Very fun environment of arcade games with popular dance music. Haven't heard much about the food and drinks, but I'll give a better rating next time around. read more

So glad this place is around. Its trashy and crusty and junky. Everything you want an arcade to be AND they have a great beer selection and pizza that looks tasty but pretty mediocre. I didnt go at night when its 21 and and over, i was there on a saturday afternoon. They have a great selection of vintage games and pinball machines as well as some newer stuff. Change machines and counter service. You could have a great time all afternoon for 20 bucks or less. Great Tacoma spot. read more

Love this place. If you love old video games and a cold beer this is the place. We come here Sundays with the kiddies..the kids get root beer in bottles and we get real beer in bottles ahahah I think it's half off on Sundays too. Always a great time and not to spendy. Don't expect to much it's a dive bar but hey, you get to bring the whole fam!! Love it. read more

Love this place. Reminds me of my childhood. The only difference is you don't have to put quarters on the game to make sure you are next.

First thing I'd like to mention is that I find this arcade to be one of the most affordable. Enjoyed my time playing classic arcade games here like Time Crisis, Mario Kart, DDR, and Tetris. Dorky's also had unique games that I haven't seen elsewhere like an arm wrestling machine, large screen pac-man, and a special lit asteroids machine. I would come back again. read more

Great place for pizza and beer for the parents, and games for the kids. Wear your mask, o.k it's only open Fri.,Sat.,& Sun. During covid.

Great date night place! tons of fun games and the prices are decent

Absolutely awesome ! Full of Nostalgia and fun. A great place for the family on a Saturday or Sunday after church ! Owners are super down to earth and I just love it read more

My friend is in from out of state and I just moved here, but Dorky's was recommended to me by a coworker. I am really glad we went! The place was really fun, lots of games, everyone that was there was really nice and relaxed. We didn't have any food because we ate before we came but the drinks were cold and reasonably priced! read more

Great for the Games, but all else is a rip off....Went in there yesterday afternoon, with my son and his friend. We were having a little pre birthday get together and really didn't know how many of his teen friends could make it. I was sitting at a table all alone , when this guy came up to me ( guess he may have been the owner, as he did not introduce himself to me) . He noticed I had a small birthday cake from Safeway on my table , with paper plates and plastic forks in a bag. He asked me if we were having a party, and I said it was more of a get together. He proceeded to tell me because I brought in a cake I needed to go and pay the bartender 10.00.Excuse me?? I was planning on ordering 4 pizzas as well as 8 drinks, and he still wanted 10.00 extra bucks! NO WAY! I have worked for restaurants/bars for over 30 years and have NEVER heard of this !!! I brought the cake back to the car and then came back and ordered the pizzas. The pizzas took about a total of an hour, because, instead of bringing them all at once, which usually is the way food is brought out, they brought one like every 15 minutes. I also ordered sodas for whoever wanted one. One of the teens went to the counter and wanted water , but was told they would have to pay for the cup, or buy a bottle...INSANE!!!!! I believe about 8-9 friends showed up, who never even sat at a table, they just ate and ran on to the next game,each of which spent at least 10 bucks each on games. The business I brought in along with the pizza and drinks, came to over 150.00 dollars for less than 3 hours. Needless to say we had the birthday cake in the parking lot, as I was not going to give Dorkys money for a cake. The pizzas were not good at all. The service was bad. My advice is just go in to play the games, eat before you go. The owners are Greedy and Sleezy...If you don't allow outside food or beverage , that's fine, just don't make allowances for it as long as you slip them some cash...Most reputable businesses, will allow birthday cakes brought in as long as you are buying their food, and the cake was purchased at a bakery ( not made at home) . And on a side note, I have been contacted numerous times via email by Michelle B who seems to be an advocate for Dorky's , she too is snarky , rude and full of hateful comments...Must be one of their wonderful employees or a friend of... read more

Update - I've been back to this place and can confirm the owner is a solid PC bromani.

This review was a 2, it now dropped to a one after the owner of the bar messaged me on yelp calling me a name I can not repeat via terms and conditions on yelp...seriously grow up...my opinion of your bar does not give you the right to call me a foul word, I assume since you own a business you are an adult, maybe you should act like one! ***Oh and I wouldn't put much stock in all these 5's....on their facebook page they have a post begging their regulars to come post 5's due to the bad reviews they have received*** **Edited for response to owner*** First off to assume I wanted to get "wasted" is appalling, what I wanted was to go to a BAR, which you advertise yourself as being, and have a couple beers with my boyfriend on a nice Sunday afternoon. I agree I did not go into detail on WHY I did not find it a nice place and since you seem to think your business is so perfect here are the details for you. For starters, I don't find it tasteful or fun to consume beer around children, you have NO set BAR area, rather a puny counter where you order off of a paper menu listing your beers. Some people may not have a problem drinking around children and that's their business, I on the other hand go to a bar to NOT be around children...a designated adult area and less clutter around your supposed bar area would fix that problem quickly. Secondly your waitress was not friendly and seemed too absorbed with her computer to assist me when I had questions about your beer selection. Sorry I am not a beer expert, your employees are there (I'm assuming here) to do a job, that job being helping customers, not mess around on a computer and rush customers to make decisions. The original rating was a 2, which according to Yelp standards reads as a "Meh, I've experienced better" which I have. It was absolutely a true review of your bar as I PERSONALLY HAVE EXPERIENCED BETTER. The fact that your "business partner" was so vulgar and verbally abusive to someone stating their opinion of your bar dropped you down quite a bit. If you claim this place is for dorks you should be sensitive to NOT bully people, yet your management and your customers have been harassing me on Yelp non stop for 3 days now and apparently I am not the only one stuck dealing with your abuse...Your business ethics and morals are a disgrace. read more

When I was driving up from San Diego to Seattle, my girl and I stopped at Dorky's for a slice and some relaxation after a long drive. Boy am I sure glad we did. I've never felt more welcome at a place and the pizza was slamming. If I'm ever in the area again I'll be sure to stop by again. read more

This review is based solely on the games, which are awesome! I wish we had a place like this around here. Good selection from pinball to shooters, and they are cheap and fun. A unique way to spend an evening. read more

My friends and I went for a night out at Dorky's and it wasn't a very pleasurable experience. The place was dirty and dingy, the food selection was poor and a lot of the games were broken. Broken games wouldn't have been much of a problem if there were signs up so you didn't waste your money. Also, they only serve beer so I don't think they should call themselves a bar. You have to go across the street to the real bar if you want real drinks. No one I know will be back here. read more

I'm updating my review with the owner's response. Caroline B. responded; I am sorry that you don't like our rules, but they are there for safety, not just for the games but for the kids. I always find these complaints from parents weird. We have so many families that come here on a bi-weekly or more basis. They never have issues. The handful of annoyed parents have always tried to bend the rules to their liking. The kids that were 7 years old & younger were to be within arms reach of an adult.... not kept an eye on from across the room. The fingerprint thing- If I see anyone, adult or child is seen putting their hands all over the glass, they are asked to stop. Checking for coins & shaking the coin doors is not allowed. I wasn't yelling, it's just not allowed. Stealing, is stealing, is stealing- if you want your kids to grow up to think it's ok to take something that is not theirs, than that is your choice. If telling people that we hate kids makes you feel better, but we have enough great, respectable families that come here- more everyday- & I'm sure any of them would disagree with you. We never get bad reviews from honest, good parents- just from self-righteous parents that think they can treat people & their respected businesses any old way they want. We don't tolerate people who think they make the rules in our business. Finally- I didn't add new rules- I reiterated some of the more important rules that covered children's safety. If you own a children's center than you should know that there is nothing more serious than the safety of little ones. I did say hello, welcome to dorky's- but when I go over the rules I try to be serious, it helps the kids understand that it is about their safety. In the end, I am glad you have decided to not grace our doorway- I do not have time to keep an eye on children of parents that don't really care. I will spend my time worrying about the fun time of all the awesome families that come here- that have NEVER given me any problems. The customer is always right, except when they are wrong! MY RESPONSE; Thank you, Caroline. PARENTS AND CHILDCARE PROVIDERS ... as you can see from the owner's response, she's not child friendly. Again, I urge you to not bring your children here. They are very rude concerning them. Children are not thieves for looking for abandoned quarters... they are opportunists and most parents are aware of this . She states "she always finds the complaints from the parents weird." So, obviously other parents have complained. I urge you to NOT bring your children here, the workers and owner are very rude to you and them. They prefer adults and that is fine but instead of taking the responsibility of becoming an adult only establishment, they'd rather spend their time lecturing and educating each parents, child and childcare provider who walks in on "how to behave" in their establishment". Ridiculous!! and arrogant!! Could you imagine Applebee's or BJ's Brewery House greeting all parents with a lecture and a set of rules of how their children ought to behave? hahahahaha... This review IS NOT for the owner ( although she arrogantly assumes this was meant for her) This review is for parents and childcare providers. Be warned and take care. As a childcare provider ( My children are grown as I stated), I urge you to take your kids somewhere else. If you want a night on the town with adults only, maybe.... although, her lack of temperance in this matter may be an indication on her customer service) but please don't bring your babies to be educated by this overbearing owner who is not child friendly. and for the "short sighted and socially unaware" who think that "Bar" in the name should mean "no Kids"... just because something says "Bar" in the name does not mean "no kids", Applebee's bar and grill welcomes kids and they have "bar" in their name. Winger's grill & bar have "bar" in the name and they welcome children and neither one greet their guests with a list of rules and 10 minute lecture for each parent or childcare provider who walks into their establishment. So, if you're single or your family does not include children, this review is NOT for you. For families with kids who are not robots, heed my warning, love your babies... but take them somewhere that kids are valued as customers :o) An additional response by me; oh, and if you think because this establishment has 80's video games, then kids should be treated so rudely, this has been done before with a better atmosphere by Nickel, Nickel in California. Oddly though, they never felt the need to post crazy signs and greet guests with a lecture and a set of rules to protect their arcade games... in fact, there were tons of kids running around, having fun with 80's arcade games... with NO workers following them,complaining about fingerprints and checking for abandoned coins. http://www.nickelnickelwhittier.com .The original review is below read more

Didn't get the best service second visit. We felt like we were inconveniencing some of the staff. Wow. Smh.

watch out for fake vegan items! while ordering food, no one knew if they even carried vegan items/what vegan was yet said they served them. finally I ordered two veggie dogs and it came out to 20 dollars. after I paid the manager told me "oh wait our hot dog buns aren't vegan." so she rolled it in a tortilla shell and put the condiments in side cups....... I paid 20 dollars for the worst meal of my life. slow service (it took about 45 minutes), rude staff, and it wasn't even busy when I went. read more

This Place is so Great! We just had my husbands 30th Birthday here with some of our friends and it was a total blast. SOOOOO many fun games my husband was in heaven and the food was VERY yummy. This is not crappy Chucky cheese Pizza Dorky's uses real fresh ingredients we would go back just for the Pizza the retro games just make it even more fun. They do a great job of mixing retro games with new modern games so many games to choose from. The Employees were Super helpful and attentive made sure our birthday party was going great and everyone was happy and we were so pleased with the whole Experience Thanks Dorky's best 30th Birthday EVER! read more

I found my childhood again at Dorky's Bar Arcade! I have driven up and down Pacific Ave several times but never noticed or even heard about this place. I found it haphazardly perusing through the yelp! app and found reviews of this highly rated place. After having dinner at Matador's just diagnolly across, we walked on down...it's EXACLY like heading into Tron's Flint's Arcade. PLUS there is a small little bar that sells beer and at night, they kick all the minors out and it becomes an awesome playground for the grown up nerds as they dim the lights and amp up the music. All my favorites were here....Pinball (From Indian Jones to the Simpsons to World Cup '94), the classic Nintendo games (Super Mario Bros. which is harder with a joystick rather than the control, Donkey Kong, etc), air hockey (which I remember playing at a Chuck E. Cheese when I was 8!), the arm wrestling game, and contemporary stuff like Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero! It was awesome having a pocketful of quarters and with all the games being either 25 cents to 50 cents, I was definitely entertained for hours and probably spent 10 bucks max on change. I am sure this place will definitely have a personal attachment to those who were born in the 80s-90s...definitely a treasured place to have in Tacoma and a must do for all. I heard you can have a birthday party here...I may just take them up on that offer for a thirty something bash! lol read more

This place sucks. Overpriced beverages. Strange and uncomfortable vibe about the place. They periodically purge negative reviews for this place, so I expect this to come down soon. read more

Great place for some beers and childhood nostalgia! Took a cool chick on a date here once and she loved it. Good variety of pinball machines, classic arcade games, brews and grub. I like that they also have a photo booth. I highly recommend it for a good time. read more

Beer selection is good, but expensive. Food quality is more in line with a high school sporting event than a bar/restaurant. The games are all classics, but each time I've been here there were several which were out of order. read more

My family and I went here in hopes of getting a bite to eat before the Weird Al concert and were VERY impressed by the amount of video games, but couldn't for the life of us figure out how to place an order for food! Once we DID find the tiny counter for supposedly interacting with the bartender, we were pushed out of the way by a drunken customer who wanted to "talk" and we figured it would be easier/happier to walk up the street to Subway *shudder*. Not really as kid-friendly or family-friendly as some comments lead me to believe, I think they would do MUCH better to just focus on the BAR angle and steer away from getting listed under "Family Friendly" or "Restaurant" status. If I had been going here having had a BAR recommended to me, I would have given it a 5... but as a Family Friendly Restaurant? Lucky to get a 2 :( read more

Who can turn down a late night arcade that let's you drink beer and have a good time while rocking out to the sounds of anxiety induced games? Schyuh! NOBODY. That's who. So when you're Friday night sucks balls and you and your friends have nothing else to look at on your phones, just swing on down to Dorky's and have a good time amongst others like yourself. Cheers mate. PS. Don't forget to recycle your bottles accordingly please! read more

As much as I appreciate the games here, do avoid eating here. How does a 10 inch vegan pizza and a pizza dog take 1 hour to make? Don't bother going to the counter, as customer service is very cold and unfriendly. If the guy had told us it would take an hour, I would have gone someplace else to eat. read more

What a rip off. We just got charged $5.00 each to enter an arcade. They play music outside to make you think there is dancing and the bouncer wouldn't share anything with us about what was inside. read more

It's pretty cool. There's lots of old and new games. Drinking and playing arcade games with your drunk friends is the best.

Dorky's tacoma cheap inexpecive night out. Food is cheap and made from scratch. Absolutely worth the drive from lacey wa.

Pacman Versus. 'Nuff said. No? Okay, here's more. Barcades are becoming more and more prevalent and I'm a happy kid. I can drag my friends some place where they can drink and I can be a nerd. It's a win-win. Dorky's is MUCH larger than it appears and is the biggest barcade I've been to in Western Washington. There are tons of games to be played. Classic arcade games and pinball as well as newer offerings. They even have neon air hockey! The games are all in working order and are laid out in a pretty easy to navigate fashion. I can kill $10 in quarters here relatively easily. When you walk in you're greeted with the restrooms almost directly in front of you... they are dirty and scary. The walls themselves may molest you with their germy little ghost-wall fingers if you're not careful. If you turn right you go into the darker, more game filled side of Dorky's. Over here is where you'll spend most of your time and where they'll have live bands or DJs set up on the weekends. I've heard some metal/punk bands rippin' it up and I've heard DJs spinning house and dubstep... you never really know what you're going to get. Raaaawwr wubwub raaaawr wubwubwub! If you turn to the left you find the bar, the candy and a better lit section of the joint with a mellower offering of games. If you want to escape the hustle and bustle of the wild side of Dorky's and actually want to converse with your friends without causing your throat to bleed from screaming then this may be the side for you. I've never ordered or paid for a beverage here so I have no input for you there but I have bought candy and a few other odd assortments of items. Yay toys! One thing I do really appreciate is they have an ATM across from their coin machine and their coin machine accepts some pretty dastardly and "well loved" dolla dolla bills. I like to bring the $1 bills I get from stripping here since the machine will take them... not many places will. I've made the drive from my place in Seattle to Tacoma just to hang out at Dorky's and I don't feel bad about that fact at all. In fact I feel another trip coming on as I type! I'm a huge fan! read more

Not a good place to go to. Just didn't like the atmosphere or the service. I feel like there's better places to go to than this one. I wouldn't recommend it to any friends or anyone for that matter. Maybe I'll try again someday but I doubt it. read more

This place serves real good beer. The gaming area was smaller than expected. Kinda dingy. Love the classic pinball machines. My kids has a good time. read more

i had the worst day of my life at this place as soon as i walked in the staff gave me a dirty look and followed me around they had a attitude when i talked to them the place was very dusty and dirty i walked into the bathroom and found a uses bloody tampon on the ground and i was disgusted the arcade games were sticky and gross over all worst place on planet earth read more

Wouldn't eat there, and the drinks are not cheap. Bring cash, they charge $1 for every ten dollars cash returned from a debit card purchase. Before 9pm, they let kids in. After 9pm, they dime the lights and it's not so strange to be an adult with a bunch of kids running around. Super loud. read more

Loved this place. It's a dorky little hole in the wall. Huge selection of beers and ciders, they had one of my faves & I was happy. Really loud like any arcade. I suck at video games, but dumped a load of quarters into pinball - it was great!!! Their only good is pizza, we didn't try it, as we had plans to go elsewhere for food. Fun times!! read more

I love that this place exists and I hope it does well. Video Games: Great selection. Personally, my girlfriend and I love shooting games. If they had one of those animal hunting games like Big Buck Hunter, we'd be there often. Management: I'm being nice here: the manager/owner is rude. We were there to attend a birthday party. Multiple people in our party had a run in with the manager. Details aside, we ended up moving our group elsewhere. Service: Staff otherwise were helpful and courteous. We ordered two sandwiches a BST and a Super Mario (Italian style sub). The BST came and it was about 15 minutes before Mario arrived. The girl apologized and gave us a free dessert. Food: The food itself is about what you'd expect, it borders on acceptable and OK. They skimped on the jalapeños, this is probably personal preference. I like it spicy. The pizzas don't look very appetizing but I didn't try a piece. Beer: This place needs a wider selection of bottled / canned beer. I know this place is new and it takes a while to get your ducks in a row. I just hope the manager eases up. This place is supposed to be fun. read more

No hard liquor here beer only!!!!!!! That SUCKS! I only drink vodka and had to decide on a hard cider. If they had hard liquor I probably would have given them 4 or even 5 stars. Arcade is amazing! Reminds me of when I was like 6 years old playing arcade games, just with a little alcohol involved. The staff could be a little more friendlier, and the place needs an update.. read more

My hopes were higher than my experience. I actually went after viewing this youtube video of the place: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu9o_rU0fM8 The food and bar place was tucked in the corner, and it just didn't seem to inviting, but I was there for the games anyway. Lots of games which is great right? However, in my opinion, there was just so much sound etc. going on that you really couldn't enjoy the game you were playing. In fact I didn't enjoy a pinball game I played at Dorky's, which I enjoyed years ago. I played it again at a place after my Dorky's experience where there were less games/noise and enjoyed it again. A few of the games I wanted to play were out of service or twitchy, but that's to be expected. Some of the staff were know-it-alls. Not exactly rude, but just a bit condescending. In closing I'd definitely recommend anyone check it out, just for the sake of seeing all the pinball games etc., but they could improve on the layout and their friendliness. Some of my favorite pinball games (they have tons) they have are: Star Wars (Data East) Indiana Jones Twilight Zone read more

I have been coming here for years and it is one of the most chill and fun bars in dowbtown Tacoma. You've heard it all before: they have awesome retro arcade games that take you back (most are only 25 or 50 cents a play)! They do serve food and drinks there and have a pretty robust beer selection considering it is an arcade. Pricewise I think it is an awesome deal. You can take $20 bucks there and have a few beers and play arcade games for the night with some friends. read more

If you were born in the 80s this is a must go to place!! I can't recommend this place highly enough. Get a pocket full of quarters and have fun! read more