10 Game-Centric Restaurants Where You Can Eat and Play

Experience eater-tainment in a city near you.

By: Jeff Stafford

From: What We're Loving

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Punch Bowl Social

A new trend is emerging which combines comfort food, cocktails and gaming options in one unique venue which some industry insiders refer to as an "eater-tainment." The featured games can run the gamut from classic board games to pinball machines to shuffleboard, bowling and other fun activities. And the food and beverage choices are equally enticing. Take, for example, Punch Bowl Social, which has numerous U.S. locations such as Chicago, Sacramento and Minneapolis (pictured). Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, you can order everything from a lobster roll to monkey bread French toast while sipping a craft beer, wine or specialty cocktail. As for entertainment, you can browse the game arcade, go bowling, try your luck at table games or even belt out a karaoke tune or two.

The Painted Pin

An upscale bar, bowling and entertainment venue, The Painted Pin in Atlanta has become a popular gaming parlor in an industrial warehouse in the Buckhead neighborhood. In addition to bowling, visitors can engage in ping pong, shuffleboard, skee-ball machines and indoor bocce courts. The menu is equally wide-ranging and runs from small plates (Mexican corn on the cob) and sandwiches (fried oyster sliders) to salads and pizzas with a fine selection of wines, local beers and specialty cocktails like the Alcatraz Old Fashioned (rum, fermented pineapple syrup and bitters).

The Painted Duck

A spin-off variation on The Painted Pin is Atlanta’s The Painted Duck which offers a wide variety of gaming options such as indoor horseshoe, air hockey, shuffleboard courts, duckpin and Belgian Feather Bowling and Snookball, a hybrid sport that blends pool with soccer. The menu options are equally versatile. You can order a whole roasted Peking duck, shaved vegetable salad and a Kentucky Nitro-Bourbon cocktail. Or you could have something simple like shrimp skewers on the barbie with a can of Miller Lite.

GameHaus

Located in Glendale, California, GameHaus specializes in board games with over a thousand choices including classics like Monopoly, party favorites like Pictionary or strategy games like 7 Wonders. The menu has something for everyone ranging from sandwiches and munchies to cornmeal pizzas, soups and fresh bakery items like scones and apple crumble. Drink options include various coffees, teas, lemonade and juices.

Daly's Pub and Rec

If you took an upscale pub and combined it with a sports bar and game room, you’d probably end up with something innovative like Daly’s Pub and Rec in Park City, Utah. Handcrafted brick oven pizzas, hearty fare like chicken pot pie and hamburgers are paired with wine by the glass or bottle, cocktails and craft beers in an environment where you can partake of vintage arcade games, shuffleboard, darts or just enjoy a sporting event on one of the many flat screen TVs.

The Uncommons

Billed as "Manhattan’s first board game cafe" in Greenwich Village, The Uncommons offers a massive library of favorites from Arkham Horror and Bang! to Yomi and Zombicide which you can enjoy with friends while sipping an espresso, chai or fruit smoothie (beer, wine, ciders and lambics are also available). Food selections include personal pizzas, bagels, assorted wraps and mozzarepas (corn patties with mozzarella cheese). The Uncommons is also one of the more popular venues to play Magic: The Gathering in New York City.

A4Cade

Beer, comfort food and classic video games and pinball machines are the winning formula at A4Cade in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The venue also includes Mario Kart, Pop-a-Shot, Xboxes, monthly women's pinball tournaments and such popular arcade attractions as Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam and Dr. Who pinball. Some of the menu standouts include the addictive grilled cheese sandwiches, mushroom and lentil burgers and truffle fries. Among the various librations are canned, bottled and draft beers, wines by the glass or magnum and tiki bar concoctions like Revenge of the Sling (Bols Geneva with cherry, apricot and citrus juices and soda).

Game X

Located in downtown Atlanta, Game X is the perfect interactive showcase for patrons to enjoy the latest gaming technology with over 60 contemporary favorites such as Pac-Man Smash, Pong 180 and QuadAir Hockey. The 12,000 foot facility, which is available for private parties, hosts two bars with extensive selections of beer, wine and cocktails and the menu features such appetizing options as a fried cobb salad, chicken quesadillas and a California wrap (veggies, avocado, mozzarella and lettuce with ranch dressing).

16-Bit Bar + Arcade

With three locations in Ohio in Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati, 16-Bit Bar + Arcade seems poised to capture arcade game addicts with its huge gallery of classic favorites such as Donkey Kong, Asteroids, Tron and Frogger. The bar selections are equally impressive with an array of classic and "new wave" cocktails, craft drafts, can beers and a focus on specialty bourbons, whiskeys, ryes and scotch. No food is served so technically this is not a restaurant but you are allowed to bring in your own eats or grab a pizza or sandwich at a nearby takeout joint.

Pins Mechanical

Owned and operated by Rise Brands, the same outfit that launched 16-Bit, Pins Mechanical is exactly what you think it is - an upscale game arcade serving adult libations with duckpin bowling, foosball, ping pong and pinball. The bar serves up wines, draft beers, cocktails and specialty punches that serve six people such as their Spring Sangria or Patio Punch (made with peach vodka, pineapple and lime juice, grenadine and rum). As for eats, rotating food trucks serve the patio areas at the two Ohio locations in Columbus and Dublin.

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10 Game-Centric Restaurants Where You Can Eat and Play

Related To:

Shop This Look

Punch Bowl Social

The Painted Pin

The Painted Duck

GameHaus

Daly's Pub and Rec

The Uncommons

A4Cade

Game X

16-Bit Bar + Arcade

Pins Mechanical

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