Hello, Rochester! Since I originally posted this message, I've gotten several hits from people Googling for info on Leo's Pizza Palace. So I'm updating to let you know a bit more about our experience. The original post describes our visit accurately enough, but I have to say that I thought they did things well:

• There was a line at the door when we got there (about 7:00 on a Saturday night), but the wait wasn't too long for our party of 3 adults and 3 kids.
• While we waited, they served garlic cheese bread to everyone in line.
• When we entered, they stamped our hands with a number in 'invisible' ink. Each party got a different number. They said it was to make sure we took the right kids with us when we left. And they checked our stamps before we could leave. I thought it was great idea--it definitely gives a little peace of mind that someone is less likely to run off with your kids.
• After we placed our order at the counter, the kids went off to play games because we thought it would be a long wait. But the service was quick--I had to call them back to the table after only a few minutes.
• They do serve adult beverages (how else would they keep the grown-ups coming back?). I know they had beer, and maybe wine--but probably nothing else.

Hope the above info helps. Original post is below. Enjoy your visit!

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Tonight we took the kids to Leo's Pizza Palace, which is Rochester's version of Chuck E. Cheese's, but without the creepy animatronic animals. Basically, it's a large pole shed with tables crammed into every available space. And there are kids—millions of kids. Everywhere.

And the games . . . oh the games. Tokens and tickets all around. For only $15, you can have five minutes of fun with a game that spits out 98 tickets. Then you trade your tickets for six crappy little plastic toys that will be buried at the bottom of the toy box tomorrow.

And did I mention the kids? Yeah—there were a few kids. Running between the too-close-together tables, and over the top of each other in the human Habitrail. All this activity made for a temperature of about seven thousand degrees in the building. Or maybe it just seemed like that because I was lugging around a 30-pound kid most of the evening.

It's now two hours later, and my headache has yet to subside. But believe it or not, the pizza was good.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 12, 2005 at 11:24 PM.