I came here with a friend for a fun night of bowling, but the experience was unbelievably disrespectful. At the front desk, Kevin (the receptionist) told me it's $15 per person plus $5 for shoes. I simply asked why some people were playing with their own shoes, and instead of explaining, he became rude and aggressive. He told me I couldn't bowl and even gestured for me to leave. I stayed calm and said I'd pay for the shoes anyway just to avoid any issue, but he still refused to let me play. When I asked for the manager, Tony, things got worse. He approached with a laughing, dismissive attitude, interrupted me constantly, and even started raising his voice while I was trying to explain politely. His behavior was shockingly unprofessional -- honestly, Tony doesn't seem fit for even the lowest customer-service role, let alone a management position. The entire interaction made me feel completely disrespected and possibly discriminated against. No customer should be treated this way for simply asking a question. This place desperately needs better management and training in professionalism, respect, and basic customer service. I would strongly recommend avoiding this bowling center. read more

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Fun leagues, good food, super friendly staff. I love seeing the posts on facebook :) I just completed a summer ball league with them and I'm starting a summer league. So excited!!! Fun leagues, good food, super friendly staff. I love seeing the posts on facebook :) I just completed a summer ball league with them and I'm starting a summer league. So excited!!! read more

Wouldn't recommend fox bowl and won't be returning. The lack of professionalism is wild.

Arrived at 10:15am opened at 10am per website nothing about reservation needed 1:2 the lanes were empty and the not so nice lady at the check in desk said no lanes available but like I said 1/2 were empty. She said nothing available until 1:30pm and it would be 1st come 1st serve Why not have a reservation system in place Why don't they use all the lanes. 2 other family were also turned away read more

Website said open bowling starting at 2pm on Sunday. Went to go bowling, the lady said they were booked till 4:30, I asked if I could get a lane then, she said they don't reserve lanes and that a charity event was going on now till 4:30. Ok I called back at 4:05 to verify. Was put on hold three times for over 5 min. Finally got a hold of someone, was told open bowl now starts at 6pm till 9. Clearly the people that run/work at Fox Bowl have no idea what's going on. read more

This was THEE place for our Saturday night Cosmic Bowling battles for me and my buddies for quite some time. Even during Cosmic Bowling, the lanes were perfectly oiled. Not many bowling alleys can claim that! The on-site restaurant had decent cheap food, the arcade area was small but fun, and the prices for drinks and shoes was average. The bathrooms were always clean, which is also another shocker for a bowling alley. Ammirite?!?! read more

Fox Bowl is a great value. It's an inexpensive way to spend an afternoon, and they serve beer & pizza, so what's not to like? It's been about a zillion years since I had a pizza here so I can't speak to the current quality, but I know I was a fan when I went to a zillion birthday parties here as a kid. OK - on to the bowling. This place is a little bit old and some of the computer equipment can be frustrating at times but generally speaking everything functions just fine and the staff is ready to help you out if anything goes awry during your bowling session. In my experience, they really do have great customer service. Plus - cosmic bowling! Fun for the whole family, kid friendly, and hilarious old school graphics. read more

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I like Fox Bowl. We recently spent a Sunday afternoon bowling with a couple of my brothers and sisters-in-law at Fox Bowl. I prefer the older bowling alleys to the newer dark light shows and lasers bowling alleys. You can't really beat it for the cost, only $4.25 per game on Saturday and Sunday, only $3.75 before 6 during the week. We played 2 games and had no problems with the pins or balls being reset or returned. There is a restaurant and bar in the bowling alley. I haven't tried the food but did grab us a couple of drinks and the service was good. If you're looking for a fun way to spend a weekend afternoon, check out Fox Bowl. read more

It's a decent bowling alley. This trip it took about 10 minutes for someone to come to the front desk to pay for shoes and some games. I'm guessing they are short staffed and it was the afternoon on a Thursday. Prices are fair. They have a game room but to our disappointment the games were shut down and there was a ladder standing up so maybe they had some electrical issues. This time we didn't eat there. There bar is very reasonable with pricing. Overall I give it 3 stars mostly do to not having the game room open to play and no signs to let one know and also for having to wait so long for someone to help us. I will say the woman that finally came to the register was very friendly and nice. read more

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An excellent family friendly ally with gaming for the kids, along with leagues ranging from children's to the over 50 league on weekdays! There are also competitive leagues that you can join! An excellent spot to spend a winter day! read more

they basically kicked us out after the scores where wrong. and the people are jerks. and this place is rude in General. And this place smells like feet. And the guy at the front is very rude. And this place sucks I suggest going to Main event. where the ppl are nice read more

I love this bowling alley. I took the boys here with a groupon ($13 for one hour of bowling for 4 including shoes), and we had a great time! It's old school. Like me. There's no flashy arcade that the children will beg to visit. Just good, old-fashioned bowling. The staff is polite and helpful. During spring break, this place was packed with families and children having fun. So, if that kind of thing irritates you -- children out with their parents having a good time -- definitely stay away. But if you're looking to make some memories with your kids? Come here! As a bonus, the food is fantastic. I don't think I've ever said that about a bowling alley, but seriously. It's good. The cheesy bacon fries were amazing. And they make their own pizzas. read more

Cordial staff, plenty of lanes and accommodations for bowling. Balls are always in order per weight and finger selection. Cleanliness and attentiveness is top notch! Arcade games and other entertainment is at this location as well. Pro shop is knowledgeable, purchased a ball here. Only wish they told you that you can do engraving here to ensure your name is placed on your ball. Eric was helpful measuring and ensuring I have the right fit and weight. Highly recommend this location for bowlers if all categories. Phenomenal management! Great job! read more

This place is absolutely awful. This place served us the worst bowling experience of all time. The balls get stuck in the system at least 50% of the time and the odds of the pins remaining in place after the first shot of a frame are somewhere around 75%. In addition, any language even resembling anger is automatically outlawed. I said "this sucks," and for my troubles, the morons bowling next to us reported us. To my surprise, the man at the desk actually listened to their bogus complaint and told me that this was a family center. Are you kidding me? I said "this sucks." Outrageous Oh, did I forget to tell you how insanely expensive 6 games of bowling (3 each for two people) is? Do not waste your money This place is garbage. The management here should be ashamed of themselves. read more

It's all a bit dated, but not awful. The lady at the front desk was very pleasant and welcoming. The food is subpar bowling alley food, but I certainly don't expect fine cuisine here either. My 2 review comes from the bowling balls. I have regular sized woman hands and am very fit. I bowl with a 9 or 10. Any ball 10 and under is made for teeny tiny little children hands. 11 and 12 and they are still for a very small adult's hands. You have to use a 13 or up to fit regular human adult sized hands. My family usually bowls often at other alleys and there is always a wide range of ball weights and finger hole sizes. I thought maybe it was just my family that can never find a bowl with regular adult sized holes and keep injuring ourselves by our fingers getting stuck, but everyone in the lanes next to us here complained about the same thing. We were next to the family restroom and my girls used that. It was awful and filthy. Careful, the door automatically shuts very hard and fast. We left with my 7 year old' in tears from getting her fingers smashed In summary, only bowl here if you own your own ball and make sure to use your own bathroom first. read more

Birthday time! going strong at 5 stars... then things went down hill like a 7-10 split in a perfect game. This bowling alley has a lot of things going for it. It's clean, pretty large, great food (the veggie pizza was so cheesy and yummy it was a solid strike to my taste buds). The full bar had a nice beer selection and I drank all night for CHEAP. There was literally NO thugs or drunk d-bags on a Saturday night. There was a large selection off nice and shiny balls too. Oh yeah! Until our large, beer-drinking, highly profitable group with a few more games left in us got kicked off our 4 reserved lanes to make way for a bunch of teenagers. They just came from a dance, were loud, and dressed like idiots. They needed 5 lanes, OK. We will move. The kicker is though, they moved us down to TWO lanes (we had way more than 8 people) and far away from the bar. So not only did we have more of a trek to the bar, we all couldn't bowl. The icing on the cake: there were plenty of lanes open they wouldn't let us use. I don't get it. We were perfect customers and not causing any harm and were treated like outlaws. Totally put a bad taste in my mouth for what could've been a great place to frequent. Total gutter ball. read more

A group of us came here on a whim to kill some time before dinner. It was a Saturday afternoon and the place was hopping. Cosmic Bowling Time! Cosmic Bowling is totally for you if you like thumping music and darkness only illuminated by black light and swirling light shows. Ahhhh, night club on the bowling lanes. We were able to snag a lane easily. There was a lot of rent-a-shoes, including toddler size and a lot of bowling balls available for use. To me, the lanes seem crowded, it's like the seating area overlaps the seating area on each side...hard for me to explain I guess, it's just not fun. What wasn't fun either was when the lane kept breaking down. Balls weren't coming back, pin sweeper got stuck. But I will say, the Fox Bowl folks did try to fix the problems quickly. Hard to say because everything was dark for the black light, but the place just seemed dated. What I did notice, because it was well-lit, was that the bathroom was disgusting. There was no toilet paper in any of the stalls and the garbage was overflowing. Thank goodness I still have to carry a diaper bag for my son because it's always got the hand sanitizer and hand wipes. read more

Honest review: like it cause its not expensive the yelp offer is invalid so dont expect to use it when ever there is a yelp offer see if the business actually excepts it first before u do it. Its not the nicest bowling alley i been to the ambiance is alright the food isnt that good its a bowling alley when do u ever get gormea amaizing food u always get frozen food. Its cheap like its the cheapest one i been to minus 2 stars because of the food read more

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No more smoking. Actually, my first time here was a few weeks ago when the Girl Scouts had a little excursion. The bowling was the usual - goofy shoes and shiny balls. Extra props because the staff rustled up a few pizzas and pitchers of soda for the girls, even though the restaurant technically wasn't open. read more

This place is really run down and not maintained. Our lane broke mid-game and the machine was missing pieces and cracked in many places. The game room for the kids has broken games as well. Don't waste your time. read more

This here, ladies and gentlemen, is your archetypal suburban bowling alley. It has: - Plenty of lanes [30?] - take-you-back-in-time 90's decor - A woefully outdated mini arcade [like 4 machines] - A pro shop to purchase your own equipment - A bar that is unusually popular on weeknights - Concession stand-like food service with generics like pizza, fries, etc. - Fairly large dining area that could accommodate birthday parties and the like. Positive attributes: - It's clean - Plenty of bowling balls in various weights - It goes disco/neon mode, "cosmic bowling", during prime time [weekend nights] with music, black lights, the whole 9 yards. - Wont hurt the pocket book. It's definitely more expensive now than it was back in the day... but chalk that up to inflation and increased cost of running the place. Negative Attributes: - Weeknights get taken over by various senior/youth bowling leagues. - You will be overrun by awkward/annoying teenagers and little children during times they would be out of school. - Earlier mentioned "cosmic" bowling plays some of the worst music I have ever heard [no where near as good as a mediocre radio station]. - The staff behind the counter is weird. Attitudes vary from rude to uninterested. I wonder if the owner hates his life or beats on his staff or what. A little smile with service never hurt anybody. Final Notes: I grew up around the area so every time i go back it's like deja vu from middle/high school. As far as bowling is concerned, it gets the job done. You just wont get anything else that would enrich the experience. read more

This is a pretty legit bowling alley. We stopped in on Saturday evening with a Groupon. $13 for an hour of bowling plus shoe rental for four, which seemed like a pretty great deal. They were doing the always awesome cosmic bowling, and there were plenty of kids around. As far as the facilities are concerned, it's about what you'd expect. Nothing really out of the ordinary. I -really- liked the pizza they served there. It's ultra-thin New York style, and they've got all the other associated bowling alley pizza place snacks like mozzarella sticks and other things along those lines. Prices for food seemed reasonable, but the prices for beer seemed a little high. $4.50 for a pint? Aren't bowling alleys typically known for their mega-cheap pitchers? Not this one, I guess. Docked a star because this place seemed really under-staffed. I guess it's sort of the nature of these sorts of legacy businesses but it was sort of annoying needing to go to the front desk and have them radio someone over to the bar whenever I wanted another beer. Still, worth checking out if you're in the area especially while the Groupon is still running. read more

The most expensive place to bowl in the area. I went here because I had some FREE coupons to bowl for the kids. Hubby and I still had to pay $4.50 a game and then there was the $3.50 shoe rental fee that all 6 of us had to pay. Normally Wheaton Bowl is cheaper, but not if you have free coupons. This is a brightly lit, clean and noisy place which is great on a rainy day with lots of boys. There was some senior group here and they looked a little agitated by the sound level. What did they expect? This is a newer place where you can set up bumpers or no bumpers per person. Some of the older joints have it where you do it by lane. They have a pizza place and a bar/lounge as well. The pizza place was REALLY slow today, maybe they expected nicer weather and fewer customers. read more

Yes, I have done it again! Two years ago, we had our first corporate bowling outing after an all staff meeting. I, without any effort at all, won a coveted prize. Yes, the gutter ball queen, that was me. We had our second bowling outing a few days ago. Unfortunately, I could not participate for a full game- I had a flight to catch... but- I have not lost my touch! I was in the running for the worst possible score! I had managed to knock down 7 pins, in 5 frames. Pretty outstanding work, I must say so myself. I have not yet had the opportunity to check and see my final results, but- I know that I am still among the worst. For most people, coming in last would not be a great thing. However, I consider any prize that I can win at my office one worth having . Fox bowl has been consistently good to us. They make fun of our COs, allow us to take over the place, and provide a great atmosphere. The place is now smoke free- so don't worry about that! Come, enjoy, and see if you, with some effort can beat my score! read more

Nothing special about this Bowling Alley. Relatively clean, and the staff was helpful. Decent price, too. For 3 players on a Tuesday afternoon, we were able to get shoes an 65 minutes of bowling for under $20 bucks. We ended up adding an extra 15 minutes to finish our third game. Lane we used was consistent and not overly or underly (is the latter a word) oiled. It was kind of a trek for me from North Wheaton, but it was a central location for my partners. There's also a pizza place inside which I did not try. It was formerly known as Morano's, and my last visit there was the year 2001. Not that great because I don't remember anything specifically good about it. read more

Not much to say about this place. Pretty standard prices, atmosphere, food, and beer selection. Overall I'll take it over a Brunswick experience simply from the crowd. Folks here always seem to be alright and I haven't really had any problems coming here. Drinks are resonably priced as is the greasy fried food, healthy eaters may want to eat BEFORE showing up. As for the bowling its the typical set up as any other place, of course they do the cosmic thing on weekends like most places but this one isn't overly obnoxious for some reason. So yeah overall I give Fox Bowl a spare (4 stars). read more

We bought a groupon and thought we would take our kids bowling for the first time. The man at the desk was so friendly and brought us a light weight ball for our kids and a ramp to push their balls down. We arrived a little before 11 and it wasn't busy at all. The bowling alley had a nice feel to it and to our surprise it was really clean (sometimes bowling alleys aren't!). We didn't order food bc the restaurant didn't open till 11:30 however the people next to ordered a pizza right before we left and it smelled really good. We will come back again! Everyone had a great time. read more

Fox Bowl - Bowling - Bowling Near Me - Wheaton, Illinois

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This review is only on the customer service, as I was never actually able to bowl. We went on a Saturday afternoon to go bowling and waited in line behind a large birthday party. Setting up the party took the owners over 30 minutes because they had done no planning to accommodate the large party even though they had called in a reservation. While there were three people working the counter and two machines apparently they could only assist one person at a time so I had to wait for them to figure out their birthday party situation. By this time there was a line of around 20 people behind me all waiting to bowl. When it finally became my turn I asked for one lane and the owner told me that he couldn't let me bowl because people had called in reservations and so they would get priority. There were plenty of lanes open in the bowling alley at this time. So, after waiting 30 minutes I get told there are no lanes open...something that would have been helpful at the begin of my wait. I will never go here again due to their bad management and customer service. read more

I haven't been bowling in like, forever... and I came across a groupon deal for an hour of bowling for four people, cosmic bowling to be exact, so I bought it. Cosmic bowling starts at 9:30 so we got there a little after. The whole process of redeeming our groupon was easy peasy. We were offered cosmic or regular bowling and of course opted for cosmic - the place was split, so it was darker on one side than the other. I liked having that option. The shoes were self serve so we grabbed our colored bowling balls and headed over to our lane. I can't really imagine a bowling alley would be bad over another one...this one was just fine. We hit up the bar for a few beers and as our hour was nearing we decided to buy another. It worked out perfect at the rate of $12.50 per half hour that our hour lasted 11-midnight when they closed. If you wear glow in the dark socks you get a promo, also I noticed a promo when you check in on yelp - it didn't apply as we had the groupon so it's good to know for another time. read more

Fox Bowl is just a regular, good enough, bowling alley. Which is totally fine, by the way. It wasn't anything special, but it wasn't dark and dingy either. I would easily go back here as the lanes were all in working order and everything seemed to be as clean as it could be. My husband was impressed by the swiveling chairs, which, I have to admit, are pretty convenient (but still not as amazing as my husband seemed to think). They have pretty cheap beer and lots of choices for food which is really nice. Had I known that Stella's Pizza was attached to the bowling alley I may have been a little nicer to them. Honestly, for bowling alley pizza it is definitely quite good (which is just ok compared to any other standards). I like that it is in a nice, easy convenient location and as far as bowling alleys go its just fine with me. I'm sure I'll be back, Fox Bowl, unless Lisle Lanes blows you out of the water when I try them (I'm thinking no...) read more

Been coming here since I was in high school and nothing seems to have changed! That can be good or bad, but I choose to see it as a good thing. Prices are still very moderately priced (not that I know how much to pay for bowling, but seemed reasonable to me!), staff was curteous, not usually too crowded when I've been. Been good to me since I started going! read more

Awesome old school alley fun. League bowling is fund and the food from Stellas is great. Tony the bar tender is great

Went into the pro shop looking to purchase my first personal bowling ball. Explained my naïveté to the shop attendant and asked for some help picking out something that could work for me. For the sake of this man's character, I hope that he was simply having a rough day. The customer service that I received was, to say the least, depressing. Here I am thinking that I am a new member of the select few people that keep the bowling ball market afloat and I would be treated as such, yet I was mistaken. The attendant was completely disinterested in fitting my preferences or helping me pick out a ball that would work for me. I was given two guiding suggestions and they were: price range and color. No care was taken to explain the differences between the features, characteristics, availability of the ball, nor give personalized suggestions like I was hoping for. Sorry Mom & Dad, looks like I'm gonna have to abandon my dreams of becoming a semi-professional bowler seeing as I can't even get a ball that I am confident in :( TL;DR: Lots of balls to choose from! read more

I called the day before to reserve 2 lanes for 8 adults and 1 child (2.5 years old) and they alerted me that due to leagues we would have to be out by 6. Okay, no problem, we will be there at 4. We show up and they tell us we have to be out at 5:30, a little rushed for 2 games- but we figured we'd be fine. We get assigned lanes 3 & 4 and get to playing. Our issues started when lane 4 kept getting stuck, leaving all of our balls behind the lane. I had to keep going back to the desk after our intercom didn't work to ask them repeatedly to reset our lane. Frustrated with how long it took, we had to keep stopping our game to wait. Then, as one of our lanes finished at 5:10, we watched the other lanes finish frames 9 & 10, only to have our two lanes completely shut out as "time had expired" when our last 3 bowlers were on the 10th frame. Annoyed, I had to go up to the desk to have them turn our lane back on. It ruined our one bowlers score since it cut in the middle of his 10th frame. Overall, I was disappointed with the follow through on the business end. It is unlikely we will be back. read more

This place is a shit hole! The place is dirty, greasy and unkept. They even charge you to use the guide for the smaller kids. Not only did our lane freeze more than 3 times, or just completely become unusable but no one bothered to apologize or compensate us for the inconvenience. I will never come here again and advise you all to stay away... For the $50 price tag on two games I'll go to a more reputable, clean, and up to date facility for the same price. Fox Bowl you're not worth my time or my money! read more

I have been bowling here since high school. I love bowling!! I even had one of my daughter's birthdays here about 5 years ago and it was a lot of fun. However, this place is on a steady decline. I will not bowl here anymore. It started with the shoes you are required to rent to bowl getting crappier and crappier. The leather on the shoes would be coming unstitched at the seams. They were disgusting looking. I would bring and extra pair of socks to wear for them and then throw them away afterwards. The couple (older but not elderly) who run the place seem apathetic to the broken down machines. The arcade games constantly steal your money. One time I asked the gentleman for help and he stood there and watched it malfunction and didn't offer to compensate for the lost money because the machine was broken. The female just busied herself elsewhere to avoid the situation. When I asked if the machines were maintained by fox bowl or an independent company (because I wanted to know who to address the situation to), he just gave me a runaround. Either he couldn't understand what I was asking or he just didn't want to give up a couple bucks to satisfy a customer to remedy the situation. The computers on the lanes are difficult to work with. The touchscreens are not responsive. Balls seem to get stuck constantly. It's so frustrating to try to complete a game that it's not fun at all anymore. I would NOT recommend this place to my friends. read more

*cough, cough* I know all bowling alleys are smokey but whoa! There was no place to escape. We left. The pizza there is just okay. Wish there was a better place to bowl. read more

Maybe there are deals you can get, but I paid $26.00 for 2 games and 2 pair of shoes. Seems like way too much.

Love this place. Have had plenty of parties, good times here throughout the years. Knee the former owner, good guy. Good food

Came here for a birthday party this past weekend. My friend called around before she chose Fox Bowl because they had the best deal. Cosmic bowling was included, but they didn't turn it on until we asked. Two games couldn't hold the thirteen kids attention the entire time. Once it was over, we went into the dining area for pizza and self-provided cake. The pizza was ok, nothing spectacular. And the dining room was empty so screaming kids wern't a bother to anyone. All in all, it was a good time for the kiddies. read more