Crystal’s Pizza & Spaghetti

My love for Crystal’s goes back to when I was five or six years old, not long after arriving in Dallas. I loved the quirky décor, the games, the pizza, and especially the cartoon theater dining area. Time was not good to the place, as the years took their toll not only on the structure itself, but also on the food.
Fast forward to present day. I am 31 years old now, and Crystal’s is no more. It does make me sad that it went unappreciated for years in the wake of the electronic era. I went back once more for old times’ sake last weekend, and I was so glad I did. The place still has its charm, despite the fact that it has not been kept up much. I still ate my fill of pizza and had soda, and it wasn’t bad at all. I enjoyed the cartoon theater once more, and the owner seemed touched and happy at the outpouring of support from the public. Good to see that some memories never die. So long, Crystal’s. I will miss you.

In my last review, I provided some positive criticism and encouragement in hopes of them improving on much of their pizzas as well as the environment. Not to mention total renovations. After just hearing that Crystal’s is closing after this weekend, I guess that’s not happening anytime soon. It was too bad that the wings were taken off the menu. But they did redeem themselves with their pizzas.
Sure Crystal’s had its ups & downs in the past 35 years, but I mainly staying focused on the positive things: food, fun, and quality time with family & friends. So long Crystal’s, thanks for the fond memories.

This place is awful. It’s more expensive than Cici’s and not even comparable in cleanliness. Sure there are some games but do they work? No. The manager who rings you up is an ass and seems that he couldn’t care less about the place or taking care of the people who dare come in. He should be begging for business. It’s dirty and I actually saw him clean ranch off the container with his finger… Seriously? Disgusting. There is an old fish aquarium that’s not quite drained with stagnant water, brewing who knows what kind of germs. I used the restroom where I encountered 2 massive roaches. If those are in sight, I can only imagine what we can’t see. I honestly wish Robert Irvine would go in and give this guy a piece of his mind.
All of that being said, the pizza isn’t awful. The selection isn’t great but how could he possibly afford to make more than 4 pizzas at a time when no one will brave this place?

We stopped here last week on a whim after doing some shopping.
To start, Crystal’s is a buffet style pizza place w/​an arcade (think Cici’s if you’re familiar with them). Our meal cost us $ 25 total. We received: 2 adult buffets w/​drinks, 1 child buffet w/​drink, and 20 tokens.
Based on attire, I assume our cashier was the manager. He was friendly enough. He was the only employee we had any interaction with, and we didn’t interact again after we paid.
They have an okay salad bar, okay pizza, and okay pasta/​sauces. The food was mediocre and we weren’t impressed. I was pleasantly surprised to see they offer Pepsi drink products.
The arcade could have been better, but our 5 y/​o isn’t picky. He used up his 20 tokens, was awarded 30 tickets and was delighted to get 3 suckers in return from the prize counter. There were a few machines that weren’t labeled as broken that ate his tokens.
I wanted this place to be super cool. It has potential and COULD BE super cool! My husband and I actually discussed how it probably WAS awesome 15+ years ago. I just get the overall feel that they kind of quit trying. The food could be better and while of some of the décor is pretty neat, the place could use some updating/​painting, and a thorough cleaning.

Awesome deal for the pizza, pasta, salad, wings, garlic bread, soup and dessert! Friendly staff and I like the interior of the restaurant! It’s very old school classic. It’s great for kids. I recommend going in during the weekends or during the weekday lunches!
The cheese on the pizza is AWESOME. Very stringy and cheesy~

Hmm. Kinda like a chuck e cheeses. With games an stuff to keeps kids entertained. All u can eat pizza and pasta like CICI pizza. Pretty cool décor on the inside (talking bout the one party room that looks like a library). Not a bad experience. Pizza freshly cooked. Pizza tur. Over rate is good so not Alota stale pizza.

This place was fantastic!
The sauce is perfect, not sweet but a little bit spicy. The crust isn’t cracker thin, but not too thick. The cheese is fantastic, tasty and not too greasy. My kids love this place… Lots of family fun…

If you bring your children here, they may have fun. Be warned, if you intend to eat something while there, pack a lunch. Kids will eat just because they want to play after. The food here is not for adults with taste buds. The same bland sauce used for everything they serve. Won’t catch me going back there. The kids can play in the park.

What a downer. This was my favorite place to go when I was a kid. It was always packed with people. Unfortunately, the place has changed. The paint, carpet, tables, chairs, and games should have been changed a couple of decades ago, and the pizza recipes and atmosphere left alone, but they have a different business plan. Everything seemed sticky to the touch. Plates and cups were dripping wet — the only clue that they had been washed. And on a Friday/​holiday weekend the place was dead. All of 5 kids in the place. Admittedly, the pizza was never the best, but what they are serving now is like frozen pizza. I had really built this place up for my 5 year old who ended up being very disappointed. Over half of the games were not working and it was obvious they had not worked for some time. Started with two dollars in tokens. Lost four to broken games, and left with my kid saying she wish we had gone to Chuck E Cheese. Most of the games seemed to be there for decoration only. If not for the cartoon room I would not have given 1 star. Sad to see what has happened to this place. I used to love going to Crystals and now my kids don’t even want to go back. This place will close unless they remember why the kids loved the place.

It’s lunchtime. You wanna eat and be uneasy all for one low price. Crystal’s Pizza & Spaghetti it is!
It’s a lot like a Cici’s that has been dropped in the middle of a haunted house.
There is an arcade that looks like the place where video games come to
die.
As we ate, someone remarked that this feels like the sort of place you’d see a creepy older man wearing sunglasses eating alone. Then he came in.
The pizza wasn’t horrible. There’s pasta in a crock pot, if you’re into that.

Like a movie that you thought was awesome when you were a kid and horrible when you were an adult, Crystal’s too will leave you with the same dis-​enchanted feeling.
Ugh… what more is there to say about the horrors that live inside this place then what others have already described. The pizza is terrible (Why? Why are you serving burnt pizza?), the arcade is on life support, and the place just has the overall feeling that it’s dying.
I’d really love to see this place get back to it’s former glory, and maybe with some money, better cooking and creative management it could, but unfortunately I don’t see the owners (or who ever is in charge) really caring anymore at this point. (I’d be ashamed of myself if I ran a place that looked like this)
Do yourself a favor, resist the temptation and go to Chuck E. Cheese, Incredible Pizza Co., Cici’s or (if you want to make the trip) Gatti Town before thinking about going here.

Crystal’s deserves 1 star… maybe 1 ½ tops but I just can’t do it. We went to Crystals last night to relive our childhood memories of the one on Inwood in Dallas. The last remaining Crystals has seen better days.
The pizza was decent (better than Cici’s) and so was the salad bar. And it was somewhat similar to the old Dallas location but smaller. The place has probably not had any renovations or maintenance since the 1980s. The benches outside were broken, tiles were missing, the carpet was sticky, numerous light bulbs were out, half the rooms were closed, the buffet had a tray of crumbs that sat there for over an hour, ¼ of the games didn’t work at all, ¼ were turned on but stole your money, one gave me 9 tokens that were probably left by other kids, the theater sign was missing half its bulbs and the other half didn’t light up, and I could go on and on and on…
If you have never been to Crystal’s before, there is no reason to go here. If you have been to the old one in Dallas (or Fort Worth or any of the other old locations), its worth going ONCE to kind of relive the Crystals of the past but also get a good laugh at what it has become.

So my girlfriend recommended this place cause she went here alot when she was younger. Looks like a old place house from the outside, like the ones u see at the state fair. We were the only ones in there, so I was hesitant. I thought nothing could be worse them cicis. I was wrong. They had nothing out for the buffet, u just order a pizza and they make it for you. I was ready to see all diff types of pizza hot and ready to go since we got there at 5, dinner time. But this place has no business cause they are horrible. Most of the game machines don’t work. And my goodness the food is nasty.

I took my daughter to this restaurant on Father’s day to share a trip down memory lane with her. I used to go to the one in Forth Worth when I was a kid, and that place rocked! This was before there were Showbiz Pizza and Chuck e. Cheese’s around. This place (Ft. Worth) had a great atmosphere, lots of cool games for the time, a cartoon theatre and the food was great. However, this place in Irving is really none of that and was a real disappointment, perhaps some things are just left better in memory. This place was a lot smaller, was in disrepair, many of the rooms were closed off and many of the games were old or just plain did not work. It definitely had some of the nostalgia from the 80’s, but also looked like it has not been maintained since then. I suggest if they are not going to keep it up in its original flare, then just shut it down — since you are doing the original a huge injustice. However, I do have one good thing to say about the place, the pizza still tasted the same as when I was kid. But the wings were terrible, the deserts too, and they had other items that just looked scary. Salad was ok. But, in the end my daughter liked because of the stories that I told her of when I was a kid, and she just loved getting hundreds of tickets. In the end, I would suggest not going here, and to go do Dave N. Busters instead. Shame on you Crystals Irving for not keeping the place up, this could have been something special.

This place was pure MAGIC as a child. Fish tank table in the «study» room, movie theatre showing old looney toons cartoons while you ate, video games, live piano player!!! If I was lucky my dad would order bread sticks. It was a mansion you could escape to for dinner. Like Disneyland with Pizza! What I want to know is, did the owner die and leave his crack smoking kids to run the biz? I say we petition for NEW OWNERSHIP!!! Bring back the glory years or shut-​r-​down.

«Who dropped the deuce on my pizza!!!» That’s what you’ll be asking yourself when take a trip down memory lane and head to Crystals. This place used to kick @ss back in the day when I was 8. Well that was 23 years ago and something tells me they haven’t done anything different since then. The salad looks old, the pizza makes Cici’s look awesome and the wings looked like they were fried about 23 years ago also. None of the games worked and even the aquarium table that I used to love has been drained. Maybe its time to hang up the towel Crystals…

i’m so glad this place still exists. so many memories of the one in Ft. Worth and at least my kid gets to experience all the wonders of it. it’s always a fun time and a great place for my friend reunions, our kids can play safely and i can enjoy endless dr. pepper and that salad bar! yum!

This place has been there for a long time now, and I think it’s time to remodel or something. Maybe they don’t want to change their look, but that shouldn’t mean not changing their floors or ceilings. I couldn’t help notice the ceiling stains. How could you not is the question. The food is terrible, the games half the time don’t even work. This place just sucks.
I hate it when my parents chose to eat there, it’s like punishment.

this place reminds me of a strip club gone horribly wrong… the pizza is only good drenched in ranch… their buffalo wings look like deformed kitten paws or rabbit legs… apparently theres a magic show… if you use come discount coupon its cheaper just to pay the normal price. not sure how that worked… something about that place just aint right… i dont know if its all the stains on the carpet, stains on the ceiling, stains on the wall… or the play land in the back of the place… i just want to know what upstairs there… something smells rotten in denmark

This might be my last review on Unilocal ever because places don’t get any sweeter than this! Damn me not getting the first review on this one! As I sat at the Barcade last night and described this place to my friend Boone I wondered what I would write on my Unilocal review of this place. Ok so the food isn’t so great and I can’t even remember what the bathrooms look like… that being said… this place RULES!!! It’s not about clean bathrooms and tasty pizza… it’s about nostalgia! This place holds SO many fond memories from my childhood. What about the fucking moose head hanging above the fireplace?!! How about the old school dark wooded library with the opposing Sphinx’s lookin at each other? The damned movie watching room in the back? How about the aquarium table that you can sit at in the middle of the room. Sure the game selection isn’t the strongest and the food isn’t the best… but the décor defies description! Come on I’m rating this place as a 10 year old kid, because that’s what I feel like when I step into this place. It’s like walking into Pee Wee’s Playhouse! Give it a chance people… you won’t be disappointed! It kinda looks like the Munster’s house from the outside. Damn Crystal’s rocks!