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Tropicana Lanes
Rating Details »
Categories: Bowling, Party & Event Planning [Edit]
Neighborhood: Richmond Heights7960 Clayton Rd
Saint Louis, MO 63117
(314) 781-0282
- Nearest Transit:
-
Richmond Heights (MetroLink)
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
5 reviews for Tropicana Lanes
Bowling mega-plex. The good thing is that you'll always be able to get a lane. The bad thing is that there's always a ton of teenagers loudly hanging around, sometimes not even bowling.
However, it's good to escape to their bar area, where you can sit back and enjoy a beer with some friends. The bar has never been busy in my experiences there, so that means no wait. The prices are decent as well, considering the concession stand, where I always feel like I overpay for food items.
But then again, I always feel like I overpay on fried food items.
For the most part, Tropicana Lanes is a wise choice if you want to bowl, but are on a strict time table. It beats waiting for a lane at Saratoga or Moolah, but definitely lacks in character (just a little). I suggest making that up with a large group of people, since Tropicana can definitely accommodate that.
Growing up way down on the south east coast, we never really had bowling alleys around. We just spent our time outside when it came to sports. Until I moved here to St. Louis I never really thought that people took bowling all that seriously. Oh how I was wrong.
So when college rolled around and I was here in St. Louis my friends would always be up for the idea of bowling. Of course, I never really was since I didn't bowl. Well the closest alley that was near us was the Tropicana. The Tropicana was where I began to cut my teeth on the so beloved sport bowling.
Each time I drive up to the Tropicana scene from The Big Lebowski run through my head. As I walk in I expect to see the Dude and people wearing their bowling shirts. I don't, mostly because we never bowl on league night and the Dude, if he were real, lives out in California, so that's not going to happen.
But each time that we go there we always enjoy ourselves. My friends bowl great games and I, well, I enjoy myself and can blame living in a warm sunny climate for most of my life, but my skills with the hard heavy ball is slowly getting better thanks to the fun and enjoyable times we spend at The Tropicana.
It seems like whenever my friends and I used to go bowling we ended up at Tropicana. We have since broadened our horizons, but still come back here for the ambiance and atmosphere alone.
This place is a little run down, but I have been very hard pressed to find a bowling alley that is not. There are so many lanes that I have never had to wait long for one to open up, even on busy Friday and Saturday nights. You can pay by the game and it's not expensive at all, which is also a very nice bonus. The drinks are cheap, and food is cheap (but not really that great, I suggest drinking a few beers before embarking on the pizza if you want it to taste good). Also, not owning my own ball, I have never had trouble finding one that's the right weight as well as has big enough finger holes for my man hands. Nice touch.
The bathrooms leave something to be desired, but again, you are in a bowling alley, what do you really expect, The Ritz?
This place has been around forever! It's another place for an outing when visiting the parents. They have electronic scoring and beer in bottles! Not just the usual AB selection, but also imports! They have Red Hook and Coronas and I can't remember the others.
Getting the beer is quite an adventure. You have to go to the snack bar and order and pay there. Then the lady goes into the lounge to get it. I think she used to work for the DMV, she's that fast. Maybe it's different at night. We only go during the day to give Grandma and Grandpa a break from the kids.
So if you're out this way, it's another bit of St. Louis culture to hit the Tropicana Lanes!
Tuesday night bowling: $20 for one lane, two hours, two pair of shoes, a pitcher of coke and a small "pizza." Upgrade that pitcher to beer for a few dollars more. The lanes are kind of run-down, but the neon sign and decor are from from another era and the value is tough to beat.
If you go, either barter your pizza ticket for nachos or eat the pizza with your non-bowling hand. The pizza has been compared to cardboard with cheez whiz on it, which is not entirely inaccurate. Very oily. We once tried to order half sausage / half pepperoni and got hot sauce / hot peppers. It's hard to say which is preferable. Maybe nachos.
At night, you have no trouble getting drinks directly from the bar. They have just one beer on tap, so hopefully you don't mind bud light.