It's nice to have a bowling alley so close by; however the lanes haven't been updated since I've been in high school (almost 20 years ago). I've been three times in the last three weeks, and each time all of our balls get stuck in the ball return and require one of us to walk up to the counter and ask for our balls to get returned. Last night we went up 6 times in less than an hour, and probably wasted at least 20 minutes of our 2 hour bowling time. read more

I have never been to a bowling ally that refused to allow a first time bowler the opportunity to use bumpers. Furthermore, after the attendant watched my friend struggle for 3 turns ( only able to knock down 1 pin) he offered a lack luster strategy and explained it was their business model to not support and encourage new bowlers the opportunity to have fun and learn a new hobby. Money is tight and I would NEVER EVER recommend coming to a place like this- save your money and head to a bowling ally that actually wants your business and wants to provide a fun filled day. Be advised, if you want to know pricing or have any questions about this business- you will need to read all posted signs as the attendant will just point to them before being able to respond to your questions! read more

Surf Bowl has been the very worst work experience for my kids or any decent human being. I can vent now. Surf Bowl could be such a cool place to work and go to, but the owners down to the management treat their employers so badly. We just sued for no lunch breaks and no breaks period. They are stiil doing this and getting away with it. We have seen the very worst in people at that place. I am so glad we are done with Surf Bowl. Oceanside deserves an honest bowling alley that is affordable and fun for the family. read more

I was waiting 5 min for the bartender (Guy with the horrible hairstyle) to fill my pitcher since he kept skipping me for the regulars that knew his name. As I was waiting I saw some breaking sports news about the Chargers on one of the TV's which have no sound coming from them. I walked up and turned up the volume just enough so I could here what they were saying from within 2 feet from the TV. Mr bad haircut decided to chew me out and yell at me saying you better never touch my TV's or you wont be allowed to step foot in here again. FYI, just because you are copying Mr T's haircut doesn't make you intimidating!!! I will continue to go just so I can order drinks from Mr. bad haircut and tip him 1 cent per round I buy. You should do the same!! read more

Terrible customer service. Insult their customers instead of trying to help them. Friends and I were figuring out how to split the money, and they decide to tell is about their special after we figured it out and then insult us for taking long. Even the tone of their voices is condescending. read more

We loved this bowling alley! Well kept lanes, and loved the retro look.

"Meh. i've experienced better." ...is the description for a two-star yelp rating. To be honest, I believe I'm scoring on the 'nicer' side of my feelings for this place. I called in advanced to make a reservation for our party of six at which point the lady who answered the phone was very nice and informed me that we should have no problem getting a lane on a Friday night. She was very nice and polite, and she was correct. We showed up at 6:00 pm on Friday with our party of six and easily got a drink at the bar (bartender was great, didn't catch her name), a lane and ordered some food. We had ordered our food from the RUDEST girl EVER! She was not polite nor bothered to smile once - whatever. After waiting about 45 minutes for three pizza's we nicely asked when our food would be ready. She RUDELY replied 'well there's at least two pizza's before your first one, so a while' and went back to doing absolutely nothing. It took a total of twenty more minutes before we got our food with an extra dose of rudeness. She was the MAIN reason for our group having a near mediocre experience. On our last frame of the last game that we played, the computer shut down randomly and we didn't get to finish what seemed to be the most eventful game we had going. Dawn (the manager I assume?) was actually quite nice and gave us another free game on the house. We were really disappointed that there was no way to get our game back but at least she made up for it. Overall this place wasn't horrible but it wasn't great either. Also the prices were a little confusing. The only thing listed on their website states that it is $5.25 per game, leading us to assume the prices were incredibly reasonable. Note that the price is $5.25 per game PER PERSON. read more

The Groupon I used for this was a rocking deal but it was too good to be true. The service was horrible!! The lane kept needing to be reset and then took over an hour and twenty minutes to get food and drinks after I was asked to come back in about 10 minutes because he was slammed. I understand being busy; however, the snack bar opened at 1pm I initially went up at 115 to place an order at which time I was asked to come back in 10-minutes. 10-minutes later I go back and on top of him still being "slammed" there were two more people in front of me. We only ordered nachos, cheese sticks and corn dogs. The service at snack bar was very subpar and the attitude of "I should just accept it" was not okay. There was no apology for the supbar service and getting our food close to the end of our 2-hour bowling session seems a bit unreasonable to me. Doubt we will return with our family. We will keep bowling on base at Camp Pendleton where you get STELLAR customer service. read more

Real old school bowling alley, but are there really any new school bowling alleys anywhere? Fun times to be had and not too crowded.

There are not a lot of bowling alleys in the area but this one is good. A little old but they got their stuff together. Food is good, like bar food. Bartenders are nice and make strong drinks but don't expect martinis. Service can be slow during day if one person is working and they get a line. Prices are good and they have midnight bowling, depending on what crowd you like you might want to check it out and decide for yourself. If you like bowling, drinks, and plenty of space for friends it's a great place to go. read more

It was a fine little bowling alley. We are in the area on vacation and were looking for something to do on a rainy day - we did have lots of fun here! The exterior is pretty sketchy and the inside is definitely old and not super kept up or modern. But we happened to go on a Wednesday, which is 2 for 1 day, so we got two hours of bowling for $5ish per person. Shoes were (I think) $4 to rent, but those were 2 for 1, as well. So it was a good deal for the price we paid, but idk if it'd be worth the normal prices. read more

I absolutely adore surf bowl! It's a fantastic local place that offers a fun activities (bowling and laser tag) that I don't get to play often. It has a retro vibe which compliments the establishment nicely. I've used their restrooms almost everytime I've gone and they are consistently clean. I wish there were more fun places like this in Oceanside. read more

Just had my twins' 7th birthday party at Surf Bowl. They could not have been any nicer, more accomodating or helpful...kids had the best time and it was easy on me and a good price! We will be back!! Thank you!! read more

I have been here a few times & yes I had a blast each time!!! The place is outdated, but I'm from a small town so I'm actually used to that kinda thing so it really doesn't bother me. We ate the food here mainly the pizza's & appetizer's. My family & I enjoyed the food, the game machines, & most of all spending fun time's together at a reasonable expense. I really have no complaint's on this establishment aside from maybe cleaning up the restrooms better & or repairing any issues with the sewage itself because there is somewhat of a foul odder in that area... I give Surf Bowl five star's because I do enjoy taking my family here & well worth the money if you go on a special. I complained about the restroom yes but it's not going to hinder me taking my family tomorrow for MY BIRTHDAY because we wont be hanging out in the restrooms LOL we will be bowling together & having fun at BOGO PRICES YAAA!!!! read more

Went here today with our kids who love to bowl. Got ignored for over 10 mins while waiting patiently in line. Zero eye contact even when we got to the front of the line. Then they serve another guy behind us who is late and has a party of 10 or more. By this point I walked, and had to deal with really upset, crying kids, but this place had The WORST customer service I have experienced in a long time. Feel bad for my kids as we live in a small town and don't get to go bowling often but I could not pay anything to bowl here. Dirty, disorganized and rude!!! read more

I am not an avid bowler by any means. I was just looking for some fun with the wife and kids. We went here on a Sunday and had fun. The place was clean and the Nachos were great. Staff was friendly. We bowled 2 games each for a grand total of about $25 with two lanes. I plan on going back. read more

Went to surf bowl yesterday with my son, I was surprised at how big the place is (32 lanes I think). Nice ambience, good pricing, $10 per hour each with 1 hour free, so for $20 bucks plus I got shoes so $24 we bowled about 10 games total! Front desk guy was cool and helpful as was the guy on the lanes, couple of technical issues with pin setter but hey we're not on the PBA TOUR! Go and have fun, nothin like a pocket hit with all 10 pins in the pit, wish I could hit the pocket more often lol! Did not eat or drink anything, to busy bowling. read more

Would NOT advise going here. First off, my older sister and I took her kids out, thinking it would be fun, but when we looked for a ball for them, you couldn't find them. As it turned out, you had to go down a hall and round a corner to even find the 6 lbs balls. The 8 and 9 lbs balls were down the hall, closer. The toilets were broken. When we decided to get nachos we were told to wait 10 minutes before they could even take our order. They had said they were still setting up. It was well past the time they opened and they were still setting up? When we went back, there were 2 people working, one taking orders (and helping with sauce) and another cooking. We ordered, but we had to wait well over half an hour for our nachos! Our balls kept getting stuck too. The vending machines didn't work either, we had to ask someone to open the vending machine and get what we wanted and our change. read more

We had a great time!!! super fun!! they played great 50's oldies rock n roll, bowling by the beach!! loved it!!

We had a great time last night hadn't been there for a while. All the staff are super friendly and they have good customer service. The guy that help us when we first got there I believe the owner is really nice that's the reason why we keep going. My daughter loves going and playing in the arcade games all the time. I work in the customer service industry and I can tell you that they have really good service and we never have had a problem with any kind of glitch at all. We at least try to go every other week if we can. Hope to see you guys there. read more

Don't let the exterior fool you the inside is in good shape, bright lit, and med-heavy oiled lanes. Best prices around in this area. bowling equipment works with very few flaws. read more

my first time here last week and i gotta be honest, the place looks ok inside and all but it stinks really bad,smells like someone sprayed bug spray all over inside. i was dissapointed because the nearest bowling is quiet far from it read more

I am absolutely horrified at what my kids (15,10) and their friends(15,15)had to go through yesterday. Upon arriving at surf bowl they were greeted by a very rude woman named Rose. They asked her the prices for games and shoes and instead of answering politely, she was very sarcastic and let them know " It's self explanatory" From there things went from bad to worse. She would not allow my 10 yr old to use the bumpers because" there was another 10 yr old not using them in another lane" She grabbed my 10 yr old by the arm when he stepped over the line while bowling and took him over to a tiny sign on the ground and held his face to show it to him it was against the rules. She removed the balls they were using to give to other customers. These are paying customers and more importantly, good kids. Nobody should be treated the way they were treated. I called and spoke to Rose and she denied everything. I will be speaking to whoever is in charge. We will NEVER go back to surf bowl and I would suggest you don't either. read more

Wow! What a terrible night! So we drove about a half hour to Surf Bowl because I was given a "Groupon" Ticket as a gift that was supposed to include bowling for 4 along with a pizza and beverage. We arrrived at 10:10pm on a saturday night and the girl behind the counter claimed that the coupons don't work after 10pm. First of all, I said 10minutes? Cant you wave it or have us pay a little extra? "NO I CANT. If you wanna bowl itll be $50." So then i explained that we dont just have $50 to spend and no where on the coupon does it explain anything about time restrictions. Plus, only 25% of the lanes were filled. The place was empty! She looked at the coupon and said "Well, it says in the fine print that we can refuse the coupon if we want." What a ridiculous way to treat a customer and to run a business! Needless to say, we yelled at her for awhile and then just left. What a horrible horrible assistant manager to represent their establishment. I am returning the groupon and they have lost a customer for life. read more

Surf starting using a "new" lane conditioning machine about 2 months ago, which has resulted in a disastrous shot on the lanes - very oily, spotty, inconsistent - you name it, it's everything wrong you can thing of. Scores are dropping like lead balloons, and league bowlers, especially the scratch bowlers, are not happy. Unless they can figure how to fix the shot to what it was previously, my teams (I bowl league there more than once a week) will be moving to another bowling center beginning next summer. Bummer that Surf management does "get" that it's a business, and the goal of a business is to delight the customers so they'll talk about it and come back for more. I can't do that anymore; even worse, all I can say about Surf is they're not tuned in to their league bowlers and are seriously doing what they can to drive them away. I have bowled in several leagues in another city and to be honest, I'm just more accustomed to the desire of those centers to be known for their high scores (in fact, most of those centers reward their 300 score bowlers with cash awards and/or gift certificates). I'm not suggesting that Surf lay down a candy shot that everyone can get a 300 on, but at least lay down a shot that rewards good bowlers with high scores. The way the shot is now is that the odd of getting a strike are the same for the average 140-average bowler who throws a straight ball and the hooker or cranker who used to average 220. Very disheartening. Anyway, I don't expect Surf to express any more interest in remedying this problem any time soon - as I said, they're aware of the bowler displeasure now and still haven't corrected the problem - so you expect to see at least 2 fewer teams bowling there after this season ends. read more