Will absolutely never return to this establishment again. We mistakenly booked a bowling…read morereservation in advance for our daughter's birthday without calling and notifying the management of our celebratory intentions. Our daughter was so excited to bowl and enjoy her time with family and friends, but since the reservation was not booked as an 'official' birthday party, management refused to permit us to bring her cake inside the building, under any circumstances.
Upon arrival, my husband inquired regarding the possibility of bringing her cake inside sometime during our bowling session, and was informed by an employee that because we had not booked our reservation as a birthday party, that we would not be permitted to do so. As a result, I chose to follow up and asked to speak to a manager, but instead, spoke with the owner, who was reluctant to engage with me. I indicated to her that we had not realized that enjoying a cake during our session would be an issue, and begged her to make a small exception. I also mentioned that if we had known that they would not allow us to bring our cake, we would have been happy to have purchased one there, but oddly enough, she admitted that her business did not sell cakes of any kind. Needless to say, she was not receptive to my request, but said that she would make a phone call and follow up with me shortly.
Approximately ten minutes late, the owner approached me in our designated area, and informed me that I was "told NO when I had called earlier in the day" by the manager, which was an outright lie and completely false accusation. When I contested her accusation, she seemed taken aback, but replied that whoever had called "should have informed me" that we would not be permitted to bring in our cake. In fact, what actually had occurred involved my daughter calling and inquiring whether food was sold at the premises, as we had never been to Mohawk Lanes, previously. She was merely told that they did sell food, and that no outside food or beverages were permitted, which was absolutely understood on our part. At no point in the telephone conversation did my daughter ask about bringing in her own cake, and she made the assumption that a cake would be an exception, as it had been countless times when we had chosen to celebrate her birthday at other locations or places of business in our area.
It should be noted that we had never intended to bring in our own food, and purchased multiple pizzas and pitchers of beverages during our two hour visit for our 10 guests, which we had planned on, regardless of this establishment's cake policy. We spent hundreds of dollar that day, and much more than we would have spend had we purchased their birthday party package, yet were treated very poorly, regardless. My daughter and her friends took advantage of the bowling session that we had paid for, and also played games for a bit in the arcade section. That said, our time at Mohawk Lanes felt extremely awkward, uncomfortable, and nothing like a birthday celebration should ever be, due to the uncompromising and hostile behavior of the management team that day.
In any event, after the two hour reservation time frame, we moved out to the parking lot to light and serve my daughter's birthday cake to our family and friends, which was sadly served out of the back of our vehicle, due to management's absurd inflexibility at Mohawk Lanes. It worked out due to the good weather we were lucky enough to have at the time, but had it been raining, snowing, or fairly cold, the outcome would have been quite different.
Never again will we set foot in this establishment, and we made certain that each and every person in our party and the other customers we spoke with that day knew exactly how obstinate, unreasonable, and vindictive the management's behavior toward us was during our time there. BEWARE!!
