Robo Taco Owners Starting a Video Arcade With Beer in Southeast Portland

Portland will soon have a third adult video game arcade.

The owners of Southeast Morrison stalwart Robo Taco are planning a beercade two doors east of their taqueria, at 617 SE Morrison St in a former electronics repair store.

As of two weeks ago, Robo's High Score arcade is already softly open with about 20 classic machines including five pinball machines, Galaga and an Aerosmith game where you kill the fun police with the power of righteous music.

"It's somewhere between horrific and awesome," says Robo Taco co-owner Jason Price about the Aerosmith game. "It's a shooter game where you shoot through guys, with external submachine guns. It spouts nonsense slogans."

There's no cost of admission, and the games cost 50 cents to play. Until the beer license comes in, the arcade is open all ages from 2-11 pm weekdays and until midnight weekends. When High Score start serving beer, those hours will likely expand.

Price has a somewhat eccentric concept for High Score's food. It will all come out of the freezer, including frozen Charleston Chew candy bars you can shatter against the pinball machines, and artisanal Robo-Taco-brand frozen burritos.

"If I get everything I want," Price says, "I'll do a frozen treat machine, frozen candy bars, chocolate tacos. The burritos will have a red one and a green one: ground beef, bean and cheese. I tried them the other day. As little as I like a microwave, they're really really good."

This will be the second major change for the block announced over this past week. Next door to High Score, the original Bunk Sandwiches location closed without fanfare on January 15, and will re-open as a second location of Bunk owner Tommy Habetz's Jersey-style Pizza Jerk.

Price also says that with Bunk out and Pizza Jerk in, he plans one big change to Robo Taco's menu.

"The Robo Taco burger is coming back," he says. "A new, improved burger on a torta roll with jalapenos, bacon and cheese."