Restaurant Review: Chuck E. Cheese's

1270 El Camino Real, San Bruno, CA, (650) 244-9699

There was a time when diners could break-dance for free video game tokens and pizza slices in the Skee Ball area at Chuck E. Cheese's.

That time was 1983. The games were Tron, Dig-Dug and Ms. Pac Man. The pies tasted like construction paper splattered with Elmer's Glue. And the teenage employees obviously did not read their manuals, especially the section about giving stuff away for free.

Since then, the chain started in 1977 by Atari founder Nolan Bushnell has kind of fallen off the popular culinary radar. Maybe it has something to do with the time it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy - or just the terrible oversight of having a rat for a mascot.

Either way, the place is ripe for reconsideration, especially since it started heavily courting the toddler demographic by clearing out most of the sci-fi video games in favor of rowdy birthday parties, animatronic shows and those mini rides you usually see in front of Safeway.

But enough about Crusty the Cat, Jasper T. Jowls and Pasqually. What about the cuisine?

Well, over the past two decades the menu has expanded considerably to now include buffalo wings and mozzarella sticks. Watch out, Delfina Pizzeria. Unfortunately, these items were not quite defrosted before being served up on our most recent visit.

The pizza, meanwhile, now has that distinct Kraft singles layered on Heinz ketchup flavor that will do little to challenge the restaurant's totally awesome old school nickname, Yucky Cheese's. Totally not worth $40, even if they do throw in a pitcher of Orange Crush and bucket of tokens. Not that it matters. The sheer volume, creepy show by the mechanical Pizza Time Players and half-dead looks in the employees' eyes offer plenty of distraction from the actual food.

Maybe next time we'll try going with a kid.

Vitals: 1270 El Camino Real, San Bruno; (650) 244-9699. 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, until 11 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Credit cards accepted.

Posted By: Aidin Vaziri (Email) | August 24 2006 at 12:00 AM