Chuck E. Cheese — Restaurant in Virginia

As a new mom, I was super excited to take my son to Chuck E. Cheese for his first time. Unfortunately, the experience is MUCH different than what I remembered growing up. No characters, everything is digital, no playzones, everything is an arcade, no coins, everything is on a card. And of course, everything is completely overpriced with dollar store quality prizes. So it's no wonder the Chuck E Cheese franchise has been struggling to stay afloat, and now its clear they're being super cheap with their customers while overcharging.

Anyway, I came in and was extremely disappointed in that, and especially disappointed in the customer service. We ordered a pizza and wings around 5:18 PM, and let's just say it was after 7 PM when I was finally helped with a refund because I waited 2 hours for my food—which I never received. I repeatedly walked up to the front to ask about my food, only to be repeatedly told by Faisel that it's coming out soon. But after a while, my son was cranky and tired and we needed to go. I couldn't wait around any longer and waiting around for 2 hours for food was already extremely generous. My son is a year old, so there isn't much for him to do there because he's too little for the arcade games.

I just want to say that whenever I see poor management, as a hiring manager myself, I feel this is a reflection of leadership at the top. If the top leaders do a poor job in hiring and training staff, then they themselves are probably not qualified for their jobs as well. Or maybe they're underpaid and don't care.

We received a business card for the general manager (I believe Claire was the name?) who did not pick up their phone. We called 4 times because the manager at this location said "he did not know how to issue a refund" and told us to call the general manager. I was in complete shock. Not only did my food cost $58 for 1 large pizza and wings (yes $58 just for that), I wasn't provided any food, and they weren't allowing me to get a refund. I started to feel like I was completely robbed. Why wouldn't the manager pause everything to make my food right there when I was speaking to him? Why continue to make me wait for so long? And when I saw him handling food without gloves at one point, I completely lost my appetite. My first job was in the food industry so I'm fully aware of kitchen protocols. I am also aware of what it's like to work in a busy kitchen with backed up orders. So I understand the staff may have been stressed, but I also noticed how disorganized they were and that's a reflection of inexperienced management.

I view all of management as a complete mess and at this point, is it worth talking to corporate about? I don't see this franchise lasting much longer and I can see why they're bankrupt. We'll continue seeing them go out of business. The management at this location is young, and clearly inexperienced.

I honestly will never visit a Chuck E Cheese again, outrages prices, poor quality prizes, poor customer service, and...

Very disappointing experience, as a young professional who looks to go out and have a good time with his family, I felt very offended by the situation that took place, about 19 minutes into my visit, my food was ready, so l decided to paused my 45 minutes into play card so that my children and I could sit down and formally eat.

When I went back to restart my play card for the remaining 26 minutes, I found out there was no longer any time left on the play card. Well I figured no biggie I’ll go ahead and inform a worker.

I informed the manager of the issue at hand, with her investigating at the same kiosk I had originally paused the card at. She proceeds to tell me that I paused it at 8:14 and started playing again a few moment later, that couldn’t have happened because that’s the time I arrived, then she proceeds to inform me that ,oh no , I never paused if, so therefore I had no time left. I asked her if I could get my 26 minutes added as I’m sure she could check my receipt and also cameras that correlate with my explanation of my intent to pause the card.

She disregarded and proceeded to say she can give me 20 points, I do not understand their point system as I always simply buy timed play. I informed her that I had no reason to lie and that of course she could check my receipt and cameras if need be. She said there was nothing more that she could do but give me 20 points, I proceeded to explain that I had no reason to lie and that I am Simply trying to get my daughters playing time back. She said there is nothing more she can do and that was it.

As an individual who has spent numerous years bringing both of my children to this establishment, I feel very offended that a so called manager that should carry themselves with professionalism dismissed my need of having a problem resolved, a problem with their system at that. There is no reason for me to lie, and I will have this email forwarded up to corporate office, for the embarrassment I had to experience in-front of my children and my fiancé.

If good business is what Chuck E. Cheese is looking to run , especially when it involves the enjoyment of others and their family, Zulma(The manager who handled the situation ) is not the one you want to have...

I went here after I went to the Manassas one and I really liked this CEC as well! This one was unique because it had that classic Chuck E. Cheese's feel to it! Reason being, in the 80's this particular CEC was another pizza place called "Showbiz Pizza Place". It featured different characters than the Chuck E. Cheese ones and different food but it was pretty much the same exact thing. In the early 1990's, Chuck E. Cheese's bought out Showbiz and turned all the Showbiz stores into Chuck E. Cheese's. And this was one of them. This one had a 3-Stage in the 90's but during the remodel of this store, they got rid of the animatronics for a Studio C Alpha, which features one animatronic Chuck E. He's pretty cool though. He has 32 movements and a bird in the corner singing! Cool stage show! There also was a Chuck E. Cheese walkaround that dances with the kids and throws out free tickets at the end of his show. So that was cool. The games were fun. I still play the classic skee-ball and basketball. I also played Sonic Spinner, that big wheel game, the football game and a kind of frog whack a mole. This store is also cool because of the tunnels. These aren't the normal Chuck E. Cheese tunnels. These are the original ones from the 1990's! They go throughout the kiddie gameroom. Food was great. I had a medium sausage pizza with a soda and a couple of game points. Pretty nice location! Also if you're in the area, I would recommend the one in Manassas as well! That one was cool! I did a review on them! 5/5 stars for both! The two of them are one of the bests Virginia CEC's! Would recommend! Kids will have a great time, great food and fun! And a cool animatronic...