Forbidden Planet

I don’t like deep dish. Usually. But, I really like their deep dish. It is Chicago style, the crust is excellent, right sauce to cheese ration, I would guess that they use fresh mozzarella (appears so to me) and the sausage is very tasty. Not as keen on the metro slice– I liked the idea, as I usually like thin crust, but found it to be soggy. The thin crust pizza was ok, the combos a little too busy. The deep dish was definitely the winner for me. Love the arcade games. A bit busy and loud, crowded; but fun and the service is very good.

My favorite pizza in IC. They make both a neapolitan crust and a sicilian deep dish. All pizzas and drinks are cleverly named after arcade games, characters, etc. The food is made to order so it takes some time– the perfect amount of time to play arcade games! They also make really good drinks, so all in all, this place is the greatest.

The décor /​atmosphere in this place is really great, Not to mention they have really creative and amazing pizza! The staff that I have met are all really friendly. Great place! Absolutely fun for the whole family, I would definitely recommend you come check it out.

The games are great but their cocktails?!! To die for — especially the «Resident Evil» :) Go on Thursday for the drink specials and you’ll be set.

Cheap pizza and interesting toppings. Arcade limited and service was slow. Pizza crust was burnt for all four slices we ordered. If you want cheap pizza this is the place to go, if you want good pizza don’t bother

Possibly the worst pizza I’ve ever had in Iowa City. The crust was burnt and the toppings weren’t that good either. Our waitress was extremely rude and I wouldn’t have tipped if I didn’t have to. The arcade games are the only saving grace here. Won’t be coming back.

Great beer selection and good pizza. Pretty disappointed in the selection of games. The Galaga machine works 50% of the time and how does a vintage Barcade not have Ms. Pac Man?

Good craft beer selection. Deep dish pizza was excellent! A lot different & uncommon combinations for cheeses, toppings, and even sauce! Games ranging from the 70 – 90’s and just .25 a play and pinball.
Even mix drinks you won’t elsewhere.
A relaxed vibe bar with good pizza, drinks, and nostalgic video games. Certainly a hit or miss bar with some people but worth a chance!

Go here for the vintage arcade games… wait no, go here for the pizza… or for the cocktails… or the beer…
I went here for all of the above and not only did I have a blast playing vintage Tetris and Pac-​Man (despite losing miserably), I loved the pizza, and loved the drink menu even more! The pizza is made with a carbonated crust and baked on stone, which gives the crust a nice crispy but also stretchy texture. The drink menu definitely wowed me — although it’s not as lengthy as some of the other drink menus in the downtown area, it can hold it’s own in quality and originality. The drinks are hyper-​unique and mixed by a very knowledgeable (and fun!) bartender.
If I have to nitpick anything though, it’s the amount of space — with a packed house it’s a little cramped, especially in back where the games are located. For me though, this added to the overall buzz and actually made me want to hang around a little while longer.
Now I just need to work on my pinball skills… yikes…

Great place! The staff was very friendly and the games were in excellent condition. The food was delicious and the beer and cocktail selections were top-​notch. Wonderful place to bring the family as well.

I’m half and half on this place. The pizza was good and fresh, but more expensive than I would have expected for a 12″ pizza with a couple veggies on it and highly lacking in cheese ($ 13.50 before tax which was about the average price for a non deep dish). The pizza did come out fast though. The drafts were $ 5.50 for a Des Moines, Iowa wheat and that’s not too bad, but that is high for Iowa City. They did have a nice selection of cocktails but I saw the bartender pour a couple short so she added more mixer before handing them out, poor mixology in my opinion. The bartender was slow too, she spent more time talking to what turned out to be co-​workers and friends than she did getting our drinks and food order, we also only heard from her one additional time though we were sitting at the bar.
What was really lacking were the games. They weren’t even worth getting up for. Though I did browse them when going to the bathroom, there were 4 pinball machines, 2 table top games, and about 10 stand ups. Of the pinball machines one was not working, the stand ups 2 were not working, and I don’t know about the table tops.
Over all I was not impressed, I would rather go to POD, Mesa or Sam’s due to the size of the slices actually being worth the price. My draw towards Forbidden Planet was the games and they were lacking, take that out of the equation and you’re in another pizza parlor, of which Iowa City has much better ones than Forbidden Planet. It’s a nice try but they have a long way to go to be a real player in the upcoming barcade trend.

I took my first trip to Forbidden Planet today, and it’s unfortunate I haven’t been before. The restaurant’s concept is great — the games were fun and they gave us plenty of time to drink, play pinball, and play space invaders before the food arrived. The cheese sticks and beer selection were solid. The pizza we ordered (Q-​Bert) had a nice, well cooked crust and interesting selection of toppings.
I’m looking forward to going back and trying more pizza/​games.

My girlfriend and I walked in there at 11:45 tonight. The door was wide open and there was roughly 20 people within the bar. I was really excited to play an arcade game and have a beer. They had a tap takeover from «The Great Divide» brewery, which left me even more excited, because I love the Nomad. We were then told that they were closing and they wouldn’t sell me a beer after I had asked for one. If you are closing, why are there a good 20 people in there drinking and having a good time? Why are you not, as a bar, trying to get those people out of your bar??? I then told her I would take no more than 10 minutes to drink and play a game of pinball. She still told me no. It was obvious they did not want to serve a beer and work on a Saturday night. If your door is open, you are open!

Awesome place! Came here a few times now and have always had a great time. I’ve tried their thin crust pizza and just today tried their deep dish, and man is it good. Unique specialty pizzas that are nuts. In addition to the food they have some really good mixed drinks that actually taste good and are not just loaded with booze (cough cough clinton street). Oh and they have arcade games? You dont know how fun pinball and drinking is until you try it. Yea place is pretty fun, definitely try it out. Only negative I would say is its a bit pricey and service can be a little spotty sometimes but generally its been very good (that what happens when hipsters run a place). Not worth taking a star off. Check it out.

My wife and I were very excited when hearing that a new pizzeria/​80s-​style arcade was opening in Iowa City, and even more delighted when Forbidden Planet turned out to be this good! The pizza is really great, with a lot of interesting toppings (brussels sprouts, truffles, potato, etc), and a majority of their pizzas can be made vegan, which is very important to us. The selection of games is right up my alley too, with 80s classics like Galaga and Burgertime sitting alongside some great pinball machines (Doctor Who!). The beer/​cocktail/​wine selection is excellent as well.
The combination of games, pizza, and a kid-​friendly atmosphere means it can be a little loud, but it is a great new eatery for Iowa City.

Pizza was unexpectedly good with the pepperoni quite delicious. Large selection of craft beers. Many classic video games and pinball machines but not a lot of seating.