Danville Bowl
- Good for Kids: Yes
11 Reviews for Danville Bowl
This place is a bowling alley. You can bowl there. The lanes seem a little shorter than the lanes at Dublin. But that might just be the perception because Dublin Bowl has a lot more lanes in general so it may appear to make the Dublin Lanes seem longer. Any how as far as bowling at Danville, it is fine. Bring your own shoes though because a lot of the rental bowling shoes are yucky. Also the service is not that friendly. The one old guy there always gives me that punk kid look. Anyhow, it is not a bad place to bowl if you don't mind the below average customer service.
I would give it just one star, but the dollar game night is really cheap and not filled with lots of lame ass UCB kids like Albany Bowl.
I had the same experience as Jake B. We thought they were open until 1 and then we go there at like 11:15 and we could only play one game split into two teams so they would go faster. Boo.
So my friends and I look like art school punks I guess and the staff looked at us totally like we were from Mars and were going to throw molotov cocktails at them. Not only did they give us weird looks but they snapped at us and told us to hurry up really rudely and just generally reminded me of whale penis.
The bartender was nice and cool. When I asked how much the Patron was (the only drinkable tequila they had), she said is was $7 like that was really expensive or something.
The drive out here would have been a total waste had it not been for a trip to San Ramon In and Out Burger afterwards! The staff there was really nice to us even though they too were about to close.
Danville Bowl is the last bastion of "old Danville" that Danville has left (except Elliot's, but now the cougars have sort of taken it over, so...). Danville Bowl is a little sketchy when you first come in, but then you realize it's just not a bunch of pretentious fillet mignon filled fluff. It's an honest to goodness, true american bowling alley. There are some shady looking folks, some "pro" bowlers and kids just having fun. It even smells like a bowling alley (and so will you when you leave). On weekends they have disco bowling and you can have your kid's 11th birthday party there, if kids aren't too "cool" to do that these days! Basically, it's basic. No frills, no sugar-coated fanciness. But I would argue this is one of the few places in Danville you can have a fun evening without having to deal with what non-Danvillians don't like about Danville: the snobbery and expensive price tag. What ever happened to cheap thrills anyway?
I like bowling, the concept is simple: you throw a big heavy ball and try to knock as much stuff as possible over. I don't like wearing those bowling shoes though. I don't know what bowling alleys do to sanitize them, but it's probably not enough. On a few occasions I've tried to bowl here without the required bowling shoes only to be told by one of the staff that type of behavior was not acceptable.
Danville Bowl features some video games for the kids, a little area where you can buy the saltiest fried food imaginable. I don't know if the food is so salty to help preserve it or to fuel drink sales, probably both. But this is pretty much par for the course at any bowling establishment.
I guess the only saving grace about Danville bowl is they actually have a bar attached to the bowling alley. Well drinks are a reasonable 4 dollars, actually I'm drinking at a bowling alley, it should be even cheaper.
Danville Bowl, looks and feels old. I remember coming here 15 years ago, and the only thing that's changed seems to be the video games. These guys definitely need a renovation/refresh.
Still, there is a lot to be said about getting wasted at a bowling alley and throwing bowling balls down the lanes. It gets interesting waking up the next morning with half your body incapacitated because you've pulled every muscle from your fingertips to your shoulder shot-putting 13 lb balls at Danville Bowl the night before.
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Some of my friends organized a tournament here last weekend. My team got shut down buy a bunch of old folk who were not only excited that they get the great parking spots with the little blue guy in the wheelchair, but the fact that they beat a bunch of kids who were 30 years their junior.
I haven't been bowling in a long time. Now they have little animations that congratulate you or berate you on the overhead monitor. In my case it was the latter.
After missing my attempt to pick up a spare, I would look up only to see a judging portrait of Garfield pointing and laughing with the caption "Nice Ball!"
Fuck you Garfield. I bought all your books when I was in 5th grade. How in hell did you get to be such a pop culture icon? Your only schtick is that you love lasagna, hate Mondays and play cruel pranks on a stupid yellow dog. Seriously, how the fuck have you been the star of an ongoing comic for over 30 years? Lemme guess...in 10 years you are still going to love lasagna, you're still gonna hate Mondays and John Arbuckle is still going to be a single 40 year old pussy who can't tell Liz that he gets a boner when he looks at her!
After the defeat at lane 17, I went to the bar and ordered myself a White Russian. The guy next to me at the bar corrected me and said "Caucasian...you gotta call it a Caucasian. White Russian isn't cool man, not all Russians are white."
Yea, no shit you asshole, I'm ordering a watered down drink at a shitty dive bar thats attached to a less than spectacular bowling alley. I'm not teaching a social studies class to a bunch of 3rd graders.
Christ. I get my ass handed to me at bowling, Garfield mocks me from above, and I get a lesson on how to order a politically correct beverage?!!? Then the icing on the cake.....
Since when is techno music ubiquitous with late night bowling? It seems like whenever I'm at a bowling alley after 10:00pm; the lights dim, the smoke machine begins to cough out plumes of plastic scented fog and then the 65 year old guy behind the register pops in his favorite copy of "German Techno Fusion 7" .
There wasn't enough extacy and hair gel to keep me there, so I closed my tab and retired for the night.
Fun place, lots of high school kids celebrating the completion of their book report and a few assholes at the bar.
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Probably the cleanest and most well maintained bowling alleys I have ever been to. First and formost, this place is all about their "Midnight Madness" bowling nights. From 10:30pm to 1:30am you can rock the night away to DJ'd classic and modern rock, while having a helluva good time. I highly recommend making reservations because this place gets packed. They have one heck of a sports bar too, even if your not bowling it's still a great place to come hang out.
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You can rent the entire alley for your private event! Sorry, I don't know how much that costs. But my company has done it a couple times and we can barely fill up half of the place, so the price must be reasonable (or maybe they just like spending on frivolous things). The food is of the brownest and fried-est assortment imaginable: fried mozzarella, fried zucchini, onion rings, tortilla chips, you get the idea. I bet a birthday party here could get you "most popular" in elementary school.
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I should've known that Danville would have one of the nicest bowling alleys in the Tri-Valley. The shoes look brand new. The bar and food court looked relatively clean as far as bowling alley bars/kitchens are concerned. The prices for "Midnight Bowling" were a little bit steeper than I'm used to paying. Overall, this bowling alley has a very pleasant atmosphere and staff. Even the score board seemed more "classy" than the other bowling alleys I've patronized. The only thing wrong with this alley is the weird location. If you don't know the area very well, you'll pass it because the street is tiny. Just remember to drive through a shopping center and then you'll find it.
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As my friends and I were coming back from a shitty night in the city we decided it would be kool to go bowling.. I remembered going to Danville Bowl when I was a kid so I said we should go there.. We called them and they said they would be open until 1 am so we were down.. Once we got there the guy at the front desk told us that they were closing soon (it was only 11:30) and that we couldn't bowl.. He said that they were closing early because they were tired also.
What a load of bullshit.
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Internet pooped so this might be a double review.Once bowled a 200 there.
Nice bowling shoes, sort of new and not stinky.
The bar has a nice dive feel to it.
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