I've been going to Astro quite a few times and it's been an experience that unfortunately quickly soured. While it is certainly not a terrible place, it has a lot of flaws and inconsistencies that keep it average at best.
In general, it's a good facility. Affordable, a well maintained floor, and love it or hate it they keep their vibrant theme well. The operations/management is where it fails.
Entry:
-payment methods inconsistent. They utilize the Clover platform which means almost all credit cards and ways to pay are accepted- however depending on the percentage rates will reflect whether they accept a card one day or another. When I first experienced this I was told they can't take the card, I explained I'd been using it last few days and can even show the charge on my statement and the cashier said that they meant they won't take the card. They said they'd be telling the manager that the person working prior days let me use a Discover card and that the employee should be getting in trouble for it. What a lovely coworker.
-if you're admission is under $5, they will add a skate rental fee to make your total over $5. I understand this is a bit of a common practice with small businesses, however there is no signage or mention of this policy online or even in person making this an unfortunate surprise if you happen to come on a cheap day and brought your own skates.
Snack bar:
-I was surprised to find that the food is actually affordable, and you can even watch them press the pizza dough and create the pizzas in house. Unfortunately it's hard to enjoy because there is a single cashier handling transactions and getting orders together. The line is often a solid 20+ minute wait.
-this is a place of activity and exercise so it's important to hydrate. But expect to pay up! No outside drinks allowed, the water fountain has been permanently "broken" for a while now, and if you want a cup of water it's going to cost you-both time and money. Rec facilities should make water easy access and not force people to pay up- dehydration is dangerous on a variety of levels.
Skate rental:
straightforward: give them your shoes they'll give you the skates you're renting. When done give them skates and the give your shoes back. Simple right?
-skates are definitely not sanitized. You've seen at bowling alleys I'm sure that when shoes are returned they are sprayed inside. Astro takes the skates puts them back on shelf and gives them to next person. Now they might be doing a sanitizer after hours or something, however if you watch it doesn't seem like it. Some nights are super busy, so skates will be put back on shelves then taken down again for the next in the size. Is it really that difficult to quickly spray shoes each return?
-the answer is yes. Because they do not have proper staffing so it isn't really possible to keep the rental line moving if they're constantly stopping even for a second to spray. This was probably the biggest woah and showed how management seriously needs to have an overhaul. You'd think when a skate segment ends (aka 3-5pm) you'd have more staff at the end when everyone clearly needs to return their skates. There have been times just a single person is trying to jungle the hoard of people trying to get their shoes and go. The other day it was 5pm, everyone was in line to return and the one guy working suddenly pointed to his watch and said his shift was over. And left. We all stood there not sure if was a weird joke but when it was clear he wasn't coming back the manager was seen nearby and someone told him what happened and his response? "he's on break." I'll let you, dear reader, think of how this could have been better handled. Only after the manager was told by the customers if he doesn't have an employee behind the counter than he should do it himself, did he rearrange people actually working to put people behind the counter.
Rink/events:
nice mix of themed skate times and attempts to add other entertainment however:
-keep in mind times are often limited to 2 hours. After that you need to sometimes pay to stay for another time block. Not bad but they do force everyone off the rink about 3 times per block to do other entertainment. Usually a Panda dance party, a freestyle dance party, and then a skate event (race, speed, etc) so if you're hoping for nonstop skate you might be disappointed.
I'm restricted to how much I can write but those are the main points to consider. Happy skating, and may management improve! read more