Headshots Arcade Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Wichita

Maybe a good business but certainly a bad DOORMAN.

I am a 6-star google reviewer, and the reviews I have written for businesses over time has had over 184,000 views. I have never written a bad review.

I walked into Headshot Arcade with a friend. The doorman greeted us nicely and asked to see IDs, which my friend gave. He asked to see mine, I told him I didn’t have it on me. He asked where it was…I told him it was in the car but he can have a good look at me and tell me if he thinks I am over 21. Now, could have I entered the drizzling rain and retrieved my ID? Absolutely. But I wanted him to use his intuition. The ID will clear the air, but you don’t always need a piece of plastic, you can use your common sense sometimes and make a call. And mind you, I am 34!

All through this exchange, I was wearing a smile, didn’t raise my voice, and importantly, I wasn’t holding up any customers on queue as the place was empty on that cold-slightly raining weather.

Then he said only my friend will be served alcohol, and he turned to and said he won’t serve me any alcohol and he gestured to us to go in. I just shrugged off because I wasn’t even planning on drinking anyways but I think it spooked him, maybe he was expecting me to plead because alcohol would be taken from me.

You see, everything your doorman had done to this point was completely fair. If he has stopped at this, I will never write you this review.

Sensing it bothered my friend; I told him I was going to go to my car and bring the ID. In truth, I usually don’t carry my ID. After I lost a bunch of IDs all at once, I stopped that practice.

And right after I told him I was going to bring my ID, he said in a very arrogant voice that we should walk out. So, it went from “you both can go in but I am not going to serve you alcohol” to “you both should walk out of here.” Ok, let’s assume he doesn’t even want me in his place, my friend didn’t do anything. Why didn’t my friend stay?

This is probably the most-rude business I have ever been to, and I have been to a ton of them judging by my review. Do you have any idea of what else I could be doing or how far I drove to get there? Now, I am black; did the color of my skin play a part in all of these? Well, I will leave that to your interpretation. Could he have been more considerate if my skin was a different tone? I am not accusing him of anything, just putting it out there.

While that was a bad taste to swallow, as I drove off, I felt this calm. I knew in my mind it was not a place I wanted to be in, and the doorman thinking he was going to F me up has unknowingly made a good call for me as I do not wish to be in a space I am not welcome.

Now, there is going to be a reply by whoever owns this business. And they will be within their rights to defend the doorman and said I was a rude guests; and that is fine because people have the right to defend themselves.

But you see, I like to be fair even though your doorman clearly wasn’t. At this point, this review is a “he said this, the doorman said that” scenario.

And that is why I will now give you two examples for context, so you can come to your own conclusions as reader. Two months ago, a woman named Katie, came in with 16 guests and wrote a google review. This is how she described the reception by the front register guy “he instantly had an attitude and made us feel very unwelcome.” This is a direct quote from your own google review page.

Another customer, Kailee, in her google review, she brought in 16 people and quoted her experience with the doorman as “upon entering, we had a brash greeting with the fellow up front.”

What this data means is that apart from me, a total of 32 people, in just the last two months will describe your doorman as rude.

Fair warning, your business has only one pass at being rude to me so if you choose to reply this, it would be beneficial not to be rude because just like you didn't know I am a Google contributor, you certainly don't know how far I can further...

Horrible experience from the moment we walked through the door. Took a party of 16 people here for my birthday because I wanted a particular drink they have. Thought it would be the perfect place because we had two 10 year old boys in our group and they wanted to play games while the adults sat and had a drink. We walked in and told the man at the front register we would like to pay for the 2 boys to play… he instantly had an attitude and made us feel very unwelcome. He told us in a very rude manner “if one person plays, you ALL play!” We were confused. He repeated and repeated “if one person plays, you ALL play!” He told us if the boys wanted to play games, each person in our party would have to pay $5.00. We told him we were here in the past and our son paid to play games while the adults sat around and talked and it was no issue. He informed us their policy changed and therefore each person would owe $5.00. It was super awkward and he was being rude so we decided to just say no for now and proceeded to walk to the back room and sit at a table. The boys were upset so after 10 minutes or so, I took the boys up front with the other mom and we paid $20 to let the boys play games (since there were 4 of us at the counter.) They start playing some games in the front room with the other mom supervising them and I walk back to my table in the back room to find another employee telling my entire party of 16 people they all need to pay $5.00 since the boys are playing games up front. I told him that I had already paid $20 for them to sit in the front room and play and the rest of us adults were going to sit at a table in the back and have some drinks, none of us were playing any games. He proceeded to argue and told us we each had to pay so I told him we would take our business elsewhere. I told him he was missing out on a lot of money because we had all planned to have several drinks and celebrate my birthday and he was very passive aggressive and rude. He told me he would refund me my money that I had just paid for the games, so he took me to the cash register and gave me $10.00 back. I told him I paid $20.00 not $10.00 and he proceeded to argue with me so I just walked away.

What was supposed to be a fun laid back night quickly turned into utter chaos. I would never recommend this place to anyone. The staff was SO unprofessional and rude and the $5.00 per person policy is the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard. He said because all 16 of us walked in at the same time meant we all had to pay (even though only 2 kids were playing games.) We asked “what if all of us had gotten here at different times?” And he told us we would still ALL have to pay since we are all sitting by each other and since we all know each other. In my opinion, just charge every person who comes in the door a $5.00 cover and that would literally take care of any issue regarding who’s playing games and who isn’t.

Also, my dad left a review and the owner responded to it and lied, accusing us of “theft attempt” saying we were “non-customers” and then had the audacity to say “they were asked to leave.” 100% not true! I paid for the kids to play the games, I wasn’t given my entire refund back, we DID in fact buy one drink; therefore, our ENTIRE party of 16 were paying customers, AND we left on our OWN terms because we were treated like crap and were made to feel very unwelcome. We were never once asked to leave. Can’t wait to see what more lies come after this review. 0/5...

Last month’s visit still sits as a sour taste in my mouth. My sister-in-law’s 30th birthday request was a few rounds of shots with friends + fam after dinner. Only 4 members of our 16 had been here prior (two being kids and “before the rule change” no less.) Upon entering we had a very brash greeting with the fellow up front. Perhaps it had been a rough or busy day for him hence the attitude but we happily showed ID and easily made our way to the back despite the attitude. The two kiddos in our party wanted to play so badly. So much so that tears were shed, so my sister and her friend went to cover the charges for their children at the front. Only then did an employee come by after 20+ minutes of radio silence from all other staff members. Upon a little digging online, I found that it was James Walker - the GM, who was our server. Not to greet us or take our order or point anyone towards the bar… not to educate us on perks of the “game pass” or even be a positive reflection of the business but only to procure pass funds from the other members and berate my in-laws as they simply asked for clarity. There was not much further explanation outside of the same “if one plays, you all pay” sentence — said multiple times with each subsequent reiteration in a more flustered tone from James. We decided to leave rather than oblige or talk to a mockingbird. I won’t lie, I had secondhand embarrassment for all parties involved, myself included. If we were to have sat with existing customers playing games on their own accord at a longer table would we be required to pay although we had no intention to play? Questions and comments similar to these were shot down and met with the same “explanation” per the manager. James came back in an attempt to save face (only just as we all stood up to leave) to refund my sister for her game pass purchase made mere minutes prior in cash but then proceeded to short her half. One of her friends ended up getting her the birthday shot she wanted as we were en route to the door as it was her only objective here. Mission accomplished, I guess? I think the concept of this place is really cool as it fills a void that specific communities within ICT seem to have happily nurtured. I only wish that my first experience here would have been glowing as it’ll leave a sour taste in my mouth for a while and has continued to for a month now. And, before the owner or James the GM goes and comments something like “non-customer” or “theft attempt” or “began” an argument below — know that we attempted to be patrons past the one shot and four passes, felt first ignored but then further belittled by the staff, and were all ready to have a fun time in this establishment whether via games, food, or by bar tabs. Never have I been to a game oriented space that treated us in this way or had rules without explanation let alone via a member of “management.” As an outsider to this WOW/DND hangout with a first-timer perspective — I think a modification from an “optional” game pass to a cover would save a lot of heartache in the end for folks like us who came to snack & have a few bevs where there was something fun for the kids. Dave and Busters, The Arcade, etc. all have found ways to conduct business with similar set ups and not once have we left there...