Beach Bowl — Attraction in Jacksonville Beach

UPDATE TO MY ORIGINAL REVIEW: After my initial disappointing experience hosting my son’s birthday party at Beach Bowl earlier this year, I was genuinely surprised and impressed when Assistant GM Rick personally reached out to me. He took the time to ask what went wrong, listened carefully to my concerns, and was incredibly kind and professional throughout our conversation. Rick didn’t just offer an apology, he went a step further and provided a Beach Bowl gift card, inviting us to return and have the experience we had hoped for the first time. That gesture alone spoke volumes about how much he and Beach Bowl value their customers and are committed to making things right. I really appreciate Rick for caring enough to reach out and take action. It’s rare these days to see that level of customer service, and it absolutely deserves recognition. Thank you, Rick, for turning our negative into a positive and restoring our trust in Beach Bowl. We’ll definitely be back and recommending it again.

We recently hosted my son’s 7th birthday party at Beach Bowl, opting for the most expensive Iconic Package, which included unlimited play passes and 1,000 e-points per child. Given the price and the venue's reputation, I expected a well-organized and smooth experience, but unfortunately, it was the opposite.

Issues: Lack of Assistance – The party room (Room 3) was incredibly small and cramped, making it chaotic to serve 19 kids. There was no staff assistance with serving food or drinks, so we had to handle everything ourselves. I had to keep searching for our host just to get simple things like pitcher refills. *Poor Food Service – The pizza was terribly cut, and my husband struggled to distribute slices. Something as basic as properly slicing a pizza should not be an issue at an event like this. *E-Points Not Loaded – The 1,000 e-points per child that were part of our package were not loaded onto the play cards. As a result, only 8 out of 19 kids were able to use them. I spent a lot of time going back and forth with arcade staff, trying to get this resolved. By the time it was figured out, most of our guests had already left, meaning they never got to use the e-points we paid for. *Missing Gift Bags – The gift bags that were supposed to be included in our package were completely forgotten. Our host, Heather (who was very sweet but uninformed), had to check with the front desk. Instead of immediately providing them, a male staff member at the front tried to upsell me on paying for the party first before he would “compensate” with extra play cards. We weren’t interested in more play; we just wanted the gift bags as promised. When they finally arrived, most of the kids had already left. *Overall Disorganization – The entire event felt stressful, unorganized, and not worth the premium price. Despite purchasing the most expensive package, we received poor service, a lack of assistance, missing items, and unnecessary complications.

One bright spot in this experience was our host, Heather. When we first arrived, the door accidentally closed on my son’s foil number 7 balloon, causing it to pop. Heather went out of her way to tape the balloon to the wall in the party room, making sure it was still part of the celebration. That small act of kindness did not go unnoticed, and we truly appreciated it.

While the kids had a great time playing, the behind-the-scenes experience for us as hosts was frustrating and disappointing. This was, by far, the most chaotic and stressful birthday party I’ve ever hosted, and I will not book another party here. Paying more for a premium package did not result in better service—if anything, we felt robbed.

I do not recommend Beach Bowl for birthday parties unless they significantly improve their organization, staff training, and...

Went to Beach Bowl for the first time with friends the other night. We go to the front to reserve a bowling lane. The guy upfront is laidback and says it is going to be a 45 minute wait. No problem. We head to the rooftop bar to grab some drinks while we wait. The bartender immediately looked pissed when she saw us approaching. Mind you, it was not busy at all. There were 2 high tops that had people out of many other tables available. My friend starts talking to the bartender about drinks and I noticed her responses were short, unfriendly, and plain rude. The bartender expressed how she was ready to go home. To avoid unnecessary negative service, we go down to the bar that is located across from the actual bowling lanes. We approach the empty bar and this other bartender sees us and walks away. When she comes back, my friend is making conversation with her and asking about drinks. He orders his drink and she does not even acknowledge his order as she walks away again. At this point, I see another worker behind the bar coming to where we are and he is wearing a different kind of shirt compared to the other bartenders/workers we have seen, so I assume he is the manager. I let him know the bartender was rude and did not have a great attitude. No customer service. The guy immediately freaks out and says we can't say that and that we need to leave. I was shocked. I cannot believe how emotional and triggered this guy is getting. I almost laughed but was mad at the same time because I cannot believe this is actual happening. We just wanted some drinks and to bowl. Plus, this is beach bowl! You would think the standard of work ethic, customer service, and overall communication would be up to par being that this is a new establishment located in a nice area in Jax beach. The bartender guy who is triggered races to the security dude they have on staff. The security guy approaches and apologizes for having to kick us out. He was the ONLY person in this place who behaved like an adult and communicated like one. My friend asks for the actual manager and the only one on staff is the bar manager named Will. Here is where all hope is lost. This manager comes out and does not even let my friend talk. He says we need to leave and not come back. No chance for discussion as to what happened, no people skills, the dude is angrier than us. It's totally insane. He proceeds to tell my friend he has cameras and audio on hand proving he heard everything my friend said to the bartender which were vulgar things according to him. ABSOLUTE LIES. I say this because I was the one who told the bartender about her rude demeanor and attitude with us, not my friend. But, the bar manager Will continued to do his best to close my friend out from telling what happened and how this all started. My friend was nothing but friendly and trying to make conversation because we could all see these bartenders did not want us there. They themselves did not want to be there. We are all human so I get that. However, to treat customers, specifically first time customers who are being nothing but friendly, like trash is not an excuse. The most disappointing part was the actual bar manager Will because he behaved the worst out of all the staff. This manager is old unlike the rest of the staff who is younger in age so you expect the communication and discussion to be more mature.

I noticed the other Google reviews that highlight similar shortcomings at this place and I see I am not alone in this. Worst experience I have ever had at an establishment. The owners of this place need to tighten up their staff in regards to customer service or this business...

I'm not normally one to leave a poor review, but I've never been treated so poorly at an establishment.

Iv visited the remodeled beach bowl a total of 3 times. The first two were uneventful. Both times, I met a group of friends that were already bowling, and now that I look back, I was never approached by a server while I was there those prior times.

The 3rd time I visited me and 2 other friends went later in the night and got on the waitlist to bowl. While waiting, we moved upstairs to check out the bar, and my buddies wanted some drinks. We were met with a full body eye roll by the bartender. She was clearly having a bad night, so to lighten the mood (I noticed a stage to my left), I asked her if they ever did stand-up comedy at Beach Bowl. She gave me another eye roll and said, "Do you think we do stand up here?" I laughed it off, but she clearly she wasn't in the mood to have guests, so me and my friends moved to the downstairs bar.

The downstairs bar was completely empty. This is where we were met with another bartender who was sharing the same attitude as the bartender upstairs. After trying to get her attention at an empty bar for a few minutes, she turned around and asked what we were drinking. My friend asked for a simple two part drink. Instead of making his drink, she rolled her eyes and walked away from the bar completely to go talk to a lane. While she was gone, a male bartender in a different shirt from all the other workers walked up. We assumed that since he wasn't wearing a uniform, he was the manager. My buddy flagged him down and brought up that we had a bad taste in our mouths from the previous two bartenders. He laughed at us, and the previous bartender then walked back from the lanes and yelled at us. The two bartenders then walked off, and we stayed at the bar wondering if anyone was going to make the drink.

Following that, we were tapped on the shoulders by security and told we had to leave. (I would like to take a moment to say the security guard was exceptually understanding and was the only one from the company to handle the situation professionally) while being escorted out we asked to speak to a manger because at this point we weren't even sure why we were being told to leave. The bar manager, I believe his name was Will. Met us with hostility, stating we were assaulting his bartenders. I then pulled him aside from all the ruckus and asked him about what was said to him? In efforts to understand what he thought was going on. Instead of matching my energy in efforts to de-escalate the situation, he kept repeating that we had to leave and refused to talk to us professionally.

Iv worked in the industry for years, I understand people have bad nights, and I feel I'm more understanding than most when it comes to bad attitudes. However, getting kicked out for trying to pull what we thought was a manager to the side to talk about the service we received, being met with hostility and more bad attitudes doesn't sit well with me.

Edit: Take a look at the other reviews! Most of the 5 star reviews are from the place before it reopened! All of the current 5 stars all seem to be great friends with someone named Holly. It seems we should have...