The Game Parlour Opens With 700 Board Games, Mochi Waffles in the Inner Sunset

It’s always game night at new Inner Sunset cafe the Game Parlour, where cafe tables and a library of more than 700 board games takes the tabletop gaming craze to new levels of obsession. Located in the former Dos Amigos taqueria space at 1342 Irving Street (between 16th and 15th Avenues), The Game Parlour also serves a menu of Ritual coffee drinks and sweet and savory waffles (plus waffle sandwiches) to keep players happy during that never-ending round of the game of their choice.

Visitors to the Game Parlour are charged a $5 fee to sit and play, but are welcome to come in for coffee or food for free without renting a game. And should the cafe not have the game of a player’s choice in its searchable arsenal of games (from card games to war games to word games), customers are invited to bring their own, too. That’ll still cost them $5 — consider it a game corkage fee.

The Game Parlour

The Game Parlour

To get the Game Parlour off the ground, SF natives Brian Lew and Benson Chiu raised almost $30,000 on Kickstarter, making it a group effort from the get go. “This whole place is really built around community,” Lew tells Eater SF. “Board Games brings it all out in people... it breaks the ice, breaks barriers. You see young people playing with old people... and that’s really what we want to create here.”

Lew’s behind the food menu at the Game Parlour, which includes items named for board games like the Mouse Trap (a savory, crispy garlic and onion waffle sandwich with sharp cheddar, gruyere, and fontina cheeses) and the Bananagrams (a sweet mochi waffle topped with banana, Nutella, chocolate, and coconut whipped cream.

The mochi waffles are Lew’s signature, and he’s served them at events like the Cherry Blossom Festival. In keeping with the waffle theme, there are even furikake waffle fries, as well as popcorn bowls and ice cream. The whole menu is gluten-free.

Daily hours so far are 1 p.m. to 11 p.m..

The Game Parlour

• The Game Palour [Official]