Diner Dash: Sizzle & Serve review

Noisy babies, jerkwad customers, and measly tips. That TPS report doesn't look so bad now, does it?

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Over time, you’ll remodel, buy more restaurants and outfits, and get new gear like a bench or jukebox to make patrons more patient and dessert stations to get them to tip more. You’ll start seeing different customer types (there are eight in all), each with different levels of patience for waiting, tolerance of noise, and tipping tendency. You can also hire help, like pianists or dancers, bus boy, waiter, and so on.

Both versions feature 70 levels and 3 multiplayer modes (survival, high score, and the race-like First to Serve), but the DS version leaves the PSP version in the dust thanks to vastly superior controls. The DS uses the touch screen, so Flo can go from the counter to table three to the dessert station to table four to the bus station in five quick stylus taps (though dragging and dropping customers to their seats takes extra care). On the PSP, cycling through those same attractions would take around eleven presses of the d-pad and five button taps. It makes a big difference, and as a result, the PSP version gets abnormally hard awfully early on. Many gamers, especially the casual players Diner Dash is targeted to, will have trouble getting past just the first restaurant.

More info

GenreFamily
DescriptionServe dishes, clean up messes, and keep your customers happy as you build a restaurant empire worthy of Mr. T. G. I. Friday.
Platform"PSP","DS"
US censor rating"Everyone","Everyone"
UK censor rating"3+","3+"
Release date1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK)
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Eric Bratcher
I was the founding Executive Editor/Editor in Chief here at GR, charged with making sure we published great stories every day without burning down the building or getting sued. Which isn't nearly as easy as you might imagine. I don't work for GR any longer, but I still come here - why wouldn't I? It's awesome. I'm a fairly average person who has nursed an above average love of video games since I first played Pong just over 30 years ago. I entered the games journalism world as a freelancer and have since been on staff at the magazines Next Generation and PSM before coming over to GamesRadar. Outside of gaming, I also love music (especially classic metal and hard rock), my lovely wife, my pet pig Bacon, Japanese monster movies, and my dented, now dearly departed '89 Ranger pickup truck. I pray sincerely. I cheer for the Bears, Bulls, and White Sox. And behind Tyler Nagata, I am probably the GR staffer least likely to get arrested... again.