Gattiland closes

Michele,
If you think Gattiland was CDC worthy, just wait until you go to Chuck E Cheese !!! Take LOTS of disinfectant wipes !

Haha I was thinking the same thing if you can't handle Mr gattis you better wear a hazmat suit to Chuck e cheese.

I can't believe I'm defending Chuck E Cheese, but I've been to the one on Hurtsbourne twice in the last week or so. There is only a small salad bar and soda area. Otherwise, the pizza and sandwiches are delivered. The place is not any less sanitary than any other high volume type of place I've visited recently. My son even talked me into buying a pizza last time. It was surprisingly good for the market niche. I ardently support the local food scene. But until chefs-so-and-so find the right kiddie formula, us parents have to deal with the realities.

Michele,
If you think Gattiland was CDC worthy, just wait until you go to Chuck E Cheese !!! Take LOTS of disinfectant wipes !

Haha I was thinking the same thing if you can't handle Mr gattis you better wear a hazmat suit to Chuck e cheese.

I can't believe I'm defending Chuck E Cheese, but I've been to the one on Hurtsbourne twice in the last week or so. There is only a small salad bar and soda area. Otherwise, the pizza and sandwiches are delivered. The place is not any less sanitary than any other high volume type of place I've visited recently. My son even talked me into buying a pizza last time. It was surprisingly good for the market niche. I ardently support the local food scene. But until chefs-so-and-so find the right kiddie formula, us parents have to deal with the realities.

I went there, and admittedly its been a couple years, but it was pretty poorly run even compared to mr gattis. Maybe we caught them on an off day. I guess what it boils down to is if you visit a place that caters to children running around like crazy people and has minimum-wage paid teenagers as employees...don't expect a 5 star restaurant experience. Just suck it up and let the kids have a good time and hopefully not encounter too many germs along the way lol.

We had a birthday party there at Chuck's in December and it was very clean. They've changed the recipe for the pizza and it wasn't bad. The college girl who was our hostess was great. When I tipped her $20 at the end, she was very thankful! I don't think they get many of those. Isn't it funny how we sometimes, depending on the restaurant, downgrade (or completely forget to) tips?

Interesting point, Rob- never really thought about it. If i was there individually and ordered a pizza I would tip. I'll admit I never thought to tip a party hostess- to me that service is part of the party fee, not a food service.
Deb

I used to be the merchandise (see: game room) manager at the Lyndon Gatti's some 15 or so years ago. I can attest that it has always been horribly mismanaged.

On the food side of it, they could never seem to keep enough pizza out or keep the buffet stocked. The party central area (private rooms) were always filthy.

As far as the game room went... Don't ever let your kids play in the soft play area. Kids are continuously throwing up and losing control of their bowels. No matter how much a minimum wage paid teenager tries to clean it up, it never gets fully clean. God knows I don't want to see it under a black light.

The games were always broken. There was one guy in charge of fixing them but he lived in Cinci and would come down once a month or so. It was up to me to buy a soldering iron and figure it out.

The ticket redemption machines were always out of whack and wouldn't count the game tickets correctly. I spent more time dealing with upset kids and angry parents than pretty much anything else.

After one particularly busy night, a new GM came to me and wanted my employees to stay late and help them clean up the food side. I had to explain to him that they were all kids and couldn't work more than the hours I had allotted them, with special consideration to their mandatory breaks. I was told that I would make them stay or I was basically no longer needed.

So I changed the passwords on all the computers, handed him my keys and bounced.

So I changed the passwords on all the computers, handed him my keys and bounced.[quote][i]

I think Gary touched on something that I found important in my experience- Management.

The crappy manager that I experienced and then the subsequent mishandling of my concerns speaks volumes to me.

Now I know these people see some crazy folk. We all do in this business. You never let on that the person is wearing you out. You 'eat crow.' Then you do the research to figure out if their concerns are real- and deal with that.

But the second you think that you are better than your guests, close the doors.

PS. I ran across this person's doppelganger at the Science museum's gift shop. SO helpful and such great hospitality. He even sold me on the yearly membership...

Since I don't kids, I'll take this back to the original topic. I heard WV has its sights on a gourmet grocery for the Gattis spot. Didn't hear a name.

While the media persists in saying the Outer Loop location is the only one left in Louisville, they don't mention there's one that's been in Clarksville for maybe 35 years or more by Greentree Mall. It is still around as well but I suppose doesn't count as local because it is ten minutes from downtown up north in terra incognita.

I'm not sure about Outer Loop but I don't think the one across the river is a gattiland. It's a buffet with a few arcade games I think. That may the difference.