The Alley at Southshore — Attraction in Riverview

The Alley at Southshore 10221 Big Bend Road Riverview, FL 33578

To Whom It May Concern:

I would like to relay my experience at the Alley at Southshore on June 15, 2023, and to inform you that your staff to include your Manager, Danielle are very unprofessional. I took my grandson bowling and invited my friend and her two ten-year-old boys to meet us. Since I have never been to Alley before, I normally bowl at MacDill AFB, I arrived an hour prior to opening, 10:00 a.m. I noticed a bus load of children going in the bowling alley so I called the front desk and asked if there was a special event going on and would two lanes be available for my friend and our boys. The lady said it would not be a problem. I told her I was parked out front and would be in line as soon as you opened.

I walked in at 10:55 a.m. and was the first person in line. I paid for myself and my grandson. My girlfriend came in shortly after I paid. I told the Manager I wanted to purchase a lane for my friend and her boys. Our plan was for the boys to bowl together since they require bumpers, and the adults would have a lane. He stated you five can share a lane. I asked why and he stated “I won’t have a lane for someone else that may walk in.” I told him I had been in the parking lot since 10:00 a.m. and was told by a lady that it would not be a problem getting two lanes, his response was a loud I DON’T CARE! I persisted and he finally sold us the two lanes, however he was very nasty and unprofessional during the process. He truly does not represent/present a professional image for the Alley. I don’t want to keep reiterating but he was truly working to upset me because after I paid and was about to walk away, another lady walked up with her children, and he looked at me and said, “Now I don’t have a lane for this customer.” Very rude and unprofessional.

Once we finished bowling, I decided to stop by the front desk and ask for the contact information of the General Manager. The young lady said we have another manager on duty, would you like to speak with her? I said, that would be great.

Danielle came out and I began to relay everything that occurred. I pointed out that after we purchased our two lanes, I noticed the four white men who came in after us purchased two lanes with no issue or comment from the Manager. Danielle immediately said, “I Am Going to Stop You Right There! In a loud voice! She put her hand in my face and said, “I don’t appreciate when people of color use the race card.” I was not using any race card; I was simply relaying what transpired between me and the Manager.

It was apparent the conversation was not going anywhere positive, so I simply requested her manager’s information as I was not going to behave in the unprofessional and rude manner that I had experienced twice that day.

While I don’t have any expectations that anything will become of this, I would like to know the Alley’s policies with respect to selling lanes; are they sold on a first come first serve basis or is it normal to save lanes for customers who may show up later? This will inform my next visit if I can get past this unpleasant experience.

Thank you, Mrs....

I’ve been to this bowling alley three times, and while it has its upsides, there were definitely a few letdowns. On the plus side, the location is convenient for us, just a short drive from home, which makes it easy to stop by. The arcade was fun, but I was disappointed by how many games were out of service. On the bright side, the pricing was reasonable—games ranged from $0.50 to $2.25, not including the VR experience, which we skipped. However, a few machines seemed to cheat us out of wins, which was frustrating.

Now, onto the bowling experience. We walked in and were next in line, but the woman at the register disappeared without saying anything. No “I’ll be with you in a moment” or even a quick acknowledgment. That’s something I really dislike, and as you’ll see in my other reviews, customer service is a big deal to me, so this knocked a star off for me. After a few minutes, we finally got her attention and added our names to the waitlist. She initially told us it would be a 30-minute wait, but we ended up waiting over 45 minutes. Thankfully, the arcade games helped pass the time, and eventually, we were ready to bowl.

The pricing for bowling was pretty steep—$59 for three people for just one hour. While I understand it’s a Saturday night, that still felt pretty outrageous. I can’t recall paying that much at any other bowling alley before. When we got to our lane, the system kept glitching and resetting between players, which was a huge annoyance. Our hour was likely cut short to under 50 minutes due to those delays.

The one bright spot was that my son had a great time, which is the most important thing to me. That said, after this experience, I won’t be returning. I’ll head to Pin Chasers in Tampa next time, where for $52 we could have gotten two hours of bowling and included shoe rentals or Main Event in Wesley Chapel.

On a side note, I heard from a local Facebook group that a fight broke out shortly after we left, and there was another incident a month ago where someone was shot in the parking lot. Apparently, crime has become a real concern at this location, which is troubling—especially since I had my 6-year-old with me. It’s something to keep in mind if you’re...

Upon spending almost $400 for a Sunday birthday party with their website displaying that there would be a bar inside of the VIP room with a bartender so your guests do not have to walk out to get their drinks and you could enjoy yourself. There was no bartender on staff and the people attending my party were told they had to walk all the way to the restaurant side which is the opposite end of the alley in order to get their drinks. mind you this is based off of if they wanted anything other than water sweet tea or lemonade not fully on alcohol. Let it not fool you. Upon speaking with different teams of management the day of the party and now 4 days later I am understanding that on Tuesday one of the managers did return back to work with insufficient or lack thereof notes on the parties problems. Why the manager could not handle the situation the day of I'm still unaware of the only answers I can get is the website was wrong, lack of communication, they did acknowledge to dropping the ball during the party, one individual's party was pushed so close to ours that we had to share tables, at the end of the party myself along with partygoers had to help clean up the mess because it piled up so bad on the tables. So out of almost $400 with just missing the bartender alone I feel, about a 50% refund is necessary. My closest friends and family had to continuously leave the party in case if they wanted something as simple as a Coca-Cola or Pepsi, we had to reach across and what make our way through the clutter that was on the table at times, with little to no answers other than I don't know, I'm sorry, the website was wrong this is no excuse. the manager I spoke to didn't acknowledge well the kids had a good time and that's what matters most yes it does. Sitting on the back burner of my mind is also I read the sheet for what my party included and things were not included so not only did I pay out front for something and not get a full delivery of it but the hassle that it caused with confusion and or inconvenience should be accommodated for. So don't always believe...