Memphis: Schweinehaus and the Rec Room

Last year, we made our first roadtrip to Memphis, Tennessee to visit a friend of mine that I have had since I was 4 years old. We had such a good time (no doubt that we would) that we came back again this year.

I tried to organize the boys by making a spreadsheet of things that we haven't done, and also some places that Drew hasn't been. While we did end up doing the things on the spreadsheet, I didn't have time to really pack our schedule full with activities like we did last time.

We left our apartment on Friday afternoon. I worked a half-day and my husband had class until noon. So Luke warmed up our leftover taco meat from the night before and we had lunch before we left. The drive from our apartment to Memphis is around 4.5 hours, and we got here around 5:30pm.

Drew lives in the Midtown section of Memphis, and I remembered last time seeing a German place called Schwinehaus that we didn't have time to go to. I wasn't sure what to expect. Did I need to brush up on my German? Get my taste buds ready for some schnitzel and sauerkraut?

The inside of the building looked like a genuine beer hall, with the long wooden tables and benches.

 The menus were in English, and I ordered a burger. My husband and Drew both got a chicken sandwich and Luke got a Reuben. All three of these dishes were amazing. Even the French fries were good. Not too salty, and fried just right so they weren't hard or soggy. 

From Schweinehaus, we headed over to a fairly new business called the Rec Room. 

This place was neat. A very cool business idea, as I had never been anywhere like it. You walk up and the building doors are garage doors that they have up during business hours. They have two security guards that check your ID at the door and then an outside area with tables and a large wooden Jenga set. Naturally we took advantage of that and played two games. 

Drew and I versus Luke and Micah. We ended up tying. Drew and I won the first match and then ended up losing a very intense second match.  The game stakes get higher the more rivalry you have :) also, they're a bunch of engineers so they were trying to figure out the weight distribution and patterns, etc. They're nerds, but I love them :) 

Inside the building was a 90's kid's dream come true. They had vintage arcade games, pinball machines, fooseball and ping pong tables and- what we came for- the video game "rooms". 

They had six lanes set up with projectors and couches that you could rent by the hour and okay ANY game console. They had everything from Atari to PlayStation 4.  When our turn came, we chose the Nintendo 64, and our first game choice was.. MarioKart! 

The game was a tiny bit pixel-y, but you can't expect to put an old game system on a big projector and expect HD. You can change game rentals every 30 minutes, so for our second choice, we got Super Smash Bros. and I got my butt kicked every round. If you get hungry (or thirsty) they do have a full bar with bar food choices. (Pizza, pretzels, chips and salsa, other finger-foods) The group next to us ordered a pizza that looked and smelled heavenly. And it made it very nice that they dont allow anyone under 21 in. I like children, but sometimes I like to be the kid too, even at 25. 

I didn't see how much the rental actually was, their website probably does though. Very neat place. We went on a Friday night and were able to get a rental with only a 30 min wait. And with arcade games and Jenga to keep you occupied, that time goes by like nothing.