uWink Inc.

amazing way to order your food. u have a computer at ur table where u send all your food. its great for people who need pictures to know what they want. you select drinks, entrees, deserts n more directly from the computer. it has games on it. you can even look at your bill to see what u owe at any point. awesome for groups n first dates.

CLOSED?!
First the one in the valley closed, now the one in Hollywood?
What happened? This was one of the coolest places to take a date. The concept was amazing and the food was fantastic for a date night.
Anyone know what happened???

Thank God they closed – hopefully we’ll get something decent here. I’m not hoping for the world just a good chain. How bout an Outback or at least a Chili’s!

Whoa — they closed?
Probably thanks in part to idiots like me. In my previous review of this place I said that I’d been «two dozen times and would probably go a dozen more.» Well, in the year that has passed since then, I haven’t gone at all. So sorry everyone… you only have me to blame.
Guess there’s no point in writing more (I mean, what can I say here? «Try the egg rolls!» Right…) Still, I will tip my glass for this place that afforded me many hours of fun. Godspeed, uWink. Sorry it didn’t work out for ya.

I love playing games. I love computers. I love being antisocial at the table. And I would give this place less than a star if I could because they took an easy customer like me and made me hate them.
The first red flag was our hostess. As soon as we said how many we were, she was a deer in the headlights. She was very pretty, which I can see is the hiring process here. All the wait staff is pretty. She disappeared for some time and came back with a table for us. I was a horrible hostess in my youth, too. Red flag, but don’t hate it yet.
Seated.
We order drinks. My friend takes back her soda. She has taken back food before, but it’s quite rare. I sip my coffee. I already assume it’s not going to be great because I have ordered it at night. And I’m right. It tastes like it’s been on the burner a few hours. But to add to it… ice cold. I take my coffee back and the next cup is perfectly mediocre. but it’s hot and that’s fine. When I finish it, it is never refilled. As the evening progresses, I give up on this and I am beaten down to accept the dregs I get.
By the time we get our food, I have played some solitaire, realized calling for help on the screen means nothing (the coffee took some button pushing to get fixed), and reminisced a little too much about Vert. Ooohh, sweet defunct Vert. Beautiful appetizers and martinis we’d be indulging in right now if not for your sad demise Vert.
The food is mediocre. Fine. Whatever. How could I expect better at this point. I sip the air that is my coffee cup.
At the end, the waitress asks if we want a box. Since I pushed numerous buttons requesting that box, I’m already snarky. I say yes. She says what size and I say «The size that would fit the food you see before you.» I get a stack of small styrofoam boxes and four plastic bags. Nevermind only two of the four of us wanted to take food home.
The crowd is hip, the wait staff is nice enough, and the novelty of the games is cool. If only management trained their waitstaff instead of just giving them tight t-​shirts to wear and the computer actually CALLED said waistaff with information they needed, then this place would rock. If. Only. Alas, this place came up exceptionally short. Ugh.

All gimmick and novelty aside: the food is not good. It’s along the lines of Dave and Busters or a higher end Denny’s. Eh
The computer was annoying– smack dab in the middle of the table which was slightly awkward for a party of 4. Our side figured out the computer screen 1^st and didn’t totally coordinate with the other side so we got our food 1^st. The games were kind of fun; and then distracting.
My friend ordered a dish and it came out nothing like the photo. The service was spotty. The crowd was cheesy. Maybe 2 stars was generous!

Well, this was the 3^rd time I went here (I guess I never learn). I love the idea of the games and entertainment however that aside this place needs a major overhaul.
Nothing has changed since last year, just run down a bit more and customer service is down to near zero.
So this last exp; We get our table and start playing the games as usual. Anyway, few minutes go by and we order 4 burgers appetizer and drinks. Appetizer was god, drinks were good (how bad can you mess up bottled beer lol). Well the food was acceptable but not what we ordered.
The Turkey burger I ordered was beef becuase they were out that week, only 1 of the burgers had the avocados which is not a problem but the server didnt want to tell us and charge us anyway unless we noticed. Well, we noticed. The manager took it off the bill, or at least said she did-​she didnt. And the list goes on from mushy random bread to missing basics internals of the burger. They said the cooks have difficulty reading the order lmao.
The worst part is this is not an isolated incident, the table next to us had similar issues and so did one across the way. Its a fun place, just dont expect much service.

uWink seems to me like a failed execution of a potentially awesome concept. The idea of ordering food and drink from a screen at your table is pretty cool, reminiscent of vending machine dining in Japan. I also like the idea of a restaurant and bar with interactive table games.
As it turns out, though, uWink is a little bit lame. I came for drinks with three friends and we had a good time, but the place was dead and the uWink-​provided entertainment was weak. The trivia game was on par with what you would get on an airplane, and the writer of the truth or dare game was far tamer than your average eleven-​year-​old. There was also a first date game based on questions that people on first dates would ask each other. The questions were either «mild» or «spicy,» but even the spicy ones were rated G.
Drinks were fine. I ordered a glass of white wine and it was potable, and my friends didn’t complain about theirs. The service was also decent. We ordered from the screen and things came promptly. Our waitress seemed very impressed that we’d figured out the concept of uWink all by ourselves — the poor woman must deal with a ton of idiots.
If the games were better and the atmosphere were vibrant, I could see uWink being a fun place. It gets some points for the innovation, but I don’t find myself itching to go back.

Awesome concept! I felt like we were dining in the future!
You place your order, play games, summon the waitstaff and pay your bill at a touch screen monitor on your table.
Food was typical diner eats — burgers and a few pasta entrees. I opted for the build your own burger. There are a lot of options to choose from! I enjoyed my Ground Turkey, Monterey Jack Cheese, Pico de Gallo, Avocado Burger on a Wheat bun!
Service was so-​so. I couldn’t decide if tipping would be less than the 15% rule. After-​all, no one is coming to greet you and check to see if the food is to your liking.
The games are fun, you can challenge patrons at other tables to play.
Pretty neat spot. We’d definitely come back.

The food options at Hollywood and Highland are kinda comparable to Downtown Disney… not that great. We decided to grab some lunch to kill time while our room at the Renaissance was getting cleaned-​up.
This is my first time at uWink, so I didn’t know what to expect. It looked like a regular corporate restaurant, i.e. TGIF or Chilis. But, the highlight of the place is the gadget in the middle of the table. The electronic box is where we placed our orders, play games, and pay the bill. To be honest, it took longer to figure out how to place our order then it would’ve taken a live waiter to do it. But, I did like playing the games and requesting for more drinks, condiments, and paying the bill on the box, since it stuff came out pretty quickly once you punched in the request.
Our order:
App sampler: 3 sliders, fried zucchini, french fries, onion rings.
Veggie Quesadilla
The food was not bad… it was way better than ESPN Zone, but it isn’t anything mindblowing. It’s decent. It is a cool place to go if you are at H&H with a group. It was not crowded for a Saturday afternoon.

Save your money.
The concept is cool, but uWink just doesn’t pull it off. We sat down to no napkins nor utensils. We actually had to use the computer terminal to «order» these essentials. They never came, so we ended up doing it the old fashioned way of flagging down an employee.
The food was very, very, very mediocre. It was decently priced, but like I said, no character at all with a limited menu.
The worst part of the night was trying to play games with friends at another table. For every successful game we could get going, we would spend at least 5 minutes trying to get everybody «synced» in the computer system — think dropped invites to join a game, getting kicked out of a game for no reason.
And if you didn’t think about it, think about how many people before you were touching that screen and eating with their fingers. Now look at you touching that dirty screen and the picking at your food. Gross huh?

Slow service with not a whole lot of entrée or appetizer selection.
The drinks are good, but hit me super late. The happy hour deals are aiight.
The games blow. Period. There’s a lot of them, but all pretty much suck… to put it bluntly.

The whole concept of this place is so unique! So, my friends and I were on our way to The Highlands to dance the night away and decided to stop at uWink for some pre-​party drinks and appetizers. It was definitely a different and very interesting experience!
All the tables have computer screens where you actually order your drinks and food yourself! You tell the computer how many people are at your table, check out their menu and order away!
They also have a ton of games that you can play while you’re sipping your cocktails which is fun but, in all honesty, a little distracting. There were 5 people in our group and the games kind of separated one side of the table from the other. I probably wouldn’t recommend for a first date because in addition to games there are flat screen TVs everywhere. Add those two together and you’ve got yourself a recipe for a super distracted (and possibly boring) date.
Once we ordered, the food came out really fast and the service was actually really good considering all they have to do is bring your order to you. The girl we had kept coming back to check on us to make sure everything was ok and that we were taken care of. Nice!
Believe it or not, one of the highlights for me was paying. They set it up so that all the orders are listed individually on the computer so you can all pay separately, combine different orders or pay the whole bill! I love options when it comes to paying, especially in groups (we all know what a hassle that can be).
The drinks/​food were good and it’s fun! Love this place and would definitely go back.

The concept is awesome.
Could be improved with a little wifi.
The décor was weird, some Eastern themed seating, bar seating and a lot of televisions.
It was cool that we did not have a waiter bothering us the entire meal, the games were fun and wasted some time and paying the bill was quick.
We only ordered salads. The mixed greens was good, except my avocado was way too ripe. I couldn’t even eat it because it was so hard. My BF’s caesar salad was super fishy smelling and tasting.
It was kind of expensive for such poor quality.
I was actually reminds me of an improved Applebee’s.
Like I said, cool concept the food could use great improvements.

Came back here to watch a Dodgers game last saturday. They weren’t even playing the game so I had to ask them to change it. I ordered the uWink special burger with fries, which was $ 11.95. The fries felt cold, so wasn’t that good. The burger fell apart on me, the reason is because the juice from the meat must have soaked the buns so when I grabbed the buns it fell apart (lol. ok that sounded wrong).
Anyways, beer was the same, waitress was cool, but the food… ehh. I can pass. $ 12 is quite expensive for a mediocre burger. Atmosphere was great though, as usual.

I’m actually surprised of the low star rating — granted, I was only there once in November after seeing it featured on a late night local tv show which of course I can’t remember. Something like LA xlive tv or something — definitely had LA in the title.
I thought it was a great place — I think it’s more of a big group outing though. There’s a big screen board in the main room where you can compete against other tables. That’s always fun — and of course I was the winner. I asked the waiter what I had one — he said he’d give me a free drink — but never did. I couldn’t figure out if he was just kidding or if he really just forgot.
The service was decent — we ordered up on the screen and we got whatever was ordered in a decent amount of time — at least when I went. I liked that each individual got to pay for their own tab, though I can see people thinking it’s weird to let everyone see your own tab (see my picture).
Being located within Hollywood & Highland, it’s definitely subway friendly, but being located on an upper floor — it’s easily missed and forgettable.

Always great place to go at least once if you live in So Cal… or perfect place to take tourist family and friends. uWink is the first in its industry anyways.
Service: Even if its considered the computer, people were nice & attentive. We still include tip.
Environment: Chill and probably great for our distracted generation that loves to do multiple things at once… like eat & play games.
Entertainment: the computer haha
Food: Fairly surprisingly good. American food. BBQ Chicken Salad is awesome.
Drinks: Most refills cost, so be careful.
Parking: Lot, Validate & get 4 hours for $ 2. Great extra time for take the tourist family & friends around the plaza or go shopping, etc.
Suggestions:
Sign up for Newsletter, I just got a 50% off all food until end Jan.!! Super Awesome! =)

Uwork. That’s right.
uDo the work for the server by punching in what uWant to order in on the touch screen.
At first, the server will brief you on how the ordering process works.
Before, the server left us to our own devices, I was already asking him to bring some waters out. To which, he directed me back to the touch screen to order — oops.
The upside is that you can customize your food, by removing or adding in what you want to your entrée.
The downside is it takes some getting used to (especially when I’m so conditioned to beckoning the servers over) but you’ll get the hang of it. (Major Note: when we tried to play some of the games — it freezed out or never loaded. So after a while, we gave up.)
This place isn’t as big of a novelty as you might expect.
Food & Ambiance — think overpriced TGIFridays or LuckyStrike-​ish.
Service — upbeat & friendly.
Good for groups and a casual night out.
Parking: Hollywood & Highland structure — they will validate. $ 2 with validation for the first 4 hours.
(So we’re clear — 2.5 stars)
Peep the pix.

If a Dave & Busters mated with an Apple Store the offspring would be uWink.
The concept was unique. In my mind, it was comparable to other social interaction restaurants but more of a focus on technology and video gaming.
The ordering concept was cool. It actually worked out just fine, and I really liked the fact that it asked for more specifics or details, depending on what it was you ordered: like if you wanted salt or no salt, Splenda instead of sugar, or what sort of sauces you wanted on the side.
Gone are the days of having to flag a server for getting a refill on a drink. You just have to punch in the «Refill my drink» button, and a server will bring it right out.
Food and drinks are classified in various categories, and the pictures associated with each item really help in making a decision.
The quality of the food was decent and the drinks were well-​made. My first time here, I sat at the bar, and I found that if you order stuff that isn’t on the electronic menu, you can just ask the bartender if he or she knows how to make it. Chances are, they probably do or will try. And since these items aren’t technically on the menu, the drinks that I ordered (like an Adiós) were gratis! I was really grateful for that.
I really liked the fact that there were running tabs on what you or people in your group ordered. This keeps splitting the bill very organized and systematic. The payment method of choice in this situation would be credit card, since you can just swipe it in and e-​mail your receipt to your e-​mail address. This function works a lot like the new Apple stores with wandering associates acting as checkouts.
While waiting for the food, it’s pretty entertaining to play the games that pitted you against other members in your party or within the restaurant. It helps pass the time and can be played even during your meal as a sort of break or topic of conversation.
Just remember to validate your parking before leaving the Hollywood location. You’ll end up paying up the yin-​yang in parking if you forget.

For some reason my friend is obsessed with the chicken «pick up sticks» appetizer at uWink. Think buffalo chicken sandwich without the bun… also think chuck e cheese for adults…
Thank goodness they opened this uWink at Hollywood & Highland. Driving to the valley to get overpriced, mediocre food and stare at a screen to play some mildly amusing games is absolutely ridiculous.
Granted this uWink is somewhat more stylish inside, and the wall screens are more conducive for the group trivia (the funnest game play at uWink) but it still manages to miss the mark when it comes to food & fun. The menu has not been updated, which is sad because if I had some better food I wouldn’t have to rely on those cheesy games to distract me from my meal.
I say order a few appetizers, drinks & dessert and only come when it’s group trivia time. The games will leave you reaching for your DS and the entrees will leave you reaching for the TUMS.