My first time at Start bar STL celebrating my 31st birthday was a horrendous experience from start to finish. Waiters are nonexistent. If you want drinks, food or video games to rent, you have to stand at the bar for at least 20 minutes to get waited on. The bar tenders are not friendly, are very rude and look like they all hate their lives. If you’re looking to play the video games and I believe any other game that doesn’t require coins the bar requires you let them hold you...r debit card until the game is returned. The bar keeps all of the debit cards in a solo cup behind the bar where they can easily be lost or stolen. It being my first time at start bar I was hesitant to let them hold my debit card but against my better judgment I gave a gentleman behind the bar my card and went upstairs with my party to play a little Mario kart. After 20 minutes of playing, we decided socializing was far more fun. We sat and socialized for about an hour and decided to call it a night. I grabbed my coat and other belongings and headed out forgetting to return the game and get my debit card from the bar tender. When I called the bar the following morning to let them know I was heading there to pick up my debit card, a bar tender placed me hold for about 5 minutes and informed me that they did not have my debit card. When I arrived at the bar, I had another bar tender check for my card. They too stated they could not locate my card and gave me attitude when I asked if they were sure they didn’t have it. I then spoke with the General Manager Geo Guinn who casually leaned against the bar with a shrug look on his face while I explained when and where my debit card was left the night before. All the manager Geo could say was “well they already looked in the cup and its not there so I don’t know what to tell you.” When I asked if he could look one more time for me, he replied, “No, I won’t do that. You probably have it or you left it at home or something”. Then he stated, “You can just get another debit card. It’ll only take one to two days to get a new one.” When I explained that I was with US Bank and that it would be a huge inconvenience to get a new debit card and that it would take 5-7 days for me to get it replaced; he just shrugged his shoulders and said, “Well you shouldn’t have left your card here last night, so it’s your fault that it’s not here, not ours”. At this point, I asked for his business card and the owner’s name. He refused to give me the owners name and told me to Google it. This was hands down the worst experience I have ever had in any bar establishment in my 31 years of living. I will never go back and I will be telling everyone I know about my terrible experience. Do yourself a favor and take your money elsewhere! See More Read Less

I have usually had good experiences at start bar. My boyfriend and I have been great customers for about a year now. Yet.. last night we ordered a pizza, and an hour later we see the pizza sitting in the window, only to be followed by all of the bartenders eating it in front of us...AFTER we saw it sitting in the window for at least 15 min. We asked about it, the bartender laughed, told us sorry about that...and gave us our tab for our drinks....even though we didn’t ask to c...lose our tab out. Not to mention the basketball game took 6 of our coins and the bartenders wouldn’t reimburse us after we told them that the machine was broke (usually when the machines malfunction, they have no problem reimbursing us.) Too bad, we’ve brought a lot of business there since we have moved here, but unfortunately the one bad experience ticked us off and I’ve never left a review for anyone.... Feel free to message me. See More Read Less

I would have given this place at least a few stars because it was really nice. Lots of games and places to mill around and chat. My husband and I got there at around 7:30 tonite while a few of our friends went to the Blues game. We went to the second level and proceeded to play Nintendo 64 and drank around 6 beers (4 for my husband and 2 for me). At around 9 we were asked to move to another spot because someone had reserved the space we were in (there are 3 spots total ups...tairs to play games). We got up and moved no problem. We continued to play games and drink a tab of about $70 when at around 10:30 a gentleman approached us and told us we had to move. I told him we already had to move and I wasn't real sure why he was asking us to move again. He said I was told everyone up here was told the upper floor was for reservations only, you gotta move. I told him that was frustrating and proceeded to ask why we had to move again for another reserved party (no spots were marked as reserved). He said, I was told everyone up here was told to move because bottle service started at 10:30. I told him that no one said that to us. He said all these spots are for bottle service, you have to go. I put my hand on his and said oh I'm sorry I didn't realize it was all of these seats and for bottle service. He looked at me, shined his flashlight in my face and said "you're out of here, get your sh*t and go." Flabbergasted I grabbed my stuff and followed my husband out. Pretty disheartening when you are there for a good time (or a birthday like mine) and don't get offered bottle service for a seat you are in before getting kicked out. We won't be back, neither will the friends that were supposed to meet us after the game, and I won't be telling anyone about this place. See More Read Less

A bar. With games. Video games. And Food. Had a blast here playing the arcade games and pinball machines!! Top it off, we had a booth and played N64 Mario Kart! The food is a reasonable price, the pizza was actually amazing and a nice size with a good amount of toppings! The staff was very friendly and attentive. The only issue... being approached by panhandlers and beggars while we were outside. Read Less

This was one of the stops on a pub crawl I planned this past weekend. When we got there “Anthony” (bearded brown hair with a beanie) the “security guard” was an absolute asshole the entire time. The group I was with was minding their own business and playing games and we were being watched like hawks for absolutely no reason . He kicked one of us out for placing something on the DJ stand for a second. One of the people in my party witnessed him escorting another “drunk man” o...ut of the bar in a choke hold... yes that is exactly what you should do when someone is already in an altered state. My group was uncomfortable with the fact that there were plenty of girls that were clearly having a hard time even standing but they were not told to leave. And we were just keeping to ourselves and were targeted for no reason. We decided to head next door and we were told that “Anthony” had told Wheelhouse a member of my party was too drunk to enter because “he was leaving start bar in too much of a hurry and was clearly drunk”. The fact we were leaving was BECAUSE OF HIM!! I was a sober driver and can HONESTLY say that NONE of the people in my group were too drunk to be denied entry. I will not be going to either establishment ever again. This guy CLEARLY Just didn’t want to be working that night. Every other word out of his mouth was fuck.. super unprofessional. Don’t waste your time or your money here. See More Read Less

Such a cool spot with great games and great beer selection. The free play Sun-Thurs is brilliant as it keep my group playing and drinking! Only ask would be to get the really classic games playable as we couldn't play Donkey Kong, TMNT, X-Men or Simpsons. Maybe those only work with tokens. Was easy pick up for Uber. We'll be back! Read Less

Cool place. Parking is absolutely horrendous and will hurt their business. Hope they get this figured out. We parked in a lot that said full with no attendant, but it also says no free parking ever on it???? Read Less