Dave & Buster's Springfield — Restaurant in Virginia

EDIT: Reached out to them as they said in their reply to this review (and all other negative reviews). It's been 10 days and nothing heard. I wonder if this is standard practice (give a public reply that indicates they actually care about customer service, but don't follow through.)

My son wanted Dave and Busters for his birthday party.  They offer a birthday service for a minimum of 10 people, but we didn't have that many.  We called to see what options were available and the woman who we talked to was very rude.  Can we make a reservation? No.  Just hope we can get a table that day.  My son has allergies. Can we bring our own cake? Yes. But only store bought (which is hard to find).  Any other help for planning the event (as advertised on their website)? Nothing. Very unhelpful and unaccommodating.  We felt like we were bothering her.

This experience already gave me a bad feeling that something was going to go bad and D&B did their best to make sure that happened.  We arrived early and there was an empty table that one host said we could use, but another said we couldn't.  She was very rude about telling us this as well.  She said it had just been cleared, so we would have to wait.  What???  (Found out later that they were rotating servers).  But they did take my name and put us in their electronic queue. We were listed as #1 in line on their queuing link.  After a half hour, we saw that table and one other that could accommodate our party were given to parties of the same size who came in after us (no reservations, remember, so obviously they just let them cut the queue which we were supposedly #1 in).  We asked about it and we were told they were clearing a table for us and it would be 10-15 minutes.  15 minutes later, we asked again and they said it would be another 15 minutes.  After speaking to the manager, we were finally seated 5 minutes later with apologies and a free appetizer.  During this long wait, we asked if we could order in advance to take advantage of the special that they were offering of combining points to play games on their power card with meals.  The answer was an inflexible, and by now predictable, no.

Time for the meal.  We ordered a hamburger for my son, specifying no cheese because he's allergic.  The server even asked us about the cheese and we clarified.  When the food came out (delivered by someone else who was also very rude), we had a cheeseburger which we had to send back while his friends ate their meals.

Many things went wrong with this birthday party and could have easily been fixed with a friendly team, but it's really amazing how little they seemed to care at all.  A free appetizer is nice, but it hardly makes up for all the trouble and we never saw the manager after that.

On the good side, our main server was good.  He helped us with a lighter for the candle and helped to clear the table when it was time to sing.  And the woman who cleared the table was nice as well.  The food was also good.  However, we will not be returning to this Dave and Busters and would not recommend that you do either - especially if you have an important event or celebration.  These events should be filled with memories about the good times together.  Not the terrible service you receive from a team that just doesn't...

Not sure where to start.

Kids running around everywhere after 10pm on a Saturday night. You may get this place confused with Chuck E Cheese.

There was a newborn baby sitting at the bar while the mother and friends drank from a 100oz beer tube. A BABY AT THE BAR!!!! I guess the managers and bartenders found this acceptable.

The designated line to get drinks if you don't have a seat goes out the bar.... it's a loooong wait because it's only 1 person working that line at most times.

The wait for a table in the dining room was 2 hours.... and it really ended up being 2 hours!! (We ended up cancelling the table once we were called up because surprising enough, it was faster to get a seat for 4 people at the bar)

People crowd around all the tables (on top of people eating) in the self seating bar area hoping to get a first come first serve table. No personal space whatsoever. The place is extremely crowded.

It's definitely over 100 degrees in there. Like suffocating hot!! The whole place was sweating.

Our sliders and wing appetizers came out quickly BUT cold. The bun on the sliders were even colder like they just came out the fridge.

Getting a bartender to take a drink order even when you have a seat at the bar is the biggest challenge. They each only work a certain area of the bar ( it seems like it) so if one is not busy they don't tend to the customers waiting in what seems to be another bartenders area. Good luck getting decent service or a bartenders attention.

The tables don't get cleaned up. As in, the last patrons dishes and glasses were still in front of us even when our food came out and the whole time we were eating. Someone finally came to remove the items probably an hour after we were sitting at the bar. Also, we weren't given napkins or utensils when our food came out. We were given the same small square napkins used to put the drinks on.

Our bill was $136.... the bartender never asked if we had a power card to reload. It was our first time there and we didn't know. On their site it states "$10 FREE game play for every $100 spent on food, drinks, & games".... So after paying the check I paid an extra $10 to reload my card when I could have earned chips on my power card just from my bill.

In the arcade area - They have tables next to each game to put down your drinks down but all tables were covered with empty glasses and empty beer bottles that have not been cleaned up. This is pretty much everywhere, the whole time.

The ladies bathroom reeked of pissed. All the stalls were foul like they have not been cleaned all day or night. Toilet paper everywhere. Only one soap dispenser had soap out of 6.

I bought 2 power cards for $12 each at the front when we first got there. My bank card was charged $28. I did not find it necessary to leave a tip just to purchase a card but i guess the girl at the front must think it's legal to include a $4 tip for herself. So beware when you're purchasing a power card when you first come in the front door. Check your bank statement to make sure guest services didn't...

BEWARE!!! BAD SERVICE , DIRTY, AND A HEALTH HAZARD !!! Extra Plates given with food from the last meals still on them see the pics! Got a burger with shards of wood in it from the wooden skewer see the pics!!! Got the cave man combo and it looked huge and awesome in the menu picture but mini food was served. an mini appetizer plate passed off as a large entree dinner plate. looked liked like child's menu item LOL. They get the orders wring and will bring you thr wring sides or items. thisbtime we just got one wring side that was fixed by brining the right one out. You tell the waiter excuse me these plates are dirty and you get an attitude look and a grab and go and not a word or even an apology. THEY JUST GIVE BAD SERVICE HERE. serviced by young teens. and im sure anybody with any talent must hate working with the rest of the staff and leave. Not sure how the workers make tips when they give you two 20s back and 3 ones out of a 100.00 on a 57.00 tab. what leave 20.00 tip for a 30% + tip on bad service? and 20.00 tip for the 57.00 tab is not realiastic. its like please just tip 3.00. would have left 10% even with the bad service because being a server is all about tips but i didn't even have the option.

Always a wait to sit to eat even though there are many many open table's. 45 minute wait every time. yet only 25% of the tables have people at them. So they are under staffed for waiters but have 3 hostess LOL. So when you finally get called they seat you and then move you again because they sat you one booth over and no one is working that area like it matters. and they seem yo do it every time you go here. even when the place is empty. Inconvenience the patrons not the waiter for there mistake. No having the waiter move over one more table and service us. This is not a restaurant it's an arcade! EAT ELSEWHERE!!!!

even though the bar food looks great in the menus it comes out differently and is served on dirty plates. So if dirty plates are coming out how is their kitchen and the food preparation? Its Got to be bad as well. younger people making your food and serving you who just don't care. The staff show that with all that they do and say. The wait , the service, the cleanliness, the food, the attitudes.

Games! yes and are cool lots moving towards ticket redemption types. so if you get unlimited you will wait for the machines that are regular arcade and need to buy credits for the ticket games and even regular arcade games like rampage and shooters are using tickets so you have to pay. But lots of fun games to play. The places only saving grace is the games.... go for games never eat at the restaurant. if you eat got to the bar area and check your food when it's served.

Go for the arcade games but not the food or service.

I leave good posts for good restaurants BUT have to do it as well for the bad ones like this since it's always bad...