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Dart Bowl
Rating Details »
Neighborhood: Brentwood
5700 Grover Ave
Austin, TX 78756
(512) 452-2518
5700 Grover Ave
Austin, TX 78756
(512) 452-2518
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
52 reviews for Dart Bowl
I've been enjoying Dart Bowl lately. As someone writing her dissertation and sitting at the computer most of the day, getting out and actually doing something really makes a difference. And there's something satisfying about throwing the ball and knocking down pins.
Dart Bowl seems busiest in the early evening, at least on Fridays and Saturdays. It's a real mix of serious league folks, families, groups of teens, and hipsters. A kinda cool, diverse vibe. Plus, the staff is really nice.
Who doesnt enjoy throwing a weighted ball at pins 60 feet away and trying to bust some stuff up. I do, I forget how gratifying it is and how are hard. I usually only bowl about once a year and its always to this alley.
This place is kind of seedy, kind of a dive, but what bowling alley isnt? It just a typical place you could imagine "the dude" playing in or Walter pulling his piece out on the lane. I actually think I saw smokey. They changed dollar games monday night to two dollar games (kind of annoying). Drink prices are okay you can get beer for less than three dollars.
Fun place though for an annual visit once a year to stop playing wii sports and try the real thing out. Then remember you bowl so much better on the wii and never go again.
Dart bowl is pretty much a time warp and proabably looked exactly the same back in 1982. The place gets a mixed crowd ranging from families to those lost souls sporting wrist guards, custom balls, and sweet mullets.
Drink prices seem like they are stuck in the 80's too, which is nice. Beers for under 3 bucks and top shelf booze for under $4.00
After sucking down too many cheap drinks grub on some enchiladas. The thought of eating in a bowling alley usually wouldn't sound the least bit appealing, let alone going from some TV dinner -esque mexican food. Go for it, the enchiladas are really good!
Dart Bowl is a fun night out for a group of people where you don't have to spend a ton of money. It's less than $5.00 a group, you can play about one game an hour. The alley has been around for a while, but there are modern scoring machines (they'll even tell you how fast you rolled the ball) and bumpers added for the kids, so they never have a gutter ball.
There is a snack bar with badass enchiladas and cheap Lone Star while you bowl. There is also lots of parking. and especially if you live in central Austin it's convenient to get to without having to get on the highway.
I live a few blocks from Dart Bowl. Moving into that area, having a bowling alley around the corner wasn't a big selling point. Sure, it wasn't a negative, but I wasn't peeing my pants with excitement to go walk to the bowling alley.
Maybe I should have been. (well, maybe not, but I think you get my drift)
First off, Dart Bowl is actually a clean bowling alley. Oddly, this turned me off at first. Where are all the grizzled bowling vets with catcher mitt faces from years of hotboxed smoking in their local bowling hangout? Why doesn't it smell like terrible food and Marlboro reds? The floor in the bathroom isn't covered with years of grime...where am I?
The lanes are nice and everything is well maintained. Mondays are dollar bowling night ($1 per game, $1 for the shoe rental, and $1 for their food 'specials') and the place gets packed right at 9. Maybe it's just a Monday thing, but sometimes I have trouble finding a good ball to use.
A minor gripe. This bowling alley is awesome.
Everyone loves Dart Bowl. Why don't you? I dug that I found a ball my fat fingers fit in. Say that 5 times fast.
Fat fingers fit in.
Fat finger fit in.
Fat finger fitzeh
Fatz finge fitty
Yeah that was only 4 times. Hm.
There is something definitely demented about alley 20 because at least 3 times we threw gutter balls, when they smacked into the back the ball rebounded and still managed to knock down up to 3 pins.
I dig the ball speed monitor. Jefe threw 21 mph. That is a fucking good throw. Plus he doesn't look like Shaq, who can probably throw 30 mph with only 2 fingers. I don't think the monitor is a Dart Bowl special, but anyway, woohoo.
There's also greasy spoon foods and vending machines and white russians and stuff.
I swear I wath not drunk when I wrote this review at 1:38 in the afternoon.
Enchiladas. Greasy, gooey enchiladas.
Enter the bowling alley, travel to the right and enter the Dart Bowl Cafe. The booths are comfortable, and they have ancient beer cans lining the ceiling. Nice.
The lunch menus are on the table, next to the napkin holders. I only bring this up because they are on white quarter sheets of printer paper, like one of those small flyers that bands hand out and you immediately throw away.
My coworker Noah and I refer to this style of Mexican food as 'plop.' This is not a denigration of the food, I happen to be very found of plop. It's the Tex-Mex plate wherein enchilada gravy, runny beans, rice and cheese marry onions and more melted cheese to form a brownish mass of deliciousness.
I'd heard much about the homemade rolls, so I selected them as my bread choice (the others being tortillas or crackers) and I found them chewy and a little old. If they had been fresh they would have probably been absolutely great, but alas, they were tough.
When they're wearing the glove, you know they're serious.
For many, bowling is not just a goofy, ESPN II sport, a mere distraction coupled with slightly warm lager and cheerful conversation. The business of sending a fifteen-pound mass careening towards ten taunting targets is as important as hitting a home run or socking an opponent in the face.
For many of us - particularly from the Midwest - the bowling alley was a teen hangout staple. What else could you do when it was cold as hell outside and you needed to escape to a place where boisterous, ridiculous behavior was not only tolerated, but actually encouraged? Most high schools in my area treated bowling as a one to two month segment of gym class, as prominent in stature as volleyball or basketball. They were clearly preparing us for adulthood.
What I like about the Dart Bowl is that all of bowling humanity is brought together into one big, teeming stew of skill levels, age ranges and highly variable techniques. It's not a fancy place, but hardly a dump (and the bathrooms, it must be noted, are very clean). Serious bowlers, hipsters, douche-bags, punk rockers, parents and children all don recently-sprayed shoes, carefully pick out (or bring) their ball, grab a drink and participate in this seemingly simplistic act with equal fervor.
The bar is well-stocked and the food is surprisingly good: Dart Bowl's enchiladas are award-winning and yes, folks, they do have White Russians. But chow & drink aside, it's the spirit of the place, from the cases of bowling memorabilia near the front doors to the vending machines where one can purchase forgotten socks and the hundred plus people inside, reliving their childhood or discovering that knocking over the pins isn't quite as easy as it appears, that keeps me coming back.
So after living 2 blocks away for a year, I decided to check out Dart Bowl a few weeks ago on a Saturday night. It's cheap, they have drinks, and enchiladas!
Wow, what was I waiting for??? Oh yeah, I remember. I bowl about once a year, and I suck! This is a great place to bowl, however. For those of us that aren't pro's and like to engage in bowling shenanigans (i.e. granny shot), this is the place to bowl!
I stepped it up second game and actually broke 100! Woohoo! The enchiladas and beer must have kicked in by that point.
I'm just going to note right up front that I'm not a big fan of enchiladas in general: don't get me wrong, I believe that they exist and all (and certainly that they have a right to), but I don't particularly care to sample the suckers. So there's that.
Anyhoo, was in here for a little bowling gag with some of the local Yelperati and we had a fantastic time. Interesting to note that whatever name you put in the system is what they'll call you (more or less) when you pay out afterward, so the H-Town Hustler and Loserville Lush ended up having to pay out and hand the funky bowling shoes over with a semi straight face. Good times, good times.
And I didn't have the enchiladas for the aforementioned reasons, but I did have some cut-rate chicken nuggets and greeezy fries (in a new effort to stave off the hangover by eating the diner type food *first*..which worked, by the way). I enjoyed the bowling, the fine company, and the goofball animations when we'd do anything of note. Check yo'self, Dart Bowl and be ready. I'll be rollin' your way again.
Sometimes unemployment has benefits. This is the story of The Lone Bowler.
My first trip to Dart bowl was on a Tuesday night and it was swarming with league players. The two kids behind the counter let me know the best time to avoid the leagues is the weekend. "But not this weekend because the PBA is having a tournament." Hey if the place is good enough for the PBA its good enough for me. Instead of waiting 45 minutes for a lane I happily accepted the free game tickets for another day.
I went back on a Thursday around 11am while you suckers were working and overall it was a nice bowling experience. All of the employees were friendly. The restroom was clean. Not a fan of enchiladas I had some tasty fries with my Coke.
I could bowl all day and I have the 300 on Wii Bowling to prove it. Sadly Wii skills don't transfer into real life so I left after 9 rounds of secretly wishing one of the old pros would come over and give me some tips.
If you see me at Dart come say hi and offer me a sponsorship cause I want to be the Danica Patrick of bowling.
This IS your father's bowling center. Good beer, plenty of smokers who now must go outside to indulge, and waitresses who will swiftly put you in your place you when you call them "hey!" (I didn't do that--it was another yelper).
Good nachos too...didn't try the infamous enchiladas. Wait, infamous has a negative connotation, no?
Bowling pin shaped beer bottle...um, yeahhhhh...nothing phallic at all or oral...
When a drifter needs to have a bit of beer and bowl off the memories of Vietnam, this is where "Old Liberty" comes to do it.
Using my bowling style that I call simply, "Lobbing", I managed to somehow get a few strikes. And very nearly destroy the floor.
All was well aside from the mongoloid Baby huey mofo that parked himself next to us towards the end of the night. If I really was a drifter, I would have shivved him with a rusty tuna can lid......I keed, I keed!
Clean, warm, and the staff has always been cool. I may suck at bowling but this place is pretty Win in my book.
Why, why, why are those animations that they have at bowling alleys so FREAKING WEIRD? Balls lassoing pins, balls dressed as Indiana Jones, pins dressed like rock stars, pins dancing in hula outfits on a desert island...seriously, what is GOING ON?
Surrealistic computer animations aside, I just love bowling alleys, though I myself am an intensely unpredictable bowler. I like to say that I am solidly mediocre, as sometimes all I can do is roll gutterballs and other times, I pick up mad spares so beautifully that those guys who come to bowl alone ask whether I'm in a league.
We went to Dart Bowl for my boyfriend's father's birthday, and while the birthday boy imbibed several White Russians (yes, my darling comes from good, Big Lebowski-loving stock), he complained of their weakness a bit. But the staff let us bring a carrot cake down to the lanes, and we all had a splendid time.
Full disclosure: I threw the bowling ball backwards on my first roll, and further attempts were preceded by a warning to duck. But I went on to place second in our game. All in all, Dart Bowl provides a perfectly satisfactory bowling adventure.
Our family loves Dart Bowl. It's great for kids of all ages. When our son was in elementary school, we had several of his birthday parties here. He always got a giant 10 pound bowling pin with "Happy Birthday" on it and balloons from the owners. We brought in cake and drinks and paid for all the little ones to bowl.
Last spring, we arranged for his lacrosse team to bowl on $1 Monday. This is the best time to come because you get dollar shoes, nachos, hot dogs, sodas and games! Cheapest fun in town.
I don't think you have to be good bowler to have fun. In fact, I have lots of fun being a fairly inadequate bowler. Did I say fairly inadequate? I meant very inadequate. Dart Bowl has automatic scoring so you don't have to do the math. They are known for the greasy, cheesy enchiladas served with Texas toast, onions and jalapenos. Oh, and the chili cheese fries are a great appetizer. Order beer or margaritas (which by the way are very good here) and bowl away!
This is my favorite place to bowl in Austin. The only thing keeping this from having 5 stars is always having wait for a lane. Seems every time I go in there is a wait. It's never a very long wait but sometimes you just wanna get it on. Getting to watch other people bowl while you wait gives you a chance to game-plan to kick your friends asses though.
Also, don't bother going on Mondays for the dollar bowling unless you show up 2 hours early (7pm). If you want discounted bowling go Sunday mornings for half-price bowling. It's not nearly as crowded and the old people that are there are way cooler than the hipsters on Monday nights.
So I had these bowl-2-games-free tickets for Dart Bowl. A stack of 'em. Don't ask me how I got them, but I had a lot. I had probably 5 left when they expired. Do you know why I didn't get to use them?
Because EVERY TIME I GO THERE, it's LEAGUE NIGHT! Or League Afternoon, or League Every Day Mike Wants To Bowl.
It's friggin' ridiculous. After the 3rd time of getting someone to come along and getting all pumped to roll, then getting turned away, I decided to ask for the League Of Injustice's schedule.
They told me there are leagues every day but Sauturday night, which is also busy from regular business. How f'in stupid is that?
Yes, I have been able to actually bowl there, but usually after a wait for a lane, and then I get put next to some loud-assed, no-bowling-ettiquette-having group of teenagers throwing off my game! Aggravatin', lemme tell ya..
So in the times I've decided to wait it out for a lane I've become familiar with the bar and it's regular bartender. She's the super lady with a big smile. That's where this League Hell earns its third star. Friendly bar service and she even remembers what I drink! I don't get that anywhere else in town. This speaks not only for her great memory, but the regularity of me having to wait for a stupid league team to vacate the premises.
Oh yeah, their burgers are tasty. Once I ordered one and it had a burger bun bag twisty-tie in it. I took it back and they gave me a free burger. I didn't mind much at all. Mostly because I was tipsy, but also due to the tastiness.
I've contemplated joining a league, since I obviously can't beat them all, but nah... I'm all out of free tickets.
I recently went to Dart Bowl for the first time celebrate my friend's birthday. What a trip that was. It was like stepping back in time. It reminded me of when I was growing up in the 80's and playing on a bowling league. There is something about the way a pair of used and overly disinfected bowling shoes smell to make a person start a trip on down memory lane. I heard this place was also where the Big Lebowski was filmed so I was intrigued. I enjoyed the friendly staff at the counter and the woman running the concession stand was a riot. If you are looking to bowl while quoting your favorite Lebowski lines or indulge on greasy bites and beer this is your place!
What's better than bowling? At Dart Bowl you get bowling, cheap drinks and enchiladas and the house bread that cannot be missed. The enchiladas are a hot gooey plate of cheese and enchilada goodness. The bread is crazy good and fried in so much butter it feels like each piece weighs a pound! Great place to go w/ friends for an evening of bowling or for a morning after enchilada plate w/ a shiner.
Dart Bowl is an excellent place to hang out on a sweltering summer weekend afternoon with the kids when it is too crazy hot to even think about going outside.
The place is really kid-friendly -- once you program in the bowlers' names in your lane's computer, you can tell the front desk people which names need bumpers in the gutter lanes, and after that, the bumpers come up automatically when the kids are up. Very cool.
Several times the ball pushed down the lane by our three year old stopped halfway down the lane, and the attendants were really nice about repeatedly having to trot down the lane to retrieve the ball for us. The staff also gave us extra light bowling balls (6 lbs) with holes drilled specially for small hands. All in all, they really accommodate kids. Good idea to encourage those young 'uns to grow up to become adult bowlers!
I have to agree with some of the other postings that the animations they play on the computer screens are wildly bizarre. My favorite was the pin dressed as an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. I've always wondered what King Tut would look like if he was born a bowling pin.
We paid $24 for a full game for 2 kids and 2 adults, including shoe rental. Pretty reasonable. Call first to make sure lanes are available - sometimes it is pretty crowded with leagues.
I guess those enchiladas are pretty good. Unfortunately when we went to sample them, we waited an hour with our hungry kids to get some. We ordered at 6:20 and walked out at 7:15 after having the waitresses visibly avoid us for about half an hour.
I'm adding an extra star here because I did talk to the manager later that week who apologized and offered to comp us a meal sometime, but I haven't been able to talk the kiddos into giving it a second chance.
It's the best bowling alley in town.
They have the best enchiladas in Austin.
They sell those Bud Lights that come in oversized bottles shaped like bowling pins.
But what sets this place apart is the servers at the bar and restaurant. Mysteriously, they always act like they know me. Like, too well. Which makes me wonder what the heck I did in there that I can't remember.
Like that time they were showing the Big Lebowski and I went dressed as the Dude's rug. I mean, is that THAT memorable? Could that be it?
I had a great time at Dart Bowl last night for $1 games and shoes...
When you were attempting to Turkey (knock your third strike in a row) everyone in the bowling alley would gobble at you. It was so much fun. I didn't get to experience the nativity scene, but my friends who go on a regular basis explained it all too me... I plan on going on a more regular basis now that I have experienced this amazing place. I am having a birthday bowl with some of my friends this upcoming monday in costumes... so I plan on fully participating in all that is the dart bowl.
Dart Bowl has great bowling alley karma. I never have fun bowling but I always have fun bowling at Dart Bowl. I'll even get up to say, a 56 or so, even though I never ever ever bowl above a 30.
Those enchiladas everyone is pushing you to get are really nasty. The chili is gross, but it works on the cheese fries. Everything else I've had there is good - hamburgers, club sandwich, I think a BLT, and even the quesadillas which of course are made with yummy gooey cheddar-type orange nacho cheese. The patty melt is wonderful, just like mom makes. I've never had cocktails at the Dart Bowl, but really guys - you're bowling. Leave the cosmos to the Apple Bar and get yourself a gaddamn American beer.
The best thing about Dart Bowl is the sense of community. It's so comforting to go bowling and see families out doing stuff together. I even felt close to the pregnant little lady in the lane next to us that was whoopin' all her hoodlum guy friends' asses at bowling.
So three wise men, Santa Claus, A bear in a yellow caftan, a lamb, a nun and a baby go into a bowling alley ...
Sounds like the setup to a really bad joke, right? Actually, no. It's the setup for a really fun Dollar Monday night at the Dart Bowl.
The guys and girls in Lane 6 (I believe) brought in those hollow plastic light-up lawn ornaments you see at Christmas -- as well as a stuffed bear, and I don't mean a teddy bear -- to decorate their alley. They had toot horns, a birthday cake, and plenty of alcohol, too. They fit right in with the oddball crowd here, basically.
Our party's entertainment was a little duller. I was the group's almost-rookie. My antics included accidentally flinging the ball backward, nearly falling down every time I got up to play, and scoring a 37, followed shortly by a round of 20. And I was not partaking of any beer specials.
Dollar nachos are NOT worth your money unless you really like yellow fake processed cheeze product. They have the audacity to charge more than that on other nights, too, which I find laughable.
Go with friends, risk ordering something on the menu if you dare, have a couple drinks, and don't forget your socks!
P.S. If you forget your socks, they're $3 a pair from the vending machine (thanks for your unwrinkled dollars, Logan Y.)
Best Bowling Alley in Austin!
The $1 Monday's (dollar games, dollar shoes, dollar nachos, hot dogs, & sodas) can get a little ridiculous. By that I mean you must arrive super early to get on the list to get a lane or else you won't be bowling. If you get there after 8 to sign up, you should probably just try some other time.
But the fact that they offer such a night shoulld be motivation enough to get there early. And if not, you could always just go on a regular night.
The people are always nice and they have Bowling Pin Shaped Beers.
One thing you should keep in mind is that if you or your friends bowl three strikes in a row... a turkey...someone in your party is obligated to purchase a shot of Wild Turkey for that skillful person. Not only will this serve as motivation to be a better bowler, but you also will be entertained watching as that person goes from bowling a 175 to a 54.
Since I live only a few blocks away, I've been a Dart Bowl chili cheese enchilada eater for years.
I am not really sure of what the draw of the place is, maybe it's the fact that places like this don't exist much any more. It's one of the least pretentious places in Austin.
It's a good place to drop your kids off for a Saturday morning bowling league and you know that the kids will be safe. The kids I've met there were good kids.
Oh what a night...............and I didn't even bowl. That is how great this place is. Friday night was my first time to visit Dart Bowl and it will not be my last. The place was full of families, all sorts of bowling league members and just the average joe trying break 100.
We were told our wait would be an hour so we made our way to the cafe and proceeded to drink the first of many margaritas. Along with the delicious margarita, I got what can pretty much be called my fav meal in Austin, the eggs with enchiladas. I know, I know.........it's crazy! Eggs and enchiladas, but trust me, it is so freakin good. (granted, I love anything with eggs) Try it! I also sampled a few of my honey's fries, and they were pretty tasty as well.
If this place is this fun on a Friday, night I will definitely return on Monday night for the dollar specials. Plus you can never get enough of watching the little kids trying to bowl as they throw their bowling ball down the lane and it bounces off the bumpers and they get all of 7 pins knocked down from a pin going 5 mph. :) good times
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The fun factor of this place is high! it's knda dive-y, and that's what makes it perfect. I didn't have the famous enchiladas for myself, but did enjoy a bite of my friend's. They're greasy and cheesy and tasty.
I was there on a Saturday night and loved that lots of folks were there with families. The group next to us cheered loudly for their 10 year old team-mate.
It was cheap fun. Love it.
The Good:
:: no kids. no families. no screaming babies. just adults and no cheesetastic teenagers.
:: very friendly service. people behind the counter are pleasant and friendly
:: lots of balls to select from to bowl with
:: cheap beer
:: location. close to lamar and 2222, so it's easy to get to for college students and residents of hyde park
The Bad:
:: their mixed drinks have no booze in them. stick with beer, and you're bound to get a buzz
:: they close at midnight
The Ugly
:: none.
Would I go back? Definitely. I am not a very good bowler, but when I do go, this is my place of choice hands down. The bowling was cheap (about $9 for 2 games and shoe rental), it wasn't loud and obnoxious, and I had a great time.
This place is IN.
Why is bowling alley food so good? I don't get it.
If you want to go for Dollar bowling night you need to get there pretty early because they get filled up and will lead you to believe that people will leave but come on, who leaves cheap bowling? You'd have to be crazy or sober! Speaking of alcohol, stick with the beer, they pour kinda weak.
I used to goto this place every Friday with a group of regulars from work. They loved the place because it was a greasy spoon and they love getting harassed by the waitress.
The "truck stop" enchiladas are good. I have never in my life had eggs on my enchiladas. In fact, my wife's family about disowned me because they thought I was some crazy white boy who ate eggs on his enchiladas. My wife's uncle was like, "Gee.. what kind of Mexican did we teach you to be?" Of course, I saved face when my wife's cousin ended up ordering enchiladas someplace else and they eggs on their enchiladas.
This place is always packed so come early. I give this place thumbs up for the enchiladas and their burgers.
Given the fact that I bowl maybe 2-3 times a year at most, I'm hardly a connoisseur of bowling alleys. However, as someone who eats at restaurants maybe ten times a week, I do take note of where to find some good grub. Dart Bowl's restaurant features cheap, diner-style food served with ultra-friendly service. Their cheese enchiladas are comfort food at its best, and they still serve fries that look homemade - hand-cut with the skin still on. And speaking of homemade, they make their own bread, too! The surroundings leave a bit to be desired, but what do you expect from a meal at a bowling alley?
The alley itself does having some endearing qualities, as well. I love the little bowling "museum" in the front entryway, and the animations that show your score after every roll are cute. And with good food within walking distance of the lanes, you can spend the whole evening there with minimum fuss. Come for the food, stay for the bowling...or vice versa.
Great food and crappy cocktails. Maybe I should stick to Miller Lite when I am at a bowling alley?
It's true, the enchiladas are great, but be careful because you may have to run to the bathroom afterward.
When it gets hot in the summer, I have to go some place to exercise so I head down to the Dart Bowl and get an order of their legendary cheese enchiladas. I must say they are excellent but don't reach the legendary level for me.
I always want to take a nap after eating my enchiladas so I usually skip the bowling part. Now if the Big Lebowski ever comes into the Dart Bowl while I'm eating my enchiladas then he had better watch out cuz I am dusting off my bowling shoes.
The first thing you see as you enter Dart Bowl (off 2222/W. Koenig) is an eclectic glass-enclosed display of bowling paraphernalia from past and present generations of bowlers. The place has history and it has technology....and it has that game where you put in a quarter to try to knock the other schmucks' quarters off the platform to win more quarters...
In many ways, Dart Bowl is a typical alley, with 32 lanes, an arcade, a cafe offering everything covered in cheese, and that familiar perfume of socks, ball polishing oil, and fried food. But Dart Bowl seems comfortable in its old shoes, and its laid back appeal is something anyone can appreciate. Birthday parties here are fun (not just for kids...enjoy sips of cold beer in between turns), and small groups will find lane availability most always. Go early on Mondays for dollar mania - the line snakes out the door for $1 lanes and $1 shoes. League play is spread out, making the place much more accessible to us amateurs. And the new animation on the scoring screens is wonderfully amusing. For a more chill night out, I love heading to Dart Bowl for a couple rounds of play and a couple rounds of beer.
They're getting to know my name.
Dart Bowl is within shouting distance of my couch, so I may be a bit partial, but I do think it's the best bowling alley in town. It's a little on the small side and feels "dive-ish" (a plus). It's not overly crowded, the bathroom is painted purple, and the food in the cafe will knock your socks off. Make sure you put them back on though - don't want to wear those shoes without socks.
Bowl, bowl, bowl. Then walk home. Or drive. Whatever.
Only 3 stars from this reviewer - based almost entirely on the chili cheese fries. The Fries were good, but the chili was kinda heinous - like Hormel from a can. There might be some good stuff on the menu, but this was a mistake.
The bowling was bowling for the most part. We did have a strange moment once when a big huge guy from the next lane came over and took a ball - that we were using - from our ball return and went back to his lane. WTF? Not like we could complain at the guy either - he was huge.
Seems like they need a few more larger balls here for when the lanes are crowded.
Dart Bowl is a bowling alley with decent service, clean lanes, and it isn't so big you feel like you're at an amusement park. Now that that is out of the way, let's move on to something more important...
The cafe at Dart Bowl. Holy Seven Ten Split. This place is awesome. The food and service are of such quality that the joint could be a stand alone restaurant. In fact, looking at the patrons on most days it appears to be just that. The bread is homemade and instead of being limited to hot dogs and nachos, there are a wide number of other tasty comfort food items on the menu. I actually love going to Dart Bowl for breakfast where the Migas will leave you lusting for more.
Highly recommended (for dining)
I have always enjoyed bowling, but Dart Bowl has made me near obsessive. I have started attending the $1 Monday bowling nights and now I feel like I am going through withdrawal if I don't make it out one week. It has become a joyous occasion that has brought me closer to my friends and has really allowed me to find the true beer drinking athlete inside of me (or white russian if I am feeling especially Dude-esque).
The lanes are nice and I have never had a problem with a lane sticking or malfunctioning. The one negative that I can say is that the lanes tend to be over-oiled more often than not which can lead to a low score if you try to rely on any spin to get your strikes.
I am ashamed to admit that I haven't actually eaten in the cafe, but I really do intend to in the near future... I promise. The one thing that I hear is the cafe's triumph is their homemade bread, so be sure to check that out (even if I haven't yet).
