Insider Pages Reviews for Lincoln Square Lanes

4 Stars: This is a great spot for burgers (by Me100)

Me100 — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:00:00 GMT

This is a great spot for a night out.

3 Stars: It Fills A Niche... (by Kaitlin C.)

Kaitlin C. — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:34:00 GMT

When the rest of the bowling alleys in the city are packed, and charging roughly $11 per person per game, and requiring that patrons are 21 and up after 9 or 10 at night, enter Lincoln Square Lanes. Typically no wait to use a lane, and drink prices are cheap. No, it is not aesthetically pleasing and yes, you need to know how to keep score by hand, as it is not automatic. It is, however, an option different from other bowling venues, with immediate proximity to cute Lincoln Square after you've given yourself a headache computing scores and want to grab a relaxing drink or bite to eat.

1 Stars: DO NOT COME HERE! (by Matt G.)

Matt G. — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:17:00 GMT

This was by far the absolute worst bowling experience of my life. If you don't have time to read this whole review at least heed this advice: NEVER EVER COME HERE. I am a college student who volunteers as a youth mentor for a program at the local YMCA. Usually, my "little brother" and I do things for free or very cheap because well, I'm not getting paid and like I said, I'm a college student: I'm broke, but today, for a treat we decided to take the train into the city and go bowling. We chose Lincoln Square Lanes because it was easy to get to and according to the web it was $4.50 per game. When we got there, it was dark and empty and the man behind the counter (at the bar) looked at us as if we were absurd. We kind of wandered around a bit to see if maybe we had missed something and there was someone else in charge of setting up the bowling. Finally, I went over to the man at the bar and asked if we could get a lane. He was cold and rude to us the entire time, and surprise, it was an additional $7.00 for shoes for the two of us. He gave us our score card (there are not automatic scorers) and sent us to our lane where we remained alone for the next hour. It was dead silent in the building. At one point, my little brother celebrated a strike by dancing to which the man working bellowed viciously from the other room "Get off of there. There's oil on the floor your not allowed to do that." Within an hour we decided to leave. When the man wrung us up, he was once again rude claiming we were throwing around a lot of extra balls without writing them down (which was of course untrue as the game meter proved) and he gave us the price, $36.00 plus the $7.00 for the shoes, oh and the $3.50 I paid in ATM fees, making the grand total $46.50 for two people, for less than an hour, for charity, none the less. I still had fun with my kid, but everything from the service, to the atmosphere, to the price is absolutely, unbearably atrocious. (It's $4.50 per person, per game so two people playing for an hour is roughly $40.00.) Unless you are really loaded and like spending time in crappy bowling allies with mean people, DO NOT COME HERE.

3 Stars: $4.50 per game, not per person (by Shamontiel)

Shamontiel — Sun, 18 May 2008 09:00:00 GMT

Pros: I came to this location for the first time on a Sunday afternoon, and after figuring out from a local that the place is above a hardware store, I was surprised to find so many parking spots. I thought by it being next to McDonald's, that was going to be the only place to park (and McDonald's has signs saying not to park there unless you're in the restaurant). I liked how cozy the place is. I went in and there was only one other family a few lanes down from us, so with two groups total, we had more than enough privacy to concentrate on the game. I liked that I had to take score because the rare occasions that I bowl, I let the automatice scoring board do it and was too lazy to learn how to tally spares and strikes. Now I know because the forms provide examples!

Cons: The lane lights up how many pins you knocked down the first time but not the second time, so pay close attention (for scoring purposes). The light in the ladies room wasn't on, I couldn't find it, and it wasn't until I yanked the old school towel dispenser that the lights flickered. The other lady there said she just went to the bathroom in the dark. I was also disappointed that on two separate occasions, I called to verify that the games were $4.50 each. The employee there said yes, but when I got there, it turns out it's $4.50 per person although he insists that it's $4.50 per game. That's false advertisement, in my opinion, because a game is two people having two turns each for ten rounds. So, if it's $4.50 per game and we play 3 games, that should be $13.50, but I was charged $27. That would've been fine if I had that much with me, but I had to use their ATM since they don't take credit cards (another downer).

Would I go back? Yes. But I'd be fully prepared knowing now the location, the real price of each PERSON not game, and knowing to yank the towel to get the bathroom lights to come on.