The place was run down and not very clean at all. The balls always got stuck and the guy at the front was very rude to us from the time we got in. We tried to call and make a reservation but they didn't pick up the phone. Never going back again. read more

Super old school retro bowling lane. I found the lanes to be slippery and not well maintained but enjoyed the atmosphere and music they had playing Enjoyed the deal they had for $70 you get 2 hours bowling including shoes for up to five people. Location doesn't have a parking lot but plenty of street parking on the road. read more

This place has horrible customer service. Took me five tries in person and online to buy a gift certificate for the 2023 Xmas week. West Park never bothered to mention that it was closed for three of the six days my out of country recipient was in town. I asked for a refund and was refused. Avoid this place unless you like rudeness and being ripped off! read more

My husband and I have been bowling here a few times. It is really old school and has that retro charm. Apparently, it's been around since 1946! It is 5 pin bowling, so you have been forewarned. The first time we went, I didn't know, and had never gone 5 pin bowling before, so it felt weird as the balls are really small, lol. However, I quickly got used to it. It's $5.50 a game and shoe rentals are $3, but if you buy 3 games your shoe rental is free. Or you can rent a lane for 30 minutes for $19.50 (maximum 5 people per lane). They also have cosmic bowling. It's attached to both Fil's Diner, which looks and feels like a 50s diner, and Daniel O'Connell's Irish Pub, which looks and feels like a blue collar kind of pub. West Park Lanes is in Hintonburg, and I kind of like that amidst all the gentrification (yoga studios, gluten-free dairy-free bakeries, and trendy restaurants that make it into tourism magazines), this place has retained a bit of the area's working class history. It's a cool place. I personally prefer 10 pin bowling, but if you like 5 pin, you should check it out. read more

When you walk in really feel like this is one of the forgotten bowling alleys of the city. The lanes are not very well taken care of they are dented and scratched and the bigger problem was that the shoes slip so badly on the floor that you couldn't really shoot the ball without slipping and falling. The lady behind the counter was really super nice when we asked to be moved to another lane so that we weren't next to children because we kind of swear. But that was pretty much the only nice thing about the alley. I wouldn't go back read more

No one at the front desk. I waited a good five minutes before I had to go find someone which took more time. The lanes don't look maintained; the balls (all pitted and chipped) wouldn't come back and I had to retrieve them from half way down the lane. When I found someone I told them and they said they'd fix it. About 15 mins later they asked if the problem was corrected. It wasn't. With staff serving a restaurant street side, service was sketchy. It's no Merivale Bowling Lanes that's for sure. Although at first glance, it had a cozy atmosphere, there were too many little problems (one after the other) to recommend. read more

I have two kids and I am always looking for good ways to entertain them - and by "good" I mean cheap and cheerful. So, when I spotted West Park Bowling one day as I was shopping along Wellington, I decided to pop in and give it a looksee. Well, West Park Bowling is a blast from the past - a real vintage bowling alley. I am not sure my kids would like it - they have become accustomed to the moder bowling centre (complete with neon, blacklights, loud music and weird coloured balls). So, a straight ahead bowling alley might not be their thing. I did find it very reasonable. You can pay per game, or they have night bowling specials where you pay a flat fee for three hours of fun. There is a cool 50s diner next door, so it could be part a of cool day for your family! read more

Bowling West Park Lanes - Bowling Near Me - Ottawa, Ontario

Great central place to go bowling. They have electronic systems for scoring and they are attached the O'connell's pub/fils diner so you can get pretty much anything you want to drink and eat. Great place to have a birthday party or group/office activity. The food is pretty regular (pub fare) but it's nice to have such a good selection available, as well as the wide selection of beer on tap. If you need to rent shoes, the price is discounted with the number of games and if you buy more games they also give a discount, so try and figure out how many you want to play before hand. make sure you bring SOCKS. this is always a problem in the summer when everyone is wearing sandals and they have to wear the shoes without socks. They do disinfect the shoes between rentals though so I don't think it's totally unsanitary. It's always interesting to see the mish mash of people who are here because there will be some really serious people, kids and then people who are more there to drink than to actually bowl. But there is plenty of room for everyone,the place is not usually packed. read more

Not crazy about the new school contemporary bowling alleys? Partial to the traces of musty beer and tacky furnishings to compliment your game? If The Dude lived in Ottawa, this is where he would bowl. Check out one of the Cap-City's classic old school alleys - they are a fading breed, but they do exist if you know where to look. I had a terrific time during an office Christmas party - this may have been heavily influenced by the my 50 years young colleague, who experienced bowling for the first time. His virginal experience was like watching a baby delight in the simple things we take for granted every day. The place screams retro - something I definitely appreciated. The dated feel did not bother me at all & should not be surprising as it is located in an old established neighbourhood: Hintonburg. The neighbourhood has a long history of being a working-class, residential neighbourhood. This is Ottawa's only centretown bowling alley that is found along a revitalized commercial strip located along Wellington Street West, just west of downtown. Secretly, I would love for Lucky Strike to come to Ottawa and renovate the place... but I digress. Sure, it's not upscale bowling, but they get the job done. My division took over the place for our office party - so my review is completely based on that one experience. I am an occasional bowler and that might be a little strong. Nothing wows you about the place. Let's call it a classic bowling alley, with lots of old world charm. We enjoyed 5-pin bowling, and I can't comment on the food, as I came in on a full stomach and wasn't interested in any of the old world bowling alley staples here. 4/30 - Yelp Ottawa's 30 Day Challenge! read more

My shoes were stolen tonight from this place. I would stay away if you care about your shoes. The people who work there were of no help.

It's okay bowling. It's very busy and the service can be slow. The food is not good. I ordered a burger and it was dry and burnt. The washrooms are also not clean. read more

This is a great spot to go bowling. Kids love it and it is thankfully free of a bunch of the distracting gimmicks that takes away from the bowling experience. Food from Fil's diner and a licensed menu mean that a fun night awaits anyone who decides to check out these lanes. read more

Great place to bowl, except probably the worst hours for a bowling place that's ever existed, given their prime location. The last 3 times I've attempted to go they have been closed. (I've officially learned my lesson) On a Friday at 11:30 the door was locked. I brought a group of 8 to bowl, door was locked. But at the same a group of 30 was literally hoping to get inside as well. I called, and all they said was sorry, it was slow tonight, but bring everyone into the Irish pub.... couldn't believe it. To the ownership: don't let staff make your hours, make solid/posted hours. And stop making people annoyed. read more

Decent lanes, the food was tasty and the service was friendly, my only complaint was the music was EXTREMELY loud!! I felt like I was at a nightclub and could barely hold a conversation with the person next to me. Would go back if the music wasn't so loud lol read more

Made a reservation for 8 people for a birthday party and there was apparently some issue with the lanes. I was not called or anything and we had to show up to find out that the was a 4 person wait for the next lane due to reservation back ups. Not pissed about the lane closures more pissed that no one contacted us (or had us on the list to call) when it was happening so we had time to make other plans. read more

Wow. Where to start? Firstly - look at the dates for these other reviews preceding mine. This place must have seriously gone downhill, because we had a terrible, terrible experience. Okay, so there are two bars in this place - one in the bowling alley and one on the other side of the bathrooms. The "regular" bar was tiny and had a lone guitar player "performing" to a crowd of zero people. It was - sincerely - extremely sad. The bathrooms were filthy and it would probably be an honour for one of their toilets to harbour one's poo. Half the time there is no bartender in the bowling alley, so you need to go through the washrooms to the other side of the building to get to the "regular" bar. It's ridiculous. Sometimes I'd order something at the bowling alley bar (when the bartender was there) and he'd say, "We don't have that at this bar, be right back, it's at the other bar," and he'd go through the bathroom, presumably get my drink, and then come back. It was absurd. I also don't want my bartender touching bathroom doors constantly while working. I might as well just get it myself at that point. Do you seriously want a tip after that? I also asked to pay with my debit card when I ran out of cash at one point and he said, "Just go to the other bar, there's no Interac machine at this bar." So please tell me again what the point of the bar in the bowling alley is then? And obviously, like every bowling alley ever, a pitcher of beer costs you at least $20 no matter how domesticated that beer is and no matter how many cans of that beer you have in your fridge that you got for $12. The bartender was also the "bowling guy" (for lack of a better term) who ran the bowling side of everything. So we paid, we got our bowling shoes, etc. First off, this is 5 pin bowling, with the small balls, so be ready to be disappointed the moment you come in if you don't already know that. Secondly, the operating system for the electronic score board is circa 1993 and runs on MS-DOS or something - I've seen Ataris run faster and with better graphics. Some seriously scary stick figures run across that screen when you get a strike. Alright, so it got messy at some point when one of my buddy's friends threw two bowling balls at the same time down the alley. I saw "bowling guy" and he didn't react. He just stared. He kept staring as the dude did it over and over and over and over. At one point he got fed up and got up and told the guy to stop it or we'd all get kicked out. I pointed out that it was in a different lane and that I had nothing to do with it. He said it wasn't his problem, and that to fix it I'd essentially have to control someone's behaviour - someone who I had just met that night. So you know how the story goes at bowling alleys - the guy kept throwing several balls at once of course. Bowling guy didn't want to approach a large group of people and warn them anymore so he just turned off the bowling game for all of us. Yeah, all of us, including yours truly. I mentioned to him that I paid for 3 games and I only got 2, and asked him to turn it back on. He smiled and claimed that he didn't know what I was talking about. I told him he knew damn well what I was talking about. Then he said, "I'll be right back." He then disappeared forever. Well, not forever, just for the next thirty minutes at least. We finished our pitchers and waited and waited and he never came out again. He wasn't in the bathrooms or in the other bar or anywhere. So we left. No idea what happened to him. Perhaps he spontaneously combusted from anxiety, or perhaps he ran away and joined a cult, or perhaps he circumnavigated the world on a raft. I will never know. All I know is that this place stinks, they ripped me off, my cell phone is 10000 times more powerful than their electronic scoreboard and I'm never inviting bowling guy to my birthday party. read more

I'd taken a group there before and although it's bare bones and kind of shabby, it was quiet so i phoned to book lanes for a birthday. The man who answered from the diner was extremely nice and put me through to the bowling alley. I said, 'Hi. Boy it's loud there." The bowling alley guy doesn't respond. "Anyway, I'd like to book lanes for tomorrow for 8 - 10 people in the early afternoon.' He says, 'What time?' I answer, 'Any time in the early afternoon.' 'But WHAT TIME?' he says to me like i'm stupid. So, i'm getting annoyed and my voices rises, "EARLY AFTERNOON - like 1 or 2." He says, 'You don't have to yell." Now i am getting angry. "Well, i keep saying early afternoon because we aren't picky as long as we get the reservation." "But WHAT TIME?' he says to me again more loudly and like i'm a huge dolt. "That's a range of FIVE hours,' he adds. I'm exasperated. "Look, 5 p.m. is not EARLY afternoon." "That depends on a person's definition," he argues. (Right. By whose definition is 5 p.m. EARLY afternoon?) Okay, now i'm ticked off. 'Like i've said, early afternoon - early as in 1 or 2 p.m. but we really don't care as long as we get lanes," i say completely annoyed. "You don't have to talk to me like that,' he says. So i say, "Well, I've said early afternoon at around 1 or 2 p.m. a few times now." "So, WHAT TIME?" he asks me AGAIN. I could scream. I take a deep breath. "1 p.m." i say although i really don't care if it's 1 p.m or 2 p.m. or even 3 p.m. (Could he not have simply told me that they had lots of openings in the afternoon or asked me if i meant between 1-3... or whatever instead of repeating the same question to me like he thinks i'm incapable of understanding.) Then he asks: "For how many people?" I sigh since i started the whole conversation by saying the number of people. By now i am speaking while gritting my teeth. "8 or 10." He laughs. This irritates me even more. "1 p.m. then," he says. He repeats this when i don't immediately answer. "1 p.m." i finally respond. So he says, "It's loud in here -i'm not trying to annoy you." (This from the guy who just reprimanded me about yelling when he made me keep repeating myself - so he can't hear but doesn't go somewhere quieter nor does he want customers to yell or get frustrated..? ) '1 p.m.' i say and we hang up. I'm angry. He was completely lacking in tact, manners, and people skills. So, what are the chances i'll take a group there tomorrow? ZERO. What are the chances i'll go there again? ZERO. What are the chances i'd ever recommend it? ZERO. Who needs to deal with crap like that? Not me. (And i can only imagine how he must talk to children if that's how he deals with adults.) Reservation is canceled. See you at the Merivale Bowling Centre. read more