The play area is amazing. Air cannons that shoot foam balls are a blast. Would be 5 stars if the food wasn't so over priced and didn't take so long. Making a kid wait 40 minutes for a sandwich is unacceptable. read more

At first it seems awesome but I brought a 20 month old who has a specific diet. The big slide was a little too much and then the place started getting crowded. While sweating my ass off trying maneuver a bunch of unsupervised monsters. I finally made my way out of there to the dinning area. Where I politely and discreetly started to feed my daughter her snack. Catching a glimpse of two small children at the top of the tower screaming and crying for their mommy--who was nowhere to be seen, this went on for 10 more minutes still no mommy. Then a young man approaches me and informs me I cant feed my 20 month old her specific food. Im not going to buy your shitty greasy pizza dude. He then tries to tell me its because of food born illness. Im not stupid you want me to spend more money. So I packed our stuff and left the sweaty castle of doom. I think this is better for older kids and they need to change their snack policy. read more

I have to update my review. I had a party there and it was terrible. The person responsible for getting food and what not was rude and pushy, the party was WAY overpriced, some of the staff reeked of weed, and all my guests got norovirus. The party was $15/kid which doesn't include anything but a room and admission to their play area. The food was extremely expensive and tasted like crap. The waiter was extremely rude and very pushy. He kept trying to get us to order more food. A couple of staff members smelled like they just rolled in a couple of cannabis plants. I know it's going to be legal but not till July and even then, it's a controlled substance. They shouldn't be smoking it working... especially with children. Finally... ALL my guests and our family got norovirus. We then spread it to our nanny's family and they spread it to a school. I have not returned since. It's an OK place to go for an afternoon but save your money and go elsewhere for a party. read more

This place is generally depressing, the folks who work here always seem irritable, miserable, and put out. It's totally functional and provides a needed service to many parents but at a ridic cost. $14 per kid admission fee on the weekends, overpriced mediocre food. It's just a cafeteria that spawned an oversized play cage -- but it has the prices of something much more awesome. read more

Boooooooo. Our first experience at Playdate PDX was extremely disappointing. Never going back. A friend and I took our 2-year-old daughters to Playdate PDX early on a Friday evening (not too crowded, but crowded enough apparently, for our food to take forever). Our daughters enjoyed the (pretty small) toddler room, but a few different things happened that made neither of us want to come back, ever. 1. Poorly trained, crappy customer service. Being first timers, we didn't realize socks were needed and shoes were taken off. So, we bought socks from them at 2.50 a pop for our little ones. We (the two moms) also happened to not have socks, so we left our shoes on as we walked into the toddler room. I'd gotten up to order some food at the front desk, and noticed a male employee go up to my friend, who was sitting by the entrance to the room. She was nodding her head "no" and he was insisting on something. He pulled over a child's stool, put it outside of the room, and pointed at it. Apparently he'd been informing her that she couldn't be in the room with her shoes on and was telling her she needed to sit on the stool (even though she was watching both her toddler and my toddler while I was up at the front desk). She said "No, I won't sit on that child's stool. I just gave birth 3 days ago." (She did just give birth and was, amazingly, up and about pretty quickly.) She felt extremely disrespected and he spoke to her as though she were a dog, commanding her to sit in a different place. Now, I'd like to give the young man the benefit of the doubt here, but I found it really strange how I, a white woman, was NEVER asked to take my shoes off regardless of going in and out of the room. I also observed before and after this incident other mothers doing the same thing. My friend is black, and again, it just seemed very odd that out of the all the mothers walking in and out of that room with shoes on, he chose to call her out and treat her like crap. When I approached him about this, he said "I'm just doing my job." I told him he needed to do his job in a more tactful way, because dealing with mothers of toddlers is a whole different ball of wax, especially dealing with a mother who just gave birth. I mean, seriously? Have you never heard of hormones??? 2. Super slow wait time on food. At the cafe around 6 p.m., I ordered a Pesto Chicken Sandwich, small grapes, cucumber slices and 1 Coke. This totaled $14. I had not been informed that my sandwich would take awhile to cook among other people's pizza orders. I went back more than 20 minutes later to inquire about my food and drink (I hadn't gotten anything at this point), and I was then told it would be ready in 10 more minutes. At that point, I needed to leave to start getting my daughter down to bed (this was going to be our dinner, but whatever). I asked for my money back because I have to leave, and when the transaction finally appeared back on my card, I was only reimbursed $9.50 (the total of the sandwich). That means I basically gave them $4.50 for....nothing. So not only did I never get my food, but I lost $4.50 in the process (trying to get it back now via an email to them - I refuse to go back in person). Before I left, I spoke to the manager who offered me two free admits (which I didn't accept because another employee already gave me two free admits for the food fiasco, which I've given away). I'm normally not such a pain in the ass and wouldn't worry about the money ordinarily, but this, coupled with the poor customer service and extremely long wait time, pushed me over the edge. I can see this place being fun on a rainy day for older kids, if you don't mind not being able to see them at all when they're playing, but I imagine it'd also be extremely crowded. Our experience, though, completely ruined any relaxing time we were hoping to have as parents. read more

Great food and beverages for us grownups and great play structure for the little ones!

Price is right, hours are great, kids are nice (mostly), staff is very chill and caring but not overreaching. Buy the punch passes. Oh and parking is usually pretty easy. read more

Yikes. This place is dangerous. I have two really nice girls ages 5 & 7. You know they wait there turn, say thank you, don't push etc. But it's each man for themselves in that place. For starters, once the kids go into the play area, you can not see them. Who knows what's going on in there. Both my girls came out crying at different times because they were knocked over having the wind taken out of them or hurt back from being pushed into others. And the adults who go in there are just as reckless. And of course you not only have a full crowd of drop in use but three other b-day parties of kids. Way over crowded. We will never go back. Seriously, too dangerous. Beware. read more

I am updating my review of Playdate PDX. After my last review, the manager contacted me via email and apologized for the poor service I received. He offered for us to come back anytime and entrance and all food would be "on the house." It took almost a year for us to return, but when we did I was pleasantly surprised. I took the printed email in to verify the manager's offer, and my daughter (and her friend) got in for free and they took very good care of us and paid for all of our lunches, as well. The staff seemed a little more "with it" this time and willing to help, as well. The only area that I consistently see that still needs improvement, is staffing and efficiency at the food counter. I still waited in line for over 20 mins to order and the person taking orders was very slow. The food came out fairly quickly, though, and it was very good. We will definitely be back and I truly appreciate a business that wants to right a wrong. read more

The service at this establishment was horrible! That was our first time coming and it will be the last. My family will never return again. The food (hot wings and pizza) were inedible due to it being way too over-cooked. When I politely asked for the staff to remake it, they were hesitant, very rude and they acted like it was an inconvenience to them. After about a 30 minute wait, they finally brought out the replacement meal. No apologies along with it. Nothing! Two thumbs down. read more

So it has been a year or two since my last visit. Same issues as before. Headed down for MLK day and told of holiday pricing, an extra 6$ a kid. Ok I get it, gouge you for the holiday but the insult to injury was the mandatory gratuity of 10% in top of everything. No mention on website that this applies to entrance fee. read more

When this place first opened years ago the staff was great, play area was clean and you could bring in outside food. After my experience last time, we will never go again. The staff is now consistently rude, the manager made my daughter cry when she went outside on the patio (with my permission and where I could see her), when he very rudely told her that she had to go inside. The food is way overpriced and barely edible. The music/electronic floor board only works occasionally. The dust is starting to get out of control. read more

Such a great place for family and friends to gather with children. The play structure was a lot of fun and the food and beverages were a wonderful accompaniment to our day. We spent at least 4 hours playing today and the kids never got bored. I also enjoyed when they opened the front door to the patio and we got to absorb some sunshine. read more

The place itself is a good idea but it only has one location thats always packed beyond capacity. My 3 year old daughter has been attacked by older kids multiple times and their parents are never anywhere to be found. It seems to be understaffed as well. Maybe I'm biased because my little girl has had a few bad experiences but there should be an employee that takes bad kids out of the play area and finds their parents, like a two strikes policy. I literally watched a boy kick a little girl (not mine) in the FACE over some game that's projected onto the ground. A baby girl walking around with no pants or diaper on (which they later found ditched in the toddler room), I did get an employees attention for that though and he walked around with the 2 year old who located her parents who were sitting far away. Actually, I don't even feel PDX Playdate is to blame. Beware of the people that go there. I've had some good times and met decent people but not enough to go back. read more

We just spent most of the afternoon here with my 4 year old Autistic son & WOW he just loved it. I love how clean the facilities are. Staff was very polite & helpful. Well worth the price to have a clean indoor, SAFE play place to take the kids. Thanks guys read more

The play area for the kids was very nice and certainly occupied them. quite a plus for active children. However, the food was poor and expensive and the service was terrible with the sense that we were doing them a favor by being there. Unfortunately because of the surly attitude of the service personnel, we will not return despite the appeal of the play equipment. read more

Dangerously unsupervised. Way too many kids to be safe (hello, firemarshall?) Staff did nothing to prevent multiple collisions at the bottom of the slides. As near as I could tell, the people who were working the cash registers were also supposed to be keeping the bottom of the slides clear. read more

We went with our kids to a birthday party over the weekend and I found them to be highly unorganized and extremely lax in safety procedures. There were no attendants within the large play structure Which I found EXTREMELY alarming. There was no attendant at the top or at the bottom of the slide within the play structure and I witnessed kid after kid falling on top of each other and crashing into each other at the top and bottom of the slides. Kids would be at the bottom of the slide with others sliding down and crashing on top of them. I am shocked that this place lets this happens - in my opinion it's only a matter of time until some kid gets seriously hurt or paralyzed because of the lax of safety and staff observation. I am shocked that this place is owned by doctors and they do not have any staff within the play structure keeping an eye on the kids. We were there for over 2 + hours and there was not one staff attendant within the structure with some 50+ kids inside. I also agree that the structure itself did not seem to be very clean - there was a lot of dust / lint at the base of the structure and it needs to be cleaned. Many parts of the play area were broken: lighted dance floor, the Nerf cannons were not all working. There are so many bad reviews on Yelp and Facebook that I am shocked that the Management has not taken notice and addressed these concerns. I hope the owners address this serious problem ASAP. Also no one asked us to sign any waiver or release form. Here is a good article of others that are concerned regarding the safety of this establishment http://www.oregontrialadvocate.com/2013/09/18/playdate-pdx-doctors-expose-small-children-and-their-parents-to-injuries/ Get the word out that this place is unsafe and that the owners need to do something about it! read more

It's a great concept. A huge indoor play space where kids can run wild. And that is exactly what they do. Run wild with little (NO) parental control or even staff control. Their website clearly warns you that Saturdays between 10 am to 2 pm is their busiest time. The managers should also WARN that it is TOTAL CHAOS! It's a free for all and this place, at least, on the weekends....the KIDS are in charge! Most parents are sitting on the sidelines and it's employees are clueless or helpless to do anything but collect entry fees and waiver forms. During my 45 minute visit, I saw a dozen or so collisions, a couple of injuries, several younger children terrified and in tears and a boy that was contemplating on whether he should just step or stomp on my son's head! I had the misfortune of visiting Portland Playdate on a Saturday. We waited in line for a snack only to realize that there wasn't an employee to take any orders. They were seriously under staffed. And given the number of people there, I strongly believe they needed crowd control....which there wasn't. So we skipped the snack and decided to let them run around. We had them in the toddler area specifically designed for children ages 3 and younger. In the 20 minutes there, my husband and I each had to say something to the two older boys running and playing chase in this space. They were pushing and shoving, throwing things. After several "talking to" they finally left the area but not without completely annoying my husband and myself. Then my son wanted to go up the big slide....which he loved. I walked up behind him and in vain attempted to protect him from the masses of children pushing, shoving and trampling over him. On one of our trips down, I had to force a stop on the slide because two kids were trying to climb up the same slide that my son and I were coming down on. And at the same time there were two kids barreling down the slide right behind us. Once I got to the bottom, I literally had to shield my son from being rammed into by two 12 year olds. By our second trip I was exhausted but continued because despite the chaos, my son LOVED it and was having a good time. However the last and final straw was when my son fell and I was behind him by several kids. I saw this boy dangling his foot over my son's head. He stood there with one foot over my son's head and it looked as if he was trying to decide to step on him or not. His foot was on my son's head when I finally got to him. After telling him that was NOT a good idea, I had to pick up my son and drag him out of the playspace kicking and screaming because had I stayed that kid would of gotten a lot more than scolding from me. I was furious that this place had no supervision and would let bad behaviors like that go unaddressed. No parents, no managers or even an employee to take my complaints to. And that's too bad because my children loved it but at least on the weekend, this place is too chaotic and very poorly managed. read more

We usually go to Playdate a few times a month, my kids love the over populated ballroom on the weekends , and it is great that the adults can relax and have some coffee and chat while are kids are being some what watched in the kids play area. This last visit I will say was not the case, our last 2 visits have been less than pleasant and I am considering not returning for a while and finding another similar place for the kids to play especially since the weather has been beautiful ! We went to playdate on a Sunday before noon, and this time it really was not that busy that was a plus , the downside to that was there was an employee ,( not sure of the name he had glasses on and shorter dark hair so beware in the future )that raised his voice and upset our son because he was climbing on the slide going up , which we realize is not safe but to scare our 4 year old by pulling them off the slide is another thing. When is it okay for an employee to put their hands on any child at any time? And especially when is it okay raise your voice at our child? What this employee did not see was that we were sitting at the table to the left of the area and saw the entire thing and were walking over to explain to our son that what he was doing was not safe. Not only did this occur, but our food was made incorrectly, we went to the counter where we picked up our meals and the manager promptly was there to help, she was actually a kind lady not sure of her name, but she immediately handled the issue and ended up delivering our food to our table and brought condiments, she even checked back in with us , which was nice, that is customer service to the T. We probably should of communicated what transpired with our son but we did not. On one hand you have TERRIBLE employees around kids and a manager that was able to rectify our bad feelings by handling things in the correct way, If it was not for her customer caring attitude we most certainly would have not changed are experience from horrible to satisfactory. Probably should watch your employees a bit more that work in the kids area , to ensure that this does not happen to someone else. Just some food for thought Playdatepdx! read more

Cool playground but definitely not worth the huge price increase. Charging holiday rates today when it is definitely not a holiday. Food is getting worse and they seem to be out of items regularly. Time to start looking into other indoor playground because this is getting ridiculous. read more

This has to be one of the greatest deals in Portland, especially for visitors traveling with young children. We noticed the city does not have many public playgrounds (the one in Washington Park is awesome but we had a hard time finding any others), so this place really came through for us. We went on a Tuesday morning & spent $2 for our 3yo to have several hours of fun exploring the enormous play structure full of slides, tubes, and fun games on light-up floors. The whole structure is big enough for adults of most sizes to follow kids around in there, which is awesome. My little'n & I especially loved the fun cannon things that shot foam balls across the room. Things got a little hot & sweaty in the structure after more kids showed up, and more big kids made it a bit harder for a 3yo to navigate the place, but overall the whole place is clean and nice, and plus there is a little area specifically limited to kids of ages 3 & under, with big foam blocks that we had fun stacking. Outside of the play structure area is a huge room of tables with a bar that serves drinks & foods; great place for parents to relax. We loved it. read more

Great for the younger crowd (under 9ish). They need to put a gate on the entrance area. The little ones could wander off into the cafe seating, and then with the door propped open, maybe outside. read more

This place on a school holiday is awful. Be prepared to wait an hour for a fruit plate.

This place is awesome, the food and drinks are pretty good they could probably do with another checkout seeing as its generally a bit of a line to get something the little guys can play as long as they like and it cost very little. I would say be careful with your little ones on the slide because they fly down it, that said I wouldn't change it its probably the most fun thing to do there read more

We just had our sons 8th birthday here and it was perfect! It was our first birthday at a venue and our party host Georgia walked us thru it step by step and even mingled with the adult guests as well as the children guests. The structure is fantastic and safe for all ages, our 3 year old had no trouble navigating thru it and the older kids loved it! The parents were all happy with the food and beverage choices and the kids loved the fresh fruit platter! Hands down a wonderful and hard to beat first experience! read more

Agree with the poster on the BAD and UGLY. When it's packed, it's CRAZY in there. Was in the shooting ball pit with my 16 month old who loves balls and was being pelted by older kids having a laugh shooting me! No parents in sight on that one. Additionally, my 4 year old was pushed down a slide and when I tried to say something, the child vanished and again, no parent in sight. Easy place for parents to be lazy so expect BAD. Great place to go on a slow day. read more

Had a Birthday party at Playdate PDX recently, it was OK , but nothing special. The play structure is large although it did get pretty crowded after about an hour. The Staff was nice but didn't really impress us: slow behind the cash register; food was slow to come out. I would not expect much from the staff, they seem very uninterested in their work. I would not recommend having a child's birthday party at this place, it was very expensive for what you get and the service was so-so. I might go back on a rainy winter morning, but that's it. read more

Took my small family to Playdate last night to have fun for my son's first birthday. Let me start off by saying that when we first got there and were paying for our kids to play, the manager asked us how old the kids were I told her that is was my son's first birthday... No response to that, not even a smile. Not that I was expecting special treatment, but I would think that when you are managing a place for children you would at least like kids! I did not realize that no outside food was allowed in. We brought in 6 cupcakes so we could sing happy birthday and were planning on buying food and drinks there. The manager came up to us and told us that if we wanted to eat our cupcakes we would have to pay for their party package... I do understand rules are rules, but seriously, there i s no other solution to the problem??? read more

Wow love this place, single dad with 2 boys. I got here and let them loose, there's a lot for them to do and the food is great. It's really packed though so be prepared to wait for a table read more

I scanned a few reviews quickly before writing mine and maybe I lucked out because I didn't order any food or drinks so in general, I thought this place was great for watching my son smiling and saying "weee" and climbing all over stuff and interacting with other children. 90% of them were even well behaved without "hyper-hover" parents abound. my son is a 15 month old so I had to be one of those "hyper-hover" parents another poster referred to, sorry but i'm not letting a 15 month old wander into that place on his own. The structures and play area were awesome for even his age and I took him down the big slides a few times as well which he loved. Very fun, I saw staff taking care of issues and cleaning equipment as well. The cost is damn good too, $5 ANYTIME! Big negatives for me were the security, I thought it was crazy that it was wide open and there was no check-in, check-out system. the 2nd one was the area right where you pay the kids entry fee, place shoes off to the side, get the hand stamped and let them go into insanity land. I feel they need to employ a no running rule just in that spot. within 5 minutes I saw 4 collisions where children were hurt pretty badly. There are a lot of children/adults constantly mulling around in that area putting away shoes grabbing strollers going out to the eating area or going into the playland area. There is a wide variety of ages of the children and it is just a problem to have older children tearing through that area at high speeds. read more

THis place is great. Kids get exercise. It's safe. It's good for a range of ages because there is a little toddler room as well as the bigger play area. You also only pay for your kid and adults of infants are free. There is a big café where you can relax with other moms and dads while the kids expend their extra energy! THe only thing I didn't like is this. I am pregnant and I ordered a milk steamer for myself because I crave milk all the time! Later I ordered some milk for my daughter and was informed that the organic milk advertised on the menu is only for the kids. I got regular milk. So organic milk isn't good enough for my growing fetus, but it's good enough for my child? And even if I wasn't pregnant I never want to drink growth hormones nor do I want antibiotics. This is Portland Playdate PDX. Inform, inform, inform! read more

The play structure is cute and relatively clean. The food and coffee are decent albeit over priced (but they don't allow outside food or drink). I didn't think the staff was very age appropriate with the children (especially the younger toddlers); not in a bad way, just very inexperienced with how to talk to young children. read more

In terms of kids, it's fine. The issue that makes Playdate PDX mediocre is the quality of service, customer service and that they nickle and dime everything outside the cost of the market to quality. When they first started, the attention to the place and customer service was optimum. Often, whether there are a 100 people or 4, you can wait in line forever before someone notices you or checks to see if anyone is waiting. I refuse to buy food anymore, first for the cost, but then the cost to the quality. When you order a $9 salad, then you hope that there is more than a teaspoon of ingredients. I have had at least 10 things on the menu twice and there is no consistency. My orders have been forgotten on several occasions even when there were as few as 4 people inside. Socializing behind the counter or disappearing off the floor seems to be a common theme. I loved that I had just spent $16 and then ordered a double espresso and asked if I could add a shot of coffee. I paid $4.00 (the cost of the double espresso and then a coffee). The cost to get in isn't cheap and your day can easily add up to $30 bucks with one child if you include lunch. Not worth it unless you plan on staying for hours, however, you can also play all day at OMSI, Children's Museum and Zoo with lunch and end up paying less. read more

Playdate PDX was an awesome place to spend a cool afternoon. All my children were wiped out after spending a couple hours there. Event he adults had a great time running around with the kids. I was specially pleased with the smaller area for children 3 and younger. My 10 month old had a blast playing with the blocks and toys. I will certainly visit again next time I am in the Portland area. read more

This place is slowly going downhill. From the food quality to the prices all the way to the inclusion of older kids allowed in and who almost always rough house a little too much wit the younger kids. Prices are astronomical I'm regards to what food you get. And based on our last visit today not worth even half. Had to return a sandwich twice before finally getting what I paid for. The excuse was someone new. The coffee took forever to refill the carafe and when it was ready the coffee tasted burnt. Changed the way they make the BATT now as well. I was given a sorry small version wrapped in a tortilla instead of the usual pita bread. Alone it costs 8 bones and what was s given was the size of a breakfast burrito at McDonald's. Wings were good as well as the humus plate. Seating isn't set up very well and they cater to the pretentious crowd more than kids. Also they serve alcohol here. You can't go 2 hours without booze? Place seems like the play area is an afterthought. Better luck at Dizzy Castle read more

Go... if you are reading this you have made the first step to going to this awesome place! Not only will your kids have the time of their life in the castle, but its super cheap and they have a full cafe to grab some great food while you let the kids go nuts. just go already. you wont regret it. read more

Given the terrible weather in Portland (sorry, I'm not used to it!), Playdate is a GREAT place where my 4 year old can "go wild". We have been there a handful of times and he always comes home happily exhausted. There are generally lots of kids to play with, I have only ever seen one instance of a boy bullying another boy (but that, I think, is a problem of the parents' education, not the children!) ; The staff are very nice, the premises are clean, parking is easy, the parents respectful... all in all a good alternative for child-play. The food on the other hand is expensive and NOT good ; the chicken-wings were so fatty I threw them out, the mocha overly sweet, and the (red) wine of the cheaper brand but charged 7$ a glass!! Given the cover charge (8$ on weekdays, 10$ on weekends and holidays) I think the managers are making enough money that they can provide better quality food for the price they charge. But, I'll still take my son there, just drink tea! read more

Middle of the week, Wednesday, my grandsons first Birthday. We had a big party planned for the weekend but wanted to do a little something on his actual Birthday, so we decided to go to PDX playdate. We have been there many times, kids always have fun and thought it would be perfect. We thought about the fact that they offered food and drinks and we came with the intention of eating playing and letting the kids have a good time. It was a small group of us , my daughter her husband and their 2 other children and myself . When my daughter was checking them into the play area the manager asked how old the children were and she told her, the youngest was one today, his Birthday. There were No warm wishes, No, Happy Birthday......really ? come on, (isn't this a children's place?} The place wasn't busy, had maybe 6 parents there, very slow night. I arrived 10 mins. after my daughter and was approached immediately and was told I would have to leave because I brought in six cupcakes. I tried to explain that I was unaware of the policy and wasn't there something she could do? My daughter approached and pleaded that it was her sons First Birthday. She told us that we should have rented a party room. The apology we kept getting was like a broken record and totally insincere. I have been in the Hospitality business, most of my life, and know that, while policies are good, a manager is not only there to enforce them, but there job is to create a good experience for the customer and if they fail at that the business will also fail. We would have been Happy if she had even offered to comp. us one of their cookies or cupcakes instead, the amount of money we would have spent because of the good will shown would have more than compensated for the little gesture on there part. We will not be back. It was a First Birthday and that only happens once.Thanks for making this day memorable. read more

This was my first and last time having my son's birthday party here.To many thinks to write down .... It's very expensive and you don't get what you paid for in my opinion.1 hour and 45 min it is not enough time to have a nice party.We felt rushed ALL THE TIME.I would not recomend this place for birthday parties!!! read more