MY LATEST VISIT TO UWINK (LAST NIGHT)
We were a party of 5 (two couples + their daughter) at around 8:20pm. The other couple plus their 9 year old daughter had never been there. The daughet and father immediately ran over to the 6 player light table. Huge change in the friendliness and enthusiasm of the staff than from my other visits. Prior they seemed to all have a half-confused glazed look on them. Now every single one of them act like I'm a guest at my own surprise party. Huge non-stop sincere looking smiles and extremely witty.
Anyway, we gave our name, said party of 5, exchanged quick-witted jokes with the staff (it was clear to me that somebody in management implement some massive positive changes and/or training in the last couple of weeks), but then Nolan walked in. (he seems to fall from the sky every time I go, lol). Spent a good 5-10 minutes talking to him. Here's some of what he told me:
(1) He was pleased to inform us that Ruby's Diner (another chain-type restaurant in the mall) despite Ruby's being there for over 20 years and right next to the movie theatre on the grand floor and despite UWINK not even being "officially" open yet and no advertising whatsoever, UWNK currently has more customers than Ruby's Diner that Friday night!
(2) Every single day at UWNK has been a consistent record breaker since opening. This means every Monday has been the best Monday they've had, Tuesday the best Tuesday they've had, etc.
(3) They have 20 engineers in China creating games. The 6 player games are going to have some really cool games on them. The current simple games (like 6 play pong) are just for show because he "just wanted to light up the tables."
(4) At the Grand Opening party, he thinks there will be Hollywood Stars there but he cannot confirm any specific names for sure. He said he refuses to pay them to eat in his restaurant because "that would be just wrong" he said with a smile to have to do that. In addition, he has confirmed that 9 prospective franchisees so far will be attending the party.
(5) The wife of the other couple was talking to Nolan
He said they got approved for another location in San Jose, CA (45 minutes from San Francisco - only mentioing it to us after she suggested a location that happened to be 10 minutes from there so there may be several other locations approved that he didn't mention)
My additional observations since my last visit....
(1) The bar area uses two big wall projectors as TVs for sports, etc. instead of art.
(2) The terminals have a leaf/Fall color scheme and design now.
(3) Seating capacity is now fully open (on the inside) with all terminals fully functioning and operational throughout the entire restaurant. Prior the back area was sectioned-off for the programmers doing their thing. This added maybe an additional 30% capacity or so (which was badly needed last night)
(4) 8:20pm when we arrived the place was pretty packed! Bar area was full and there were maybe 3-4 empty tables (including the one we got) out of the expanded capacity. Also interesting to note is the parties were larger than previous visits. More parties of 4, 5, and 6 filling the tables instead of just 2.
(5) Just prior to entering the restaurant, a group of teenage girls were walking by and one dropped her jaw, pointed at the uWink sign and shouted rather excitedly, "Ohhhhhh, I heard about this place!!!"
(6) A few new items on the menu. A dessert or two also. New buttons for additional help. "Get me a runner here now" (i forget the exact wording) "Get me a refill" "I need this condiment" etc.
(7) The 9 year old demonstrated how easy the terminals are (at least for kids). Each couple shared a terminal + she got one for herself. 5-10 minutes after we sat down while we were still figuring out which appetizers we wanted to share, and the bartender was uncorking the wine we brought with us, a pizza and a shirley temple mysteriously appeared that the little girl apparently ordered with ease within seconds of sitting down. She absolutely loved the place.
(8) There is a place that mentions that they are traded publicly and what their stock symbol is.
(9) Food quality was delicious as always with the pizza looking most tasty this time. 9 year old loved it anyway. Very skinny girl who is picky and doesn't eat much wolfed the entire thing down pretty fast, lol. My GF's friend is a manager for a fine-dining restaurant near San Francisco and she was very impressed and shocked with the quality of the food. My girlfriend is half-Thai and a chef + restaurant owner herself and always rips apart every Thai restaurant we go to with her critique but was astonished by the Thai dish they serve being one of the best she's ever had anywhere (and she's eaten at dozens of Thai restaurants). Her friend, also a big fan of Thai food, agreed. Her only criticism was that she thought they should kick it up a notch in terms of how formal the place is. Upgrade the uniforms from t-shirts to polo shirts. I tended to agree there. Plus she was concerned about table turning - getting people to leave quickly so that new people can be sat. Her thinking was that with so much "eye candy" it's very tempting to sit there and chit-chat for hours while just slowly sipping coffee. I agree, but I think in the big picture that can be a good thing. Like Starbux.
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