Yerba Buena Ice Skating & Bowling Center — Attraction in San Francisco

Yerba Buena Ice Skating Center is really 4.5 stars, but I've rounded down to 4. Our kids have been taking lessons here, both basic ice skating and hockey, for a couple years and have progressed nicely. The location is convenient: we ride the kids to classes via Folsom/Howard on our cargo bicycle or take Muni and so this is convenient for both. We also like to go to the adjacent playground and carousel as well as walk over the pedestrian bridge to all the good stuff at Yerba Buena gardens. So great location. The keep their bathrooms pretty clean which, with kids, is really key.

The main thing is that this is a good place to learn to skate and play hockey and lots of public skate. So even though I'm going to write a lot more about the negatives, that's only because I want to see it even better. Overall, it's 4.5 stars and that's the key takeaway.

My suggestions for improvement are: Promote and prioritize the hockey lessons/program more. Hockey definitely is second fiddle here, and as the only hockey rink in SF, that's an utter shame. We've been in hockey classes were 15 kids were squeezed into a tiny area (basically the area between the goal red line and the walls, plus a little bit, while the simultaneous figure skating classes had tons of room). The skating school is all run by figure skaters and the one hockey coach (and his assistant, at least that was the situation pre-COVID) are excellent, but they need more support. The public skate program is great but way too expensive. For a single adult with two kids over 5 and all three needing skate rentals, public skate will set you back just under $60! The mission of this ice center should be to do everything possible to promote skating in a city where winter sports like skating and hockey are at a huge disadvantage, but these kinds of prices won't do that. Also, they don't allow you to take pictures/videos while on the ice. Come on. I get that there are safety concerns, but at least allow people to do if they are standing still along the walls. Need much bigger lockers. They won't allow backpacks on the ice for public skate, so what are people supposed to do with all their bags with shoe-sized lockers? Most people just leave their stuff around the benches and mercifully I haven't heard of theft being a problem, but it seems inevitable with the lack of large bag-sized lockers. The skate rentals are pretty awful. I rented a pair once that were so dull and rusted that, even as a former hockey player, I stepped on the ice and immediately fell because they stuck like glue. Most are ragged with half-broken and mismatched laces. I get that the skate itself will get worn, but there's no reason not to keep them sharpened and stay on top of lace maintenance. The skating school really only has classes on Saturdays and Mondays. Part of this is linked to lack of demand on SF for ice sports, but again, the school does very little promotion to change this. They need to get way more aggressive with advertising and promotion so they can offer classes at least on both weekend days. On that note, they used to (pre-COVID) have a little snack bar, but it was awful processed food like hot dogs and soda. And then they have vending machines. But why not partner with Peets or something and offer legit coffee/tea and snacks? They have the perfect audience of adults watching/waiting while their kids are in class who will literally eat this up. And during public skate, people would love to take a break and have a drink. Just an incredible wasted opportunity. The glass is usually fogged up. I've been skating and going to hockey rinks for 40 years and this does happen from time to time at any rink, but usually only when there is a maintenance issue or crazy humid weather. SF is normally very dry so that's not an excuse. They just need their ice maintenance team to get on...

I love the setting and all the windows. This rink is very open. Price is good for it being in the city and the sessions are long. They do clean the ice half way through session which I think is nice. The ice is same level as floor which was unusual for me since I’m used to a step down into rink. Everyone is super nice at this rink the staff was super friendly. They also allow your small pet as long as you clean after it “if it should make a mess” lol.

The cons- hard as heck to find parking and you have to pay for parking. This place doesn’t have a parking garage. There is parking garage down the street so it means walk. For city people this isn’t a issue. For us suburb people well I felt a bit uneasy with all the people on the streets screaming and talking to themselves. But my mini handled it like a champ and proved she can hold her own at such a young age. I heard no to park on mission due to lots of break ins. Prob best to park in San Mateo if in the peninsula or alameda for east bay and Uber in. We did have two homeless stare us down like they wanted to grab and go out bags. Just stare back let people know your aware. My car was fine coming back I didn’t leave anything in car. Another thing is the ice gets soft due to light and windows. Meaning ice has lots of holes, gashes and plain beat up. It isn’t as bad as the rink in foster city but for a beginner I was fine. My daughter who does jumps she wasn’t liking it. For intermediate skaters they seem to be okay. My thing is if u can skate in any ice then your on your way. Military discount is listed but it’s the same price as general so that was like what? No love for our military.

I would come back to have fun maybe bring visitors that come stay with me. It’s a great tourist attraction that’s fun and safe inside. We left our stuff out and no one touched it. It was fun and we met a new friend and saw a friend we met at another rink so that was awesome! Maybe give a military discount that...

We have signed up for this quite expensive summer camp and it ended up being horrible experience. STAY AWAY!

Right before the first day, we received lots of requirements and obligations for attending camp. Felt like a part-time job to follow every step. Well, I thought it's for good.

Just few days in, my son started to complain about the sore through and being sick. We had to take him to the hospital and he was diagnosed with Covid. He was interviewed at hospital, and he shared that there was a known fact among kids that there are other campers who were reported sick on the first couple of days at the camp.

Nobody every notified the families, although we were required to personally meet with caregivers at least twice a day and keep constant communication about our timing when picking up and dropping off our kids.

Even worse, apparently caregivers recommended kids to stay away from other kids who've had close contacts with the sick kids (so they knew!) but decided to hide the fact from the parents, and ignored basic city and state requirements.

We've made multiple attempts to contact camp, via email and phone, but nobody responded. Nobody contacted us even when my son didn't show up for multiple days in a row.

The camp director is Bonnie Legg, she Is Yerba Buena Ice Skating & Bowling Center Skate Bowl Camp Director, who is proactively in telling you what to do, but never bothers to reply on emails when it's her responsibility. She's absolutely dysfunctional, dishonest and careless person.

Do you care about your kids health? Do yourself a favor, and don't put yourself in our position, find a better place. I am afraid to think what would happen if anything else, like an allergy or asthma attack would happen, and they would...