It's kind of a throwback location, in that the style, furniture and equipment is likely from the…read more80s. It's a dark and dank bowling alley, which some folks may find appealing. I attended a children's birthday party with my two kids, and an overall party of about 16. These young kids were sitting and crawling on the floor as kids tend to do, and I was mortified because the carpet is very gross and unkept. I have a bad feeling it hasn't been cleaned in years. The equipment is dated, no animations or anything to hold the kids' attention on the screens like some of the more modern alleys. There is clutter everywhere, with folding tables, packages, supplies and equipment crammed in wherever open space had been found. The lanes were pretty full during this Sunday afternoon. We had two lanes with little kids (3-6 yo) and adults playing. I saw the ramps that kids can use to roll the ball, stacked in their lounge/bar area. There were two employees behind the counter, very busy serving drinks, food, assigning lanes, shoes, etc. I waited in line to ask about the ramps, and since they were so busy, simply asked if I could grab a ramp for the kids to use. The gentleman that answered me said, "Yeah, go ahead". I went in to get a ramp (about 3 feet tall, large plastic dinosaurs) and a couple were pretty beat up, so I was rearranging them to look for one with no cracks or holes in it. During this I noticed and odd stare from an elderly gentleman wearing an overcoat from about 20 feet away. As I carry the ramp out from their bar/lounge/storage area, his glare intensifies toward me, and I just look at him confused. He said something about knocking people over, but it as loud and I couldn't tell what exactly he said. I looked at him confused and just walked past him to head toward my lane, when he raised his voice and repeated himself (which again, I couldn't hear with pins being knocked down and the ambient noise). I turned and walked back toward him so I could hear what he was saying, then he very sternly announced "I'm the owner!". I said, OK, what's going on? He mumbled something about his staff would take the ramps to us, and I shouldn't move them myself because they don't want anyone knocked over. I'm just more confused because, I didn't knock anyone over, and why's he being so rude. He didn't say "Hi, let me help you with that." Or "Let me get someone to move that for you". Now I'm getting defensive, so I told him I waited in line and asked if I could get this, and was told, go ahead. He asked who told me that, and then said "I'll go talk to him" as if he believed I would appreciate this kid being yelled at or something. He went over and started talking down to the employee, so I followed and just said, I appreciated the staffer's help, and I can move the ramp myself, or if one of them wanted to, great, but I didn't see any problem. The owner gave me another quick explanation that they didn't want anyone to get knocked over, then both stared at me for a couple seconds before I just walked off, still carrying this ramp. I take it the owner doesn't really care about safety, he likely just saw me in the area and wanted to play tough-guy owner. I was annoyed and uncomfortable the rest of the time there, and of course, now all I can see are all several things around the business that the owner should concern himself with instead of worrying about me doing an employee's task after asking to do so politely. Tears in the dirty carpet, rusted ball racks, broken mirror, bathroom in disrepair, no trash can to be found, reset pins button not working on one of our two lanes, and clutter in various places including heavily in the arcade area, where the games have faded screens and are in disrepair.
If you want that old, bowling alley atmosphere, try Madison Bowl near Oakley or Stone's Lanes in Norwood.
