Arcade Monsters Lake Mary — Restaurant in Sanford

Was searching for a location to enjoy time with friends while supporting local businesses, and this place was suggested. I walked in to browse and noticed, for the crowd I wanted to bring, it seemed a bit cramped. But it's good enough for a smaller group.

The walls are decorated with skillful, airbrushed art. With modern and highlighted characters and a wide selection of games, the atmosphere was great. But, I had a very judgmental experience with the hostess near the end of my browsing. There was this game that wasn't clear on what it was about. I think it was Emperor Black or something, had a tiger on it, and a motorcycle. It also had a wheel for control, but for what? Attempting to understand, I nudged the wheel, and a menu came up that brought up even more questions. Before I could read it, the Hostess yelled out something. I couldn't hear her, I assumed it was to me and not the people playing near me because when I looked towards the sound, she THEN decided to continue to eat her bag of snacks and walked away. I thought she was calling me over. I walked up to her and asked, "Did you call me?"

And she replied, "You can’t touch the game. I saw you touching it. Do I walk into your house and touch your stuff?"

Which was very surprising to hear. The first sentence would have been enough, but she got so defensive. I would've just thanked her for letting me know since There Is Not A Sign saying not to touch anything. And if there was, she definitely didn't point it out. It's easily explainable.

But the next two sentences were more telling about this place. "I saw you touching it." I didn't deny touching at any point or even had the chance to. This seemed like either a judgmental or mechanical response. I was dressed down today, so could she have been judging me off of my attire? Assuming I was dishonest and ready to deny the accusation? Or if it's mechanical, then enough people come in to play the games without payment, and this is a routine response for her. She may be judgmental, or the usual traffic of the area is not trustworthy. Is every employee like this?

"Do I walk into your house and touch your stuff?" Yes, if I designated my private estate to be a public location and I didn't put signs up against it, like here, I would expect others to touch things, and I'd have no problem with it. This is common of an Arcade like Dave & Busters, for example. So why would that be an issue? But I figured out why on my own

In combination, this tells me of the business structure. The games are all playable as is. Purchase or not. You buy the wristband, not use tokens or points on games. This was my first time being in a business like this, but Arcades not using this model existed longer than I have. so I figure she may not have ever been in an arcade that uses Tokens or Points instead. Where, to see what the game is, you need to wait or touch something.

She answered a bit more questions for me but ultimately, it comes down to if she and/or others are judgmental in this sense, I don't want my friends to have to deal with that negativity. And if it's the customers that are the issue, then again, I don't want my people to even be in that kind of environment. This location is a no for me, but maybe another Arcade Monsters would be better. This experience...

PARENTS BEWARE!!! If I could give this place ZERO stars I would!

My son had a horrible experience with the staff (especially the older woman who was working Friday night 09/05/25). Unfortunately he didn’t catch her name.

My son (who is active duty Army engineer stationed in GA btw) came home to visit and spend time with family and his girlfriend. They decided to revisit the lake Mary location as they had already been Two times before and really enjoyed it.

Something to note: on the first visit, my son inquired with the staff how the arcade worked since he did not observe cards or tokens being used to play. The attendant simply stated, “no man, it’s free play… you just go on to the next game when you want and it’s unlimited” he told him he would have to pay for food so my son bought drinks and pizza and was allowed to play.

The second visit went the same… they walked right in, no one was attending the counter and several other individuals also walked right in and started playing - so again my son was unaware admission had to be paid outside of the food.

Sure I can argue his inexperience here did contribute some as he should have double checked to make sure but given that he had asked and got answered, I can chalk it up to a miscommunication HOWEVER… what this woman did on his third AND TRUST ME FINAL VISIT IS UNACCEPTABLE!

After some play, my son and his girlfriend who again walked right in and started playing and who I am told made eye contact with several employees through the night we’re finally approached once the crowd had died down. He was questioned if he had paid admission and then harassed and belittled by the woman who started telling him he couldn’t just walk into a business and take what he wanted. He assured her he wasn’t trying to do that and had money to pay and explained his previous visit as to why he was unaware admission had to be paid outside of just ordering food and drinks.

When he offered cash to pay… she told him it was a cashless establishment. When he explained that was all he had and he didn’t have a physical card on him, she told him she was going to hold them there and call the cops!

He was able to pay with his Apple Pay by tapping his phone once she told him they accept tap pay but the way this lady approached, harassed and threatened him when she didn’t do her job of making sure all guests stop and pay first to begin with is wildly inappropriate and concerning.

This arcade is located near a movie theater and ice cream and boba shop which are magnets for teens. If a cashless arcade is the gimmick, then you shouldn’t go around threatening to call the cops on kids who first are told they don’t have to pay and are trying to explain the situation upon confrontation. When you can’t man the front counter correctly and are having to approach people and ask them if they paid cuz you are in the back or on your phone then that’s a you problem!

I am spreading the word as I am a contributing member of Lake Mary’s community and my son is actively defending the country and is in no way a criminal as she tried to...

DO NOT have your kid's birthday party at Arcade Monsters! Worst service ever! I went to Arcade Monsters Lake Mary for my son's tenth birthday party. I reserved and confirmed the reservation ahead of time by email. When I arrived, I told the woman at the podium that we had a birthday party reservation and she said, " I know, I have everything all set up for you" motioning to the outdoor patio. I said, "But it's pouring down rain outside". "So... you can just come inside then". I asked, "Are there tables inside?" She opened her eyes wide, cocked her head to the side and said very slowly and deliberately, "NO....because..... the inside.....is filled....with games". It was a simple question that was answered with an unnecessary amount of attitude. Her attitude really bothered me and I said " You are rude". Then, I walked away to gain composure and look at the "set up". On the patio, there were no tables with reserved signs at all. There were tables underneath the outdoor roof but they were occupied and they did not have any reserved signs on them. So, she blatantly lied to me about "I have everything set up for you". We were also holding an enormous cake so I'm not sure how she expected us to "just come inside" without tables. Did she expect us to put the cake on the floor and sit around it to eat? I came back over and said, "Can you please push the tables underneath the roof together so we can sit there?" and she replied, "Well, I was GOING to do that but YOU walked away". I said, " I walked away to calm down because you upset me. So, can you please push the tables together under the roof so we can sit there?" I was about to tell her they were occupied but she interrupted me to say even louder " I was just enunciating clearly and YOU walked away. If you hadn't walked away, I would've done it" I said again, "I was just looking around and trying to calm down, can you please push the tables together outside?" But, as I said that, she interrupted and said "Well, YOU'RE upsetting ME so I'M just going to walk away" Then she stood up and went through the door to the back and turned around and made a smiling sort of smug face and pose. I said, "Ma'am, that's not the same at all. You are paid to work here". She sat back down and I walked away again to get my husband to talk to her. He really didn't want to talk to her so he went outside and tried to look for dry tables that weren't occupied to push under the roof overhang but couldn't find any. At this point, at least ten minutes had passed since our first interaction and this employee had made no move to ask the occupied tables to leave or do anything. Finally, my husband approached her and had to APOLOGIZE so that she could get up and get a table and put it under the roof for us. Ridiculous that she couldn't do the most basic thing possible when we already paid and had a reservation! I contacted the CEO and manager and got a quick response: What's your phone number? I gave it to them and never got a call back....