I don’t really do the Valley but uWink Bistro is giving me reason to reconsider. I’ve only just heard about it but apparently it’s a restaurant that was created by the former founder and CEO of Atari AND Chuck E. Cheese, Nolan Bushnell! I know! Fun!
Glancing at the menu online, nothing really stands out. You’ve got your usual burgers, salads, pizzas and pastas. But I guess the fun is in the ordering of the food. You can order food whenever you damn well please by using the touchscreen menu on your table where, coincidently, you can also play games. And like my other favorite pimp-your-food restaurant, the Counter, you can customize your order. Extra sauce? Olives? More pickles? Order at will. Also drink refills can be ordered a la touchscreen.
But the best part? You can create your own signature cocktail!
From
uWink site:
Your favorite drink not on the menu? Just enter what you want on the touchscreen and voila! uWink gives guests the ability to create their own signature cocktail and reorder exactly that way at every visit. Guests can also vary the alcohol content of their drink – to ABC standards of course!
Here, instead of giant singing animatronic animals for entertainment, you get to play games at your table, either with your party or with the party two tables over. Maybe a Pong match? (Games last up to a couple of minutes or so.) Or you can go to wine flight school via the table and learn about wine. Or even just watch movie trailers. I wonder when they’re going to offer music videos or just straight up movies?
This definitely looks like a restaurant for gamers, which is very forward-thinking, but I’m wondering if it’ll also be too intimidating an interface for all others.
Westfield Promenade
6100 Topanga Canyon Boulevard 2310
Woodland Hills, California 91367
(818) 992-1100
Hours: Sunday-Thursday 11am-12am, Friday-Saturday 11am-2am