Chuck E. Cheeses

The local Chuck E. Cheeses (40 miles is local to me now) is clean, well maintained, well staffed and a joy to patronize.

Parents, pick yourself up off the floor and finish reading this entry.

I was amazed, astounded, and utterly shocked to find this kiddieland/marginal pizza entertainment center as someplace I would actually want to take my kids to. Staff was plentiful, helpful, spoke English, and attentive. Tables were clean, napkin holders well stocked, parmesan cheese shakers filled and sparkling. Floor wasn't littered with pizza droppings. Pizza was actually decent (as compared to frozen pizza). 4, count 'em, 4 staff members working the ticket/toy exchange counter -- and they rounded up on ticket exchange -- BONUS.

All the games worked, even the animatronic floor show didn't pop and crack as much.

Now lets talk about the one and only Chuck E. Cheeses (CEC) we visited in Noth Hollywood.

Umm, lets talk about something else instead, since I routinely use the image of the NoHo CEC's to aid in my porcelin throwned bulimic quest for a perfect set of abs.

Instead, let me quote C. The other day, she saw a commercial touting how CEC's now does school fundraisers (similar to Shakey's Pizza nights). You get your entire school to show up on a certain date, at a certain time, and your school will get a percentage of the pizza intake. Not a bad gig.

Anyhow, C finished watching the ad, turned to me and said, "Our school doesn't do Chuck E. Cheeses. We do God."

She attends the Catholic school across the street.