C.J. Barrymore's, Michigan, United States

5sungers 5:00 PM Jul 7, 2014

So much stuff to do
My father-in-law lives in the area, and during our last visit we stopped by CJ Barrymore's for an afternoon with my 3 adults (me, my wife and her sister) + 4 young kids (our 17-month old, 2 rowdy 4 & 6 year old nephews + 6 month old niece). CJ Barrymore's is probably the only place in a 1,000 mile radius that could keep everyone in our group occupied for 3+ hours. I've never quite seen anything like this place. It's like a giant Dave & Busters attached to a Chuck E Cheese with a laser tag arena, bowling alley, attached to a sports themed amusement park, but cleaner and better maintained than any of the above. My wife and I parked ourselves on a plush leather couch (there are several + armchairs around a firepit) in the spacious open layout sports bar/restaurant area and watched the World Cup on giant screens while snacking on appetizers with our toddler and infant niece. Food was not bad, and coming from Los Angeles, I was pleasantly surprised that the prices were reasonable ($5 for a kid's meal, $5 apps and $2 non-alcoholic drinks at the bar). Our daughter had plenty of room to stomp around, while baby dozed in her stroller. We were there on a Thursday afternoon, and the place was about 2/3 full, which was perfect, as we had plenty of room to ourselves. After the game was over, we joined my sister-in-law and nephews who were outside in the amusement park area. One was climbing a rock wall while the other was zipping around the go-kart track. We all sat at a shaded picnic table and ate ice cream while waiting. On a side note, big plus for having so many places for grown-ups to sit. This is an ideal set-up for parents to hang out and watch sports while offering freedom to kids anywhere from 6-18 to hang out and explore. I like how they combine indoor activities for kids like the arcade with more physical activities like a climbing wall, driving range and batting cage. Just very impressed at all the offerings. A family could easily spend 6+ hours here. Also nice that CJ Barrymore's offers as many activities as an amusement park without charging for admission. Very unique experience, and something that I wish we had in Southern California. I was very surprised that this was not a franchised business.

3Bowling_Guru 5:00 PM May 6, 2012

Use to be a great place to take the kids. Not so much anymore...
Use to be a great place to take the kids. Not so much anymore... Durning the day the place gets over run with school groups from Detroit and the management does nothing when the little jerks start line jumping.