Lucky Strike Lanes

12/20/09

Upscale, Trendy, Cool...BUT...

by CarlitoNY at Citysearch

During a recent attempt to celebrate a friend’s birthday at Lucky Strike Lanes in Manhattan, myself along 4 other friends were turned away at the door because we were not "dressed appropriately." I am not one to call every situation that does not go my way racist, however, I must say that my friends and I are all in our early 30's and are all senior executives in banking, media and Information Technology at Fortune 500 companies and dress far from inappropriately. Being turned away from a bowling alley while dressed in jeans, sneakers, button down shirts and sweaters in the dead of winter is far from thuggish. As we pleaded our case with the bouncers a group of 5 white gentlemen about the same age and similarly dressed were let right in. When we pointed this out to the bouncers they refused to answer only to say, "don't try turning this into a race thing." That was all I needed to hear and now I refuse to give this establishment any of my money. Mind you, I hold frequent business events and would have considered Lucky Strike Lanes as a venue where I frequently spend upwards of $5 - $10k per evening. I have been to other Lucky Strike Lanes around the country and have not had any problem but then again at the other locations I was with some white coworkers...Is this 2009 or 1945? I guess all money is not Green...

• Pros: None
• Cons: Racist

11/27/09

The Most Fun In NYC

by verapanera at Citysearch

This place is amazing. I thought it was going to be just another night bowling in a dingy, dark, smelly place but it totally blew all of my expectations out of the water. It was way better than Chelsea Pears or Bowlmor. We came for my girls Bachelorette party. I thought that it was going to totally blow… after all, who comes bowling for their Bachelorette party?

I was obviously very skeptical. However when we got there we were quickly seated in the spacious, beautifully decorated lounge, where a very nice and attentive waitress seated us and quickly brought us our drinks. We decided to have something to munch prior to bowling and ordered some sliders and some other finger foods. Let me just tell you the burgers are BANGING.... I thought the food was going to be mediocre at best. But to my surprise everything was super yummy. The food was anything but average. In fact it seemed more like the type you would find in an upscale restaurant than a bowling alley.

After we ate we made our way to our designated lane where me and the girls bowled for a couple of hours while being waited on hand and foot by our waitress who kept serving us our tasty beverages. Then on of my girlfriends pointed to my right and was like “OMG is that Blake Lively from Gossip Girl?” And it was. She was bowling just 2 lanes away from us. I was so excited she is like my favorite celebrity.

So then we settled our bill and went home. All in all I would say the night was a total success. I have never had a better time bowling. I think when the winter time comes I will totally make this my new hangout spot.

• Pros: THE BEST PLACE EVER
• Cons: Too Much Fun

11/11/09

This place really, really blows. I mean hard.

by teebal at Citysearch

Oh man. Where to start on this one... ok from the beginning. I called and made reservations for a party of 20. The first bunch of our guests arrived and had to wait 45 minutes to get shoes and our lane. Later, 4 of the late arrivers weren't let in because of the place's rediculous dress code. The waitress was nice but so incredibly SSSLLLLLLOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW with the drinks and food. We had some true beginners so we asked the waitress about lane bumpers to make the game fun for us all. She showed us how to use the computer to put up the rails for the players who needed them. Great, right? Wrong! The rails kept disappearing! I kept putting them back up and thought what a poopy computer system. Turns out the computer system was fine, it was just the poopy management because around about the 5th frame the manager came over to us and told us we weren't allowed to use the bumper rails. Why? He said that they were only for children and that adults would bend them because they were so flimsy. I asked about some child sized balls and the manager told us that children use the same balls as the adults. I told him I didn't understand. He said that adults threw the ball harder. I asked how hard children threw the balls. He said 5-7 mph. Great I said and point out that the rail users' ball speeds(which is displayed along with each players score on a tv screen above the lane). He got beligerent and angry and told us that we could lower the rails or leave. So we lowered the rails. The fun was zapped from our game with half of the group rolling gutter ball after gutter ball. So doing the fun loving thing, we raised th rails again in the 9th frame. In the middle of the 10th frame security was at our lanes telling us to leave or be assaulted. I asked if they wanted us to pay for our drinks and food. They said of course and stood there and stared down the men in our group. It took another 20 minutes before the waitress was tracked down, paid and returned with our change. Talk about total breakdown in proceedure and service! I mean to get kicked out of a place and to still have to wait 20 minutes for your check! This place is a joke. Go to Chelsea Lanes or Bowlmore.

• Pros: you'll roll out laughing from the total and utter douchiness
• Cons: foolishly stupid club and a moronic bowling alley