We went to Bowlero on the last day of 2025, with a party of four adults and four children five and under. It was raining in Santa Barbara, and we made the mistake of showing up half an hour after the place opened without a reservation. We were, apparently, not the only parents in search of last-minute rainy day entertainment. Thankfully, we were able to book a lane online for 4:00 that afternoon, and came back with our full complement after lunch and naps. Check-in was smooth, as far as I could tell, and we all got our special bowling alley shoes. My only complaint is that there weren't quite enough bowling balls for all the small children in attendance. We found one 8-pound ball and were lucky to share a ball dispenser with another family who let us use one of their 6-pounders. Our one lane only allowed for four bowlers, but this was plenty, as the parents rotated and only two of our kids were interested in the game (my three-year-old preferred to run wild and our friends' baby babied). Those two children, though, were deeply interested, especially our five-year-old, who was so sweet and sincere and enthusiastic, just having the time of his life. He's very competitive and kept close track of the score, and of course did not register the comparative advantage of bumper bowling while his parents (mostly his mother) rolled a series of gutter balls. My three-year-old was more interested in the arcade, and it was a chore to follow him over there again and again and steadfastly refuse to let him play the shiny, pointless games. He was fascinated by the crane games, and I made the mistake of letting him watch a dad play one, assuming the man would lose. Apparently this dad was some kind of crane whiz and my boy saw him walk away with a big stuffie instead. I got him out of there as quickly as I could. There was food and drink available for purchase, including beer, wine, and cocktails. We skipped on booze for the afternoon, but did get some fries to share, which were solid. It seems like it would be easy to fit in a meal here with the right timing. Bar food and pizza and chicken tenders for the kids. No one comes to Santa Barbara to spend hours inside a bowling alley in Goleta, but not every day can be a beach day. We had a good time at Bowlero, and the kids had an absolute blast. read more

Bowlero is a BIG BUMMER. I grew up going to this location when it was Orchid Bowl and then later Zodos. We went there for family outings, birthday parties, and with friends. Now that I have my own family, I was excited to go and tried making a reservation. For 6 people, it is 280$ for 2 hours. The problem is, my kids (3&4) can't last 2 hours. So I called to see if I could just reserve a lane for an hour. No. They told me that I should just come in at opening and I should be able to get a lane. So I came in at opening and was not able to get a lane. We got on the wait list and went home. The time we finally got a text message that a lane was open was over 3 hours later. My kids were so sad and our plans for the fun family activity went out the window. I'm really disappointed that it's so hard to make a reservation and that it's so expensive now. It's no longer a family friendly location like it once was. read more

Overpriced and poorly managed. Bowlero charges premium prices but delivers terrible service. During a major World Cup match on Monday night, the bar was left to a single new bartender with no support and no manager on duty. When we brought up the massive delays, the "lead server" was rude, dismissive, and entirely unsympathetic. It's no surprise this place is a ghost town now--the previous management (Zodo's) actually knew how to run a successful business. read more

Had an amazing time at bowlero today, the staff was welcoming. We were helped right away. Any questions we had were answered. Had a fun time bowling, servers would come and check on us and took our orders. The manager also came to check on us to see how we were doing. Great atmosphere, will definitely be coming back! read more

James!!!! he is extremely awesome and helpful and attentive and so thorough. He's got great communication. He always goes above and beyond! thank you James for our time at Bowlero Goleta using Summer pass. read more

I stopped in to get my summer bowling pass and realized I was hungry. So I got the Barria Tacos...and to my surprise, they were fantastic !! I believe they used flauta type shells as well which was an added delight. Theres 4 to choose from, Chicken, Birria, Shrimp and cauliflower. They come in 3 per order and If you're looking to mix and match- sorry-Can't do that but you can Take two friends and share. The only reason I'm not giving this place a 5 star is because I miss the Zodo's bowl by the hour. Other than that read more

Bowlero Santa Barbara - Tacos - Bowling Near Me - Goleta, California

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Antoinette is always very helpful and very knowledgeable on how everything works and always very useful for our leagues. Danny is always very nice and personal with all customers and makes sure to go out of his way to make sure that we always have a great time! read more

I used to love coming here last summer, but the quality really went down this year. I got the summer premium pass this summer, but regularly have to wait 45+ mins for a lane during a weekday after work, which never happened last summer. The shoes are also so run down and ripped up - can't believe they still give these to customers. The front desk could not sort out the waitlist, so we ended up waiting 45 mins for nothing, and they said it would be another 40 mins on top of that. Absurd. The front desk also said they couldn't merge game cards, but when we checked at the game desk, they could merge it. Don't really understand why you would want to come here unless you like waiting and poor service. read more

Bowlero Santa Barbara - Bowling Near Me - Goleta, California

We were driving through the coast without any real plans or reservations, not typical for us but sure was a lot of fun. Our first stop was at a nearby hotel. So we came over to have a drink and a quick appetizer. Drinks were a little pricey and my first round of pretzel bites were super burnt. But I will say that the bartender did get me a new round of pretzel bites. My wife's pizza was pretty decent. read more

Bowlero Santa Barbara - Bavarian pretzel for me, pepperoni pizza for her - Bowling Near Me - Goleta, California

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I was told about one hour wait. Went and had dinner came back an hour later. Instead of being number 13 in line I was number 11 in line and told another hour. Very poorly informed customers. Bowlero is very expensive and I thought it was very unprofessional but unfortunately not much choice in SB sadly read more

Came in with a group of 8 and got two lanes with unlimited bowling ($17 ish per person), which included shoe rental. This was about $130. The wait was about 45 and we got lane 15 and 16. Lane 16 was good, no issues. However, lane 15's right bumper kept getting stuck and we had a moment were we couldn't bowl for 10-15 minutes because the pins were not resetting properly which was a bummer because that was the lane where the kids were using. The arcade was fine. I liked that they added more games but $30 goes by in 15 minutes. During our visit we also ordered food. We had to wait 30-45 minutes for the signature sampler because the person who took my order didn't give the kitchen our ticket. The food was good-nothing special. I wish that we had a better experience for the money spent. read more

I had Sam as my bartender. She did an Amazing job and Great customer service !!! I highly recommend having Sam as your Bartender :) read more

It's a beautifully relatively recently renovated bowling alley. They need to start cleaning the place up though!!! It's really sticky most places you may touch. The bathroom sinks are moldy which is mainly from the complete lack of decent cleaning its really nice aesthetically though. A great destination to bowl with family and friends! read more

Bowlero Santa Barbara - Disappointed just don't have high expectations and watch all your possessions. Employees have sticky fingers like most of the surfaces. - Bowling Near Me - Goleta, California

It's a shame that this establishment has gone so downhill. I used to go here growing up when it was named Zodos. I was actually really disappointed when I heard that it was being bought out and changing into a Bowlero franchise. I kid you not, it is the EXACT same business but with MUCH higher prices, less staff, unorganized, and 10x dirtier than it used to be. It used to cost $25-30 to reserve a lane per hour, and then each person would get charged about $4-5 to rent bowling shoes. For a party of 4, that's an average of $17-20 per person if you stay for 2 hours. Now, they have a flat rate of almost $200 for two hours for 4 people. WOW. $50 per person? For a worse experience? I don't blame staff for being rude or stressed, they're being overworked and probably underpaid while a private equity firm is bleeding this business dry. I don't expect this business to be running in 5 years. Save your money, and don't go to this husk of a business. It's not what it used to be. The era of locally owned and community-centered businesses is coming to an end in this town. read more

Great experience. Staff is a bit overwhelmed but super friendly and helpful. Waitress brought drinks directly to our lane, and a pitcher of water for the kids. Get the summer pass for a super good deal that pays for itself in one visit. read more

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Hi, I bought a Groupon Bowlero for the Goleta location. The Groupon was for free six players including shoes for $84.. I bought it in November and my family was coming in December . When I realized that the Groupon expired three weeks after I bought it, I quickly called the bowling alley and a wonderful man named Matt answered the phone . I explained to him what happened and he said "oh no worries we take late Groupon. That happens all the time. Come when your family's in town and we will honor it." Well, very excited to bowl for many reasons eight of us, including three little children walked in on Sunday, December 28 Th. Matt was not there and they said they didn't know that they could honor that so they had the general manager come to the desk named.,Kevin Tamashiro and he looked it up and said well you will need to pay 70 more dollars. And we proceeded to discuss it and argue a bit because that's not what Matt said and he gave us no options or choices except to pay more money so we left. this was not including the two extra people. The next week I called the bowling alley and talked to Matt and he said I don't understand but come in and I will scan your email and see what it says .I came in and he scanned the email barcode and I told him all about what happened and he said ' it looks like it was used" I could not believe the general manager Kevin would do that. I would never recommend going in there when he is there or having any connection with him as he is very corporate and just interested in making money and not really pleasing his customers, I was thankful for all the other people that were there and supported what I said, and I was given coupons to come bowling at any point and I am still going to go to call Groupon or go to my bank and try and get the $84. I'm so disappointed that they would have a general manager that treats people like that. We must remember that there's a Yelp and people leave reviews and if for no other reason, be respectful to your customers. Thank you read more

So I agree with all the other reviews stating it is way too expensive!!!! BUT.... GROUPON!!! There is a Groupon deal for 2 hours for 2 people with shoes for $36!!! I even had another promo code which made it a few dollars cheaper than that. That would normally be something like $155. You can buy more than one Groupon. Otherwise we would not have come. There is also a Groupon for the arcade, something like pay $14 for $25. The staff was friendly and brought us water while we were bowling- we didn't want any food or drinks but they have both. read more

literally can't answer a phone call how simple does can service be? 5 phone calls no answers. Very unprofessional

Shayne, the Operations Manager, was super courteous when we were playing! Made a really memorable experience while I was here!

The actual bowling part was great. Check in was easy, lanes and seating area clean. Service was beyond terrible. Friendly server, but could not get a single aspect of order down correctly or in a timely fashion. Asked for 4 waters and one Dr. Pepper. 45 minutes later, one Coke and two waters are delivered. Find a self serve water dispenser and go get missing waters. Walk up to get correct drink? There's no one there to help you. Order a pizza, half cheese half pepperoni. Get a full pepperoni pizza. No big deal, we'll peel off pepperoni. But did we get plates or napkins? Nope. Ordered size of fries (for like $12?!) with a side of ranch. Got the lukewarm warm fries with ketchup instead. For the extremely high cost to go bowling, plus the very pricey food menu, they need massive help inside with service. I spent most of my time walking back and forth fixing the numerous issues. read more

We absolutely had a great time here in Bowlero Goleta! We were on vacation, spring break and making the long drive home. This spot was the perfect location for family style fun. I felt the GM Kevin made the experience even more worthwhile. We ended up getting the unlimited package so bowling, games, and lots of fun. Food was hot and typical but more importantly the service and the experience was memorable! Thank you!! read more

Bowlero Santa Barbara - Bowling lane - Bowling Near Me - Goleta, California

Ines behind the bar was amazing! Haven't been back since they rebranded but was great to see everything remodeled. Ines suggested some great beer and pizza deals that we were not aware of. We ended up having a great time bowling and enjoying some beers over some good laughs. read more

So disappointed about the experience at bowlero, yet again. I keep wanting to give it a chance for the kids and then it goes south. We arrived at 11:07 after they opened at 11:00 am and were told 30-60 min and no lane available. I saw the next family added to the waitlist. No problem. We hung out in the arcade and spent $50 towards their business there. Then after an hour I see that same family that was after us. They are on their 7th frame of their first game. Bowlero assumed we wanted two lanes for 6 people instead of one and didn't ask us, just skipped us. After an hour and a half we left because our 2 and 4 year olds were upset and couldn't wait any longer. The manager had the audacity to tell my brother in law that we were impatient after we left. My kids were SO patient. It's not their fault that Bowlero is massively unorganized and apparently also rude. read more

Fun night! Great deal on unlimited bowling. Decent bar for bowling alley, staff personable. Great fun activity.

Bowlero has contributed to the overpricing of a wonderful pastime. The lights and music are great, but it definitely has priced out many people. Because of this, I wonder why they continuously contacted me to change my reservation into a package. It was "only" $500 more, which would double my price. We just wanted to bowl. To make it worse, the employee (who seemed like a manager) was extremely rude in addressing my athletes. They simply had a hydroflask out and demanded we take it to the car and asked rudely. I'm fine with putting it away, but to ask in such a way after paying so much allows me to not feel any guilt giving a one-star review. I would give a zero after that encounter if they allowed. Additionally, the balls are disorganized, which requires a lot of searching, and our lanes broke down a few times and it took a while for someone to help us. That time (we were bowling by hour) was never compensated to us. With the costs being the way they are, those delays are a few dollars per minute. It's hard in this area, since there aren't too many bowling alleys nearby, but if possible, find a better spot than this. read more

The summer bowling pass was a big hit with our kids. It was such a great way to spend their free time during the summer months.

Prepare to be underwhelmed and over priced. If you're bored and need to waste money this is your place. That said, food also isn't too bad but there's a Rusty's across the street too. Was better as Zodos, now it's just another coporate chain. Came right at 4:30pm with my 5 year old and was told all lanes were full for their league (all were empty) and couldn't be allowed to play for 30 minutes before their leagues started. Terrible service, terrible management, avoid like the plague. read more

Bowlero Santa Barbara - Empty lanes, yet not allowed to bowl. - Bowling Near Me - Goleta, California

the wings were great we got lemon pepper and buffalo boneless wings. hannah was probably the rudest bartender i've ever come across, even after showing our ids to the people who took our order she came over and demanded the ids of everyone in my 8 person group. She was so rude and made us feel so unwelcome. She also doesn't know how to check an id for the life of her so hire another bartender if you want business asap. She also closed the bar early and refused us service so not sure if that's even legal but definitely do a check on who you have bartending your bar. read more

We were visiting Santa Barbara with family and looking for a bowling alley for the kids. This place was packed during the holidays. They were able to fit us in, and we got a lane before the rush and a waitlist. They also had a small arcade for kids. It was a bit of a drive, as it doesn't look like there were many other bowling options in SB. Kids had a lot of fun and would here again if we're ever back in SB and looking for bowling. read more

Bowlero is more than just a bowling alley! This spot is perfect for a date night or family time! Our kids love the arcade! They've also got a sports bar, delicious food and a kids menu! We can't wait to go back again read more

Location: Santa Barbara, CA The opening hours aren't until 2:00p creating a major lineup that takes an hour to get through only to be put on a waitlist for a lane. It's summertime, they've promoted their Summer Passes to encourage sales, yet they refuse to hire staff and open earlier to accommodate the mass of patrons who've purchased these passes and Groupons. Open at 10:00a, hire food servers and bartenders, and be prepared to serve lunch to all the kiddos coming from day camp or retirees who want to bowl in the morning. You'll make money if you staff this place appropriately. And, if you have a group coming in at 3:00, book those lanes first when/if you (continue to) open at 2:00 that way you're not holding up 3-5 lanes for an hour when those 2:00-ers will be done by 3:00. Also, please hire a lane maintenance person who only does lane maintenance - not bartending or pizza maker or front desk. Every time I've been here, my lane - regardless of the # - breaks down. It then takes 10-20 minutes to get someone to fix it -- only for it to break down again. This place and activity are supposed to be FUN! But instead the overall experience is aggravating. PS: Please do a thorough cleaning. The benches are greasy & dirty (the area/face btwn the floor and seat is gross), and the floor is sticky. Are the balls ever cleaned? read more

Came around 11 and there was already a decent amount of people Bowling already Costs $6.69 if I remember correctly for a pair of shoes Then 8.99 for each game We only played two games since this was our first time but for me I didn't like it Fingers were already hurting but I guess it's cause I'm not used to it When we were finished we order the pretzel just to try it out When we ordered at the bar the girl Kelly or Karen or something like that wasn't too friendly More Like she didn't want to be there Anyways when she brought us the pretzel it looked burnt/toasted Same color as the photo on their menus It got stale real quick too I definitely did not recommend this My boyfriend didn't mind it being a bit toasted So far I'd give my business to Dave and busters food Not this place read more

Bowlero Santa Barbara - I only ate a 2 inch piece and my boyfriend ate the other side about 8 inches Do not recommend this very stale and toasted too much - Bowling Near Me - Goleta, California

Go for the bowling, do not eat the food! Wholesome fun for family and get togethers with friends. I give three stars because the food was absolutely horrible. read more

I booked a lane for my granddaughter's birthday. We arrived and chech-in was effortless. We were given our shoes and arcade cards. Imagine our surprise when we saw that my grandaugter's name was set-up in lighted alphabets! Very nice touch! Our server Adrienne (not sure if spelling) was very attentive, bringing refilled as needed. We ordered chicken strips and the pretzel bites. Definitely a big hit. I will be back, and highly recommend coming here for a couple hours. read more

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Visiting from Los Angeles. Stopped by last night. This place is brand new. Staff was great. Prices for a Wednesday night were great. Bar area is spacious and has over 20 beers on tap and plenty of good liquor. Arcade area great for kids and every game was working. Televisions everywhere for adults to watch games and have beers. I tried the flat bread cheese pizza. It was good. The cheesy garlic breads we loved. Staff was great all around. The best part was the music. read more

Bowlero Santa Barbara - Bar and televisions... plenty of beer on tap - Bowling Near Me - Goleta, California

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Can you please start oiling the lanes again? They have been unplayable the last few times I've been here. Not sure when they decided to stop oiling them, but they need to start doing that again. I shouldn't have to throw a house ball from an inside line. read more

Our 16th Wedding Anniversary featured a surprise stop at the local Arcade at Bowlero! I wanted to make the day special for my hubs that enjoys arcades. My partner and I especially share an affinity for skeeball. A game if the ancients. So I called the venue in advance of purchasing some expensive Groupons for their "cards" that carry credits. (No nostalgic quarters or tokens or tickets these days!) The woman I talked to over the phone was "pretty sure" they had skeeball, but she said she would go check to confirm. When she returned to the phone she assured me they did indeed have skeeball. On the day of our anniversary, we walked in and we're pretty disappointed. NO skeeball as far as the eyes could see. No wooden ball. No ramp with various cylinders determining one's worth in the expanse of universe. But there was a basketball shooting game. I wanted to inform staff that not all balls are created equal. We still made the best of it-played classic air hockey, space invaders, and got down with the clowns. read more

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We went 2 nights in a row, planned to have dinner at bowlero and bowl at least 2 games. BOTH nights they were closed more than two hours early. Would never recommend this place, especially not a season pass. Go to a local brewery, lots of good local spots that stay true to their hours. If you don't want to be open that late don't pretend to be. read more

Nachos were gross. I've never in 40 years have had to ask a manager to take them off our bill. It wasn't the $20 I was concerned about but the point of them trying to pass some chips with Taco Bell like "meat" poured lightly on them. And the minimum price for 2 adults, 4 kids, 1 lane for 2 hours $267. F*** you, old Zodo'. We want Haseed dj'ing Friday night black light night back. Bowlero sucks. However, the several workers we dealt with including the manager who returned our nachos and our bartender were very nice. 5 stars for the staff, zero for establishment. read more

Bottom Line: Super easy pass. Once a great local spot for bowling or taking in a game is now....worse and significantly more expensive Changing the name and creating a new yelp page was probably a good idea after firing most or the complete staff immediately after taking ownership. Up until just a few weeks before Bowlero took ownership of Zodo's I was working there at night for a second job so I was very familiar with the entire staff from the Engineer keeping the pin resetters going to the cooks, a few of which live on my street. I had also worked for the company that handled their IT contract so I am also very familiar with their (old) management as well as their tech setup. My family have been going there since the overhead projector days of Orchid Bowl (40 years ago...?), then eventually to the swanky Zodo's redesign. I have to admit that I didnt like Zodos at first, but they had a dedicated staff of people who had been there for years. Some folks as long 20 years. The prices were kind of high, but the place was nice, the bowling was fun, the kids loved the newer software, the food was actually pretty good! Combine that with the arcade and the summer deals they had and we actually were spending a fair amount of time there because of birthday parties, corporate parties etc. We were also spending a decent amount of money but I figured that it was worth it as everyone was having fun. Then Zodos was bought by Bowlero and I started hearing the stories of them firing the entire staff, hiring some back at lower rates etc etc We went back a couple of times since the take over and we will not be back. I didnt recognize a single person from Zodo's and the second time we went back in, the entire staff was different again. The bowling cost was outrageous, the food was terrible and it was several hundred dollars for a family of four to bowl and eat. If you're really interested, you can dig up my previous update for Zodo's but the entire establishment took a nose dive. We have one of those "Little Libraries" next to our house so that children in the area and take books to read - now Bowlero is using this place to leave fliers to try and find people to work at Bowlero! Perhaps if you didn't gut the organization of already dedicated employees, you wouldn't be so desperate to find people. Fliers in Little Libraries...? really, Bowlero? Looks like you're just going to have to use the revolving door of turnover with UCSB kids. This is the problem when large corporate organizations get involved in things such as this. They take a mom n pop that was doing well and make it more expensive and worse at the same time. I now have friends that drive up to Santa Maria to go bowling as they ultimately save money (somehow, with the fuel prices) and they have more fun....instead of just going down the road to this.... establishment. So, I suppose a little credit is due because that can't be easy to ruin something that fast read more