A few weeks ago we visited "Splitting Edge" for some initial trial throws and a quick tour of the facilities, and were very excited about the idea for future birthday parties/date nights/etc... This week we were looking for something fun to do and my son brought up throwing axes, who says no to that? So I checked their website and tried to book, but their schedule says you can book a lane as early as 9 am, which is a little confusing since the posted hours were 12-10PM. It mentioned if you wanted a reservation within 24 hours you could call, so I figured that was my best bet. I got their voicemail which now says the hours are Mon-Thurs 3-10 pm, which confused me further. I left a voicemail letting them know we'd like to come in and throw, then followed up with an email to bookings@splittingedgeaxethrowing.com just to be sure. We showed up the next day at 3PM, and it was empty with the exception of a young man at the front desk and maybe 3 people throwing (who we found later were also employees). The young man asked if we had a reservation and I explained the dilemma (not sure of the hours, reservation system online didn't match when they said they were opened, didn't want to pay and risk showing up when they were closed, etc.). I was informed they don't take walk-ins and that they were booked. I asked to make an online reservation since all slots showed as "available" online but was told that's not how it works. I explained that I both called and emailed with no response and we were told the best they could do was let us pay per throw (10 throws for $5 each). We couldn't pay for a lane in an empty building with nothing but 3-4 employees throwing axes, because they were "booked" and/or "they don't accept walk-ins".
A really terrible experience overall. A few recommendations would be to make sure your online hours and voicemail match to avoid this confusion with anyone else and if you don't take walk-ins, PLEASE make that something you say on the website so no one else tries to walk in when they don't receive a callback or returned email. This whole thing left a really bad taste in my mouth, and that's really unfortunate because I was really excited about having someplace different like this to go and spend some time. Now I have to try and come up with another idea for my son's birthday party because he was sold on this idea.
A real bummer for everybody. read more