Customer service is beyond horrible. None of the employees simply care about customer experience. Front desk has no enthusiasm to help customers. The cafe folks don't want to sell anything and want to hide inside as much as they can. There is lot of demand however for the sport that seems to keep the place running. If you the owner are reading this, you should be worried since people will find other options. That said the racing experience was fine - pretty much avoid all the depressing human contact there and you should be fine. read more

this place is horrible. I went there two days in a row and they always said there was no race for my group. I even called to double check and they did give a specific time, BUT when we showed up 8 minutes before the "race" started they said that it had ended and they next race was in...... THREE HOURS!!!! read more

We went to K1 for a B-day party and it was so fun getting to race against friends but U found it a bit hard on my back after each round but it was still really find but just be carful when driving. read more

K1 Speed Santa Clara - Racing - Go Karts Near Me - Santa Clara, California

After attempting multiple times to get in a race. Huge shout out to Annabelle for helping us out and treating us with great hospitality customer service thank you so much n we all had fun! read more

i love gokarting but i live about an hour drive away so its always a gamble if i want to race because they dont have online reservations unless you have around 10 people i think? and you cant call in advance to ask how busy they are i get that you're busy but make some way for me to be able to tell if you guys r busy or not. other than that this place is awesome staff its super fun having the national guys kicking your ass. and to all the people complaining about being slowed down its because they dont trust you to drive safe so if u wanna go fast dont drive like an idiot and you'll get to go fast read more

!!!!! TERRIBLE-HORRIBLE-AWFUL !!!!! If we could, we would give them ZERO STARS OR LESS- they'd owe us stars!!! Read on . . . After months of calling this establishment and mostly NOT getting anyone to talk to, I finally - through a LOT of persistence and waits on hold - did. And after that, I thought everything was perfectly arranged, with every detail checked and double-checked for our son's 10th birthday party. Since we only had six guest racers we didn't get an "assigned" event planner, but the lady I talked to assured me that if we arrived early that day (we arrived an hour before it opened) it would be "first come, first served" and I discussed many aspects of our plans with her by phone and had all my questions answered. The day of the event came, we had everything nicely packaged and ready and we all (with other parents) drove nearly an hour to get there. We arrived well before the staff did. When the doors opened, a couple of parents and I tried to handle the kids' waivers. It was then that I was informed that K1 had "reserved" races that day--something that never came up--and I was told we would have to come back at 8pm if we wanted to race.....TEN HOURS LATER!!!! I was literally in tears. WHAT A NIGHTMARE. Never, ever have I experienced something like this. K1 Speed ruined all our plans for the day from start to finish. We had a K1 racing theme throughout everything from the cool special-made invitations to the racing awards that we'd special-ordered for all the kids- everything was based on this theme. They ruined our entire event. We scrambled to recover and ended up taking the kids miniature golfing and to an arcade instead. HUGE SHAME ON K1 SPEED for this TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, AWFUL situation and overall experience. What happened was beyond unacceptable--it was UNFORGIVABLE. I know I'll never, ever, ever go back, and neither will the parents who were with us. Not in a million. These people should not be in business. Here's some advice for them: ANSWER YOUR F-ING PHONE!!! HELP PEOPLE! ASSIST WITH EVENTS THAT HAVE FEWER THAN 8 DRIVERS!!! COMMUNICATE!!!! (...there's a thought!!) Terrible. Horrible. Awful. They deserve the worst ratings. These people should not be in business. read more

This was the worst experience I've had at a business in quite a long time. When you arrive, it is completely unorganized and it's not clear where you should go. When you reach someone after 40 mins, they tell you to stand in a different line. 30 minutes later as each party ahead of you takes 5-10 minutes to check in, you reach the front, and they say the waitlist is 2 hours for the 1st race. WTF - no monitors, no notices, 4 teenage boys upset bc that wasn't the plan for the day. Just a ridiculous business - online reservations would be nice if demand were so high; monitors inside w/ wait times would be a stopgap; workers that actually cared might even help a bit. Avoid this place. read more

Amazing amazing place . We had our kids 10th birthday party here and it was a hit ! Most definitely recommend for kids and adults for a fun weekend activity read more

The karts are not working well. What they explained had nothing to do with what happened in second round ... I think employees are deliberately messing with karts during the match to have fun. This place should be sued imo. Close this place down. read more

We booked this Location of K1 for our sons 10 year old birthday party. There were only 10 racers. Prior to our Birthday party, I was told on the phone by K1 corporate that we could arrive at 9:45am for a 10am party. When we got there at 9:45am, the doors were locked. There were people inside who refused to open the door, though we could see them. We kept knocking and finally at 9:55 the General Manager came out and very rudely told us he wouldn't open the door until 10am. We were carrying cake, water bottles etc. so our hands were full and we just wanted to put it down in our party room, as they had told us on the phone was possible. So it was very rude that he wouldnt at least let us come put down our stuff. The way he communicated was rough and unkind. Really, there was a communication gap between this staff and their corporate staff, but that shouldn't be the customers problem. They need to work that out internally. Once we finally got in, there was no dedicated support staff to sign in folks for the party. The assistants up front were pretty rude and inconsiderate. The kept tending to the public while we were trying to sign in the party. We ended up starting the race late because of that. The customer service up front really was very disappointing. We had already paid a very hefty sum as a deposit, so the lack of service was disappointing. The racing itself was very fun, but there was a lot of waiting time in between the qualifier and the actual race. The kids just sat in their karts for like 20 minutes. But they did enjoy the races. The party room was clean, nice and big. However there was very little options to customize the pizza (just cheese, sausage or pepperoni). No veggies at all. Each kid was given a drink that they got to pick, but that took forever at the kitchen at the back of the store. They made the kids line up and each look at a bunch of options and pick. That process itself was 10 minutes wasted. No one helped carry our stuff to the car or anything after the party. This is usually common practice in the party packages. However they were happy to bill us a huge amount and even request tip, without helping us at all. I would recommend to come racing, but NOT use K1 for a birthday party. Overall, customer service was extremely sub par and we were disappointed. I left a tip just out of decency, but honestly regretted it as soon as I left and reflected on what a bad experience this was as a birthday party! The kids had fun, but the adults were underwhelmed with the entire thing. read more

Perfect place for teambuilding!!!!! We went with our team and had an absolute blast. Highly recommend making reservations in advance for bigger groups! read more

I strongly caution against choosing K1 Speed (SANTA CLARA) as the venue for your child's birthday celebration based on our thoroughly disappointing experience. From the outset, the event was marred by disorganization, exacerbated by the absence of a host even after the food was delivered. The lack of available helmets for some of the smaller juniors raised serious safety concerns, setting an alarming tone for the day. The pizza service was excruciatingly slow, with pizzas arriving one at a time, leaving hungry kids waiting. The front reception staff misguided arriving guests to the wrong party, causing confusion for a substantial 30 minutes before a concerned parent from another party clarified the situation. Attempting to address our concerns with the manager was met with immediate defensiveness and a notable unwillingness to listen. To add insult to injury, the gaming cards we purchased proved to be a futile investment as some of the games didn't function. Our party room was far from prepared for our event, with visible food and dirt on the ground. Just a nasty room. Frustratingly, our attempts to find staff for assistance were in vain, leading us to ask one of our own guests to drive home and bring a broom to handle the cleanup. This merely scratches the surface of our negative experience, and I may provide updates with additional issues later. The overall service has left me with significant anxiety, and I strongly advise potential customers to take heed of the warning evident in one-star reviews. An event with 20+ kids, spending clear over $2K deserves far more attention and care. I would also like to add, before management decides to respond and ask us to reach out. We HAVE reached out. Multiple times. We reached out to Julie Thompson who clearly did not care that we had issues, instead telling us that there's nothing she can do and we need to go to the location and talk to the management there. We talked to the management at K1 and as mentioned above, the individual was defensive and ultimately responded with "there's not much we can do anymore since it happened". No other response. Not other form of reconciliation. That's it. End of story. 2K down the drain. 2 kids who somehow didn't get to get on a go-cart because they missed their scheduled ride (because the host admittedly called out the wrong names), and half the kids who never got a drink with their meals because the food staff at the bar didn't coordinate with the event host. NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE. Someone will ask, did the kids have fun in the end? And sadly, no they didn't. All the kids left wondering why games didn't work and why they couldn't race against some of their friends that attended. And in reflection, all asked what the podiums were for. Well guess what, the host forgot to facilitate the award ceremony that happens after the games end. We didn't know that was part of event parties until another party told us. NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE. read more

I've been to many K1 speed locations and by far this is in the top 3. These days many employees go overlooked but I have to give it Nick and the entire staff. You guys know how to manage the business right and take safety first. The team is very professional and work great together to get things done. As for management thank you for putting a great team together! read more

I have been racing K1 at different locations for 20 years. This place sucks. The operator literally played me. He slowed my car down so that slower racers could pass and had me turned way down for a long time to screw me over. The operators karma is floating in the either! They deleted my account! So dishonorable and wont refund me. read more

They have really bad service my kid was exited to be in a go cart and they said I need to do a reservation 10 hr if I wanted him to race so we came back the other day with a reservation and turn out they "canceled the race" the front person said but I don't think that's true she was scared to ask manager read more

Thumbs up to K1 speed !!! This place is awesome, My family and I had a great time. The prices are reasonable and the premises are in great shape. The staff people are amazing and super friendly especially shout out to OCTAVIO, the guy who was by the pits organizing the races he was extremely friendly and super professional, he was making sure my kids were safe since it was our first time, he was extra careful with them. Thanks K1 we definitely will be back very soon read more

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Went for a company event and had a blast! First time doing K1 and it's absolutely addicting. Nothing beats the feeling of overtaking someone. Unfortunately their system wasn't working during the first portion of our races which meant we didnt know who was the fastest per lap etc. But nonetheless this was still a super fun time and now I'm on the hunt for more gokarting places. read more

K1 Speed Santa Clara - Go Karts Near Me - Santa Clara, California

I emailed them for a birthday party request of 15-20 kids, the form online only allows for you to enter one (1) date. I was open to several date options. They emailed back saying sorry booked for that date and nothing else?! (See photo attached) I called them back (12pm) because I was open to other dates and thought it was odd that they shut you down if the date on the form is not available (even though you can only enter one (1) date). I said yes, I'm calling because I sent a request for a party? The gal (Julie T) answered the phone and says "I've sent you an email with that date not available?" I said yes, but you also didn't ask if I maybe wanted another date? She responded: well I got here to work at 7am, I'm busy with responding to emails and customers don't like phone calls at that time of the day". I said: I'm not asking for a phone call just other available dates that could've been put in your email? She said: we are very busy and that's what I could send at that time (when she answered the phone didn't ask for my name, she saw my phone number/name and just started talking, my guess is that she saw my phone number from my submitted form, but she was rude from the beginning off the phone call). Very rude customer service considering the amount of money they charge for a party of 15 young kids under 12yrs ($1500) for only 2hrs. Don't recommend if they are this rude over the phone, wonder what it's like at the location! read more

K1 Speed Santa Clara - Go Karts Near Me - Santa Clara, California

Arrived and service at the counter was slow and rude. We were told to arrive back at 7:30, 3 hours later then our check in, which was fine, until we arrived and we're told that our time was 9pm. A 6 hour wait? Seriously? And there's no way of communication if your time is updated via text or call, you are expected to be at the venue to hear your name through terrible speakers. There were only 2 workers at the front and we ended up waiting an extra 20 minutes for an update on our time. Ridiculous and disappointing especially when you're planning a birthday party for someone you want to celebrate. Thankfully, races are transferable at purchase to other locations. Which is probably why they have that feature because their wait times are ridiculous. Go somewhere else for your birthday trip to save your sanity read more

Brought my GF here on her birthday, our first time doing indoor go-karting. I went as soon as they opened to purchase races for later on in the day. I went with the 2 races with membership. You get a shirt as well and there's plenty of options to choose from. Once you're a member, you can go to any K1 and race. They told me to come back at 2, and it'll be another 45 minute wait or so before we can race. That was perfect since it'll be right after our lunch plans. When we got back, we played a few arcade games they had. Not too much to chose from tbh. There's a lot of space around to add on more games imo. We watched other people race and it only got us more excited. We literally waited 45 minutes and our names were called. If you're new, you get a quick crash course on how to operate the car. It's pretty simple. Once you get your helmet, strap in and wait for your turn. Our first race was 8 people total. There was a group of kids racing with the two of us. The race was fun, however I really think they should separate kids and adults when it comes to races. The track isn't very big, and while we want to go full speed, the kids are still cautious and getting the hang of it. I got hit a few times and it caught me by surprise getting hit at full speed. There are a few sections on the track where you can overtake. You CAN overtake, every lap is timed. The 2nd race was the same group, plus a few additional drivers, 11 total. I was very disappointed because the track was very cramped and I couldn't get any speed. I got hit, again.. and this time I felt it in my neck. We barely got to race tbh because of all the accidents. Overall, it was fun, we will definitely come back. Maybe on a weekday because it was pretty busy on the weekend. You can get your results after the race at the bar, pretty cool to see how your results. read more

Don't have corporate events, or parties at this location. The service was not the best and our designated area was not cleaned/set up until 30min after our event start time. read more

K1 Speed Santa Clara - This was supposed to be our "reserved area", it was not cleaned until 30min in to our event. - Go Karts Near Me - Santa Clara, California

Horrible experience today. Been here a few times prior and after today im never returning to this location. I paid 140 something bucks for 2 races for me and my 15 year old daughter and i noticed during the first race the cars were realy slow. Like .25 throttle the first 2 laps of 12. Then it went up a little like maybe. 5 but the ring master was really on the remote that controls everyones carts and kept makingeveryons carts go slow and stop etc. Couldn't even get any race feeling at all. More like a carnival ride . Only was able to open up 2 times each race. I complained to the general Manger and he told me that on weekends and holidays they do that for safety. They seriously should have a sign that says that. Honestly i can see if there was a wreck or something like that yah but this was ridiculous. Then i paid for cameras for me and my daughter se we could upload our races on social media and the genius General Manger physically was the one who put the camera on our helmets and never even turned them on smh. Honestly felt ripped off and i at least wanted half my money back since we were only able to go half speed. The general manager and i exchanged words over this and he was extremely un professional. At the end of the day we paid for a racing experience and thats not what we got. Ive been to this location and many others in Northern California and this was seriously ridiculous here in Santa Clara today. Dont waist your money here at this location read more

I can't be okay with K1 Speed. I fundamentally disagree with businesses who hide information about the product from the customer. K1 Speed intentionally obscures you what you're getting for your money. They may (or may not) limit the speed of your car. The guidelines for when and why they chose to do this are purposely obscured from the customer. I recently went there and rode a session with my friends. I'm an adult and I ride competently on real racetracks. They put my entire group of competent, adult, drivers into slow cars. Obviously, we were frustrated and didn't have fun. We were in a clump, couldn't pass, and thus couldn't get below 27s lap time. I asked a staff member if other sessions would be the same. He said yes. Later, as I was leaving, he approached me and quietly and reneged. He explained when and how I could get a faster car. I am NOT DOWN. I can't blame the staff member, since K1 could easily publish their guidelines for how to get a faster car, but chose to hide that information and also to put it on the staff to make the call. Which is actually pretty unfair to the staff, since they're left to explain it to unhappy customers without being able to refer to an official document. I am sure I am the zillionth customer to leave angry. That's because treating customers differently without telling them why is a no-fail formula for making them angry. Stop doing it, K1 Speed. Publish the policy, however complicated, and show it to your customers before they buy. read more

K1 Speed Santa Clara - Thanks for recording a 400sec lap time while you towed a car off the course. - Go Karts Near Me - Santa Clara, California

Update to the issue of being double charged. It's January 11, no one ever contacted me back from K1, so I called my bank and disputed the double charge (no issues with the bank there and got my refund quick and easy). After the charge is removed from my statement by my bank, I finally receive an email back from the sales person. The only thing he's curious about is "the charge back on my event and what happened?" I forwarded him my email thread with customer service and told him, "feel free to look up my Yelp review." K1 customer service and the overall poor experience guarantees they've lost myself and my company for any future events. read more

K1 Speed Santa Clara - Double charge, still yet to be resolved 2 weeks later. - Go Karts Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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We were very excited to bring my son and his friends here on his birthday. After an hour plus drive we were told it would be about an hour wait (no problem). When we went to pay she changed the wait time for 5.5 hours . Either they are way overbooked or their systems are seriously broken... we won't be back. read more

K1 Speed Santa Clara - Go Karts Near Me - Santa Clara, California

Seriouslly K1, all the poor reviews mention wiait time. This place is a Joke, market is wide open for a competitor to come in and steal the market with a place that allows and follows a solid booking experience that does not waste people's time. I'll never be back and for someone who has event influance in Google, I know there won't be events there. K1, get a grip and do something about this and stop making excuses in your pathetic responses. read more

I plan several team bonding events and birthday parties for my kids and the staff at this location all so helpful, amazing with great vibes. Everyone that I have encountered here is all so amazing. This is a special shoutout to Steve and Juan the managers at K1 Speed they are always so helpful with my large bookings and give great advice as sometimes I don't know how many team members will show up. Thank you again for always being so patient and helpful! read more

I can totally see why the reviews for this place is not so good. They are in the business of go karting, and the quality of the cars is simply not good enough. Cars slow down, knock, and it's really not fun. You pay 60 bucks and you expect quality. This is despite talking to the reps there, they really do not care. I got a large group there, and everyone was really disappointed. I wish they cared, instead of saying sometimes that happens to cars! read more

Worst experience ever. Showed up at 10 am when they opened. Our race time was 1:30 pm. We had 6 teenagers (all 16 years old) for my sons birthday. They didn't get into the carts for their first race until 3:30 pm. 2 hours. Managers response (Juan) was to come during the week.... No apology... I spent almost $1,000 for the food, 3 races and game time in the arcade. Seriously?! He couldn't give me a partial refund. The only thing he could do was offer free races for future visits. This is insane. Food: We ordered food all at the same time. Each persons meal came out 15 minutes after the other. No on ate together. Food was on the cheaper side and you could tell. Burnt chicken tenders and burnt pizza. I am never coming here again. I advise to never come to this location. read more

I would give zero stars. They didn't put on their site the place was rented 12-2 so we drove here to race. They said come back at 2. I took the kids to waste the 2 hours, we drove back at 2 and they said sorry the party wants to extend their time another hour so we are still closed. Again nothing in. Their website and the desk people are rude and unhelpful. read more

45 minute wait for them to say they won't be doing youth races until 7pm (we went in originally at 1pm on a Thursday). Front staff ignored us, was super disorganized, and could have quickly told us before starting a 30 minute medal ceremony for a huge group ahead of us that there was no opportunity to participate for the next 5 hours. Major waste of time, definitely disappointed the kids who wanted to race. Won't be back to try again. read more

While all of the locations we have been to seem to have different issues, this is by far the worst one. They can't seem to manage the timing of the races and there is always an issue with one of the goKarts in our group (on separate occasions). The guys that work here really don't seem to gave a f*&@. The only reason I gave this 2 stars is because it probably has the best and largest track of all of the locations that we have been to (SoCal and Phoenix) and that it's electric, so you're not spending all of your time breathing in crazy toxic fumes. None of the locations we have been to have set all of the goKarts in the same set at the same speed. So times are not truly accurate. Some karts are set at much higher speeds to start and this really impacts how fun it is if you are trying to be competitive with your friends. K1 Corporate - there is A LOT of work that can be done at this location to make it better! read more

Make sure go there when you have free time otherwise you wasted your time for waiting at the line read more

K1 Speed Santa Clara - Go cart - Go Karts Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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Such a fun activity especially when it comes to social distancing! Great for dates or group events! Sanitation: Ever helmet is sanitized after each use and they also provide you with a head sleeve so that there is a barrier with you and the helmet ( your also welcome to bring your DOT approved helmet Customer service: Overall friendly and professional, everyone is very helpful especially given detailed info if it's your first visit. read more

(I'm posting this from google so more people see it) I was here to race for my friends birthday and was outraged to find out that of the employees had a speed controller in his cart and was zooming around. All the carts should be the same speed, but 2 people flew by me like I was standing still, going almost double my speed. One of the "racers" Hit my dad so hard it spun him around even while he was going full speed. When i asked for a different cart because I wanted the one the fast guy had, the employee ignored me and asked my friend what our names were. My dad went to confront an employee at the front desk and his response was that they are "experienced drivers" and they have "established themselves as good drivers". The main guy was named Erick Gutierrez(also the track record holder that the location), who also got to do one more lap then everyone else, passing slow carts getting ready to park. I'm very upset because we payed for a chance to get 1st place, but good luck with that. I guess they value employees more then customers. (Edit): wow, they really brushed that one off. read more

K1 Speed Santa Clara - The privileged employee who was cheating - Go Karts Near Me - Santa Clara, California

It was my sons first time. He was so excited. When we got to register all the youth races were filled up. Thankfully the nice manager on Friday nights made it happen for my son to not be disappointed. Thanks so much. read more

What a place, wanted to balance out these bad reviews because some are valid but most of them are just here to complain in hopes of refunds. The biggest thing is during school breaks expect major wait times, their system should definitely be updated in being able to pay and book online other then just checking in but it's not yet so keep that in mind. Checking in online does not mean you have a race reserved, it just helps staff find you and link races to that account when you come in. They do slow down and speed up people's karts but also some are just slower then others. Battery's drain differently and most people should understand that. You do have to hit 27 sec for top speed or a completely open race with showing the flagger that you can race with out hitting people/barrier. As a regular my karts die and it's upsetting but not a lot I can do or they can do about it so just hope the next kart you get is more enjoyable! The staff are all friendly, yes you might hear annoyance from them from time to time because they are human and get tired of the same repeated questions all of their shift. They will help you learn the line also if you ask or want to improve. Overall my experience there has been nothing less then a blast, it's fun each time going in hoping to PR and get closer to the track record. read more

K1 Speed Santa Clara - K1 Speed entrance - Go Karts Near Me - Santa Clara, California

This place is a debacle. Once you're on the racetrack, it's more or less like any other go carting place. But the agony of getting to that point is extreme. Last time I went there, they told me it would be an hour wait as I was getting into line to purchase tickets. It took more than an hour to get to the front of the line, at which point they told me it would be another hour until the kids could race. We went and got lunch and came back in time for our supposed race time, but we then waited and waited and waited. There's no posted times for races and no display to help you know when you might race, so you just have to wait. There's no staff who know when your race will be, so you just wait. From start to finish, it was four hours until the kids got on the track. And incredibly frustrating because of the endless waiting and just not knowing and feeling stuck the whole time. In the end, I think the only thing that got us on the track was I started asking questions about how we could get refunds and that got them to put us in for our races. Ugh. Do not recommend. read more

DONT GO HERE!!!! The workers prioritize higher speeds for specific drivers. I payed for 3 races with the assumption that i would be able to also drive at the faster speeds. The race starts and i notice 3 specific drivers all going the same speed but all going faster than me. I hope that after a few laps of not crashing and abiding by the rules the employees should speed my cart up so i could also be driving faster. Instead the carts that were going faster than me were bumping and pushing me out of the way causing the employees the slow my cart down. 1 of the guys that had the faster speed even crashed and instead of slowing him down, they let him continue at the speed and continued to slow other drivers down. it unfair/unacceptable that everyone is paying the same amount but not experiencing the same experience. unless things are changed i would NEVER GO HERE AGAIN. Came looking for a fun time and instead got slow speeds and felt that workers picked favorites. UPDATED RESPONSE - it's nice to know that companies can't even give a real response to concerns. instead they have to copy and paste previous responses!! AGAIN NEVER GO HERE read more

K1 Speed Santa Clara - the first 3 people had obviously higher speeds. Everyone else was forced to stay at a slower speed therefore slower laps. - Go Karts Near Me - Santa Clara, California

I had my son's 14th birthday party here back in February. All the kids had fun. The only reason why I gave it 4 stars and not 5 stars was because our host was not really around when we needed something. Other than that, it's a great place for a kids birthday party. read more

K1 Speed Santa Clara - Go Karts Near Me - Santa Clara, California