Austin. Mom. Blog. » Restaurants

Gattiland in Round Rock,Texas

Dianna — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 01:30:20 +0000

Tuesdays are the days to go to Gattiland for our family. I’m surprised I haven’t blogged about Gattiland yet because we have been numerous times. We love everything about Gattiland. We love the pizza, the games, and the atmosphere. We like to visit on Tuesdays due to the half price games. In the summertime it is definitely much more busier than during the school year, but Gattiland has plenty of room. Other than having party rooms set aside, they have three large rooms accomodating each kind of visitor. The first room is the Rock Theatre that shows cartoons or a kids movie on two large screens. Our family always chooses this room. The second room is the Sports Room that has the same, but shows some sort of sport instead. The last room is the Old Town Cafe. I like to refer to this room as the “quiet room.” There aren’t any screens in this room and every time we have been, it’s the room with the least amount of people. Gattiland is a buffet style restaurant and serves pizza, salad, pasta, and dessert. Our two boys always eat well when we visit. After we get our tummies full, we head to the game room. There are too many games and rides to list, but some are Deal or No Deal, skee ball, bumper cars, air hockey, and basketball. Everything is done through a game key. All money and tickets won are put on the game key. It makes everything a lot more easier to keep track of. The prizes are much better than Chuck-e-Cheese. They are actually worth not throwing away at the end of the day. We always have a great experience and the boys are always eager to go back.

Game Room

Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas

Dianna — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:11:46 +0000

Our family loves Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas. We have been there a total of four times now. Our last visit was this past Thursday and Friday before Easter. The lodge was 75% full. We have been when it’s 100% full and 20% full. We absolutely loved it when it only was 20% full, but even when it’s full capacity the lodge can handle it. We don’t have to wait two hours to ride something. It’s the perfect vacation for our two boys. Andrew is five and Collin is four. Great Wolf Lodge’s main attraction is an indoor waterpark with tube rides, waterslides, a wave pool, and a huge treehouse with water overflowing each way you look. Since I’m a huge water fan myself, I also love it. There are several places you can dine at when you visit. They include Pizza Hut Express, Bear Paw Sweets and Eats (where we enjoyed ice cream), Starbucks, and Loose Moose Cottage (a restaurant). Inside the waterpark is a snack bar where you can buy small pizzas, hamburgers, fries, and miscellaneous snacks. We purchased a hot dog, a chicken burger, and fries. It was actually pretty good. The prices were typical. A hot dog cost us three dollars, the chicken burger was six dollars, and the fries were two dollars. I believe Six Flags prices are much higher. The lodge has so many activities for kids including a cub club with painting, coloring, or decorating items. Some items may have to be purchased. There’s also an arcade, a kids’ spa, and a game called MagiQuest where you have a wand and go through the hotel to conquer challenges. The game can last hours so this last time we didn’t purchase the game, but we will next time. Our boys were disappointed, but since we only stayed one night, time wasn’t in our favor. Our next visit we will stay two nights. When you visit Great Wolf Lodge, you are able to start enjoying the park as early as one o’clock and can stay until it closes the next day at nine. You have to check out of your room by eleven, but can still stay to enjoy the lodge. We always take advantage of staying. We all were truly exhausted after visiting Great Wolf, but we can’t wait to go back. It is truly a kid friendly, family friendly hotel.

Andrew and Collin Loving Great Wolf Lodge

Indoor Waterpark

Nana’s Treat House in Pflugerville

Dianna — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 14:42:35 +0000

Our family has been to Nana’s Treat House in Pflugerville twice now. With it being 70 to 80 degrees outside, we are trying to do as much as possible outdoors. Nana’s Treat House has picnic tables outside where you can enjoy your dessert. We always sit outside so the boys won’t make a mess in the car. The facility is shaped like a giant cupcake. From the road 1825, it’s hard to miss. They sell ice cream, floats, italian ice, and cupcakes. We have tried the italian ice and strawberry shortcake cupcakes. All of it has been declicious. We always purchase the small cup of italian ice because it is plenty. Our boys never finish it, but insist on having their own cup. Honestly, one cup could be shared between two people. We look forward to going back, but there’s a such thing as too many sweets. We’ll take it slow.

Count Your Coins at Chuck-e-Cheese

Dianna — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 03:08:38 +0000

We really enjoy visiting the Chuck-e-Cheese on Mopac and have been there twice in the last month. When my son and I visited on Thursday it was really enjoyable. We arrived at 9:30 a.m. and we were the first ones there. We had the whole place to ourselves for thirty minutes. I bought a 100 coins and I usually don’t have time to count or worry about if the 100 I received was correct. Usually the boys want the coins so fast they are gone within a few seconds. Since we had time Thursday morning I decided to count them. Guess what? I only counted 76. I counted it two more times to make sure. It still was 76. We will still continue visiting Chuck-e-Cheese, but from now on I will count the coins before the boys start grabbing.

Tokyo Steakhouse

Dianna — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 02:53:28 +0000

Recently we ate at Tokyo Steakhouse in Round Rock. It was not only fun, but the food was also good. I can’t say it’s out of this world delicious, but it was good and the show was excellent. We went for dinner and the prices ranged anywhere between $20 to $30 a meal. It adds up for a family of four. I honestly would recommend everyone to try it at least once. It’s a fun dining experience. First you order your food. The soup comes out first and then the salad. After you finish those courses, the chef comes out to prepare your food. You have the option to sit at the grill or sit at a table to not see a show. I believe the best part is the show. There are eight seats surrounding the grill to see the chef cook your food. After the chef cooks your food, he then serves it and tries to shoot food in each of the guests mouths. I’m not sure if every chef does that, but each time they have with us. Our chef had us entertained the whole time. Our oldest son Andrew claims this is now his favorite restaurant. Lastly, we get served ice cream. That definitely puts icing on the cake for my boys. Tokyo Steakhouse has lunch specials so we might try that next time. With it being Andrew’s favorite restaurant, I know we will be back.

Dave & Buster’s

Dianna — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:51:49 +0000

Today we asked our oldest son Andrew what he wanted to do for his last day of vacation since he goes back to school tomorrow. He told us he wanted to go to Dave & Buster’s. We enjoy going there as a family, so off we went. We arrived at 12:00 and stayed until 3:00. During that time we not only played a lot of games, we also ate lunch. In my opinion, the food is pretty good. I usually order the grilled chicken quesadillas and I haven’t been disappointed yet. I enjoy eating there because if my youngest son starts to get restless I take him over to a few games before the food arrives. I used to think Dave & Buster’s was focused more for adults, but now I see a lot more famililes there. They have a ton of games for my boys to play. I believe the selection is better than Chuck-e-Cheese. I guess I say that because my boys are getting bigger and have outgrown a lot of games at Chuck-e-Cheese. The only downfall is Dave & Buster’s games are a whole lot more expensive than Chuck-e-Cheese. Dave & Buster’s games aren’t one token games. The games are fun, the prizes are cool and different, and the food is good. My son, Andrew had the right idea.