With Dave and Buster’s, Columbia Gets the Grown Folks' Arcade It Was Looking For

So there’s a Dave & Buster’s in Columbia now. Perhaps you’ve heard.

What am I saying? Of course you’ve heard. There was an unusual amount of anticipation and commotion leading up to the Feb. 13 opening of the new 30,000-square-foot restaurant/bar/arcade/loud place at Columbiana Centre, just off Harbison Boulevard. The State newspaper dedicated 75 percent of its Feb. 10 front page to a preview of the restaurant, various TV stations and websites trumpeted the opening, and social media was abuzz with people looking for their first possible opportunity to drink beer and play Transformers: Human Alliance at the same time. If Jesus Himself had walked across the waters of the Congaree River and into Columbia, I’m not sure it would have generated as much fervor as the arrival of the nation’s foremost bar/arcade.

On Feb. 9, I was part of a media contingent that got a little sneak peek at the new Dave & Buster’s, which is just the second in South Carolina. (A third Palmetto State location is set to open later this year, in Myrtle Beach. I can’t think of a more appropriate marriage of a business and a city.) Management and staff at the Columbia location gave the press a tour of the facilities, and let us play a few games and try some of the food.

This is my 13th year in journalism, and I’ve been on lots of press junkets in that time, but this was the first one where I got to play Dark Escape 4D. Nothing makes a little corporate shilling go down easier than graphic, bloody zombie violence.

When you walk into Dave & Buster’s, it’s hard to avoid a bit of sensory overload. It’s like a casino, a nightclub and a Buffalo Wild Wings had a three-way. 

The bar is the first thing that catches your eye. I can’t deny that it’s sleek. Gleaming, even. It looks like bridge of the Enterprise in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movies. There might even have been a lens flare, I don’t know. There are more than 20 flat screen TVs in the bar, including a couple of mammoth projection screens. At least one member of the local arts community lamented to me on Twitter that most or all of those TVs will likely always be tuned to sports, which is correct. But to be fair, I can’t imagine too many people will be headed to the bar at a Dave & Buster’s in hopes of watching Antiques Roadshow. Though that would bring a strange symmetry to the universe, sort of like Neko Case playing at an Applebee’s.

Then there’s the food. I can’t speak for everything on D&B’s admittedly robust menu, but I was able to try a couple items, foremost of which was the Buffalo Wing Burger, which management tells me costs about $11.49 with a side. Y’all, we need to talk about this Buffalo Wing Burger.

Yes, it’s exactly what you might imagine. It’s got a half pound of ground beef, then they put a couple of buffalo chicken fingers on top of the beef. Also piled on the brioche bun are blue cheese, celery and onion straws. It’s tasty enough, but more impressive than the taste is the sheer size of it. If you want to take a bite out of a Buffalo Wing Burger, you nearly have to unhinge your jaw, kind of like the villain in Blade II. (While I haven’t read all the local coverage of D&B’s opening, I’m guessing I’m the only person who has referenced Nomak, the bad guy from Blade II. You’re welcome.)

The games are the show, though. I mean, this town is lousy with bars and casual dining restaurants, and some of them are mighty fine. What make’s Dave & Buster’s different is the massive arcade, which features 150 video games and various other amusements. Far removed from the tokens of the old days (Miss you, Aladdin’s Castle), the games in Dave & Buster’s are activated with cards that are loaded at kiosks in the arcade. A card with 135 “chips” on it will run you $25. 

I played several games, each of which cost seven or eight chips. The best of these was Star Wars: Battle Pod which puts you in the cockpit for any number of battles in the Star Wars universe, including the Death Star mission at Yavin. I tallied enough points for 425th place on the machine I played. You know what they say: If you’re not 425th, you’re last.

I have to admit, the midway is pretty badass, if you’re into arcade games. They’ve got everything from major movie tie-ins (like Jurassic Park and the aforementioned Star Wars and Transformers offerings) to horror games to classics like Pac-Man. And, yeah, they’ve got a slew of games that let you win tickets that can be redeemed in the arcade store. I’ve got my eye on a blue and neon green 44-inch gorilla that requires a mere 9,200 tickets.

And so it is. Columbia, South Carolina, now has a Dave & Buster’s. And out at Harbison, no less. Food, drinks and games await, if you’re willing to fight the traffic. They might even turn on Antiques Roadshow for you.