Hearing about the opening of Snakes & Lattes right in the center of downtown Tempe, I was anxious to go check it out. Wanting to have dinner with a friend, I suggested we try it out.
I am so glad that I did. Snakes & Lattes is a huge, open air location right off of Mill Ave – the bar district for Arizona State students. Boasting a library of over a thousand playable games, this isn’t the place to stop in for a quick drink and leave.
This photo was only a small section of all the shelving of games at this location. There are even several shelves offering unopened games for purchase ranging from classics to hardcore strategy games.
Besides lattes, as the name implies, there is also a menu full of comfort food and snacks to have while you indulge in your board game cravings. We ordered the mac & cheese, the poutine fries as well as the 50/50 burger.
The mac & cheese was creamy and delicious with the perfect amount of breadcrumbs on top to change up the texture. The gravy on the poutine fries tasted like it came from a can and a little on the salty side but the fries were still edible. The most disappointing item was definitely the 50/50 burger – getting its name from the 50% chorizo and 50% beef patty. The bread was stale and broke apart the second I touched it. Chorizo is an extremely greasy meat and so it didn’t necessarily work in burger form. I ended up not eating much of it and wouldn’t order it again. However, there is an impossible burger on the menu and I would be willing to give it a try in the future.
Overall, the food isn’t spectacular but the environment is welcoming and there is just about every table top game you could possibly imagine. I will definitely be a regular at Tempe’s Snakes & Lattes.
