Alan M.
Yelp
I came here with my wife for a fun night out as we wanted to try the Dave and Buster's in Natick, instead of their Providence location, which I have already reviewed.
The first thing I noted was that the Natick location seems larger than the Providence one, and that extra space is not wasted as they have many VR and "seated" video games, in addition to other games that you'd expect to find in a very modern arcade.
The restaurant area is reasonably sized and the service here was not what I have come to expect from Dave and Busters. Our hostess took us to a table at first, but we wanted a booth, so she took us to an open one and it is here that our Dave and Busters experience began. She pointed to a round sticker on the table, featuring a QR code to order our food, which wasn't in line with my expectations, as I am used to a server especially when I go to a restaurant.
After trying to order the "new" way and not having much luck, a server came over after about 10 minutes with menus and we ordered our appetizers and food. He was relatively good, but it was clear that he was new, because he didn't ask many questions while he was taking the order, but instead opted to return five times to ask clarifying questions about the food we ordered.
The timing of the food wasn't all that good either as we were only halfway done with our appetizers before our entrees came out, but the food was good at the very least. If you are watching what you eat and you decide to come here, be prepared to do some research, because much of what is on offer is very high in calories, sodium and fat. There are a few things that are not, but I would recommend going online and looking at their menu's nutrition information before you walk in the door.
The food and drinks were good and well-made, and our server was reasonably attentive, so that part of our D&B experience was a good one. The problems with the experience though were constant throughout our experience, which is the NOISE level here. Though it was relatively quiet night, the noise level is very high, necessitating our server to repeat much of what he said because I just couldn't hear him. On top of the noise of the games, the many TV's and the patrons, it was just too noisy to enjoy a meal.
After dinner, we sampled a few of the games and though the games were good, many were of the "ticket" variety, of which I personally have no interest. As a kid who spent a fair length of time in arcades in the 70's and 80's, I go to arcades to experience the games, not to earn tickets. There were lots of shooting games and many modern games, along with a few retakes on some classic games. All in all, the games were OK, but there should be more variety of games for everyone.
All in all, the D&B experience was an OK experience and I felt that they earned the 3-star rating that I gave them.