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- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Music:
- DJ, Juke Box
- Best Nights:
- Mon, Thu
- Happy Hour:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Smoking:
- No
- Coat Check:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Very Loud
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
11 reviews for Amf Forest Lanes
11 reviews in English
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Review from David P.
Chicago, IL
11/23/2011 3 Check-ins Here
$1 games on Monday's (+shoe rentals)!
The staff and servers are friendly, the place is clean and comfortable, they have high-tech scoring screens and they have $12 Blue moon pitchers!
Four of us played a about three games, drank two pitchers and payed about $50! Awesome! -
Review from Joshua M.
12/10/2009
AMF Forest Lanes is like walking into a trailer park, and I love it. It's like the bowling alleys you remember going to as a kid... Women wearing "Eat shit and die" shirts, smoke-filled... I'd go here just to people-watch... Just don't get caught in a fight.
Thursday night special brings them all out, too. $11 for 10-1. (9-12 in summer)... Shoes included. Awesome.
Lanes are pretty well-kept. Scoring system is good. Staff are hilarious. I used to bowl here once a week when I was in college. I'm sure I'll be back some day. -
Review from Carm O.
Chicago, IL
8/8/2011 1 Check-in Here
Your regular run of the mill bowling alley. I did like their automatic scoring screen with different themes. (2) things I didn't care for... #1) AMF has had this promotion going on for Free Bowling for Kids. Which is great. You can get coupons for 1 free game of bowling for up to 10 people, you just pay for the shoes. Well, when they rang me up for the shoes it was a little over $12 for myself and 2 kids for shoes. I thought that was pretty high and in my opinion they overcharge to compensate for the free bowling. #2) Since they do have this Free Bowling for Kids promotion going on, they probably will have a lot of kids at the bowling alley. Being so I thought it was kind of strange that they only had one of those bowling bowl guides for little kids to roll their ball off of. We had to wait until another family was done bowling to use it. But all in all, we will be back again.
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Review from chad m.
Chicago, IL
12/28/2007
Forest Lanes is basically your quintessential, stereotypical, right out of the movies midwestern bowling alley. Exactly what one should expect. Totally worth the drive, assuming your not stupid enough to drive past several other stereotypical bowling alleys to get to this one.
Cheap beers and fake nacho cheese are just a bonus as the real treat is the bowling, hence the term "bowling alley".
I gave this place 5 stars because it's great at being a bowling alley.
In conclusion, if you want to bowl, indulge in bowling culture and you live near by, this place is great. Otherwise, go elsewhere because chances are they don't want you here either. -
Review from Ray N.
4/11/2009
Quite honestly, the Thursday night special is the reason to go there. Unlimited Bowling + shoes for less than $11 from 10-1 AM? Awesome. Otherwise, the place is definitely showing its age. Not saying it needs to go super high-tech, but it's been at least 15 years since remodel and the plain beige EVERYTHING shows. No to mention quirkiness with the pin machines themselves - it won't grab the 10th pin, or your previous throw never even "officially" happened even though you have a 7-10 split. Plus their prices on pitchers of Light Domestics are reasonable, and if you're here with a group Thursday nights, they usually have karaoke to help with your fragile drunken ego.
Most nights they have leagues, so good luck going at that time; you'll want to try during the day or at least until like 6 at night. But for the atmosphere, nothing beats a bunch of pasty white people bowling next to some dude who Crip-walks up to the foul line. Plus, there are a number of late-nite diners and drive thrus open within a couple miles, thanks to Joliet Rd and 1st ave being major truck routes, so if you're hungry, you can always stop in those places. -
Review from Ellie B.
Chicago, IL
11/17/2007
First of all, where the hell IS Lyons?
The middle of nowhere, that's where. For the love of god, the name of the neighboring town is Stickney. What good can happen in a place called Stickney??? Probably very little.
Well, the only reason I landed in Lyons was to hang out with my friend for her birthday. God, that's love. Because this place was a bit on the frightening side. It was like cosmic bowling with the Big Lebowski and the Latin cast of High School Musical.
The beers were cheap and Betty, the bartender who very closely resembled Sophia on the Golden Girls, was very quick and efficient. Spry old lady, that Betty!
Skip the nasty nachos unless you're already drunk.
Affordable prices, but not worth
A. the drive to Lyons
B. dealing with high school date night on a Friday, as I'm fairly certain there is nowhere else to go. In Lyons. -
Review from Michelle A.
Brookfield, IL
6/2/2011 5 Check-ins Here
"Eff it Dude, let's go bowling."
If you're going to follow one movie stricture in your life, let it be this one.
My daisy troop and I descended on this alley to have our end of the year hootenanny, well, it was probably more of a shindig. The event came off without a hitch replete with pizza and patches and the bowling alley staff was attentive and responsive to our special needs. We had several bowlers who were on the smaller side and getting those heavy balls all the way down the lane can be difficult sometimes, but whenever we needed help it was there.
If you will it, dude, it is no dream. -
Review from Vanessa M.
Chicago, IL
6/9/2008
I've been here for league play and for regular play. I even came here once after a Winter Formal dance in high school (do you know how hard it is to bowl in a long formal dress?). Granted it looks dated (ok, it IS dated) and it could remind you of the bowling alley in the show "Roseanne," but that's the point, isn't it? You go to a bowling alley to have some inconsequential fun and relax a bit. Games are not expensive and the beer is cheap. Always good times.
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Review from Joshua M.
2/18/2007
I realize that my reviews are getting more and more snobby, but this place is a craphole. Forest Lanes is basically your quintessential, stereotypical, right out of the movies midwestern bowling alley. I didn't know bartenders could be that old... and that so many people could actually own their own bowling balls, or that parents would think it's good for their children's lungs to inhale that much second hand smoke. I was there for a work gathering, and it was ghe-tto.
Listed in: Chicagoland jihad hit list.…
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Review from Steven M.
12/19/2008
O.K. so they don't have smoking anymore. And the place has been cleaned up considerably since Joshua was there. This is my second year here for our office christmas party. They food has always been brought by our company, so that has nothing to do with it. But they do accomodate us with tables and everything we need for the buffet. The lanes are pretty nice and we only had one lane breakdown the whole night. I do agree with the bartender. One girl was not enough for all the people we had. and then she left for the night and Dyna-sore took over. As I remember, it's the same situation that we had last year. She must be the owners mother or something. That is the only complaint. But they do need to do something about it. That is where the money is. Feeding your customers drinks. It will keep them coming back. And I would have given them another star for better service.
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Review from BEEEE K.
Forest View, IL
12/11/2007
...okay let's hold it a minute here. What in the world would you be going to a bowling alley for if not to see:
A - A cross section of middle America
B - People with funny personalized bowling balls, wearing matching shirts & shoes
C - eat faux cheesy nachos
D - drink cheap beers served to you by incredibly old yet wizened ladies who call you 'hun'
Really, what do you go to the bowling alley for then people?
I think it's great; smoke-filled, cheap beer flowing, SNACK-BAR, bowling balls with beer cans/skulls/roses inside of them. A perfect trip back in time. Folks of all colors and persuasions rolling balls awkwardly down the alley while all wearing rental shoes. What an equalizer. Try a field trip out of your element sometime - go to Forest Lanes!
Monday & Thursday night specials...I think Monday night is a Buck a game, and Thursday night is all you can bowl 8 Bucks after 9pm. ...and Stickney Buddy? Not so bad I tell you.Listed in: I love Forest View and all…
