make a good date spot, but unfortunately, I won’t be returning. Go to Rewind Retro Bar (super recommend!) or Boxcar instead. From the start, service was lacking. Most of the tables were covered in dirty cups and leftover food, and no one was actively cleaning. The employee who eventually cleared the tables — a younger girl with glasses who wore earbuds the entire time — only picked up the dishes and never came back to wipe the dirty surfaces. Instead, she spent most of the time on her phone while her coworkers were busy helping other customers. When the bartenders were super busy, they cleaned up after themselves because she did not help them at all.

After waiting about 15 minutes, I had to go out of my way to find another employee just to get our table cleaned properly. When our food finally came out, the same girl dropped it off without greeting us, making eye contact, or asking if we needed anything. She didn’t bring silverware or napkins either, so I had to go back to the bar to ask. The food was extremely okay for what it was, the loaded tots were served on paper that ripped to shreds so you ended up having to play a game of avoiding eating it, and the empanada just tasted like old grease and was worse than frozen food for the same price.

The only redeeming quality was the drinks, but honestly, Rewind Retro Bar in Knightdale has better drinks and Boxcar has better games. Based on the service alone, I can’t recommend this place. If you don’t want to work, then quit your job. Is the building cool and are the drinks nice for social media? Yeah. Does that make up for everything else? No. While this one employee was awful, nobody was doing what she failed...

Pixels Bar + Arcade is such a cool spot and really close to home — about two miles from me. It’s got that perfect mix of a bar and an arcade. The video game and movie-themed drinks are really fun (I’ve tried a few and they were great), and I’m looking forward to whatever new ones they come up with next.

The decor and wall art make the place super fun — lots of Mario, Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, and other throwbacks. The whole setup gives it that nostalgic vibe without feeling cheesy. They’ve got a ton of pinball machines, Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Revolution, air hockey, and a bunch of old-school games. I played a few pinball machines last time — one wasn’t working right, but no big deal since there’s plenty of others to play.

The music is always good, especially if you’re a millennial. The bar area has TVs and they show football, they have Sunday Ticket. The staff can get busy sometimes, but they’ve always been friendly whenever I’ve been there.

I’ve had the sliders and I’ll definitely try more food next time. I also really like that it’s no kids after 8 PM, so it’s an adult crowd in the evenings. No kids running around, just people hanging out, having drinks, and playing games.

Overall, it’s a chill, fun place to grab a drink, play some games, and relax. Definitely worth checking out if...