Arcade Legacy: Bar Edition

This place poo poos all over 16 bit. Every game works, food and drinks are great and the atmosphere was perfect! I wish there was a place like this in Louisville so bad!

I was here for the Tuesday Night Trivia.
I ordered a beer a while after I got there. The bartender told me he «wondered when I I was going to come up and see him.» I tipped 20%. I went up at the end of the night to use my gift token for a beer. He saw me approach and went into the back room anther bartender leaned against the door frame ignoring me. A young woman waited on me. I ordered a 5.00 beer and tipped her two dollars. I am not impressed with the guys service but the woman bartender saved the rating.
I encourage any group that enjoys trivia to go there Tues. for the 8:00 — 10:00pm event.

Over 50 arcade games including pinball machines and classic consoles. The consoles have pretty much every game you could imagine. They have a full bar and serve really awesome gourmet hot dogs and delicious cookies. There’s also some really cool, unique sodas for non-​drinkers.
All the games are free to play as long as you purchase a drink or food, which is awesome as those games can tend to be pricey. You do pay 50 cents for pinball.
They also do a ‘family day’ where you can bring your kids to play games and eat hot dogs. They have them on sundays from 4 – 8.

I’m not an arcade bar aficionado, but I feel like this place does it well.
The arcade bar concept is straightforward: games are all free to play (except pinball) as long as you keep spending money at the bar (but there’s not a formal tracking system for this).
At a place like this, you might except over priced food and drink, and you’d be exactly WRONG. They have a small selection of beers on tap (and $ 2 Huddy if you’re really just there to play games all day) and cans. I’m told they’re also pretty heavy handed with mixed drinks.
They have a gourmet hotdog menu that is legit and makes this a place you might come to have meal and a drink if you don’t want to play games. There are also some delicious looking side dishes.
There is comfy couch seating, a bar, and some table and chairs throughout if you’d like to meet or eat.
And, where the fifth star comes in… there’s a patio. If you’ve ever walked past and saw the dark storefront next door and wondered ‘what IS that?’ That’s it! It’s covered with a pergola and somewhat shielded from the weather.
As a non-​gamer, these kind of places can be intimidated to walk into, but I’m here to tell you, go on in, buy a drink, play some games, or don’t, sit and chat with friends, get some food, or just sit outside. It’s got it all in an affordable, approachable way.
O, and the staff is also friendly, approachable and chill, too!

I was excited to try this new bar; just a few blocks from my house. My star review is food and bar based only. I did not go to this joint in preparation for eating. But upon seeing the menu of «gourmet» hot dogs, my interest was piqued. I tried the Mac n cheese covered dog and instantly was hooked. Games? What games? This weekend I returned to only partake in drinks and food. The wife tried the veggie dog with sriracha egg salad; I tried the salami, cream cheese and relish dog. Both worthy of those five stars. Don’t leave before trying a dog; and the Mac. A Northside must!!! (Drinks were good too) ;)
As for the arcade itself … I think some sanitation stations could be a nice add (lots of touching and button mashing causes concern over germs); another pinball game and I’d kill for TMNT the arcade game. But overall, the arcade aspect is fun and I played everything I wanted.

Great beer, and an awesome place to hang out with friends. The staff is quick and friendly, thanks for making it a great night.

Arcade Legacy is a great addition to Northside and a fantastic option for the casual hang out experience. Not a huge fan of video games? Video game super nerd? You will love this place either way!
Here’s the notables:
+Ambiance. This bar is laid back, especially when considering the back room is set up like your grandma’s 90’s den, complete with 4 retro TV’s running N64, SNES, Atari, etc. Great area for hanging with friends.
+Food selections. Unlike 16Bit, there’s a good selection of hot dogs and food. A definite plus. Also across the street from The Littlefield if you want to take a break for something outside of the barfood category.
+Parking is super easy. Unlike OTR, Arcade Legacy is situated in a lower traffic area. Metered and unmetered parking, and a pay lot across the street are all convenient options.
The bad:
–I felt like the arcade game selection could be better. In fact, I didn’t find much that I would have really enjoyed playing. How about a DDR machine?
–The bartender was iffy on if they recycled. C’mon. We have single stream recycling in Cincinnati… RECYCLE!
Overall, I like this place. Maybe once they grow and add some games and go green I would change my rating. Even though 16Bit is a little more polished, I do think I prefer Arcade Legacy. The smaller size and potential for more niche appeal makes for a totally laid back ambiance.

Had a great time here last night. Great food, good drink selection, plenty of awesome games and a really comfortable atmosphere. Highly recommended to anyone looking for a good night out.

I guess I am just too old. Very few games I remember & the pinball was all too new, too.
Anyway, I went for the dog of the month — Dawg of the Dead.
It was pretty good except that it was cold.

This place is hands down our new favorite place in Northside! Gosh! The memories arcade games bring back… like challenging your friends to the 2 player games, or the defeat you feel having one last life and failing to win, or the the disappointment you faced when you had no more tokens to play and mom or dad refused to hand over another dollar, or the laughter, jumps and hollers that ensue after a victory?
Here, you get to relive it all! Minus mom and dad refusing to give up more cash, because here it’s unlimited plays! (As long as you drink a beer or eat while doing all the above. Why? Because you’re an adult now and who wouldn’t want to give up some cash for beer or food and in return receive unlimited plays on arcade games? –And don’t worry about having full hands, there are PLENTY of beer holders to help you out.)
So get going! Make sure to bring your friends to join you in the 2 or 3 player challenges!

Really cool spot. The console room is probably the coolest part. Done 100% better than 16 bit. Kinda dark. Bartender had some issues with the pos system, but he was really nice about it. Good experience.

Finally got here and absolutely loved it. Very laid back vibe. Cheap happy hour deals. Tried out a few games but eventually got stuck on my personal addiction… pinball. It does cost 50 cents a play. But $ 10 kept me going for a decent amount of time. And honestly, having run into beat up machines, and ones that don’t even work correctly at Gameworks, I was happy to play. Great machines with no glitches and a nice variety.
We ate there as well. I’m not a huge hot dog person but found mine to be extra delicious. It had, what appeared to be, homemade relish… so good and fresh. However, it was next to impossible to eat. Maybe slice the dog and put some of the toppings inside? I don’t know but the buns just weren’t doing their job. Also, some side options would be nice. Wasn’t big on the pretzels and it would be nice to upgrade to fries.
I live in the neighborhood so this could easily become my new spot and it really does have a «gamer» vibe with the bar part being secondary.

More laid-​back than 16-​bit.
Great food menu of gourmet hot dogs adds another tasty dinner/​late-​night eating option in Northside.
Full stocked bar, though limited draft options.
Gaming selection is varied and met my expectations and word is they’ll be switching games in and out to keep things fresh (same owners have a non-​bar version at the Cincinnati Mills Mall).
A perfect addition to the growing Northside entertainment district!

A very stripped down version of an arcade bar, this is a place to do some gaming and definitely not to just hang out. Like many arcade bars, they have places to put your beers while you’re playing. All of the games are free and they have all the standard throwback games you would expect. My favorite spot is a separate room that they’ve essentially set up as a living room with four TVs and couches to play systems– I thought that was a really nice touch. I was there maybe a week after they opened and they were definitely still working out some kinks with service (bartenders were spotty), but I think that will even out. This barcade is a nice addition to the neighborhood.

Eh like if your looking for some chilled out blips and bloops this is the place. Unlike 16 bit downtown you can actually move around in here. I was blipping and blooping with some of my homies our elbows touched then it got weird. From there on out we stood in total silence and left around 1230am. So if you go there stand far enough apart so your beeps and bloops don’t cross over with some elses bloops n beeps

Feels like you’re in a basement in the best way possible! A very genuine, non-​corporate vibe with the possibility to play every Super, NES, and 64 game ever created!

Great way to spend a night. No cover charge, guy at the door just said we had to buy something at the bar, not sure if it’s always like that. I got a long island my bf got a vodka and cranberry. He enjoyed his, made with absolut not the well. I had a long island, very strong, asked the bartender to add a bit more coke. We explored around to see what they offered and played a few arcade games. Everything but the pinball machines were on free play. The best thing about the place for us was the sega system. Over 40 pages of classic games, great trip down memory lane! Only complaint is the area was by a door so it got very chilly. Would suggest a drape to keep the draft out. I wish there were more food options. I don’t eat hot dogs, we grabbed something before coming so can’t comment on the food.

This place is awesome! Lots of delicious haute dogs and some amazing Mac and cheese. I’ll be visiting lots of times. Drink prices are also very reasonable. Staff is friendly and took great care of us.
All the games are on free play and there is even a console area to play old school games. Much better than the other places in town. Not to mention it’s locally owned. I’ll be regularly making the trip from Dayton.