I used to think this was a decent, affordable place to bowl. But recently, my son and a friend (both seasoned bowlers on both high school teams and leagues) were kicked out of the bowling alley after bowling 1 of the 4 games they paid for (with no refund) because one of their balls hit and broke a rake. Now, I understand that these are expensive and it's the policy of the bowling alley to do so. However, a staff member admitted to my son it was the fault of their equipment. Of course, when we contacted the owner and he later followed up with the staff, that was denied. Bowl there if you wish, Just be warned that you may be asked to leave without a refund at no fault of your own. read more

I really had a good experience at this bowling alley. It's in the basement of the mall. Seems like an older bowling alley but they have updated the lanes so it was nice and didn't feel dirty. Bowling shoes seemed newer which was nice. Very busy on a Saturday night. My group of 4 had to wait for about 30 minutes for a lane during the "cosmic bowling" time. They were playing great rap music and the lights were dimmed and neon lights were going in the bowling alley area. They did have a full bar with an awesome bartender. She was so sweet and attentive- she made our drinks strong and fast. They have two pool tables that takes quarters only (they do have a change machine by the register). Tables in the bar area for hanging out before bowling. They do have food but we didn't try any. Overall, a great experience. We paid maybe $50 for 4 people to bowl during the cosmic bowling on a Saturday night. We will be back! read more

Gameday Lanes - Pool tables in bar area - Bowling Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

See all

The Merl Hay lanes have been here as long as I remember. One of the entrances used to be inside the mall, down the escalator to the right of McD's. With that long gone, you get in just to the left of the main entrance on the east side of the mall or inside the mall near the information booth. Here you will still have your traditional bowling. The staff were attentive and we were accommodated right away. We had a big group and needed two lanes. One of the lanes needed the bumpers and they pulled that up for us right away. We later ordered pizza from the bar/pub. I had asked previous how they make their pizza. The dough is frozen, however the ingredients are added and baked fresh. The pizza came out hot and it was really good. We chowed down on the pizza as we continued to roll our balls. I think you can either be in a league or just go bowling just a few games on your own. We had a really good time and I dont remember ever going and not enjoying the establishment. read more

Gameday Lanes - Bowling Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

See all

Came to bowl with family today. There were six of us, which they divided us into two lanes. Place was clean and has been updated since I'd last been bowling there. Shoes are a charge with the number of games bowled. Right now they let you leave your used bowling balls on your lane when you're finished before they wipe them down and put them away. Masks are not required to be worn while bowling. We bowled 2 games and were there about an hour and a half. Was a fun Sunfay afternoon escape before back to work on Monday. read more

See all

Oh the memories, I was here years ago with friends and it has not changed much, but why change a good thing right? I love old school bowling spots, and this one is tucked under the mall and if you didn't know it was there, you would probably never know it was there! I recently went back so my son could bowl for the first time! He had a blast, they have bumpers and ramps to help the little ones get the balls down to the pins.. I must admit the bumper helped me a few times as well! The price was right and right now they even have a kids bowl free all summer program going on! Which is pretty cool. This is a good cheap spot to have some fun, bowl a bit and eat some junk food! Glad this has not really changed over the years! If it ain't broke don't fix it! read more

Nothing too impressive about this bowling alley. If all you want to do is bowl, it fulfills that need. There are plenty of bowling balls and shoes available. The electronic score keeping was twitching most of the games and was hard to look at. The biggest plus is that we only had to reset the lane once. Most bowling alleys seem to need that done more often. If you like a laid back bowling alley without a ton of people around, come here. read more

I liked it here; they have enough lanes, good service, electronic score keeping, nice shoes for rent, food to eat, and enough bowling balls for rent. Is this place super fancy? No. It's a bowling alley that is pretty nice and does it jobs for people wanting to play the sport. I am a little old school when it comes to facilities; if it gets the job done to play the game and not run down then I am cool. I had no issues here, good place to bowl and have fun. read more

If you want the latest in technology, this is not the bowling alley for you. Merle Hay Lanes is very quiet in comparison and I don't believe they ever do "cosmic" bowling or anything similar. I've been several times and its never busy. Walked right in around 11PM on Saturday night and had no trouble getting a lane. The balls have seen better days, but seems to be in good condition overall. Merle Hay Lanes would get another star from me if the bar took credit/debit cards. Unfortunately, you can only pay for your bowling via electronic means. The bar only takes cash. I always forget this--and dislike paying ATM fees to get it, so I went thirsty. read more

Horrible lanes!! Break down frequently. 3 games will take your at least 4-5 hours. Approaches are sticky, no cleanliness. Worst bowling allley I've been to read more

Price is great but maybe you get what you pay for. My biggest issue here is staff. We were recently enjoying a night out with a coworker who is relocating soon and at last call we all ordered another drink from the bar and closed out our tab. The bowlers around us all started to leave and they closed in about 45 minutes so we planned to just finish our drinks and head out since we had just finished our last game. 15 minutes later an employee comes over and states they have to close early and we need to leave. Their hours said open until ten and it was about 9:30 by this point. They shut off all the lights while we were still in there collecting our belongings. It was abrupt, the kid they sent over was a bit rude and barely even looked at us as he mumbled that. I understand that business hours have to shift sometimes but it seemed like this was 100% due to them not wanting to be there until close. They had all at this point been standing around talking and staring at us which was obvious. I get it, everyone else is gone and you have one group left but how it was executed was ridiculous. Not once before this did anyone say that they were closing early. We would not have spent another dime at the bar at that point and would have moved up to the restaurant and bar. Our friend left almost an entire beer on the table. They did not even grab the glasses off the table, they just kicked us out and left too. If we had been heading out and they wanted to close, whatever, that would have been totally fine because at that point no one should be coming in since they close soon but maybe not when you have paying customers still there. This was definitely something I have never experienced before and was not expecting. We have never had any issues take place at the arcade or restaurant upstairs. read more

Totally average bowling alley. Advantages include: location (a mall is kind of a cool spot for a bowling alley), electronic scoring, plenty of lanes, relatively low price and has a bar. Disadvantages include: not the latest tech, a little run down, the bathrooms are small and don't have kids - size amenities. Come here if you like casual bowling or want to kill time while waiting for a movie or for the wife to finish shopping. We went for a bday party and had a lot of fun. The first four or five lanes have bumper bowling for kids. read more

Came here for a friends bachelor party and the service was exceptional. Small group of 7 and the employees catered to us along with other busy customers. Gave us shots, drinks, and food. Well Accommodated and clean. Would definitely recommend any event being held at this location. read more

Who doesn't love bowling?! I was shocked with how clean and modern this place was considering it is in the basement of a mall. We came in on a Sunday and there was only a handful of people there. The employees were very friendly and focused on keeping the place clean and organized. We had so much fun and were able to bowl several games, rent shoes and have a drink for around $20.00. We had a blast and will be going back next time we want to bowl. read more

See all

Came in at 5:30pm to bowl with some girls to have a fun night and by 6:30pm we were told to "pick up the pace" since they had a league coming in. 1st it would have been nice to know prior to letting us bowl 2nd he did not need to be rude about it. I will not come here again even with reasonable prices. read more

Gameday Lanes - Bowling Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

The lanes were screwed up, it was resetting after the first ball. They ran us out of time 3 times requiring going to the desk to reset over and over. Then they refused a refund. They offered nothing for a worthless ruined game. Don't waste money here, poor poor service. read more

Truly no frills bowling. They do have electronic score keeping, so that is a plus. I really suck at keeping score on a piece of paper. They used to make us do that in gym class. I think I got a C. (Hello, it was gym, not math class!) I remembered to bring jazzy socks, but fear not, many of the shoes were brand spankin' new!! They have a room of balls. I have never seen so many balls in my entire life! Soooo is this my first choice for bowling in the future? Eh, maybe. I mean, they are located in the basement of a mall (not kidding) so if you're bored in between frames, go ahead and shop till ya drop! Or stay in the action and get a $9.25 pitcher of Blue Moon. The beer selection was poor. Don't judge. Bowling + beer + coworkers = good times? Yes. read more

Both clerk's at the desk were very inconsiderate and rude. They greeted us with bad attitudes and when we were having troubles with our lane not feeding back the bowling balls, the only help one of the employees offered was by saying "well sometimes that just happens". Poor service made the night much less enjoyable! It is safe to say I miss Plaza Lanes! read more

I use to bowl league here; it has been nicely remolded since I stopped bowling. Much more lighting than when I bowled there. However; the balding gentleman working there was very rude. Acted as if he didn't understand bowling terms when I asked him something, lazy and erased scores to do over rather than fixing the lane or going to clear a pile up to retrieve a ball. We had a group of 8 and we wanted to alternate lanes and he said he couldn't or can't; well I know you can. It's close to home so we wanted to stick around, but we will definitely go back to Pleasant Hill next time. Customer Service huge read more

Recent upgrades have been terrific and our family loves MH Lanes! The family who runs this establishment are extremely kind and new employees have been just as considerate. My boys (ages 11 & 13) love the billiards tables and games - thanks for keeping the claw game reasonable so kids can actually win a prize! Food is good and fairly quick for such a small kitchen - keep up the great work and we'll be back soon! read more

This bowling alley was a disaster. The service was terrible. There were no employees at the front desk when my friend and I wanted to bowl and we waited for a LONG time before anyone showed up. When someone did show up, it was a rude lady who had major sass problems. The lane they gave us had SERIOUS issues and we were too afraid to approach the sassy worker. When we wanted to pay, the working lady was bowling on her own lane and didn't help us for a solid 5 minutes. It was a disaster. read more

We took my 4 year old son bowling to have a family date night. The bumpers were not automatic, and we were told to "just push them down." Unknowingly, my husband attempted to pull the bumper back up for his turn and it completely CHOPPED OFF THE TIP OF HIS FINGER. The guy at the front desk was lazy and did not seem to care whatsoever that we were trying to have an enjoyable time with our child and as a result, my husband lost the tip of his finger. This place makes me sad for human kind. I definitely would not bring children here or go here ever because of their morals and how they handled this unfortunate situation. I hope that we will see some kind of justice and will be traveling down that road. They have not been helpful at all regarding the accident. read more

As some other reviews have said, there is nothing really special about the alley, but hey it is cheap and there is plenty of balls to go around. It was busy when we went as leagues were going on, but we were able to get a lane right away and bowl a few games. No frills bowling here, but it's pretty hard to beat the price. read more

I bowl in a league here at Merle Hay Lanes and I love the place. The staff is very friendly and accommodating. It has been updated so the older reviews here may not apply anymore. I'd recommend giving it a try at the very least. read more

Typically I love this place. However, today, Saturday June 11th at 12:20 pm. We entered the bowling alley and it was OPEN but completely abandoned by its Employee. We looked around and hollered for some assistance with no response. 30 minutes later a young man approached the counter with absolutely no apology. We asked where is was, he said he was cleaning the bathroom. We checked the bathrooms for cleanliness and both of the bathrooms were trashed and unclean. However, the emergency exit door happened to be propped open. It's one thing to do your job and be absent. The fact that this young man boldly lied to us and gave us horrible service makes me want to never come back here. read more

While this facility is spacious and accommodating for large crowds or parties, the staff is unprofessional and inconsiderate. As a customer, of a party of two, they spoke to us as if we were an inconvenience. I would not recommend this company's services to anyone, they DO NOT treat their customers as if they want to keep them. read more