Bowlero Bethesda

This might be an interesting review because we did not get a chance to bowl.

Ok, it is highly recommended that you make reservations. Not having a reservation is probably the main reason why we did not bowl. We stopped by Bowlero around 6 pm to put our name and phone number on the list for a lane for two folks. I think we were number six or seven on the list. The check in attendant informed us that a lane would not be available until 8 pm. Ok, no problem because that's what bars are for. Around 7:30, I went back to the check in desk to see where we were on the list. The attendant told me we haven't moved up this list because several parties that were supposed to arrive at 6 pm had not started their games.

Here's the thing. We were at the bar for about 1.5 hours and noticed that several lanes in our direct vicinity were not being used. Perhaps, those lanes were out of order. But I was like, we could have been used those lanes in the time the alley was waiting for the parties to arrive. I dunno but it seemed like there were a lot of lanes that were not functioning.

Here's the other thing: Although left the alley around 8 pm, we never received a phone call let us know that a lane was ready. So you mean to tell me not a single lane became available from 8 PM to 12 AM?

While we did not get a chance to bowl, we did enjoy our time at the bar. The alley has a decent selection of draft beers. I probably will visit again, BUT this time, we'll definitely make reservations.

After our experience here, I will never set foot in a Bowlero again.

I reserved a lane for my friends birthday. After arriving, they told us that we couldn't bowl because their system was down. They didn't know how long it would take, they just told us to wait and keep checking back.

After 45 minutes of waiting and checking in, finally someone behind the counter said that we could bowl even if we hadn't checked in yet. They took us to a lane, which wasnt operating and was filthy from the last group. They told us they'd clean up the lane and activate it so we could play. We waited for 20 minutes, asking for help, and no one set us up. After more than an hour we decided to cut our losses and leave.

I emailed the company (specifically the purpose with whom I had booked the reservation), and they said they couldn't offer a refund, that they could only offer a coupon for free bowling, which I have zero interest in based on what happened.

Much better than the shady grove location! Good service and pretty good food. We had some issues with the bowling and getting errors and losing balls, so seems like they need to do an update on equipment, but overall it's the one best bowling place that's nearby.

Zero customer service poor communication on wait time would go elsewhere. And most arcade games didn't function without staff having to repair

Shout out to Bowlero if you want a bowling place to play with your money and charged you the next month, when you paid for everything month before go to them. Seriously don't go here it's ridiculous, we work too damn hard for our money to be played with us and I'm highly upset!!!!

Very unorganized, I have been waiting almost 3 hours an finally I had to leave while I was told to wait for an hour and half.

The local staff are great. Mikey went out of his way to communicate and host. He confirmed our lanes were together. He got us shoes quickly and easily. He added a lane to our group. And he made sure our bumpers were up and running. The wait staff was attentive as well, fixing the odd issue and stranded ball.

That said, the whole process is needlessly painful. My sense of it is that the local staff is hampered by a heavy handed corporate bureaucracy that tries to squeeze customers with hidden charges and heavy handed sales tactics.

We wanted six lanes. You can only book two max online. Anything bigger is a "group" -- which means you put in a request and a salesperson calls you. As soon as I picked up the telephone, I knew I was getting a pitch. And sure enough, she offered me expensive packages that weren't a fit. We didn't need game cards, gift certificates, $700+ of all-you-can-eat food, a cake, and so forth. We just wanted to bowl -- and maybe order some food here and there.

But no we couldn't do that through her. So we made three reservations online and requested that the lanes are together.

Then, at the event, we ordered some food -- two platters for about $90. The bill came back at $250. A little high, so I asked for the breakdown, and I'm told "taxes and event fee." Sales tax is 6%, so that's $11. What's the $59? " "Event fee." What's that? The service. Hm, that's more than 30%, which seems high. But where's the breakdown? "That's from the corporate sales--I don't have that." Weird. By the way, it turned out, we had already paid $81 in event fees in our bookings, so that was about $60 on top of that. $140 in hidden fees spliced throughout! And I was asked to tip on top of that.

Again, I think Mikey was doing his best and trying to do right by his customers and his staff. He appeared not to have access to the right information, or maybe the event fee doesn't go to the staff. I don't know -- wasn't clear (and it really should be).

My suggestion to Bowlero corporate is to simplify this whole mess. Respect your customers, and make it simple, easy, transparent. Let folks book online. Let them get their lanes and shoes. Let them buy some food in advance or at the event in a simple straightforward way, pay and add a tip. Done.

We wanted to take our nephew for his first experience bowling and it was a great one! They were making sure all were comfortable. Overall we we're pleased with the services. The venue and bowling lanes were neat and organized with the proper bowling ready for the little ones. The staff was very attentive and courteous. A platter with some appetizers was big enough to feed 4 and still had leftovers. Thank you for making this experience a memorable one! Until next time!

I've been here a couple times and have always enjoyed myself. I recently visited during COVID.

I love the ambiance especially the lighting. It was nice, warm, and cozy. I had a groupon to enjoy 2 hours of bowling with shoe rental for $20!
Seating was every other lane so we didn't have to worry about being close to other people. All food and drink ordering was on a touchscreen where we paid there too and the waitress brought out our things. I really liked this because you didn't have to wait for service. If you wanted to walk up to the bar, that was an option as well.

My only con was that our balls kept getting stuck (lane 5) and we had to wait for someone to retrieve them for us.

Overall, I had a good experience and would return.

Love this place , first time bowling and my family and I had a great experience. Great staff friendly, I'll give it a 10/5 if I could