GameWorks debuts its new menu

Dine 909 was among a group of people invited to a dual celebration at the Ontario GameWorks recently.

One celebration was of their partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles and Inland Empire.

The other — the topic of this post — was the debut of their new menu created by Executive Chef David Sonzogni.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that, when I think of eating at Ontario Mills, GameWorks is not first on my list. In fact, it might not have even been on my list.

The new menu might just change all that.

While not everything I tasted was a winner, there were many items on the new menu that I enjoyed.

Follow the jump to find out how the new items fared.

Let’s start at the beginning.

On each table when we arrived was an order of onion straws. The straws had a good flavor and were certainly crispy enough, however, during the frying process, they tended to clump together.

Every other grab at the straws meant having to detangle a chunk just to get a bite-size amount.

Again, the flavor was good, so if they can work out the process, they’ll have a winner. Of course, it could’ve just been a result of having to mass-produce dozens of orders at a time.

Next up were the salads.

The Flatbread salad, was good, but not great. The flatbread itself was very good. I thought that the other salad they served that night, the Southwest Chipotle Caesar salad, was much better. It had just the perfect amount of spiciness.

Also at the salad station, they were serving wraps.

The BLT wrap was fairly ordinary. The Buffalo Chicken wrap, on the other hand, was outstanding. It had a good amount of spice and the chicken itself retained its crunch. It was one of the few items for which I went back for seconds.

They also had a station for hamburger and meatball sliders.

Although both were good, I preferred the meatball slider, which was garnished with pesto, tomato and mozzarella. The pesto was especially good. The hamburger slider, oddly enough, seemed to have a better bun, even though they were exactly the same.

I thought the best items of the night were their pizzas, of which they offered two varieties that night: Margherita and chicken spinach-artichoke. Both were delicious.

The best part of the pizzas? Really tender dough, probably the same that is used in the Flatbread salad.

They also had a dessert station, where they were offering up Bananas Foster and Crispy Cheesecake Bites. The cheesecake bites (normally served as part of their Crispy Cheesecake and Brownie Bites) had an odd flavor. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was definitely off.

The Bananas Foster was much better. The fresh bananas made for a delicious, not-too-heavy dessert.

Overall, there was much to like in the new menu and only a few items to avoid.

Also, to be fair, that night many of the items were served out of warming trays for a large group of people. I’m sure that on a typical night, ordering off the menu, the quality would go up a notch or two.

So, with this refresh of their menu, GameWorks is now on my list of dining options for an Ontario Mills visit.

Full disclosure: Attendees of this event, including myself, got a gift bag with a couple of novelty toys, a shotglass, a two-hour unlimited game card, a $10 value game card, and GameWorks coupons.

For more information on the event and their partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles and the Inland Empire, click here to read Liset Mrquez’ article from City News.