The Pennant

I ate here twice over the course of a week and thought it was good but definitely not the best food I have had. The shakes are fun and the games are a great time too This is a great place for kids or a big group but if you are just stopping by for something to eat it’s nothing crazy.

We have adored The Pennant for years. We went there to have lunch yesterday for the Mistletoe Popup. The manager (who is ALWAYS THERE) came to our table and initiated a kind and authentic conversation. The server was fantastic as always, and the thing that brought is the MOST JOY was the servers having lunch together; bonding, laughing, chatting... The whole table of these beautiful humans stopped their time together, and bid us a good day. The Pennant feels like family. The food? 10/10 ❤️

Always a good time here. Great food and service was good too. Drinks were fantastic. Only complaint would be noise, hard to hear everyone at our table with all the surrounding noise. Even just two people away.

I've been here since about 3:30pm (JUST IN TIME FOR LINNER! Son Goku would be proud). I got seated at a table with no wait. Molly (my wait staff) did not make it weird. In fact, she was delightful. Service was prompt and accurate. The food was delicious. I ordered a Pretzel Pub Crawl with Garlic Parmesan fries. There are authentic OG arcade machines here, including but not limited to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (I believe it was sold as "The Manhattan Project" on NES), The Simpsons, VS. Super Mario Bros. (an alternate version from the one commonly sold with NES systems), and Tetris (which makes its presence known at great volume). Overall, there's a nice vibe here and I look forward to returning on a return trip to Topeka.

Ate upstairs where the arcade is. Currently decorated for Christmas time, lots of lights and tinsel. Every inch is decorated, an excellent job. Everyone's burgers and food was delicious. Classic arcade machines available, including pinball machines. Downstairs is a much quieter area, business appropriate as needed. There is also a bowling alley area. Their milkshakes are delicious, and their deluxe milkshakes are unique and a masterpiece on their own.

Are at the flying monkey tavern at the pennant. Have the chips and queso and a double bacon me crazy burger. Was a really good burger fries were crispy. The chips and queso was excellent as well. The whole menu looked great and was hard to choose what to get for my meal.

Went to dinner for my birthday and it was an awesome experience the server was very fast and very friendly. Food was very good.

Awesome Burgers... Service was good... Atmosphere I wish we could have sat downstairs away the Arcade Noise.... I just wanted enjoy a quiet Lunch.. Well I know for next time the Burger are worth going back for.

We tried the Key lime shake. It was very sweet and not very limey...so that was a disappointment. We also got the elote burger with sweet potato fries. The sauce on the burger had a slight kick to it that was delightful! Very delicious! And the sweet potato fries were also delicious! We thought the marshmallow/maple sauce was way too sweet and didn't like it at all, so we just mixed mayo and ketchup...delicious!!

We got takeout from here while staying across the street at The Cyrus. Food was good and it is convenient to just walk over, especially if they leave out the delicious pesto ranch dressing from your salad. Haha. Overall good experience.

I had dinner at the Pennant - the food was no better and no worse than what one might expect from a Buffalo Wild Wings. It was just fine. I think the real draw is the arcade machines - which are really great and seemed to be reasonably priced. I might go again for some apps, drinks, and video games - but if I were eating an entire meal, personally, I would opt for somewhere else first.

Wanted to stop at a local place while we were in town the food was delicious! Good place to satisfy your cravings of burgers and shakes. I couldn't get my daughter away from the arcade games. Seemed like a good place to catch the latest game as well.

Great customer service and delicious food while watching the game. They have the BEST shakes in town! The Tres Leches shake was my favorite. The Monte Cristo sandwich, fries & lemon pepper wings were amazing!

Excellent food and super attentive service!! There is an elevator if you don't want to climb the steep stairs.

Great place, good food. There used to be 2 cafeterias, The Senate and the Pennant, and it was fun to see the prepared foods to choose from!

The burgers and fries and onion rings blew me away as always . Incredible inside too with great arcade, and currently has Wizard of Oz theme. Gen of Topeka, and no doubt best burgers around. Service was a bit slow but will be coming back!!! Strongly suggest for any meal or happy hour!!!

Went to the pennant after high school girls swim event in Topeka, Kansas, and was excited by the online reviews. Had two separate tables with two separate servers, and our waitress was not near as good as the other one because the other table had been boxing their meals by the time we received our appetizers. The food was outstanding, but the service is definitely inconsistent. Definitely recommend giving it a shot, but Service may not be as expected.

So it's been a few years since visiting the Pennant and I'm pleased to say that I think it's overall improved and has solidly placed itself as a trendy, fun spot to hang out in downtown Topeka. Firstly, I'll say that the food is really tasty, everything we sampled was great upscale bar/ American food - no complaints there. The milkshakes as well were really phenomenal. You could go here just for milkshakes TBH. My only complaint is that I still think the service is a little wonky, it's slow to get a table, slow to get a booster seat, just not quite the service level I'm used to at other restaurants of this caliber/ price point. I also do think the bowling and other activities, while fun, are a bit confusing - where do you go to play? can you also eat upstairs? I just think some additional signage/ information on the menu or when you walk in would be helpful for folks. Overall I had fun, my kiddo had a blast, and we will be back!

My girlfriend and I were in Kansas visiting her family. We had free time on Wednesday and wanted to burn some time in a fun way. We looked up some places online and found this place. To start the place is a multi level business with a bowling alley, restaurant and bar downstairs. Then another bar and seating area upstairs with a small arcade. The pricing of everything all around is very fair. Bowling 5$ per game per person, food decently priced and the drinks are priced good as well. We played 3 games of bowling and ordered food and drinks while playing. I ordered the fried pickle fries as an initial appetizer and loved them. Then the shakes came out and they were INCREDIBLE. They were some of the best shakes I've ever had in my life. Would HIGHLY recommend them. Then we got some real food and thought the wrap and sandwich were just okay. We wanted to check the arcade out and thought it was cool just small. As an all around restaurant this place is incredible and we would highly recommend it. 5/5!! We will be back

Good service and atmosphere. Great place to just hangout with friends and family. Food is pretty good as well, everything tasted like it had good quality.

Really surprised by this restaurant ! The sunflower seed salad was so amazing!! I love the pesto dressing and the sunflower seeds in it. Must order. And the chicken wings were really good too. We had pineapple habanero and Thai peanut sauce.

Decided on this place after watching TikTok to get ideas of places to eat in Topeka. The place was super cute. We went upstairs to eat and had great service. It tried the mojito which was really good. We had Mac and cheese bites for our appetizer and the elote burger. Food was very good and would return if back in Topeka.

It's a fun place for families. The food is good, the service is excellent, and having an arcade promotes a ton of fun! It's a little noisy, but that's to be expected. All in all, definitely worth it!

Very good foods especially fantastic shakes. The shakes are very high priced though. Tight quarters with maxes to get through to find a he restrooms and the exits. Slow service. Not a lot of choices for entrees.

We went to this place on recommendation from a gentleman at our hotel and it was a good one. The whole family enjoyed the experience. We enjoyed shakes, several different kinds of burgers and the nachos. The serving sizes were good. The nachos were abundant and delicious. (Ingredients were in even ratios throughout.) The burgers were cooked as ordered and the atmosphere was family friendly. Cost was pretty normal for a burger. (We didn't bowl or hit the arcade but will likely do so in the future as requested by our teens.) This may become a regular spot when visiting family in Topeka.

I liked how spacious the inside was. The service was great, and I did love my meal. I had the Chicken Elote Pasta. It was delicious. Unfortunately, the milkshake was a disappointment. I was very excited to order a fancy milkshake. I got the "Dough Boy" which was supposed to taste like cookie dough. The ice cream sandwich cookie on top was good but the shake had the weirdest flavor ever...and it was definitely not cookie dough. Not only was the shake kind of melted, it tasted gross. The best way I could describe the flavor is burnt plastic. The nice waitress offered to give us a gift card but we are not Topeka locals.

At first, I liked this place. It was new and different. Our last visit kind of put a nail in the coffin for us. We had to sit upstairs- which is not bad but the acoustics are terrible. It was about 50% full, but everyone's voices were echoing, we couldn't hear each other at the table. Fried pickles were sparse and mostly breading. Meh. The Nashville hot sandwich, which I have gotten before and loved, was over cooked & so dry on the edges that I just gave up. Hardly any sauce to help. The Rueben was soggy, but I heard it was still tasty enough, but too little dressing. The garlic parmesean fries were not hit but still crispy. No garlic flavor here. A dash of parm. No dipping sauce just ketchup. (Boo!!!) Just made for a lackluster experience overall. Hope it returns to the early days when it seemed like they cared a little more about quality. Especially for the price.

They almost had it. I ordered online for carry out so it didn't give me an option to add anything to my bourbonater. So when I get there I asked the server if I could possibly add grilled jalapeño. She went and checked and said she was able to tell the cooks to add it in my burger. But when she brings out my order 10-minutes later, they didn't add it. I checked for utensils and found a container with sliced jalapeño instead. I asked her "they couldn't grill them and add them to my burger?" She just nodded her head "no". That makes no sense. My burger was excellent. And I would definitely recommend the Cajun fries. But that's the last time I order online or tip online.

Visited the state of Kansas for a friend's wedding recently and we had dinner in Topeka at this phenomenal restaurant/bar/arcade. We didn't order food off the traditional menu it was mostly catering style, but we had everything that we could have asked for including burgers, chicken tenders, fries etc with all of it being amazing. But what really impressed me about this place is that they actually have legitimate arcade cabinets. Not just any arcade games, but the games that you want to play from your childhood. If that wasn't enough there's actually a bowling alley on the main floor. If I had a place like this nearby I wouldn't go anywhere else with my friends. What more could you want? The closest to this is a Dave & Buster's, but even that pales in comparison.

Oh my gosh everyone here is so welcoming!! They make eye contact and the place is clean and well kept! The mushroom burger was messy and loaded with flavor and my salad was fresh. They had a stout on tap and the bowling looks fun, too. Great atmosphere, great value!

This is a cool location and idea for family and friends fun. Food and service were good. Great place for sports bar type food and drinks while the kiddos ply arcade games or bowl. We enjoyed the burgers greatly and will be back often.

A really fun place for a date or to bring the entire family. The atmosphere is fun and offers a lot of classic arcade games, and it has a small bowling alley which is fun too. The food is really good, unique burgers and pastas that are very tasty and satisfying. Great service and rightfully a popular and busy place on the weekends. Check it out if you are in Topeka, it's one of the best in town.

I really like what The Pennant has done with a historic building in downtown Topeka. Two floors of amusements, food and drink. I visited on a Sunday afternoon and it was bedlam with multiple private children's party's going on and a continuous cacophony of arcade noises, television sports sounds and children's voices echoing across a space with zero acoustics. You have been warned! We sat at the upstairs bar and ordered food. I had the Fig Vicious Burger. A large patty with grilled onions, bacon, roasted red peppers, goat cheese and fig jam; cooked medium. A fantastic flavor combination and a very large burger, as it should be for $13. The fries were standard mass produced crunchy coated ones that are common place nowadays.

Fun and festive!! We went in December and the space was decked out with lights and Christmas trees. They even had a special holiday menu (the same great food, just written in a fun way)!! The service was wonderful and the food was amazing! It has an arcade and bowling lanes, but we were strictly there for food this time. We will be back!!!

wanted to try a new restaurant in Topeka. The atmosphere was busy and robust. I was excited at first. The server was hardworking, i ate at the Happy Hour. The menu was misleading they no longer serve the platter that was offered. (Bummer). I ordered a white sangria it was decent. The food order included Korean wings (great) an order consisted of 5 wings ! Mac and Cheese Bites. The next order was 5 garlic parm (they weren't fried hard as the Korean Wings were). I ended up taking the wings home and heated them in the over and after I ate the leftover wings I ended up with Food Poisoning . I am highly pissed off about this, I am still recouping. At this time I don't recommend this restaurant. (Respectfully)

Sandwiches are amazing!! Salads also very good. Prices also very reasonable Not to be a good snob but didn't have highest expectations for such a small town. Very pleasantly surprised.

Hamburger joint inside a bowling alley in the heart of downtown Topeka Kansas. Hamburger was very good, big patty that tastes fresh. Their BLT had plenty of thick bacon and got a taste in every bite. Great service too. Did not care for their french fries tho. They put some breading on it that it doesn't need. But all the food I saw being served looked great.

I mean... the website looked great. Perfect with the older boys and the arcade games. I love that they partner up with Shanna cake for the buns. I had the burger flight. Jalapeño fries. They had a wrap. Buffalo fries. Staff was great.. super nice. Food was, good. Not five star though. No serious complaints. A place to come with kids and just eat and hang out. Enjoy a shake, they are fun.

Have always had great service & food & were really looking forward to enjoying the Alice in Wonderland experience that had been advertised. Unfortunately as soon as we entered the upper area the young Hostess was very abrupt & curt. She sat us in a corner in the Beer garden room up against a wall squeezing 6 of us in a table for 4. She gave us a dirty glare on her way out of the room. *NoteThere was plenty of room in the big open bar/game rooms Our waitress was friendly & prompt. We enjoyed the drinks, shakes & food for the Alice in Wonderland occasion. We spent some bank & made the best of the situation.

Absolutely fabulous experience at The Pennant. Upon arrival, our party of 4 adults + 1 toddler walked up the beautiful original stairway to the top level for lunch. We were seated immediately and the service was fabulous. Our server was friendly, attentive, and conversational throughout the entire meal. For our entrees, two of us ordered the burger flights, one ordered the Nashville hot chicken sandwich, and one ordered the fig burger. The toddler had chicken tenders, fries, and milk. Pro tip: the side orders of fries are large enough to share with two people. The burger flight was what I ordered, and WOW! They were phenomenal. Great flavor for a slider, soft buns, wonderful toppings, and huge portions. I was absolutely stuffed after the meal. Tried the apple pie seasonal cocktail as well - light and refreshing! Add to the dining experience the opportunity to watch one of their many TVs and/or play arcade games, and you have a top-notch lunch any day of the week. We will definitely be back!

The historic building is so cool! Love what they did to make this space relevant and fun!! The food choices and prices we awesome! I had the California Club sandwich with the sweet potatoe fries- they bring a maple dip for them that was delicious! We also got the nachos.... And they were awesome too! Everything from the hostess to paying the bill was awesome!!

Finally decided to try this spot. I'm glad to see that downtown Topeka is finally growing in a good direction. I will start by saying that if you are a parent or go out as a family/large groups, this is a good spot for you. This restaurant offers a bowling alley and arcade. That being said, if you don't like being around kids or loud noises, this won't be the place for you. The food was delicious; my boyfriend had the Cuban sandwich and it was really good. I had a chicken breast sandwich that had an artichoke spread a d tomato jam that was yummy. We also shared some jalapeno bacon fries that were fantastic. Overall a good experience. The staff was very friendly and professional.

Great place for lunch and or dinner in downtown Topeka! We had the cheese curds as a starter and they were fantastic. If you are cheese head then it's a must have. Great place to bring kids for bowling and games upstairs.

The Pennant staff is courteous and accommodating. The atmosphere is warm and welcoming; as well as , fun and friendly; and the food is absolutely delicious. You can taste the love and feel the real. True family fun.

Really tasty for both regular American food & milkshakes. It harnesses the trendy restaurants (arcade, large milkshakes) but feels approachable. The restaurant is huge and so are the portions-go creative on the food, it's tasty!

Great food and it's a fun place to eat. Service is awesome. We scheduled a family reunion there and the staff was very accommodating. I will be scheduling more events

I didn't get to try either the bowling or the arcades but this place is worth visiting for the food alone. Everything from delicious salads to well-sauced wings to a crazy variety of fries. You're looking better, downtown Topeka!

The hostess was kind and acknowledged us when we arrived, however after being sat we waited for ten minutes and no one else ever came to our table (we saw multiple employers walk by). We left and will most likely not try again.

What's the skinny on this place everyone wants to know...well wait no further heres some reviews on pieces of the menu. Overall this place is fun, exciting and has a bit of something for everyone. Wanting to chill at the bar and watch a game...they have it, wanna enjoy some old school arcades and skee ball...yep 2nd floor. This place is great for date night, gals/guys night, happy hour, kid bonding, team lunches...etc. Here's to expanding downtown...to something that if fun. Apps Tater Tot Nachos - decent, worth sharing, hard to mix across a group since they are tater tots. Don't mistake the fried avocado bits for fried jalapenos. Fried Mac & Cheese - CROWD PLEASER!!! This one comes out in three meatball like balls....with some cheesy sauce and dipping sauce. Fried Pickle Spears - Can't just have one...these spears have the right amount of batter to pickle that it leaves you with wanting one more bite. You get about 5 spears on this one. Onion Rings - so/so, big plate of them but nothing too hot to rave about. Good to share. Burgers Bourbonator - decent, would have liked the jam to be more pronounced, but the "in cognito" would be to layer on some of the onion rings and this baby is a pleaser. My Boy Blue - great mix of the tanginess of the blue cheese with the red onion mix...ask for extra blue cheese Picante - try this bad boy with the Fried Chicken instead of the beef...both are equally as good...also might add the shoestring haystack for the additional enhancer Pennant Original - your standard burger...nice flavor and size. Fries - share share share share share...the 1/2 order can be shared with 2 people. Can't comment on the larger order. Jalapeno Goodness - yes goodness to the heat. They jalapenos aren't mild, but these are tasty and you can't just have one. Buffalo - okish, think buffalo wing sauce with blue cheese crumbles. The fries get a bit soggy but overall good. Roasted Garlic Parmesan - #2 choice after the jalapeno goodness. Twisted Poutine - there is some work on these that need to be done. Not a fan favorite gravy needs to be tweaked a bit. Shakes - must try they are fun.

Always a fun time here. I love eating & then going to the arcade upstairs. I have yet to try bowling but I will next time. We had the Mac & cheese balls, the Asian salad, the original pennant burger, & onions rings & it was all great. Iron Rail Brewing's Tangerine Wheat & the special Dino Dig shake to drink. Topeka needs more like this- Can't wait to come back!!

I love The Pennant. Best burger and shake joint around!!! I cannot recommend this place enough! Absolutely great service. They always have some kind of theme in the restaurant that changes every few months that I love to go in to see. Best Mushroom burger I've had anywhere. Their shakes are to die for!! Great atmosphere with the bowling alley downstairs and the arcade and bar area upstairs. If you are looking for a little something for everyone, this is THE place to go!!!!

I moved to Topeka in June and this is my favorite restaurant so far. The mac and cheese bites and the Chicken Elote Pasta are my favorites. Definitely a 5

A super fun atmosphere. Food is good but you are paying for both food and atmosphere. My husband got the bourbonator and LOVED it. We ordered nachos with beef and were disappointed but staff made it right! The next time we ordered the Strawberry Joy, Teriyaki Wrap and fries. The salad and the fries were both amazing. I didn't care for the tortilla on the wrap but I just ate the middle and it was delicious!

My server Ashlyn was very attentive and made me feel welcomed the whole time. She got to my table right away and brought all of my food in a timely manner.

We came to Topeka to go the Capitol Building and explore. We stopped in this fun spot! Not only was the food tasty and even original, but the staff was incredibly helpful, kind and fast. Don't miss this place. It's perfect for all ages with bowling, arcade and a good view.

It's really about the games and atmosphere, they go all out for different themes throughout the year. May the 4th be with you is probably my favorite. Food is typical bar food that takes a while to get. Service has always been good and staff are friendly. Draft beer selection on the other hand is poor. Out of 12 tap beers 8 are IPA? No one likes IPA, it's just a trend. Stick to a cocktail or a bottle of domestic. It's basically a classic Dave &Busters with vintage Arcade games. And they finally put new carpet on the skee-ball to dampen that noise. Enjoy.

Please stop using styrofoam and then I will remove this review Fries are delicious, also.