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Nassau Ave (G)
Bedford Ave (L)
Mon-Thu. 5:00 p.m. - 4:00 a.m.
Fri. 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 a.m.
Sat-Sun. 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 a.m.
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Come here for bowling and beer.
Laid back and fun.
Go to Brooklyn Bowl for glitz, concerts, and 360 degree stimulus.
I have been here twice in the past month and have had a lot of fun each time. This place is pretty cheap for bowling compared to other nyc spots too . Drinks are pretty reasonable and strong too!!!
Its total retro bowling, I felt like Al Bundy should have been bowling with all his buddies at the lane next to me.
Sometimes the bowling equipment mailfunctions but is fixed pretty quickly by staff. (my only complaint) but its all part of the fun, i guess..
If bowling ain't your thing they have pool tables too, some booths and tables to hang w/ friends and just listen to the music, which ain't too shabby either. Good job DJ.
People make this place out to be a microbrew heaven, but it's not. Sure, there are about 8-10 brews on tap and the prices are reasonable, but what really gets this place going is the bowling.
Beyond the modestly sized main bar (the fight for tables can get intense sometimes) sits about ten of the cheapest lanes I've ever laid eyes on. But that's a good thing, because I (and most of my friends) bowl like we're blindfolded. Drink the quality beers, order from the various eateries in the neighborhood, and just chill. Watch the tab, however; the whole night can get expensive if you're not on the lookout.
BEER SELECTION: Strong, but not astonishing. Peculier, Blind Tiger, and about a dozen other bars knock the socks off this place, but for the combination of quality beer and bowling, it can't be beat.
SERVICE: A little hoity-toity, but at least they can make a decent mixed drink.
This bar is semi-hidden in the industrial section of Williamsburg. It's not unsafe in the slightest, but some women I've known have felt uncomfortable walking back the first few blocks back to Bedford. Just a warning.
"Would you prefer bowling with hipsters or without hipsters?" I texted my date before we made our bowling plans. Fortunately, we went for the connvenience and the "irony" of "The Gutter", and not longer subway rides out to Sunset Park or Coney island.
Like most people, I have mixed feelings about hispters but I like their hangouts when they have, as they often do, that nice combination of retroness and coziness. The Gutter has all of that and bowling. All it's missing is good bar food, and it should get with the program.
The really comfortable naugahyde backed barstools (okay, I don't know if they're really naugahyde, but I love that word) are great to sit in, and they have a good mix of beers, including some upstate ones, not just the omnipresent Brooklyn stuff.
There is also a nice retro decor, and by nice I mean not that "ironic", and not self-consciously crappy. i LOVED the Indianapolis Motor Speedway postcards, not that you probably care.
It does take a long while to get a lane on a Saturday night, and unfortunately you have to pick the number of games you're playing in advance so put some thought in that. We should've said three apiece, so we left wanting more bowling and I left wanting a return trip sometime soon.
dirty smelly kids. boogers under the bar. gross. smells like vomit.
Wow.
Obscure location.
Makes me feel really safe.
Especially at night.
Divey Beer + Divey Bowling = Happy Face
Divey Beer + Divey Bowling while performing stunts = Sad Face because your ball keeps getting stuck and the workers are not amused...
FYI people, when the rest of the world visits this place, they don't think of it as a dive nor do they think of 15 dollars for a pitcher as cheap (the rest of the world sometimes has 5 dollar pitchers!). Brooklyn Brewery Ale= regular bar, only Miller or Miller Lite= dive bar. But maybe by current New York standards it's a dive? But that's ok, I like good beer, and this place is a lot of fun.
The place reminds me of something out of Milwakee, WI. Half of it is an 8 lane bowling alley, the other half is a dive bar that makes me want to order the burger and fries special, if they had a kitchen, however what they do have is beer, and lots of it.
The decor is so "that 70's show" refurbished basement looking, you might swear you've walked through a time warp. Wood, beergarden-like table seating, with booths available and a giant window views of people bowling, complete with an american flag against a brick wall, the whole thing screams "nowhere middle america", however the prices aren't bad. $3 for shoes, $7.50 for a game, $45 per hour/per lane if you want to do that. The beers are relatively reasonable too, starting at $5 per pint on up, depending on what you're going for.
The thing is... this place is in the middle of nowhere, literally. Like many of the places in this neck of the woods, it's home is a converted warehouse. Be sure to bring friends and a gps located, just in case you get lost.
The Gutter is one of the places I love to hate. I love it because it is Dive Bowling Alley I hate it because it is a Hipster Dive Bowling Alley. Either way I am here every Tuesday night for League play! We play 2 seasons a year and the league is a blast.
It is retro the lanes are like if your grandmother had a lane in her house. All the lamps and machines are vintage, there is one little TV in the corner. The lanes are vintage and beat up (or have character depending how you look at it) and they can break from time to time. And the balls are beat as well, do I care no. I love that this is more of dive bar with bowling than a bowling alley with a bar. It is big on the inside and can accommodate large crowds, the staff is really nice.
The only thing that I truly despise and I have been trying is that I can not get a Budweiser, MGD or Coors while bowling. If you like specialty brews though they have plenty!
I love this place it is like a 70s time warp. It is a dive bar with an old fashioned bowling alley and it is seriously inexpensive all you have to do is bring your people and it is a party. Will return!
I went when they had recently opened and there wasn't much of a crowd. It's very expensive for bowling (subtract one star), however, it's an awesome space. I felt like I was hanging out at a ski lodge after a long day on the slopes, sitting at a large table drinking pitchers of beer while people played pool or bowled in the next room.
Fun bar plus a sleek bowling alley.
It's got bowling, beer, a good atmosphere, friendly staff and interesting patrons.
The downside is that it's a bit pricey for a sorta dumpy bowling alley in a desolate little stretch.
The upside is that it is a dumpy bowling alley, in a desolate little stretch and its within walking distance to me. They also have some sort of friday night bowling special.
Before you come here there are some things you should know. You'll wait forever for a lane on a weekend evening. Bowling can get expensive, and they only except cash for shoes and lanes. Kind of sneaky of them.
Alright, now that we have that out of the way, I have to say I really like the atmosphere here. They got the retro-feel down, so you can return to the 1970s/1980s era of your youth (or your nonexistence) with old tvs and nean signs. Bring enough friends and you can easily lose track of time here. The pool table and adequate seating will prevent you from standing around awkwardly with your (decently priced) beer, looking bored.
Its weird but it must be said: I love that you never have to wait to pee. I hate long lines at bars, it can make breaking the seal quite uncomfortable. Not here. Coed bathroom, plenty of floor-to-ceiling stalls. And if for some crazy reason you do have to wait, men have to wait too! So there. Yay equality.
I always start with a few pitchers. Makes the wait for a lane whizz by.
I am disappointed a little more each time I come here. You wait a long time to get a lane (no matter when you come) and its very expensive. Based on the wait, they must be doing well so lower the price a little.. jesus. $17/each for 2 rounds of bowling!
One positive cost point is the beer, it's priced pretty well.
So worth a visit... you have to go! In no way is it a cheap day/night out... but Hey, So Much Fun!… Read more »
Dear Hipster Nation,
As a non-member of your elite society, I have a few requests.
1. Please feel free to punch, kick, or knee, any and all people who complain about hipsters in Greenpoint or Williamsburg, they need to respect your hood.
2. When you see me in your bar, please make note of the following:
a. I am not a douche bag, although I suppose this is subject to opinion.
b. despite some deceptive genetics, I was never in a frat, and I would kill myself if I ever fist pumped.
c. I am open to any and all hipster fashion tips, when in Rome.
3. Please build more bars like The Gutter, yes, I didn't get to bowl, because the wait was just too damn long, but the bar tender was cool, didn't bitch even a tiny bit when I was ordering ROUNDS of bloody Marys, which were really damn good, and filled with olives, celery, onions, and a cornichon. The music was decent, the booths were large, the bathrooms beyond clean for a dive bar, and there is an outdoor area for cancer lovers to get their fill.
4. Continue to be generous. When I walked outside to annoyingly bum a cigarette, both guys, automatically reached into their pocket for their pack. Screw people who say New Yorkers aren't friendly.
5. When the market turns around, and I no longer fear being fired on a daily basis, let me buy you a round, while we bowl.....cause in this embarrassingly conservative looking kid's opinion, hipsters make the world go round
Thanks,
Adam
So in summary The Gutter is awesome, and the only thing that will keep me from being a regular is how bloody annoying it is to get there from Park Slope.
Dive Bar with an authentic reconstructed 70's bowling alley! What else do you need to sell yourself on this place? Oh! it serves Genny Cream Ale, bitches!
What you spend on bowling, you'll save on beer. And both are good.
I like the Gutter a lot. The wait for a lane is hit or miss. I've gone on a Saturday evening and gotten one right away. And I've gone on a Thursday afternoon and had to wait a while.
That said, the beer's cheap ($15-21 a pitcher) and they've got a great local, eclectic selection. So, if you're with a good group of people and you like playing pool or chatting it up, waiting for a lane isn't bad at all.
The alley itself isn't for professionals. It can be tough to find a ball, the pins get reset incorrectly sometimes and the ball will jump outta the gutter on occasion. But that's all part of the charm. You go here to have a good time and huck some heavy balls at a bunch of pins while a few beers deep. If you go for much else, you're fooling yourself.
There's a ton of parking around the alley, too, if you've got a car. There is, as mentioned by others, quite a bit of bathroom space...a ton of individual, unisex stalls that are quite convenient.
All in all, be prepared to spend maybe forty bucks. But it's worth it. Great old-school feel to the place, the male/female bartenders and shoe guys and gals are foxy in their own right, the ambiance is hip (no pun intended), and it's always pretty lively.
A good jam.
This place is a really good idea, it works out well to, if u don't mind waiting. For a very long time, but the wait does give you time to drink. Drink not talk because the music is far to loud on the bar side, to have an actually conversation.
This place is filled with lots and lots of hipsters(some of them smell and look like Jesus) Other than waiting maybe about 30mins to play, this place is just ok. Its Bowling, no big thing. The layout is tight, so hopefully your not near the stinky Jesus hipsters, because you will be sharing some space.
The staff seems tired and stress, and rarely friendly. The bathroom is gross and dark, But big enough for two (wink wink, i kidding).
Bottom line strong cheap drinks, open crazy late (4 am), Perfect if your bored and broke. Plus is bowling, u'll probably have fun!
Thinks to knw: they have an ATM, the Bowling is $7 a game, $3 for shoes and cash only.
Heaven. Cheap fun. I had the greatest time here at a friend's birthday party. A lot of people have complained about the time, but when we stopped by at 10 on a Saturday we only had to wait about 30 minutes. Which is the perfect amount of time to drink a pitcher of one of their beers (pretty good list, too).
The crowd was fun and everyone looked like they were having a great time.
The shoes were a little n-a-s-t-y. To be expected.
First things first: this place is located in Greenpoint and it has 10 lanes -- you're gonna see some hipsters and you're gonna have to wait to bowl.
Came here for a friend's birthday party last Friday. Since she did a little research, she was smart and had the party start at 7 and came at 630 so we could reserve 2 lanes.
The bar area was relatively empty -- we were able to gather our group of 10 in a section off to the side and enjoy a few pitchers of beer and order some pizza from the big book of menus. We were told an hour wait to bowl but our number was called within a half an hour and they were nice enough to shift a group so we could have two lanes together. I must say, I really liked the staff -- they were not at all pretentious, very accomodating, and laid-back -- I have only praise for them.
As soon as we got to our lanes, the pizza arrived -- perfect timing! Beer was tasty and cheap (especially during Happy Hour) and bowling was fun. Definitely not your upscale bowling alley but functional and affordable ($7/pp/hr + $3/shoes). Our group was graciously given an extra half hour since we used much of our reserved time getting our shoes and setting up the scoreboard.
My only gripe was the location -- as a girl traveling solo, I did not feel very secure walking a half mile through the deserted streets from the Bedford Ave subway stop. Next time I'd bring a buddy. Also, the sign was a bit hidden -- I saw "Bar" and immediately walked past it only to turn around and see "Bowl" on the other side of the sign.
The unisex bathrooms were also unexpected -- as I started hunting for a stall I freaked out for a second because I only saw men washing their hands and must've looked like a deer in headlights. But I saw a woman walk in and felt a little better...just a little. Was a bit out of my comfort zone but hey, natured called and I had to answer.
Overall a very enjoyable, stress-free experience and a nice venue for people who want to do more than just drink.
I don't mean any disrespect here, but if you can't figure out to use the scoring screen you have bigger problems than getting the staff "to show you". SERIOUSLY? I'm actually surprised I like this place. Every time I have gone we have a great time. It is what it is.... it's not fancy. It's old and broken down. It's not PRO-Bowl. I'm sure the staff are surly because they have to deal with you drunk idiots on a minute to minute basis.
Having a birthday party here can be a daunting. It is crazily crowded around the lanes and that can be a bit much, but if your'e with a few friends on weekend afternoon it's wicked fun for a couple strings. I also love the handmade sign behind the bowling check-in whcih pretty much sums it up... "We reserve the right to refuse you service if you are WASTED". Ha ha, THANK YOU.
Maybe we got lucky, but at 8:30pm on a thursday we got a lane right away.
Anyone who thinks this is overprice obviously haven't been to Bowlmor. And seriously, has anyone ever seen a beer selection like that at any other bowling alley? Maybe there are those who miss Miller Lite on tap.
The atmosphere and the crowd were made for each other.
I'll give you a sample of the music playing so you can understand this place a little better:
Pavement, Elliott Smith, the Beatles.
If you're a hater, stay away, but I can't possibly imagine anything better than bowling while listening to Pavement. This place was totally shabby in an awesome way...I felt like I was at this bowling alley in backwoods Wisconsin where my family used to go during reunions. Exposed brick and old light-up beer signs line the walls and a fun crowd. Also, a five minute walk from my house. Very fun.
The Gutter is probably one of the best marketing ideas I've witnessed for a bowling alley. It's catered to hipsters!
The Good:
+ I kid about my opening joke, since the "dive bar meets bowling alley" theme is ingenious.
+ This is one of the last few bowling alleys I've seen that uses wood (not synthetic) lanes.
+ It looks like no cosmic bowling (No Disco Stu and Cousin Joe Inferno dancing) happens here.
+ The bar has a good selection of draft beers.
+ You don't feel like you're at a bowling alley. See pictures.
+ Prices are cheaper compared to the Manhattan bowling alley prices.
+ This venue was the home of the first Yelp Brooklyn Elite event http://www.yelp.com/bi...
The Bad:
- You don't feel like you're at a bowling alley.
- If the lanes break down, you will be waiting a long time for assistance. You won't hear "180 on lane 3" over an intercom system.
- It's far away for me. Would I come here by mass transit? Nay. I have to drive.
The Ugly:
-- It's tiny, with the presence of 8 lanes. So if you are coming on the weekend, expect to wait. The same goes for the availability of street parking (on a weekend).
I bowled poorly here, but this place has a lot of upside. I would come back just to try out the other beers on draft.
Would I die bowling here? No, but as a serious amateur bowler, the novelty of The Gutter wears out very quickly like a 'warm handshake' at the end of a first date.
IFHTP 1
Best bowling alley I've ever been to? Possibly. There are no frills to this place, no DJ, no neon lights, no overdressed people, no cheesy sound effects. Just brick walls, a few lanes, some chipped bowling balls, and a great bar. And really, what more could you ask for?
And on the eighth day, God said "Let there be Balls". Or something to that effect, because I'm sure he was referring to The Gutter when he said it.
The very first Brooklyn Yelp Elite Event was held here, and I must say it was my best virgin excursion since high school (I have no idea what that means either but damn it it's funny).
I honestly cannot tell you how much the rates are, since the games and bowling shoes were paid for. But the drinks weren't too expensive at all, around $5.00 each or something. And come on, you cannot bowl without drinking beer. It's like Jeff Lebowski bowling without a White Russian - it just does not happen.
The lanes are much thinner than your average bowling alley lane. I admit that I had trouble adjusting at first, because I usually start the ball off on the right of the lane and curve it towards the middle. The thinner lanes made it harder for me to curve it, thus the ball would end up more towards the left side of the pins instead of right down the middle. And I couldn't do my Al Bundy "strrrrrrrrike" victory call because of it.
And, oh man, are the scoring machines antiquated. But that is what gives it its charm. Sort of like bowling in the 1970's.
If you go on the weekends, be prepared to wait a long while for a lane. I suggest coming on a Monday or a Tuesday, when the crowds are smaller.
I came here on Sunday afternoon with some girlfriends and we had a BLAST!!! First off, the bowling games here are much cheaper than in Manhattan (although the equipment here is pretty old and no frills - this is more for a fun time with friends, not serious bowling). Next, the shoes seem clean and pretty new, which was nice. I also saw them spraying disinfectant on them - whew!
We ordered a pitcher of beer (the Pumpkin Ale, which I found delicious - it was malty with a hint of pumpkin spice) - it was Happy Hour (which I was extra happy to know that they have on Sunday) so our pitcher was only $18 and it was plenty of beer for us four gals.
The restrooms entail large, private stalls which are decently clean for a dive bar.
The main bar area is pretty big and sometimes has DJs on Friday and Saturday nights.
Bottom Line: A great place to have fun on a low budget - highly recommended!
Also, a cute idea for a birthday party :)
Avoid if you are a hipster hater - it feels like a parallel hipster universe inside.
Note: Cash only for bowling, but the bar takes cards :)
Get your BOWL on at THE GUTTER!.....
I love this Old School Brooklyn Bowling hot spot! The only place in NY that I'll come to bowl if im paying for myself (lol)! I do love the hip & swanky Bowlmor lanes & 300 New York Bowling alley's in Manhattan...but WHEW are they EXPENSIVE!!!! The Gutter is the PERFECT low key, cheap & rock out Bowling spot!
The whole decor is straight old school and pretty damn awesome! Beware, this place IS in the middle of NOWHERE..so if while walking there you feel a bit spooked out don't worry, I promise you it gets better and it's perfectly safe!
Awesome vibe, Williamsburg hotties, nice selection of beer & mixed drinks, great music, cheap & a down home good time! Not to be missed! ;o)
I almost drove by this place twice. Totally non-descript, hole in the wall of an entrance. If you drove by the entrance to this place (an old abandoned warehouse) and you sneezed you might drive right by and totally miss it.
Once you enter the place it is actually pretty cool looking on the inside. They have bowling lanes but I didn't bowl that night but it looked okay although Lainy C. mentioned that the scoring was manual as the scoring machine was busted. The way the bathrooms are set up is quite unique.
I came here for a Yelp Elite Brooklyn event.
I ordered a Tanqueray gin and tonic for $7. Boy was the bartender generous with the Tanqueray gin. Whew!
All in all not a bad place to hang out. The surrounding area though is still questionable when it gets dark out.
Probably a good place for private parties, like year-end office parties.
The best thing about this place is the pool table IF you can avoid hitting all the hipsters in the face (or maybe if you can't). We called ahead of time and they told us their 'busiest times' were 7 and 8. I guess we were stupid to believe them but when we showed up at 9 we faced a 3+ hour wait. THREE FRIGGIN HOURS TO BOWL.
Again, we were stupid enough to wait. When we did bowl I found the lanes small with not a lof space between them. The balls were in awful condition worse then most public bowling balls. And the people next to us were more annoying then most big groups of drunk girls.
Long story short, I would not go back here. Except maybe to play pool and hit hipsters in the face with my cue.
What a sick idea.
Turn a what looks like old abandoned warehouse into a pretty chill place to hang out. The beer selection is ridiculous I loved getting a pitcher of something new every round. Also while you wait 437893 hours for a lane to bowl, pool and an old school hockey game that I used to play in Canada when I was twelve will keep you occupied. The music is of course what keeps me happy and that too was a great last touch to this place.
I was totally into the old school decor with only little lamps and Christmas lights keeping this place lit. The "bowling alley" was REALLY old school that was probably from the late 70's early 80's. I was all about it.
If your a stuck up asshole who needs 2008 technology and pizza and chicken fingers down your throat. Then don't come here.
If your looking to have a chill night with a few friends, listen to good music and have fun bowling a few games, then I would definitely suggest to check this place out.
Sky*
I think I was enjoying myself so much that I forgot to observe whether hipsters were in fact lurking about. Oh well! Even though I don't bowl (a long silly story) and I don't put beer on a pedestal, I liked The Gutter! It's way the heck out there and easy to miss if you're not looking for it, but hey -- I had a good crew with me and beers ran a painless $4-7 on a Saturday night!
My posse appreciated the old-school tone of the place too, from the dial-tuner TV to the candy bar vending machine in the corner. (And, as beer lovers, they totally dug the drafts selection.) I'm more of an activities-person than a drink for the sake of drinking person, so I totally appreciated that The Gutter facilitates mingling, even with new friends (this was a beer http://Meetup.com group), as you're engaged in DOING something (as someone previously mentioned). At $7pp/game and $3/shoes, it's not a bad shot. The pool table also leaves an additional entertainment option while you're waiting for your lane, if you can snag the single table. Thumbs up for The Gutter :)
PS - I thought it was odd that a place like the Gutter had single-serve toilets and communal sinks though. How very club-like of them.
A carefully cultivated "dive bar" look with a bowling alley built out of used equipment on the side. Despite that, it manages to come out a winner. Again, like so many good bars it comes down to interior design and creating different "areas" for different levels of intimacy.
The bowling alley provides the place for people to congregate and meet while DOING SOMETHING. It functions as a mixing environment giving groups of people something in common to start conversations.
Then there's the main bar area with open tables for the standard gabbing and then a row of booths for more intimate one-on-one, let's-go-private moments.
You'll roll your eyes at all the vintage crap so carefully arranged to make it look like The Gutter has been around for years and years (it hasn't). But it's got a good vibe and the bowling is a blast.
i've had 2 good experiences here in the past few months. one on a rainy sunday and again on a rainy friday afternoon. both times we easily got a lane - but the place wasn't awkwardly empty.
i like the gutter because there's no disco balls, laser lights, and bumpers. i especially like the gutter because it has a great bar, battered balls and smells like a bowling alley should.
the bar could be a destination by itself - tons of cool vintage beer paraphernalia, and a good selection on tap. i will admit the beer on tap is more of the fancy (read expensive) variety - this being the biggest reason for 4 stars and not 5. that said, their bloody marys are awesome.
besides the pitchers of beer ($15-$25), the prices are affordable. we made the person with the lowest score buy the next pitcher, so for those of us who were not quite the worst - it was even more affordable.
if you like dive-bars and bowling this is definitely worth a visit.
random info - if you need socks you can buy a pair for $2. awesome when you walk from the L and your socks get soaked from the rain.
First mistake would be to go here specifically to bowl. Gutter is a sweet dive bar that happens to have about six lanes to bowl. The wait is usually about two hours for a lane which gives you plenty of time to sample all of the drinks behind the old school bar. They have a real nice selection of beers on tap (that flow into pitchers nicely while waiting) that will keep you busy for the hour or two until the lane is ready.
You get a number when you go in and watch as it seems the numbers never move, but you keep having more fun if you are drinking. This is an excursion, a great thing to do with friends which is why the wait is so long - a lot of people come in groups of four or more and if they bowl two games, while drinking, it is going to take a while.
Bathrooms are co-ed, but the kind that all have their own private stall, clean and fun to read while you are inside. Knowing what you are in for going into this place will let you have a great time.
When my friends and I were looking for this place, I was kind of skeptical that anything was on this street until I got about 20 feet away from the entrance and heard the music/laughter...it is in an area where there aren't many ppl/cars
This place has all sorts of local beers, which were very cold and refreshing...
(cheap) Bowling + (local) beer + (awesome) friends make for a fun day...this is what i call a "cultural" excursion.....venturing out from manhattan can be risky, but it is worth it if you can do so with friends...
You can't order food from this place, but the bartender will let you look at menus from other restaurants and order from those places...
this is a great place end of story. i have only gone during the day, so i can't speak for evening times, but it seems like it would get crowded very quickly if you actually want to bowl. otherwise it was amazing
Hipster dive retro bowling alley with a billiards table. I didn't bowl, so I can't review the lane quality. The happy hour beer prices were good and the music was alright. But, do they have a swimming pool? Because, the whole place smelled like chlorine. I had a sneezing fit and had to leave.
I love this place. Retro bowling decor, great beer selection (and decently priced), clean bathrooms, lots of room, and there was even a sweet old bull dog wandering around once when I got there fairly early on a weekday.
It's definitely off the beaten path, but worth it once you get there. My only complaint is that the actual bowling part can get a wee bit expensive.
UGH after two not so great experiences I tried this place out again for a friend's b-day party. BIG MISTAKE. kind of like barcade - nice concept - terrible execution. or not even that, nice concept - but not functional. but at least barcade i'm spending quarters and actually getting to play a game without it breaking multiple times....gutter is WAY overpriced.
Pros:
1) nice beer selection
2) nice interior
Cons:
1) terrible service. from the bartenders to the guy who runs the bowling counter. snobby. SLOW. rude. don't even bother asking how the ancient score sheet works - you'll get something along the lines of "figure it out." EXCUSE ME - SORRY I don't know how to do it, use to electronic scoring. It IS 2009. I have NO problem doing the vintage thing, but at least have the decency to tell me how to do it. Bartenders aren't much better. Waited forever, felt like I was annoying them by asking for a drink...sorry to interrupt you from giving out drinks and shots to your friends...but hello, at least I'm paying.
2) Our lane broke twice while we were playing. It took forever to get someone to fix it and when our time ran out in the middle of a game - they still shut it off without even offering to compensate for the time we spent waiting to fix it.
3) We waited 3.5 hours to get a lane. Not worth it.
4) It's too damn crowded. I get that it is in Williamsburg and for that I won't complain about the amount of over the top hipsters - but that still doesn't mean it was worth being surrounded by them for over three hours - just to get our lane, have it over crowded with people who weren't even bowling with us and were too rude to give us the space we paid for - oh yeah, did I mention the lane broke twice?
5) Pitchers are kind of over priced which I wouldn't mind if I had a place to sit, or was treated nicely, or was taught how to score my bowling game I paid a shitload for, or had a remotely decent time.
I have tried this place out two other times and while the last time was by far the worst - the other two times weren't that much better. If you want to bowl, don't try to do it the "hip" way - go to a REAL bowling alley. Most bowling alleys offer beer - maybe not a microbrew pitcher, but it's worth the trade-off, trust me. I have had a WAY better time at the Chelsea Piers and that place is atrocious to look at and super cheesy - but hey, we were treated right, money was well spent, we bowled on REAL lanes (did I mention the lanes are tiny and I'm almost positive not even and slanted??), with REAL bowling balls (the balls here are a joke), and had good service
Again - good idea and concept. But it just doesn't work. A bowling alley is a bowling alley - maybe cheesy or kind of over the top, but guess what? A hip, vintage bar/bowling alley - no fun, waste of money....not worth it.
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now i DO live up this way. oh williamsburg. easy…
Every once and awhile there's nothing like a good…
As a bowling enthusiast, I have endured the same…
