Emily just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and she and Patrick couldn’t be happier.  That is, until Emily goes back to work.  Now she has to learn how to balance running a restaurant with taking care of a child.

You read that right, the plot is about career vs. family.  Emily’s trying to run a restaurant while keeping her baby under control.  Surprisingly, some customers don’t like having a baby bothering them while they’re eating.  This starts to become a plot point in the cafe portion of the game where many of Emily’s regulars don’t like Paige (her baby).  I can’t say I blame them.  When I go out to eat, I don’t really want some stranger’s baby bothering me.  Though it really becomes a plot point when Emily has to work for her competitor, Wu, after her family restaurant burns down due to her father and her uncle competing to be Paige’s favorite relative (I’ll explain later).  Wu doesn’t allow babies in his restaurant, so that means Emily has to sneak Paige in there behind Wu’s back.  Wu also won’t let Emily have any say over the menu, though I do see Wu’s point about having a baby in the restaurant and I’m not sure if pies fit his atmosphere.  However, that doesn’t give Wu the right to treat Emily like his slave.  Therefore, I can’t hold her rebellion against her.  This doesn’t end even when they get a restaurant together, with Emily having no say about how her restaurant’s run, though she does stand up to him and makes it clear that she’s the one in charge of the menu.

Again, Emily’s family is a huge part of the plot and you can always count on them to make the plot fun.  For starters, I mentioned Edward and Antonio competing to be Paige’s favorite relative.  This escalates into them buying similar presents with one of them being better than the other and even buying similar toy cars, then racing them around the restaurant to prove that their toy car is better.  Of course, this results in them accidentally burning down Emily’s restaurant.  This forces her to work for Wu.  Though Edward and Antonio learn their lesson, they still have to one up each other at Christmas by dressing up as Santa.  Truthfully, my favorite family moment includes Jimmy when Emily yells at him for buying Paige (who’s three years old in the Christmas levels) a lighter.

The game play is similar to the previous Delicious games with Emily serving customers who sit down or order from the counter.  After the customers at the table finish eating, you clean up after them.

In between levels, you can purchase equipment to help run your restaurant including an entertainer that you can send to your seated customers to cheer them up.

The only problem is that the entertainer takes a little too long doing their job.  The game also has a new feature where you can decide your menu based on what customers will be going to your shop on that very day.

Choose right and you can get generous tips to help you achieve a three star goal.  Some levels will require you to complete an activity relating to the story.  Another thing that separates this game from previous ones in the series is Paige, who will crawl around exploring the restaurant and bother some of your customers.  Therefore, you have to take her back to her playpen.  This feature still exists in the Christmas levels, when she’s three years old, which makes no sense whatsoever.

This game is simplistic yet fun.  I give it 8 out of 10, a fitting installment for the Delicious series.  Though I do have one question.  If Emily’s so busy with work, then why can’t Patrick take care of the baby?