Restaurant adds party and gaming room

Ken's Pizza Pie has experienced some recent growth spurts, adding a large party and gaming room to its family restaurant on Hood Avenue. Owner Ken Neff thinks it's something the town has been asking for over the last few years and is happy it's finally done.

The 1,100-square-foot expansion includes additional banquet tables and 15 arcade and pinball games in a separate arcade area.

"We can seat up to 50 people now as well as host larger get-togethers," said Neff, tossing a large pizza in the oven. "That space had been empty for almost five years. It used to be a tanning salon. Village Interiors more recently used it as a storage area when they were next door. It's one of those things where the landlords helped to make it all happen and did most of the cleaning and remodeling and painting. I did put up a dividing wall so there's games on one side and seating on the other."

The new addition gives sports teams a place to gather after games and can be used for meetings and birthday parties or celebrations of any occasion.

In addition to a regulation-sized air-hockey table, the arcade also features a turkey hunting game, a dual-rider Super-Bike motorcycle attraction, Dance Dance Revolution Extreme machine, a golfing game and a massive Skill-Crane with its giant silver claw dipping into a nest of toys and prizes. Five more games are due to be delivered by Central Oregon Amusement, including a few classic pinball machines.

"Brad Miller, the landlord's managing partner, really helped get this project going and I thank him for his effort and cooperation," said Neff. "If it wasn't for him it probably wouldn't have gotten done. They made it very easy to complete the expansion. You try to do what you can do and up until just this year it wasn't even feasible. I hope people come on out and enjoy the new area and games."

Ken's Pizza Pie is located at 352 E. Hood Ave. For more information call 541-549-2122.