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Come join us! Drink Specials: $5 Well Drinks, $3 Bud Light Drafts, $4 Lucky Shots & $6 Martini Specials.
Mon-Thu. 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 a.m.
Fri. 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 a.m.
Sat. 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m.
Sun. 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 a.m.
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So I came here with my bf after the Lakers game. As soon as i stepped off the escalator towards the bouncers guarding the door, all he said was there is a dress code and just stared at me. I was wearing jeans, boots and a cashmere top (purple of course). So I stared at him and said, I cant wear this to go in? and he rudely said, you can, but he cant and pointed at my bf. He was wearing jeans a laker t shirt and a zippered hoodie. wtf! they wanted him to take off his hoodie. These people are retarded. It's not like my bf was wearing a crappy hoodie or a sports hoodie. it was a freaking $80 hoodie. This place is for sure not a club, its a dang bowling alley! people wear jeans, t shirts, hoodies, caps, and tennis shoes to go bowling. make sure you come here dressed to perfection.
girls you might wanna go all out and wear some stilettos and a cute dress just so you can bowl here. no need to change shoes. lol this is so stupid!
Service was a mixed bag.
When you drop a couple of G's for a work event you shouldn't make it difficult for the person dropping G's. It's called common sense.
Food was bar food and was ok.
Issues with the lanes near the end of the night.
The waitress was attentive atleast, but the customer service pertaining to bowling wasn't.
Went to a bday event here and they assigned us 6 lanes and one waitress... she was nice and pretty quick and accommodating. She brought us out a tray of shots like we asked and served individuals drinks...
Our set up was unlimited bowling and drinks for 2hrs (from what I understand)... so as you could probably expect, the mixed drinks they brought out were weeeak! my gin and tonic was more like a tonic... so i ended up just pouring a shot of vodka in it myself, from one of the many trays of shots we requested. :) ("gross!!"... probably, if there was any gin in that drink to begin with... can't say much for drinks bought directly from the bar though)
Loved how they displayed a sort of slide show of the b-day boy's pic on the big screens at the end of our lanes.
Everyone seemed to have a good time... bouncers at the front seemed nice enough... wasn't too crowded for a Sat. night... kinda pricey.
Wow I was surprised at the reviews on here. I was there for a B-Day party on Saturday and it was hot. Granted when we showed up I didn't know if it was a bowling alley or a club. They had two bouncers in the front acting all serious, and I actually laughed in their face when they asked me for my ID. Come on man it's bowling, stop feeling yourself. Anyway, once we got in it was really cool. And make sure you go in a group though, it was kinna expensive but worth it.
Email sent to Lucky Strike Entertainment:
I think a corporation like Lucky Strike Entertainment should be reminded of the great service you provide in these tough economic times.
http://www.yelp.com/bi...
Let's review your rating as of 8/24/09...40 out of 73 reviewers voted 1-2 stars (I'm sure many of the 1 star reviews would have been "0" if that was an option). 2 out of 73 reviewers voted 5 stars.
Most of the complaints are centered around your ridiculous dress code and the lack of consistency with what is deemed as "upscale" attire. Why deny entry to someone who is deemed to have baggy pants, but let in multiple people in with shorts and slippers (I have personally witnessed this), how is that upscale lounge attire? In many reviews listed, there have been many claims that you have denied entry to people on the heavier side because your opinion of a pants on a 120 lb man should be of the same cut as one weighing 275 lbs. In addition to dress code, there also seems to be a lack of customer service by all levels of employment.
There are many great establishments around the Staples Center that treat customers with more respect and more gratitude than what is shown at Lucky Strike. In these "tough economic times" those companies that have failed to adjust and fail to provide top notch customer service have closed due to lack of repeat customers. Repeat customers are truly important now more than ever.
If 40 of the 1-2 star reviewers come with 4 people and each person share their experience with at least 10 people, then you have just lost 1600 potential customers. 1600 potential customers spending $20 per person equals $32,000 in lost revenue. This snapshot from Yelp is only a small portion of the general publics opinion. If only 5% of the potential customers actually use Yelp, then you could have a possible base of 800 customer that would rate Lucky Strike a 1-2 star. What is that potential lost revenue you ask...$640,000. By the looks of your recent reviews, nothing has changed and the # will continue to increase.
As a consumer, I challenge you to pass this email on to upper management in hopes that change can be made.
Sincerely,
"Not So Lucky Consumer"
After the Clipper game last night, we wanted to check out Lucky Strike before heading home.… Read more »
As my girlfriends and I were making our way towards here from dinner at Trader Vic's, we ran into a couple of very cute college aged girl promoters of this place.
"It's a high END bowling alley!" they said while giggling.
"Well thank goodness," we thought. "Cuz we were getting tired of the low end bowling alleys. PHEW!"
But you know what? Besides being high end, this place can also be described as F-U-N!!! That's spells fun people. Cuz there's nothing better than getting tipsy while you wait for your lane and then dancing your way to the shoe rental. And then dancing your way to the lanes. Then dancing your way to a strike. And I swear... you do this laughing the whole time. I think the dining partner and I perfected our kid 'n play that nite. LOL!!!
ps. There's another word to describe this place. Expensive. I'm not gonna take any stars away for that though cuz we had a great time, and we did go for a birthday, but we wouldn't spend that much money on a random nite of bowling...
Went here for lunch today. Not familiar with the nighttime staff or service but the afternoon crew seems okay... Nothing phenomenal but nice enough I guess. Great lunch specials on food. Had a yummy BBQ chicken pizza for $7.95 and a couple of pricey mojitos. The lounge is very comfortable and inviting but then again it was 1pm... No clue what it's like when it's crowded.
Good place for lunch or happy hour.
Interesting, high tech bowling alley with lounging areas. It definitely draws in the younger crowds.
This place is ultra-fail. It's just a boring, self-important "club" that happens to have a few poor quality bowling lanes in the corner. It's pitch-black, loud, and they'll cram in about a dozen clubbers per lane.
The bowling balls are all chipped, the lanes are uneven, and I strongly suspect they're about ten feet shorter than regulation permits. My company paid for a private party, which ended up being a massive mistake, as the "bouncer" with a middle-school education turned away several of our own employees because he felt their jeans were "too baggy". Not one to "think about numbers", he probably didn't realize we paid more than his yearly salary for the event, and I doubt he's still employed by Lucky Strike.
Avoid this place if you care about bowling, good music, real food, or not wasting your money.
This bowling alley is a lot of fun, but be prepared to drop a lot of money! The bowling alley itself, is what I liked about this place so much. It isn't your average dingy old bowling alley. The inside resembles a club, more than a bowling alley, and the lounge area is pretty nice as well.
With this being said, there are a lot of downsides to this place. One being, the prices here are outrageous! The night my friend and I went, they claimed that because whatever night of the week it was, we had to buy TWO games instead of one at once. So we ended up buying food (which wasn't too bad), two games of bowling, plus shoes. Then on top of that, it was hard to get a waitress to actually serve us. The waitress that finally served us was wearing some raver boots, and booty shorts, and was a little too full of her own game to give us the time of day.
Despite lackluster service, and outrageous prices, my friend and I still had a really fun night. I want to go back here, but this time I will skip on the food, so I can afford the cost of bowling!!
$75 for one lane for one hour of bowling? I know it's about the experience and all that bs, but its crazy expensive here. $7 beers, $10 shots. $15 parking. In this economy?
Needless to say, this place was EMPTY on saturday night. Service was ok.
went here for a birthday party on a saturday night
This isn't your typical bowling alley. Instead of just GPSing the location, I should have read the reviews first.
I was surprised that there was dress code (and yes you have to be approved) and a line to get in (even for a party that you are on a list for). How funny do people look holding martinis in one hand, a bowling ball in the other, wearing a dress and bowling shoes?
The birthday group package is definitely the way to go. We had a number of appetizers, drinks, a dedicated seating area and the server didn't entirely forget about us (although she seemed less than enthusiastic. I get that it's work, but if there are 10 people waiting on you, you need to come by more often than once an hour).
Also plan on parking in the garage and it being a pricey evening.
Bottom line: Not something I would go out of my way to do again, but it's worth trying
THis was a sweet lounging location. Much larger than the Hollywood location, which is nice, but only half the size of the Olympic location. I may be a little bias because I went there for a special event where they had free food, drink, bowling for 3 hours, but it doesn't change the way the place looks and feels.
A smooth club feel that has nice couches and new bowling shoes, the only thing this lacks was a walkway between the lanes.
The servers were nice and I enjoyed the music. It wasn't too too loud, but just loud enough where I had to make a funnel out of my hands to speak to my friend who was next to me.
Other than the look and the size, it's just like the Hollywood local; same good food and drinks, with the same great staff.
You never know it might be the next place to enjoy an OYE.
This is a beautiful gem of a place, up the escalators to your right. You will be met by the security personnel, sporting a suit and tie. If you're dressed like a scrub, save your self the embarrassment and go home now. Your I.D will be looked at, he will take his time and make sure your I.D is legit. I enjoy places like this, I like how scrubs aren't allowed to bring their ghettoness in. Kids go play somewhere else, I'm going to relax and have some drinks tonight.
Behind the front desk seats a pretty smile. What does she do there? I have not a clue but it feels good to walk into a place and the first person you see is a beautiful woman. Décor is typical of any Lucky Strike Lanes, dim light with loud music that fades away after a drink or 2. We didn't play any games, my party and I enjoyed a few drinks, the ambience and some appetizers which were delightful. Our waitress was very attentive and right away was able to strike up a interesting conversation.
I had a good time here and will visit again...
Awful. No stars for you. A c-note for an hour of bowling? That doesn't include drinks or food either. Just the bowling. We went on Halloween, so I'm sure it was more expensive than usual. But seriously, even if it's half that on a regular day, that's way too much for bowling. Plus, with 10 minutes left on our game the machine stuck and no one would fix it. My friend and I couldn't a response when we started dancing on the lane. Crappy place. Avoid it.
A group of around 20 residents, who all live downtown from two buildings and want to patronize local business, decided to have a bowling tournament against each other at Lucky Strike.. BIG MISTAKE.
First off, they LOST our reservation and gave US a hard time about it. After haggling with the manager who seemed preoccupied by watching the Laker Game, we finally got our lanes a lot later. But while trying to get in, and pleading our case by saying we had reservations, the people in line behind us were getting unruly. Did the bouncer/front door guy do anything? NO. He just let them get all riled up.
After we got our lanes, and the bowling fee was comp'd, we go to our lane. The people who were there before us, and who are no longer bowling, are still sitting there. We have to make them move, and they act all upset about it. Mind you, we are paying by the hour, and they are sitting in our spot. They eventually move out and sit behind our lane.
Next one of the girls, holding a baby, who is obviously upset, sits on a stool that she's moved to be in the walking aisle. The place is crowded with people standing everywhere. She sticks her arm out, and tells one of the women in our group who is trying to get by, "you will say excuse me". She get's nastier and says something more threatening and calls her a "white b*tch". The bouncer comes, but is friends with their group, and although he tells them to cut it out, he pretty much does nothing as their group tries telling him that our person stepped on her foot. LIE.
Then right before we start bowling, people are running across the lanes and getting unruly. The whole place is ill behaved including the staff. THEN, getting help using the scoring machine is practically useless as they come to they begrudgingly come to the lane to help us as if we are bothering them. THEN, the people in the lane get a ball stuck, and an employee comes over trying to fix it. He starts tossing balls down the lane. I don't mean like you would when you bowl. He throws them around 8 feet into the air to make sure they make a loud bang when they hit the lane and roll down. He does this around 4 or 5 times, thinking he's so cool cause he doesn't care and doesn't want to be there.
Then because of the Laker game, the city gets unruly. We even see it with people fighting and getting crazy inside of Lucky Strike. We are asked to leave as they need to close early, and tell us that we will get a police or security escort to our cars or to where we are going. We get ready to leave, and everyone is standing near the front door wondering what to do next not knowing what is going on in the streets of downtown. The manager says, all of you will get your escort when you go out the front door. Bulls*it! He just said that to get us out. We didn't really need or have to have an escort, but don't lie to us to get us out!
Will never go back there again unless under strict new management. They have all this dress code bull, but they don't have a behavior conduct rule. People are allowed to act all crazy and rude, and this includes the employees.
I hope LA Live gets this place under control....and I hope the new movie theaters have better security....I'd hate to watch a movie with the crowd (employees and patrons) that was in Lucky Strike Lanes.
Perhaps tuesday night is not the best night to come here, even though there were plenty of people watching the Nuggets vs Lakers game at the time.
My friends and I decided to check this place out for a little snack and a few games of bowling. We had the sliders, fries, and spinach dip. The decor is really nice with couches all laid out perfectly in front of a viewable 40" flat screen. Not too expensive, but that's just my impression of LA. I wouldn't order the dip again, but I liked that it came with toasted pita bread. Burgers were good.
The F'en great time I had here made up for having to wear a collar shirt to a bowling alley...
I gave up wearing suits eons ago and would rather have pins in my eyes than wear a tie but to celebrate my sister's birthday I would do anything...it was a surprise birthday...so after she had dinner at Rock N Fish (obviously she had not read my review or it would have saved her the sour face she made when I asked about dinner)...
Leary (me..damn, dress up for bowling...can't belive this shit) we quickly were ushered into a modern take on an American original...the bowling alley...The decor is really cool, hip, dark and the music was awesome...an updated Hollywood Star Lanes (per their story)
We had two lanes for two hours with endless drinks and hors d'oeuvres with super attentive service.
Beer on tap and heavy pours on my tequila on the rocks splash of mineral water (club) soda and twist of lime...can't complain about the beautiful bar tenders (fiu fiu) ..so now I didn't mind the shirt so much..untucked and juiced up we had a great time bowling, drinking and dancing to some old school hip-hop...
Best part...manager comes up to my brother-in-law and tells him that if he hits a strike on the next roll he will get a cert. for a 16 person party (dude was sucking it all night...but you guessed it, he hit that f'en strike)
I guess I got to go shopping for another shirt and pair of slacks...what's next a tie?
I can see how people would not like this place, especially on a weekend. However, I came here on a weekday to bowl. There were people and it wasn't too crowded. We got a lane right away. To be honest I thought it would be more expensive, but it was completely reasonable.
I can see how the place can get really quickly on a weekend night, Cramped and loud. I would not plan any of my special events here unless you want to be screaming over each other and have to wait for...well...everything. But for a small group or a date or something its great.
Um, hi. This is a bowling alley, people. Why is there a velvet rope? As the saying goes, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, IT IS STILL A BOWLING ALLEY. Ridiculously pretentious, never coming back. Sure, there is a time and place for everything, but trying to make this place appear more exclusive by putting up these artificial barriers to entry is just, well, laughable and lame.
Aside from my false exclusivity gripe, I must note that the service was lousy. It wasn't very crowded, but the servers kept getting my friends' orders wrong. And the fries were cold. I could go on, but I'm starting to make myself mad all over again, so I'll stop here.
I have high hopes for L.A. LIVE and the renaissance (er, naissance?) of downtown entertainment -- these shenanigans won't cut it and this place needs to get its act together. Ugh.
Is it just me or did everyone else have a really bad time here?
I came here the night before my birthday (Saturday night). Our group wasn't really appropriately dressed to come in here. I wore uggs with a long sleeve shirt...very casual. But I guess since I'm a girl it's easier to get in? All the guys weren't super dressed up either - as long as they weren't wearing any hoodies or sneakers we were let in really easily and super fast. We waited at most 10 minutes to get in.
I've never been here, so I was wondering what all the hype was about. I really liked the concept of having pool, bowling, and a bar all in one place. We tried to get a lane but the wait was already 2 hours. We walked along the lanes and it was suuuuper cute because there were couches along each lane, and I saw people eating desserts ie: cake! It had a sleek, modern, lounge feel to the bowling lane and I really liked that aspect.
Since we couldn't get a lane, we settled for hanging out at the bar. What I liked about this place was that you don't need to "reserve a table" to sit at a table. It's basically first come first serve...just don't sit at a table that says, "reserved". We found a table for 7 people easily, even though it was really crowded. Our server came by for table service and was SUPER nice! The bartender had made each drink super strong and even gave us double shots during some rounds, even though we only asked for a single.
The music was bumpin'...and there was also a guy dressed in a bowling pin that walked around to let us take pictures. I noticed a room on the side that seemed to be reserved for parties. I would definitely throw a party here. Loved the scene and the crowd. Everyone was super nice.
Don't come here if you just wanna go bowling. I liked the concept because they combine the bar, bowling, pool, and dancing to an upscale ambiance, and that was a perfect setting to celebrate a birthday.
A bowling alley should not have a dress code unless it's in the basement of the White House. And even then, I think it's iffy.
So I showed up at Lucky Strike with a couple of friends for a birthday party. One of these friends was tragically wearing shorts. Evidently after 7, shorts are not up to Lucky Strike's dress code. That's all well and good. Rather, it would be, but the dress code as it's posted both on teh internets and outside their door says nothing about this stipulation.
After the guy who spends his Saturday nights standing with his arms crossed outside a bowling alley was done giving my friend attitude, we (I say "we" out of solidarity) were sent up the street to Macy's to buy him a pair of pants. To buy a pair of pants to get into a bowling alley. Guess what has suddenly skyrocketed to the top of Mike T's list of things that aren't worth the effort.
I guess I can understand the thinking behind Lucky Strike. People like bowling and people like night clubs, right? Why not put them together? Because they are incongruous. People like ketchup and people like cake. No one wants to have them at the same time.
Lastly, I'd like to offer a retort to another so-called reviewer, if he can so be called. He points out that it isn't Lucky Strike's fault that parking sucks in the area around the Staples Center. And that's true. But it's a part of the experience. It is persistent and can be anticipated, so it's fair game for us "whiners". An earthquake ruining a trip to Lucky Strike is not reasonable fodder for criticism, but a crappy parking situation is.
My bill:
Maker's: $10
(on the rocks): $2
....
wtf? $2 for ice? $12 for Maker's rocks?!?!
That's like:
Pizza: $15
(crust): $4 or
Coke:$1.99
(diet): $0.50 or
Internet Porn: $16.99
(masturbation): $7.99
The reason I'm not giving this one star is because the service was actually good. Both the bartenders and servers were friendly, fun and quick. The bouncers out front were chill. Even though it was past their entrance cut off time; they let us back in for one final drink after we left to wander around LA Live. But, $2 for ice?!
p.s. I didn't comment on the dress code issues or the atmosphere because I figured there will be plenty of 1 star reviews with those as its thesis. Plus, I couldn't think of anything to write on the topic that would be reflectively funny or cool. I've to come terms that my reviews are not very useful. Shrug.
My conversation with a friend I havent seen in awhile:
HEY MAN, WHATS UP?! WHAT? WHAT? OH, I'M OKAY. Pause. I SAID I'M OKAY. WHAT? And so forth.
Why am I yelling? Because you cant hear a damn thing here. You might as well look at each other while mouthing "What" all night, because that will be just as effective and far less strenuous.
Oh please~! Calm down with your ridiculous dress codes. You're a glorified hoity toity bowling alley. Oh and the food came out before our drinks. Um...does it take longer to mix a few Goose and tonics than cook up sliders, mac and cheese and dumplings?
Yeah...stop it. You're a friggin bowling alley not the friggin Ritz Carlton.
No matter how much you try and class up a bowling alley it will always be a bowling alley. This place is so pretentious. I had on a nice shirt and jeans and white asics and they told me i couldnt get in because I had white tennis shoes. Are you kidding me? I told the douche/bouncer I'm going to change into bowling shoes anyway but he just shrugged me off.
Once I came back with my friends extra pair of shoes on, they let us in and service was all right. We had to wait 2 hours for a lane and my waitress didnt know what a SoCo and lime was. I got mad.
Never again.
For a bowling place this has a lot of class. The furniture/ sofas and wooden tables are great and look super neat, although it's not that easy to eat on.
In my opinion the food here was MUCH better than Yardhouse. The fries/burgers were awesome, the pizza was better than CPK (again in my opinion) because the dough was super soft and tasted delicious.
The only thing was the service. The guy was an asshole. Sad thing was he wasn't TRYING to be an asshole, he just had this attitude about himself. They also asked me to take my hoodie off (WTF?!?!?) I guess even downtown has a dress code.
We had a blast watching Utah defeat Boston on the NBA so it was great.
Those who wish to get a little tipsy and bowl.tadaaa..this is the place :)
I have been to this place a couple of times,they play good music and the ambience is pretty good,and yes they have huge screens and a great bowling place!!It's a great place to be at,even on the weekdays..:)
-Smriti
I previously rated this place 4 stars because I really do like this place, and I've been here many times, but after last night, they're pretty messed up.
My friend, who isn't skinny, was wearing a XL shirt - and XL shirts are naturally long. Their policy is they can't extend past the belt line more than 6 inches, and they cannot tuck in their shirts. He was wearing a dress shirt and slacks - because it was his birthday!
He might have gotten in if he wore a Medium, but then it would look really tight on him, and no one feels comfortable that way. We also noticed 5 other large men who weren't allowed to get in - same problem, their shirts are too long.
So, it's a great place to go - if you're skinny.
I love bowling, I have taken the train out a few times to Lucky Strike in Hollywood, but it's a long… Read more »
Last night, a group of friends and I ventured out to the illustrious L.A. Live to attempt and celebrate a birthday at Lucky Strike.
Ahhh.. L.A. Live. Come get a taste of L.A. in all its bullshit bourgeois splendor.
A place where, based on the lack of customer service..you'd swear that the only requirement for being hired to work there is that you are a big time asshole.
It's all of L.A.'s least endearing qualities on display like Brittany Spears hoo-ha while exiting a car; and possibly, just as big of an embarrassment for the City of Angels.
As far as I'm concerned, "L.A. live" is L.A. dead in my book. After our experience, you can rest assure that all 8 of us will never visit this place again, and neither will everyone else who we share our story with if they value sound business practices and common sense customer service like we do when selecting where to spend our money.
Allow me to explain:
Strike 1: Bullshit expensive parking and no validation. Rates start at $10 for the first 2 hours and increase in $10 increments thereafter. Uh..hello? Recession? Foreclosures? Unemployment? Any of these things sound familiar oh mighty parking gods of almighty l.a. live??
Strike 2: We take the escalator up to Lucky Strike and are greeted by a velvet rope and a large bouncer. What..really? You know you're in freaking snob angeles when a bowling alley has the ego of an exclusive club. C'mon people, is it really necessary to subject your visitors to such bullshit?
Strike 3: Our group proceeds to walk in when one of the guys in our group gets shoved back out beyond the velvet rope, with no explanation from the all important rope jockey except a pointed finger at the dress code sign. The curious thing about the whole situation is that the guy who got denied was wearing the same exact thing as one of the other guys in our group who was allowed in with no problem: (non baggy) jeans, sneakers, and a sweater. PERFECT bowling gear as far as I can tell. Trust me when I say that everyone in our group was dressed totally fine.
OMFG - LMFAO and all the other superlative acronyms I forgot to mention!! My bad...I didn't realize that a casual night out bowling mandates a freaking blazer and tie! WTF are the execs at Lucky Strike smoking? And P.S. - one of the dress code rules read "No M.C. colors." WTF are M.C. colors? Okay...now they're just making shit up!
Funny to me how hard they're trying to lose business in an economic climate where businesses can't afford to make such detrimental mistakes. Anyway, so we decide to blow this Popsicle stand and go elsewhere.
Strike 4: We figure that since we were there all but 10-15 minutes max, we wouldn't have a problem requesting not to have to pay for parking, especially because we were denied into patronizing the place.
Silly rabbit. I should have known better. We calmly explained the situation to no avail. Of course, the guys got irate at the parking attendants, who apparently also have inflated "king of the L.A. Live" parking lot complexes. After raising a lot of hell and speaking to the so called "supervisor", we unwillingly gave in and paid $10 so we could get the f*&k out of there and get on with the birthday girls' celebration like we initially intended.
We head to Broadway Bar. We pay $6 to park in a lot. We get in with no cover charge and bullshit bouncer 'tude or dumb shit dress code. We spend lots and lots and lots of money on booze.
We're happy to give our money to a place that wants and deserves our business, and tell everyone we meet to learn from our mistake.
Buuuut..if you're still curious to check it out for yourself, don't say I didn't tell you so!
Caveat emptor.
AW MAN!
SUCK SUCK SUCK!
Well. Perhaps they are keeping with the theme.
This place is in the middle of a tiny, quasi, Time-Square. Cocoa Cola, Disney, Verizon, et. al. are lurking over you from monstrous signs, lit up with masterful precision. I was going to see Leonard Cohen at the Nokia with my brother, and our respective loves, and there was never a time we would have more appreciated a dark, cheap, nondescript bar. But alas, we were caught in the flux of a corporate tourist trap, and were happy to settle for close to the venue.
Oh My God.
Places like this make me embarrassed to live here. Hoochie-silicone-stuffed bartenders. Rude hoochi waitresses. Huge flipping TVs showing every stupid sports event. A cooler/richer- than-though atmosphere permeates the place, along with the smell of bowling shoes wafting through the air. And so much more. $15 Jack and coke. WTF. You said you were a bowling alley. I can't even imagine trying to come here to bowl!
Why, oh WHY must you SUCK SO BAD???
LSS
I ass kissed 2 different hoochi waitresses and they both gave me the same dismissive promise to come to our table or send someone. (We only had an hour, and just wanted to relax, have fun, leave a nice tip and get on our merry way!)
Nobody came, so me and my big brother sat at the bar with sad countenances and waited. The barbie thing did eventually come over, and she was quite nice, to be honest. But that does not make up for what a stupid F'N place this is!
I never, EVER. Thought I would reccomend the yard house, but when you are stuck here, without any kind of special pass, go there! It was much better!
No es bueno.
-Crappy service
-Jacked prices
-Crappy drinks with very limited selection of alcohol
-You are charged by the HOUR for bowling...so people in my group got booted before they were even done..who does that?!
Bottomline: Hollywood pretentiousness comes to downtown LA..oh brother...SKIP THIS PLACE!
Lucky Strike is Lucky Strike. Once you've been to one you generally know what to expect from another one right?
Well this one was a tad bit different. Since it's in the new LA Live center, it has a nice side patio where you can chill on the couches, smoke, and drink. It overlooks the LA Live area. It's also one of the only places currently open late so after you hit up a concert you can go to LS and grab a drink to chill out.
The only thing about this location though is that they're very strict on dress code with men so be ready!
There were only two things saving this place from me demanding that Yelp allow for a zero star review. Those two things were the service which was friendly, courteous and quick, and the dim lighting, which was dim enough to make even me look good!
The drinks were weak, the prices were too high for what I was getting and I would most definitely not bowl here (not that I came in to bowl anyway). Came here to celebrate my friend's engagement and I ended up very disappointed.
I attribute this next part to the dim lighting:
On a high note, though, the bartender girl seemed lonely, and I got her number. Brad Pitt ain't got crap on me; I'm ugly and I got a pretty girl's number! Yay!
I almost don't want to mention how dumb the dress code is here, because I don't want to warn you. I WANT you to go to Lucky Strike and then get turned away by a rude bouncer who won't even politely explain why you didn't get in. I WANT you to storm away in a rage, only to find out that the retards in the LA Live parking lot will still charge you $10 even though you were only there for 20 minutes. I WANT you to come back from that awful experience and write another one star review of Lucky Strike on Yelp. So go ahead. Do it. Join the club.
And then after that experience, you'll probably ask yourself why you would have wanted to go there in the first place. Because even if you went back with 'appropriate' attire, why would you want to drive all the way downtown and pay up the nose for parking (and probably pay up the nose for everything else) when you could go to a perfectly good bowling alley in your own neighborhood? Yeah, I have no idea either.
COOL MUSIC & GREAT BOWLING
Happy Birthday Meagan! Friday night with 20 of your good friends for cocktails, appetizers, and bowling. I thought it was pretty fun, and the music and videos were great. But with a party of 20, and only enough room for six for seating around the lane, we remained standing all during the birthday party.
The bar was pretty busy since it took nearly 10 minutes to get 3 beers and a martini. Thanks to Walter for getting the first round, but the wait was due to the dishwasher. OK, I had to wait until the glasses were washed and disinfected. That was fine since I do like drinking from clean glasses.
The scoring was automatic once you input your information, and there were nice reminders to throw the ball. We got a little distracted when the birthday cake arrived. The music and videos were cool, but it was a little awkward to have 20 of your closest friends share such as small space with another birthday party, all of whom were complete strangers.
The bar scene was really cool, and the seating with leather sofas made it look relaxing, but with all the hot bodies in what seemed to be a small space, there wasn't much air circulating, so I felt a little warm. It was interesting to see a restroom attendant hand you a towel and offer mints and stuff, but the urinals reminded me of a truck stop. Hold you breath!
Did I have a good time? Yes, with Meagan and friends, but it could have been better. Happy Birthday Meagan, I love you and I wish you many more.
Since when do bowling alleys have dress codes? I know that this place is called Lucky Strike Lanes and Lounge but in my opinion they went a little to heavy on the lounge part. I felt as if I was at some trendy nightspot that just so happen to have some bowling lanes in the corner.
I recently took a trip to Lucky Strike for a birthday celebration and had it not been for all the alcohol we consumed, the night would have been a complete bust. First of all, the jerk at the door hassled me about the beanie I was wearing but I didn't sweat it and politely removed my cap. But it was all downhill from there. While the waitress was polite, she was also completely inept. She really didn't even know what the bar offered and had to go back and forth between our table and the bartender to relay the selections.
Once we started bowling we all ordered some food. Maybe I was just really hungry, but it seemed like an eternity before our orders finally got to us. And the serving portions that you get for the prices they charge are a complete ripoff. But like I said, maybe I was just really hungry.
But the worst part of the night was after we finished our first game. Before we could start our second game something went wrong with the lane we were bowling in. It took them over an hour to fix the problem! Thankfully we had the alcohol to keep us company. Fortunately, management stepped up and did the right thing. They knocked a couple of bucks off our bill and gave us all a free shot of jagermeister. Yuck!
Oh...I almost forgot. The jerk at the front door and the rest of his goons kicked out one of our guests because they said his clothes were too baggy! His clothes weren't baggy at all. He's just a heavy gentleman, and heavy people don't wear tight clothes. Or at least they shouldn't anyways.
I was hoping that I just came on a bad night but by the looks of the reviews it seems as if everyone has had the same experience. I might give Lucky Strike another shot. I like the concept but it's being executed poorly.
It's a lounge with a dress code and is extremely expensive on the weekends. The lighting scheme in the alley is such that I couldn't see very well which I hope is why I bowled so badly... a friend of mine used to work here so I scoped it out. It's overpriced, but seems like a cool lounge location, and if you're into trendy bowling, well, this is for you. They only hire attractive people (according to my friend, part of the application is a few pictures) so they have that going for them. I probably wouldn't go there again, though.
I live down in Orange County and as you may know there are several new 'upscale bowling alleys' here like Strike in Tustin, 300 in Anaheim and Lucky Strike in Orange. So I have seen them all before and experienced both the old-school, typical bowling alley and the newer, trendier, club-like atmospheres. Based on my positive experiences at most of the other similar establishments I was really looking forward to going to Lucky Strike in downtown LA. My buddy just bought a condo a few blocks away on Wilshire and he had about 6 of us meet up and go out for a night of bowling.
I will list this in the 'Strike' format as another poster did, thought that was clever.
Strike #1- We checked the website last week AND confirmed it with an employee on the phone that they were offering UNLIMITED bowling from 9pm-1am on Monday for a promotional rate of $15.00 per person. Well, upon arriving we were told the price was 6.95 per person PLUS 4.95 if you needed shoes. So right there, if we bowled 2 games we were already over the price we expected to pay. After several minutes of going back and forth with mindless, incompetent "control desk employees" we decided to submit to the false adverting and proceed to bowl.
Strike #2- We had 6 people in our party and I kindly asked that we break it up to have 3 of us on 1 lane and 3 of us on another. Mind you, there were about 6 or 7 lanes open out of the 20 or so lanes they have there and the control desk operator told me, 'absolutely not', we normally put up to 12 people on a lane when it's busy. We have to keep those lanes open for when it gets busy later and we have several birthday parties booked for tonight. Well, it was 10pm and throughout the night those lanes continued to be empty.
Strike #3- Customer Service/Awareness/Knowledge of Employees in general, I can go on and on about this. The employees all work on different wavelengths apparently, and there is no synergy with the staff. For example, I asked the front desk girl if she could tell a mechanic or someone in charge to fix our lane because it was giving up 1 less pin for each score, so if bowling a strike it registered a 9, if bowling 7 it gave 6, etc. She said, I don't know anything about the lanes, I'm just here at the front to direct traffic, you have to speak to the control desk (which had a 7 deep line). I said, well how about you use that walkie talkie right next to you and call someone for us? She said, I'm not on the same channel. LOL Thus summing up our experience (No one was on the same channel at this place.)
Strike #4- Rudeness of Employees- Upon having multiple issues with the score not registering accurately, my friend and I proceeded to the control desk. We had to wait 5 minutes as there was no one up front and not sure where they were, but when they finally came back I explained the situation and the guy basically said well it's more of a club set-up here, not like a regular bowling alley, so you have to expect the errors on the lanes and problems with scoring. Implying to just go with it and not let it stop me. I said, we are trying to keep accurate score of our game and we paid 6.95 per game to have a good time. He got very loud with me and said that he's not the person to mess with and began a power-trip and I argued back then decided it's not worth it and just realized at that point this place employs mindless, rude, service-less people.
Strike #5- The barback/busser guy kept coming around moving our plates around and taking our half-eaten food. On 2 occassions we had slider burgers taken that weren't even eaten yet. We received an empty bottle of ketchup that took forever to be swapped out.
Strike #6- The bowling alley itself is horrible. It is TINY. There is HARDLY enough space to fit more than 5 people per lane. The couches/trendy seating is so low to the ground that only a petite girl can be comfortable. I found myself standing up half the time versus relaxing which I wanted to do while waiting my turn. I couldn't get comfortable at this place and all in all the rude, obnoxious employees made me feel like I had to serve them, and do the work, versus them providing us with a nice experience and customer service. It was dead opposite and I felt like the one serving/submitting to their needs.
Strike #7- We paid for 3 games and they said they were open till 1am, Well 12:15 comes around and we were just entering game #3 and the 'Club Bouncer' in suit and tie, mirroring that of an upscale nightclub, with a tough door, proceeds to kick us off the lanes and tells us 'you have to pack your shoes now and get off the lanes after this ball'. We duked it out with the people yet again and ultimately they gave us 4, $25 dollar vouchers for future bowling games which did cover game 3.
I absolutely will not go back to this location again.
Positives-
The cocktail waitress was very friendly, attentive, and helpful.
The lounge/bar was nice looking.
This concept simply does not work for me. Dress code to a bowling alley? Really? Management obviously wants to keep the place upscale with the dress code and all. But do you seriously expect women in high heels and short skirts to be throwing around heavy balls? I wouldn't come here to party because, it's a bowling alley and I wouldn't come here to bowl cause it's as dark as a night club in there.
I can't find the freakin parking lot by the way. You would think there would be signs to lead you to it. Everything about it is everything I hate about new clubs and bars that litter Los Angeles, commercial, modern and peppered with flat screens.
I'm guessing tourists love it.
Neighborhood: Hollywood
Category: Nightlife
El Monte, CA
Category: Body Shops
Neighborhood: Downtown
Category: Restaurants
Los Angeles, CA
Category: Bowling
Neighborhood: Eagle Rock
Category: Bowling
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