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Brunswick Zone XL
Categories: Arts & Entertainment Arcades Active Life Bowling Arcades, Bowling [Edit]
8070 Veterans Memorial PkwySt Peters, MO 63376
Neighborhood: O'Fallon
(636) 397-2695
- Hours:
Mon-Thu 11 am - 12 am
Fri 11 am - 1 am
Sat 9 am - 1 am
Sun 9 am - 11 pm
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
8 reviews for Brunswick Zone XL
8 reviews in English
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Review from John Y.
Frisco, TX
11/21/2007
Bowling. The word makes you think of badly dressed beer-bellied bubbas knockin' back brewskis to the sound of pins crashing in a smoky bowling alley. Fun, eh?
Brunswick Zone, on the other hand, is nothing like that. Oh sure, you'll see badly dressed beer-bellied bubbas, but it's St. Louis after all. You'll also see white collar suburbanites and their kids... lots of kids. Brunswick has broken the code and broadened its base beyond the stereotypical bowler. It's done this by offering a clean, family-friendly, smoke-free environment and a level of service you might expect from a restaurant. All you have to do is give them the names of those in your party, their respective shoe sizes and whether any of them want bumpers. They bring your shoes, set up the scoring and hook you up with food and drink. Pay your server and they clean up when you're done. Nice.
The one challenge faced when bowling at Brunswick Zone, particularly on the weekend during the day, is lighting. The black light, strobe lights, mirror ball and laser light show may be ok for rollerskating, but it makes for a tough time seeing the pins unless you have the eyes of a 10 year-old. Mixed with kiddie dance music, the added potential for a grand mal amps up the sportiness of the game. Is it a seizure or a strike? Your victory dance takes on new meaning.
If you're not into bowling (or you broke your finger when it got stuck in the ball, like I did), you can watch the telly from the couch or hit the arcade. The laser tag arena allows you to hunt small children legally, though they can be pretty squirrely. Fun for everyone. -
Review from Dan G.
6/23/2011 1 Check-in Here
I've been here a few times now since it first opened and I'm pretty sure the time I went this week with my girlfriend, brother and his wife will be the last.
Let me preface this by saying that I'm an avid bowler and typically go once a week if not more. I'm not saying I'm any good; I just like to bowl. ;) I've bowled at a lot of places in the St. Louis area, especially in St. Charles county, but none of them suck as bad as this place does. I'm not sure if it's coincidence that this place is really the only chain bowling alley I've been to, but that's not really my concern. I like to support smaller, family-owned businesses when I can, but I typically just go where I have the most enjoyable experience.
It's a lot more updated than many of the bowling places in the area. Many opened up some 30+ years ago. Brunswick is for the most part cleaner (though last time I went was an exception), offers more food choices and also has a large arcade and laser tag area for the kiddos. This place is HUGE (hence the "XL" for this location) and has 2 sides of lanes for a total of 38. They have dynamic bumper settings so kids can play with them and adults without, all without having to be on 2 different lanes or constantly switch them since it's automatic. Your shoes are brought to you and you can have a server bring food and drinks to you upon request.
That all sounds fine, but most of those things don't really matter to me. I can carry my own shoes (though I have my own), I can get my own drinks and couldn't care less about bumpers. Laser tag and the arcade are well separated from the lanes so it's not really a distraction.
ALSO, for people who care about a "smoke-free environment," O'Fallon's smoking ban has been in effect since June 16 so all bowling alleys in this town are non-smoking. Maybe this place had an advantage because of that before but now it doesn't matter. And yes, I know this is technically within St. Peters' jurisdiction, but it's right on the border and closer to bowling alleys in O'Fallon.
Okay, so why do I not like this place? The service has always been kinda crappy when I've gone. If I order a Long Island from the bar, don't give me a shot of vodka with the rest of the pint glass being filled up with sour mix and a squirt of soda for $6.50. Horrible! I specifically asked if they made them strong here and the bartender said "of course, Long Islands are strong!" Not this one. I could have ordered a beer for half the price and maybe would've gotten a buzz. Ugh, gross. And come on, if you know I'm watching you make it, I would think you wouldn't blatantly mix the biggest rip-off in history.
The prices for bowling are horrible; unless you go on a night when they're having a special, you're easily paying twice as much as you would at any other place. You can pay by the hour (meaning you can't relax if you want to get the most out of your money) or per game. We went on a Tuesday night which had 2-dollar games and shoes so it ended up being the same price as going to Frontier Lanes. This was fine for tonight, but most every other night would be too costly.
So the price was fine, but when we got our initial receipt to pay, the regular price for shoes was on there ($3.59). We asked the server about this and she said she would have it fixed. Apparently there is no 2-dollar shoes button on the computer. After playing a couple of games, we got another receipt with the same wrong charge for the shoes. Well we needed the check split up between our two groups so we were told it would get fixed then. Of course it did not so we had to ask AGAIN. So we waited for a while and were really ready to go. I guess the server had called the manager and was simply waiting because we saw her casually talking to a janitor guy. Eventually the manager came, swiped his card into the computer and correctly calculated it for us. Okay, so seriously, it took nearly 15 minutes to do that? And since there is no button on the computer, he had to do this for everyone who brought it up? Come on!! I'm guessing they were just hoping people liked to be ripped off or wouldn't want to go through that trouble.
Anyway, we finally paid and were ready to leave. The server gave me back my cash, though she short-changed me a bit. I guess she felt she deserved a little tip for her ability to keep us there 20 minutes longer than we wanted to be. Blah, to heck with it. I was tired and sober and was just glad I was free to get out of there.
There are plenty of other places to bowl in the area and I strongly encourage you to bowl anywhere else instead. I feel they're all kid-friendly (I went to these places as a kid and I see kids bowl there all the time) and offer better drinks for the prices and the same greasy junk food. Also, the staff and customers alike are typically much friendlier.
Sorry if you read this horribly long review! Go out and enjoy a night bowling with friends or family; just don't expect to do so here. -
Review from Saskia S.
12/8/2010
I'm a terrible bowler but a pretty good laser-tag player.
So an evening @ Brunswick zone is sometimes pretty frustrating for me--since Brunswick Zone is weighted heavily towards bowling.
It's much cheaper to bowl, they have servers that attend you at the little booths, and the lanes themselves seem pretty nice.
The laser-tag, however, is really expensive!
$6 per game?
While the arena is pretty good, and the game actually feels longer than it is (which is a good thing), I find it a little incredible that they can charge such a premium for 15 minutes of play. Drop the price or create some packages people!
At least the attached bar has super cheap drinks! You can drown your bad-bowling game/overpriced laser tag sorrows right there!
(In all fairness--I bet this is an awesome place for kids/tweens/teens. I just cannot understand the pricing structure!) -
Review from Isaac G.
Fenton, MO
9/19/2011 1 Check-in Here
The music sucked but drinks are cheap sat night
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Review from Lisa Y.
Frisco, TX
11/1/2007
I can't even convey how amazing it is to have such a family-friendly entertainment business nearby. This is the perfect place to spend some family time.
The Brunswick Zone is huge with an arcade, laser tag and 38 lanes. If you haven't bowled in 15 years like me, you'll be thrilled to see how things have changed. This place has comfy couches in the lanes, waitresses to take your food order, attendants at the doors to provide assistance and maintain the family-friendly atmosphere. And best of all the place is SMOKE FREE!
The only negative I can think of is that other people know about the place. Our first visit was on a Friday night and there was a 2-hour wait to bowl. Our second attempt was successful and everyone had a great time. -
Review from Frank L.
St Charles, MO
1/23/2011
I went here for dinner while my younger sibling was at a party and i ordered a burger, when i got it, it was so raw, it was bleeding. They gave me a new one and the manager gave me dessert on the house for the inconvienience. The food was great after the issue was resolved. I couldn't be happier with the service and the food.
For the bowling and arcade: bowling is fun, as you would expect. The arcade games are fun but most are rigged, especially stackers. It is a fun atmosphere for families and friends. Its fun, but a little too expensive for my taste.Listed in: Cool places
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Review from Linz M.
St Charles, MO
3/18/2011
Not your typical bowling alley. Non-smoking environment. Great service to you while you are playing at the lane! Wasn't prepared for that! :)
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Review from Brian L.
Saint Peters, MO
8/7/2010
My daughter just had her 5th birthday here and she had a good time. Wasn't particularly thrilled with the cosmic bowling during the party though. There was nothing wrong with the bowling, it was just that taking pictures in the dark gets difficult and since the only people there at 11:00 were for birthday parties it should have crossed someone's mind that maybe just regular bowling would be fine. Overall the place was nice and we will go back for bowling again.
