I find myself a bit torn on what exactly to rate this game. Because there are a lot of things I like about it, and I'll start with those first. The general feel an ambience of the game is great, the art style and music come together to make a setting that feels mostly normal but is just a little bit off-putting at all times. It also cannot be ignored that the game IS free, which is a mjor point in its favor no matter what else I may have to say about it. Vince and Rody are both compelling and likably-written characters (if perhaps a bit cliche'd) who catch your interest even in a fairly brief timeframe. So there's a lot of great potential and vibes at play here that pull you in very quickly at the start.
What lets all this potential down a bit, though, is the actual gameplay. I don't so much mind the slightly clumsy controls, I eventually got used to them, but there are some very puzzling design decisions at play which make the restaurant tycoon portion a bit of a pain. First of all, there's the sprint function, the implementation of which is pretty frustrating. There is literally no reason not to sprint. Ever. In fact you basically HAVE to sprint, constantly, to complete the levels on time. I kept expecting the game to introduce some kind of trade-off mechanic, like maybe a depleting stamina bar, or maybe make it so that if you sprint while holding food you run the risk of spilling the food and having to get a new plate. But the game never introduces anything like this, so ultimately the inclusion of a dedicated "sprint" button just means that you spend the entire gameplay section with one finger holding down Shift the entire time.
The gameplay loop itself is quite repetitive since every table always orders the same Appetizer - Main - Side - Dessert sequence and there's only ever one of each on the menu per day. The challenge isn't so much in remembering orders or organizing the sequence of operations as it is just running between the tables and the dispatch window fast enough without getting stuck on something or having the controls mess you up. (With an occasional trip to the back to empty out the trash can which is a welcome break in the pattern even if it feels a bit like an afterthought. The alleyway behind the restaurant where the dumpsters are definitely feels like it could have been used more than it was). And in the middle of all this you have to try and stop to talk with Vince every day, which I believe you have to do to unlock some of the endings (and also because it's the only real sense of plot progression you're gonna get), but which can feel stressful since it's not clear if your gameplay time is running out while you're chatting with him or not.
Another slightly odd choice are the equippable items, of which you can buy six, but of which you can only equip one at a time. This is vexxing because there are quite clearly some items which are WAY better than others (particularly the cologne that increases guest patience, which basically seems like a required item because you WILL have customers walking out in the later levels if you're not wearing it) which makes it so that there are 4 or 5 items which you have no real reason to waste your money on since using them over better alternatives will never be worthwhile. I realize maybe it might be a bit OP if you could buy and equip ALL of the items at once (I do appreciate that your progress on purchased items does carry over from one playthrough to the next, which makes replaying the game to get different endings notably easier), but this feels like something that should have been solved with better balancing rather than just making it impossible altogether. Speaking of balancing, the game never really feels like it's operating at "full potential" so to speak, considering the restaurant has 8 tables and yet you never fill more than 4 at a time on any given day.
There's also quite a lot of things in the game that feel like "dead ends", like they were possibility MEANT to be expanded into something deeper but there just wasn't enough time or budget. For instance, Rody can only carry one plate of food at a time, because his other hand is permanently filled with a tray of wine... that is never used for anything. Nobody ever asks you for drinks, and you never have to serve anyone drinks. I feel like it would have made more sense if Roddy could carry TWO plates at a time, with a potential bonus to tip money if you manage to serve two people seated at the same table at the same time (from a realism point of view, it's VERY weird that you bring two people their food separately, often even with one diner already eating desert by the time their partner gets their appetizer. I'm also not quite sure why a table with four people places all of its orders at the same time, while two people at a table have to be served separately?). There's a ton of other little dead ends like this as well. You can look out the window of Vince's bedroom to see a creepy silhouette staring up at you, and then if you look again it's gone, but it's just... kinda there to be spooky. Nothing in the plot ever explains it. Same thing with Rody's window, where you can see a person in one of the windows opposite on some days, but not other days, and it's just kinda there to be a thing you click on between shifts at the restaurant. You can even steal money from the restaurant cash register one night, which has absolutely no consequence whatseover, despite Vince supposedly being a very strict boss, and seemingly serves no purpose other than to reward those of us wicked enough to do so. (Speaking of Vince the strict boss, the feedback you get from him doesn't change at all based on your performance, even if you're losing customers during the day, though there may be a plot-related reason for this. You only face some unclear consequences if you don't meet the quota for the day, at which point you immediately restart the shift).
As for the plot itself, despite an intriguing and promising start it ultimately goes down a pretty predictable route, which I thought was a shame. There are four endings, of which two are fairly short fail-states, one is a sort of neutral ending you get if you accidentally avoid the main plot for too long, and one is the actual climax. I definitely would have appreciated a more diverse array of possible outcomes, and it would have markedly improved the game's replayability. In particular, while I won't go so far as to say the game NEEDED a romantic element, I do think it was pretty heavily emphasizing that Vince and Rody have some kind of unique, burgeoning connection if you take the time to actually talk to him every day, which ultimately winds up basically not mattering at all in the final outcome of the story, which seems like a shame. The game throws quite a lot of subtle details at you about these two characters, especially if you really explore all the dialogue options and interactable items, but by the end you don't really feel like getting to know Vince and Rody mattered all that much, and I personally didn't wind up with any particularly strong feelings about how either of them ends up in any given ending.
Overall the game is still pleasant enough, and certainly worth the hour or two you'll need for a full playthrough, especially when, again, it's FREE... But ultimately I find myself a little forlorn thinking about what could have been.
What lets all this potential down a bit, though, is the actual gameplay. I don't so much mind the slightly clumsy controls, I eventually got used to them, but there are some very puzzling design decisions at play which make the restaurant tycoon portion a bit of a pain. First of all, there's the sprint function, the implementation of which is pretty frustrating. There is literally no reason not to sprint. Ever. In fact you basically HAVE to sprint, constantly, to complete the levels on time. I kept expecting the game to introduce some kind of trade-off mechanic, like maybe a depleting stamina bar, or maybe make it so that if you sprint while holding food you run the risk of spilling the food and having to get a new plate. But the game never introduces anything like this, so ultimately the inclusion of a dedicated "sprint" button just means that you spend the entire gameplay section with one finger holding down Shift the entire time.
The gameplay loop itself is quite repetitive since every table always orders the same Appetizer - Main - Side - Dessert sequence and there's only ever one of each on the menu per day. The challenge isn't so much in remembering orders or organizing the sequence of operations as it is just running between the tables and the dispatch window fast enough without getting stuck on something or having the controls mess you up. (With an occasional trip to the back to empty out the trash can which is a welcome break in the pattern even if it feels a bit like an afterthought. The alleyway behind the restaurant where the dumpsters are definitely feels like it could have been used more than it was). And in the middle of all this you have to try and stop to talk with Vince every day, which I believe you have to do to unlock some of the endings (and also because it's the only real sense of plot progression you're gonna get), but which can feel stressful since it's not clear if your gameplay time is running out while you're chatting with him or not.
Another slightly odd choice are the equippable items, of which you can buy six, but of which you can only equip one at a time. This is vexxing because there are quite clearly some items which are WAY better than others (particularly the cologne that increases guest patience, which basically seems like a required item because you WILL have customers walking out in the later levels if you're not wearing it) which makes it so that there are 4 or 5 items which you have no real reason to waste your money on since using them over better alternatives will never be worthwhile. I realize maybe it might be a bit OP if you could buy and equip ALL of the items at once (I do appreciate that your progress on purchased items does carry over from one playthrough to the next, which makes replaying the game to get different endings notably easier), but this feels like something that should have been solved with better balancing rather than just making it impossible altogether. Speaking of balancing, the game never really feels like it's operating at "full potential" so to speak, considering the restaurant has 8 tables and yet you never fill more than 4 at a time on any given day.
There's also quite a lot of things in the game that feel like "dead ends", like they were possibility MEANT to be expanded into something deeper but there just wasn't enough time or budget. For instance, Rody can only carry one plate of food at a time, because his other hand is permanently filled with a tray of wine... that is never used for anything. Nobody ever asks you for drinks, and you never have to serve anyone drinks. I feel like it would have made more sense if Roddy could carry TWO plates at a time, with a potential bonus to tip money if you manage to serve two people seated at the same table at the same time (from a realism point of view, it's VERY weird that you bring two people their food separately, often even with one diner already eating desert by the time their partner gets their appetizer. I'm also not quite sure why a table with four people places all of its orders at the same time, while two people at a table have to be served separately?). There's a ton of other little dead ends like this as well. You can look out the window of Vince's bedroom to see a creepy silhouette staring up at you, and then if you look again it's gone, but it's just... kinda there to be spooky. Nothing in the plot ever explains it. Same thing with Rody's window, where you can see a person in one of the windows opposite on some days, but not other days, and it's just kinda there to be a thing you click on between shifts at the restaurant. You can even steal money from the restaurant cash register one night, which has absolutely no consequence whatseover, despite Vince supposedly being a very strict boss, and seemingly serves no purpose other than to reward those of us wicked enough to do so. (Speaking of Vince the strict boss, the feedback you get from him doesn't change at all based on your performance, even if you're losing customers during the day, though there may be a plot-related reason for this. You only face some unclear consequences if you don't meet the quota for the day, at which point you immediately restart the shift).
As for the plot itself, despite an intriguing and promising start it ultimately goes down a pretty predictable route, which I thought was a shame. There are four endings, of which two are fairly short fail-states, one is a sort of neutral ending you get if you accidentally avoid the main plot for too long, and one is the actual climax. I definitely would have appreciated a more diverse array of possible outcomes, and it would have markedly improved the game's replayability. In particular, while I won't go so far as to say the game NEEDED a romantic element, I do think it was pretty heavily emphasizing that Vince and Rody have some kind of unique, burgeoning connection if you take the time to actually talk to him every day, which ultimately winds up basically not mattering at all in the final outcome of the story, which seems like a shame. The game throws quite a lot of subtle details at you about these two characters, especially if you really explore all the dialogue options and interactable items, but by the end you don't really feel like getting to know Vince and Rody mattered all that much, and I personally didn't wind up with any particularly strong feelings about how either of them ends up in any given ending.
Overall the game is still pleasant enough, and certainly worth the hour or two you'll need for a full playthrough, especially when, again, it's FREE... But ultimately I find myself a little forlorn thinking about what could have been.