OBX Bowling — Attraction in Nags Head

Terrible experience. Only 5 lanes were open when we arrived, we were not told this… but when we arrived we were the only group there so it didn’t bother us. The ball return didn’t work, and when we asked someone for assistance we were told we were bowling too fast. Our group was two older folks (70-80), two middle-age folks (45-55), and two young adults (20-25)…. We didn’t drink, but we’re just trying to get out of the house for a little and do something active. We are by no means professional bowlers, casual at best (scores were between 90-150) so they excuse of us bowling too fast was terrible. After maybe 2 frames, a group was placed directly next to us, large group of little kids who roamed into our lanes multiple times. This was frustrating, since we had to delay our game to ensure we could bowl. With the ball return also not functioning well we’d had to wait a few minutes before any balls would appear again. Luckily, we all share balls mostly so we had 2 of each ready, using a 3rd often as well. Then, another group of kids appeared on the other side of us. They were just as bad as the other group, but since we shared a ball return… they would use our balls when theirs didn’t return. 20-25 balls in total had to be used to ensure we could still play. We didn't mind that they grabbed the same balls (little kids bowling with 14 lb balls was kinda funny), but it delayed us even further. The kids were unsupervised, constantly getting their balls stuck, and the employees were no help. With only 5 lanes, I don’t understand why they put us in the middle and surrounded us with kids. The other two lanes were never used… so why they didn’t put a buffer between the groups and us is the big question. No explanation was given as to why the 20 other lanes were not available (reserved for a league? Broken? Too slow?) so we just gave up. We’ve bowled here before, so it’s very upsetting to see what it’s like now. It has always been run down and somewhat gross/dirty, but we always managed as we want to relax and bowl. But terrible service/lack of common sense and broken mechanics combined with it takes the cake. They need a renovation, a new staff, and a bunch of other changes if they want to survive, but with the way this visit went… them selling or closing up wouldn’t affect us...

Nice clean place to bowl. However don't expect good service from snack bar. Took the teenagers to bowl around dinner time. Of course everyone was hungry. The place only had about 9 lanes in use counting ours. Went to snack bar after the 1st game to get some fries and chicken tenders for the group. Was told that we could only purchase items that did not use the fryer as they were cooking for a large party that was using 6 lanes at the other end of the building. So I asked what did they have that did not need the fryer and the lady looked at me and said a bag of chips. Really ticked off because they would not cook for anyone other than the 6 lane party, who by the way brought in a bunch of food trays of their own. Just totally unacceptable as it came off as rude. Especially with all the signs up stating no outside food. Their loss not mine as 4 hungry teenagers can eat. We cut bowling short and went to dinner...

Great place for entertaining the kids, fun for the "Big Kids " too. Bowling is fun.. arcade is fun, couple of games need fixing, my favorite "the buck hunter" and also theres a couple games that need a lit tender care . But hey I'm still playing. Just keep my sanitizer handy.. the folks working there seem nice and friendly and it is a great way to enjoy time as a family, or couple.. wish bowling was a little more affordable, especially for year round locals, be nice for a incentive..but that's kinda par for most places.. so enjoy and have fun.. and even if your not that good, it's ok if ya laugh it off, the atmosphere is just good old fun..( oh and surprised me, but the pizza time before, was actually hot and tasted pretty...