What to expect from Modesto’s Dave & Buster’s. Look inside Vintage Faire Mall attraction
After three years, a pandemic and an uncertain wait, Dave & Buster’s has opened in Modesto’s Vintage Faire Mall.
The entertainment center-restaurant hybrid’s Memorial Day holiday opening also brought crowds back into the second floor of the former Sears anchor spot for the first time in those three years, filling a critical space for the north Modesto shopping complex.
The location is the first in the Northern San Joaquin Valley for the Texas-based entertainment brand. So, after the long and, at times, precarious wait, was it all worth it?
For the uninitiated, Dave & Buster’s started with two real-life friends named — you guessed it — Dave and Buster. Their story is splashed across the center’s walls, quite literally, in big letters. The first site opened in 1982 in Dallas.
The chain has since grown to more than 140 locations, and was able to survive the COVID-19 pandemic despite an early shutdown of all its locations and long pause on its new construction projects.
“Not only are we proud to be in Modesto, it also gives (the city) the nightlife that sometimes we need,” said General Manager Beto Chavarria.
Modesto Dave & Buster’s offers large arcade, restaurant
In Modesto, Dave & Buster’s fills the 34,688-square-foot second floor of its east anchor wing. Entering from outside, you turn the corner from the Dick’s Sporting Goods — which moved into the first-floor space in October 2020 — and find a fairly unassuming corner entrance that takes you up a flight of stairs. If you enter from inside the mall, the entrance is equally unadorned, with just the logo, block lettering spelling “Fun Starts Here” and two sets of double doors.
But once inside, the noise and the lights take over. Modesto’s Dave & Buster’s follows the company’s more recent smaller model of sites, and is about the same size as its Fresno location. While other, older Dave & Buster’s are like entertainment warehouses complete with bowling alleys and billiard halls, the Modesto site is essentially a supersized arcade wrapped around a sports bar and restaurant.
By the numbers, Modesto’s Dave & Buster’s is plenty big. The location has 195 arcade games, which all use a cashless card system to both play and redeem tickets from winning games. The restaurant and sports bar area seat up to 300. And the venue has a private party room for rentals — though the whole site can be rented out as well.
Now Dave & Buster’s, which in its earlier days was marketed more as an adults-only funzone, happily welcomes families. Still, children under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or an adult over the age of 25 to enter. Entry is free, but to play any of the games costs money.
The bar and full-service restaurant serves an array of cocktails, beer and other alcoholic drinks. But they must be consumed in those areas and cannot be carried around the gaming floor. You’ll find watermelon margaritas, Long Island iced teas and even a chocolate bourbon milkshake on the cocktail menu. Most of the colorful specialty drinks run $10.50 to $11.50.
Mall location’s menu includes burgers, entrees, cocktails
The restaurant menu is filled with all manner of burgers and sandwiches (which run around $13 to $15) and entrees from ribeye steak to a rack of ribs and pasta dishes (those run $16 to $30). They also serve a handful of salads and offer a kids menu.
One of the site’s defining features is its 40-foot “WOW Wall,” so dubbed because it takes up the entire wall of the restaurant and can offer simultaneous viewing for multiple sporting events. Another defining characteristic is its total lack of windows. Like a Las Vegas casino, Dave & Buster’s wants guest to lose track of time while lured by the flashing arcade games.
And, oh, what games. Even those unfamiliar with arcades will likely recognize some of the names from Monopoly to an adult-sized Hungry Hungry Hippos to a Wicked Tuna game fashioned after the popular commercial fisherman reality series. You’ll also find games of slightly more skill from basketball to air hockey and the infamous claw machines.
The arcade also has a virtual reality simulator that will jostle you in your seat while you play a selection of about half a dozen titles based on famous franchises including “Top Gun,” “Star Trek” and “Terminator.” The attraction is also a fun stop for bystanders as they watch people wearing oversized goggles get tossed around while fighting unseen foes.
To play any of the games you must load a Power Card with “chips,” or points which are then used to play the games. You can load cards with set amounts — starting at 75 chips for $15 and going up to 750 chips for $100. Depending on how much you load, each chip is worth anywhere from $0.20 to $0.13. Games typically cost between three chips and 10 chips; most games are five to seven chips each. The virtual reality simulator is $6 per person.
Close to 200 games, large selection of prizes available
The cards also store your tickets, which can be won while playing games. Those tickets can then be exchanged for a variety of prizes — from stuffed animals in all sizes to games and electronics.
The arrival of Dave & Buster’s makes it the largest video arcade in the county, with close to 200 games. By comparison, Modesto’s Funworks has 130 arcade games and Turlock’s Ten Pin Fun Center has 60.
For those looking for fun on a budget, Dave & Buster’s offers happy hour specials in early evening from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday and late night from and 10 p.m. to midnight Sunday to Thursday. Families looking to stretch their dollar for the arcade can come on Wednesday, when games are half price.
So who is Dave & Buster’s for? Families who want to keep their kids, and the parents, busy for a couple of hours in a controlled, air conditioned space. People on date nights who want to show off, or laugh at, each other’s gaming skills. Fans who love watching sports on very large screens while surrounded by fellow sports fans. Folks tired of being cooped up from the pandemic who want to be surrounded by similarly energized folks. And anyone who can’t make it to Vegas, but still wants to be immersed in the constant din of people feeding flashing neon machines in hopes of a big win.
Dave & Buster’s, at 3401 Dale Road in Modesto’s Vintage Faire Mall, is open 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday to Thursday and 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday to Saturday. For more information visit www.daveandbusters.com or call 209-458-6700.
