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it will be interesting to see how this place looks at night. if this is meant as a social gathering restuarant, how it looks at night will be important. from the looks of it, the uwink sign will light up nicely. and i’m guessing the words like “food drinks media” and related icons will show up white.
might be a dumb question, but if these tables are near the wall, how exactly do the customers not get in the way of the projections on the wall? unless of course they are rear projections or something?
the removal of tipping from a restaurant like this will really add a unqiue aspect and a cost savings to customers. just the simple fact that customer can logout of their screen and leave instead of waiting and waiting for the
waiter/wiatress will allow me to get a table faster, be less frustrating for the customer at the table, and the best part save the customer money. i mean seriously, it’s ridiculous how much you pay in tip sometimes as a whole when going out with a group of friends.
i was at dave&buster’s recently, and realized what uwink was referring to when describing the “arcade” like atmosphere that they wanted to avoid.
think about when you visit dave&busters, you only really hang out with the people you came with. and many times you end up going off on your own or with 1 of the friends to play different games. you all end up scattered even amonst your own friends. and how many times have you said hey let’s go eat out, let’s go to dave&buster’s. they have a nice restaurant area and pretty good food, but generally i am thinking of dave&buster’s when i want to go out with friends to drink at their bar and play some games. but honestly their bar isn’t that great. it’s basically just a big oval bar with some seating with games all around. no lounge chairs, no sofas, no area where it’s not annoying loud because of the games. and honestly the games there aren’t really all that fun minus a few of the racing games. they all get old after a while. which is why uwink’s approach to casual gaming is much better. create a social, not too dark & not too bright, dining and entertainment experience that promotes interaction rather than isolation and eye strain from the sun when you leave.
wait, correction, dave & busters actually does have a second bar that is separarte from the arcade area. it is actually not bad, but at least in the one near me it’s not big enough and doesn’t have a lounge like atmosphere, which i believe is important.
the big bet here that nolan bushnell, john kaufman, and co. is not that people will like the restaurant, have fun with the interactive games, and have the new ordering system really benefit them. those things will happen, BUT will their big bet that this will create a genuine social atmosphere for 20-35 year olds come true? this is the BIG question. i believe they are removing the social interaction weaknesses of a bar and a place like dave&buster’s while taking it’s strengths. remember how dave&buster’s became a sort of one-shop stop entertainment experience for the night (drinking, eating, fun). but at the same time didn’t give you the same drinking&relaxing experience as a nice lounge bar, didn’t give you the the atmosphere of a restauarant only location, and fell short (at least as time went by) on the entertainment expereience. i mean why do you think the most popular games at dave&buster’s are those 4-6 person cooperative racing games. first of all driving a car is a familiar experience to all customer’s regardless of video game experience and second and most important is the social interaction of talking with everyone as the race goes on. the idea of uwink is not a sure thing, but i believe it’s going
for the holy grail of social entertainment and from my vantage point seems like has a good chance of succeeding if and this is an important IF. IF they execute on the concept. and that’s where we’ll see if john kaufman is the right choice.
i read about the deal with evian and that alcohol company. not quite sure how that works…it said something about a messaging system where the vendors communicate with the customer and gather customer information as they are purchasing. i mean what does that messaging system entail. you are ordering something and suddenly evian says “hey you need some water..” i’m sure it doesn’t mean that, but a bit curious about that.
and the name “uwink” is very good. it gives a clue to the social type atmosphere as opposed to calling it “championship competition bistro”. and that name woudln’t play too well with the 20-35 female demographic.
but actually i think calling it just “uwink” is good enough. the whole “uwink media bistro” seems overly wordy. i realize they are trying to show that “media” is involved, but don’t do they do that with those circles that say “games”, “drinks”, “media”. just “uwink” seem slicker and allows for some imagination.
The photo of the terminal on the table - from the look of it, does it rotate down out of the way to make more room for food? Just curious since appetizers and such can take up a lot of room and while its cool to have the terminal there, if it gets in the way, it defeats the purpose.
If is doesn’t, there isn’t that big gap around it on the table? Food and drink will be on people’s knee caps if so
Looking forward to seeing more photo’s of the whole inside to see how its theme’d out.
September 26th, 2006 at 12:04 pm
ah good, tables look much better. still a bit skeptical about how the projections on the wall will look.
September 26th, 2006 at 12:05 pm
“food drinks media” sign also is good. the “media” part does seem like it will be intruiging to customers walking by.
September 26th, 2006 at 12:07 pm
it will be interesting to see how this place looks at night. if this is meant as a social gathering restuarant, how it looks at night will be important. from the looks of it, the uwink sign will light up nicely. and i’m guessing the words like “food drinks media” and related icons will show up white.
September 26th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
might be a dumb question, but if these tables are near the wall, how exactly do the customers not get in the way of the projections on the wall? unless of course they are rear projections or something?
September 26th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
what is the attachment at the end of the table? is that where the runners drop off the food on your table?
September 26th, 2006 at 1:17 pm
Are there tables outside????
September 26th, 2006 at 5:03 pm
Looks awesome Nolan! Congrats!
September 27th, 2006 at 7:03 am
so what was the press/media reaction to the restaurant?
September 27th, 2006 at 8:14 am
see this link:
http://www.uwink.com/main.php?se=home
and click on “Click here for more information” underneath “Uwink Media Bistro” graphic.
It is a 17-18 brochure presenation of the uwink restuarant concept.
many parts were used for the uwink.com website, but there is quite a bit that isn’t on the website.
very interesting and presents the concept very well.
September 27th, 2006 at 8:15 am
please post some pictures of the restaurant at night…
September 27th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
no tipping, nice touch.
September 28th, 2006 at 6:25 pm
More Pictures: http://www.myspace.com/uwink
October 3rd, 2006 at 9:10 am
the removal of tipping from a restaurant like this will really add a unqiue aspect and a cost savings to customers. just the simple fact that customer can logout of their screen and leave instead of waiting and waiting for the
waiter/wiatress will allow me to get a table faster, be less frustrating for the customer at the table, and the best part save the customer money. i mean seriously, it’s ridiculous how much you pay in tip sometimes as a whole when going out with a group of friends.
October 3rd, 2006 at 9:16 am
i was at dave&buster’s recently, and realized what uwink was referring to when describing the “arcade” like atmosphere that they wanted to avoid.
think about when you visit dave&busters, you only really hang out with the people you came with. and many times you end up going off on your own or with 1 of the friends to play different games. you all end up scattered even amonst your own friends. and how many times have you said hey let’s go eat out, let’s go to dave&buster’s. they have a nice restaurant area and pretty good food, but generally i am thinking of dave&buster’s when i want to go out with friends to drink at their bar and play some games. but honestly their bar isn’t that great. it’s basically just a big oval bar with some seating with games all around. no lounge chairs, no sofas, no area where it’s not annoying loud because of the games. and honestly the games there aren’t really all that fun minus a few of the racing games. they all get old after a while. which is why uwink’s approach to casual gaming is much better. create a social, not too dark & not too bright, dining and entertainment experience that promotes interaction rather than isolation and eye strain from the sun when you leave.
October 3rd, 2006 at 9:18 am
wait, correction, dave & busters actually does have a second bar that is separarte from the arcade area. it is actually not bad, but at least in the one near me it’s not big enough and doesn’t have a lounge like atmosphere, which i believe is important.
October 3rd, 2006 at 9:31 am
the big bet here that nolan bushnell, john kaufman, and co. is not that people will like the restaurant, have fun with the interactive games, and have the new ordering system really benefit them. those things will happen, BUT will their big bet that this will create a genuine social atmosphere for 20-35 year olds come true? this is the BIG question. i believe they are removing the social interaction weaknesses of a bar and a place like dave&buster’s while taking it’s strengths. remember how dave&buster’s became a sort of one-shop stop entertainment experience for the night (drinking, eating, fun). but at the same time didn’t give you the same drinking&relaxing experience as a nice lounge bar, didn’t give you the the atmosphere of a restauarant only location, and fell short (at least as time went by) on the entertainment expereience. i mean why do you think the most popular games at dave&buster’s are those 4-6 person cooperative racing games. first of all driving a car is a familiar experience to all customer’s regardless of video game experience and second and most important is the social interaction of talking with everyone as the race goes on. the idea of uwink is not a sure thing, but i believe it’s going
for the holy grail of social entertainment and from my vantage point seems like has a good chance of succeeding if and this is an important IF. IF they execute on the concept. and that’s where we’ll see if john kaufman is the right choice.
October 3rd, 2006 at 9:43 am
i read about the deal with evian and that alcohol company. not quite sure how that works…it said something about a messaging system where the vendors communicate with the customer and gather customer information as they are purchasing. i mean what does that messaging system entail. you are ordering something and suddenly evian says “hey you need some water..” i’m sure it doesn’t mean that, but a bit curious about that.
October 3rd, 2006 at 9:44 am
and the name “uwink” is very good. it gives a clue to the social type atmosphere as opposed to calling it “championship competition bistro”.
and that name woudln’t play too well with the 20-35 female demographic.
October 3rd, 2006 at 9:47 am
but actually i think calling it just “uwink” is good enough. the whole “uwink media bistro” seems overly wordy. i realize they are trying to show that “media” is involved, but don’t do they do that with those circles that say “games”, “drinks”, “media”. just “uwink” seem slicker and allows for some imagination.
October 4th, 2006 at 5:08 am
The photo of the terminal on the table - from the look of it, does it rotate down out of the way to make more room for food? Just curious since appetizers and such can take up a lot of room and while its cool to have the terminal there, if it gets in the way, it defeats the purpose.
If is doesn’t, there isn’t that big gap around it on the table? Food and drink will be on people’s knee caps if so
Looking forward to seeing more photo’s of the whole inside to see how its theme’d out.
October 6th, 2006 at 11:37 am
Appetizers can be put on a stand that goes over the terminal.
Pretty neat, eh?