Restaurant Review: The Quarters

The very first sketch in the IFC comedy series “Portlandia,” is a song that talks about the dream of the ‘90s, a time where people “could sleep ‘til 11” and “spend a couple hours a week working at a coffee shop.”

“The dream of the ‘90s is alive in Portland.”

Now, let me tell you about the dream of the ‘80s.

It was a time when people didn’t have smart phones. There were no app stores or online play. If you wanted to play video games, you either played on the NES or Commodore 64, or you went to an arcade, a magical place where there were beautiful standup cabinets with dynamic artwork and screens with bright minimalist graphics. There were joysticks and buttons that felt springy when you pressed your fingers against them. And there were people. Real people. You weren’t cooped up in your room on the Xbox or hunched over your iPhone like Quasi Moto. The games were out there in the open, for all to gaze upon.

The dream of the ‘80s is alive at The Quarters.

Located at 8 Railroad Street in Hadley, MA, off of Route 9, and sharing the same building as the Blueprint Gallery and Tattoo Parlor, the Quarters is a restaurant/ bar/arcade combo boasting 20+ classic arcade games. When you first walk in the door, you will find a hallway with large pixel art of the original Super Mario Bros. posted on the wall. This gives you a good idea of what you’re in for, as you enter the main room. There is a bar at the side, tables at the center, and beautiful Technicolor arcade machines lining the walls. It is a little more cramped than one would prefer. People in attendance included the young, the young at heart, and gentlemen with handlebar mustaches.

There is an assortment of eclectic food varieties as well, including fried chicken fingers and traditional New York pups, basically the White Castle sliders of the hot dog world, with ketchup, mustard, and onions. What fun is a normal hot dog, though? There are macaroni and cheese pups, kimchi pups and banh mi pups. There’s even chili-lime edamame.  The New York pup is $1.50, and the other dogs are $2.00, which sounds good, but you need at least two or three to feel satisfied. You could order French fries, but a serving costs $5, and it is a fairly large load, so share with friends. The hot dogs are a little on the salty side, but add some toppings, and it is perfectly consumable. I had the Mac and Cheese Pups, sweet potato fries, and a couple of my friend’s fried chicken fingers, which were the tastiest item. Sodas are $3 each, and are served in mason jars. A nice aesthetic. Free refills are nice, too.

The games include classics like Ms. Pac Man and Galaga, as well as Street Fighter III: Third Strike, and my personal favorite, The Simpsons. Electronic noises produced a great ambience in the room, like a jumbled up chip tune/Daft Punk remix, but I think Asteroids may have been the only cabinet to have had any actual audio when I played it. The Ms. Pac Man machine was out of commission, due to a kill-screen, which results in a player completing all the levels of a game, and the system crashing. Two of the machines ate my quarters. And as compensation, I got game tokens to replace them. So the staff that provided them was basically saying “Your quarters are ours, no matter what, but as thanks, we’ll let you play free games.” What if I just wanted to leave with my quarters?

Also, as much as The Quarters is supposed to be a social setting, there were surprisingly few arcade machines that had a multi-player option. I wanted to play one game, but my friend who was there with me wanted to play another. A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade cabinet would have been the perfect antidote.

As much as it is rough around the edges, The Quarters is a welcomed piece of nostalgia. I’m hoping those buggy machines get fixed, and that more multiplayer options are available, because I certainly want to be a loyal customer.