Stellar Lanes — Local services in Newmarket

Adding one star here as none is not an option - This is a poorly run operation and I'd request anyone to do their own research before attending and booking parties here. The management refuses to accept complaints stating that they are all posted by customers who were drunk at this establishment and have no merit to the reviews posted.

On arrival, lanes 13/14 were allocated for us, but close to 3pm, I was told there was a defect with these lanes and was swapped to lanes 21/22. These lakes were not cleared on time and guests had to wait for another 10 minutes for clearance of clutter/garbage etc. No apology from staff.

Requested for a dedicated host to look after all aspects of the party and provide the kids with a 2-3 minute session on how to use the lanes and play safely, the staff member behind the counter politely agreed that this can be done, but did not show up to conduct this session. No apology from staff.

One staff member (General Manager) directly started threatening the boys to not bowl 2 balls at the same time on the single lane, when two parents (me and my wife) were present within the two lanes in question (21/22). This individual threatened to shut down the lanes regardless of the remaining time. This is unacceptable behaviour from an adult and should have never spoken to the son's guests who were all minors. We are the hosts of this party and we were present. Anything related to the party, conduct, rules and regulations needs to be brought to our attention and NOT TO SPEAK TO THE CHILDREN/MINORS directly AT ALL! All of the kids were disturbed by the action of this individual which created an unpleasant situation for all of us to deal with also, with these kids' parents. They are suupposed to bring any concerns regards to rules/regulations/fees to the parents on site and we were there all the time. No apology from staff.

Service was extremely poor/slow - There were 12 children, but only 10 plates were provided. There were no food-handling gloves, and thongs were provided to serve pizza slices. No cutlery was provided through email communication was provided to me stating 'Plates and forks for pizza and cake are provided to you.' No apology from staff.

When I went to speak to the staff member behind the counter about the incident mentioned above (#3), the GM in question showed up and provided no apology for the incident and continued to display unprofessional/dismissive body language and words regards to his actions from earlier. No apology from staff.

When reported this incident to the Management team, they acknowledged that they plan to make some changes, but I doubt it as this seems to be an incident which has occurred many times before. They only offered 1 hour of complimentary bowling to my family, which I politely declined as I have no intentions of visiting this establishment ever again and facing the toxic management team who runs this operation so poorly.

Response to Reply:

You can watch any amount of videos and come to your own conclusions. @Lorraine you are the one who acknowledged everything I mentioned over the phone when we spoke last and aligned our experience to 'The Perfect Storm' which was waiting to happen at your establishment as to a day everything went wrong. Now you are standing by all actions, and have decided to sweep this under the carpet, that's your decision, but you mentioned that some training on customer service would be given to staff and ongoing discussions. I say again, your establishment is toxic and staff are helpless against a attitude as such what we observed that day. Yes, we were present when your GM yelled at the boys and we had a few words with them in a different tone immediately, before reaching the counter. I can determine threatening language anytime. I also can understand what dismissive responses sound like and had no hesitation in showing me how he felt, when repeatedly requested to come to me for anything related to this Party concerning the group of 12 year ilds. We had to stay for an extra 45 mins due to some...

Not the best option for kids birthday parties. Very unfriendly staff, zero customer service. The whole experience was not enjoyable. I couldn't relax during the party. I have been to other Bowling alleys (Richmond Hill for instance) where the staff bend backwards to make people feel welcome. Being the only Bowling alley in Newmarket, I wish I would have been treated way much better.

I definitely would not recommend this place for birthday parties. Here some of the reasons why:

Play time Staff never mentioned that I should start right on the reservation. I started a little over 10 mins after because I was waiting for all the kids to arrive, not knowing that the clock was already ticking. If you reserve in-person like I did, you have to pay 100% of the reservation in advance. If the rules would have been clear, I would have instructed the kids to start right away.

Water Kids playing will need water. I find it odd that they needed to go to the water fountain to get a drink. I wouldn't mind paying for a pitcher of water but that was not an option. Sharing a 500ml bottle of water with a small kid will require cups, which leads me to the next point.

Cups When I asked for plastic cups to provide water to my thirsty kids, they looked at me like I was an Alien. Please make it clear to parents: are we supposed to bring our own cups? If not, can you kindly provide those without questions asked?

Plates Your website clearly states that you will provide plates, cutlery and napkins. I had 12 kids, so your staff provided only 12 plates. That is good for pizza, but what about for the cake? When I asked your staff for extra plates, she had to "ask for permission" from one of your senior staff members, and it was not a straight YES. He was annoyed that I asked for plates when I was cutting the cake. Thanks to my diligent wife, I had extra plates for the cake, but I was really disappointed at this time by the customer service.

Complaints from nearby bowlers. I had a kids' party. Some of my kids were only 6 years old. I tried to keep them in check but when you put a kids party right next to professional bowlers, it is a problem for the fellow bowlers that were obviously dissatisfied with all the kids and left early. Did they have other lanes ? Yes. It would have been easier to move those bowlers to another place, or simply move the kids to the corner where they will bother less people.

Cutting knife A birthday party must have a cake. We didn't know what the rules were around the knife, and your staff has a strict protocol around knives. I understand the implications and why the protocol is in place. Just let parents know they should bring their own knife and spare me the awkward moment of somebody waiting for me to cut the cake with their knife. Or have a cake cutting knife that is not dangerous, one of those triangular ones.

Popcorn Kids are not allowed to eat popcorn in the Bowling area because "it is messy". Hello, they are kids. They are supposed to seat far away while they have popcorn.

Lack of Party room The site does not have party rooms. This is inconvenient when you have to deal with food, cake and kids wanting to have a pizza while bowling AT THE SAME TIME.

All in all is not the best place for your parties. For the amount of money you pay, celebrate...

If I could give this place less than 1 star I would. I booked my daughter’s birthday party here with a few of her friends and it was a horrible experience. First let me mention that I paid for her birthday package which was a 10 pin bowl for 6 people in FULL 2 weeks prior to her birthday which came with 6 drinks and 1 pizza. At the time of booking I was told that I could add on any additional food/snacks if I wanted to. A few days before the party I called in and asked if I could add an extra pizza to my package and was told it would not be a problem and that I could pay the balance for the pizza on the day of. Fast forward to the day of the party the staff was very unfriendly, unhelpful and not enthusiastic at all. I felt as if I were pulling teeth asking questions as no direction or instruction were given when we arrived. The kids got all of their shoes, we were sent to the wrong bowling lane, and only found out which one we were supposed to be at after walking around and finding the one with my daughter’s name. About 10mins passed and the screen wouldn’t turn on to start bowling so I went to the staff member and asked if something was wrong and he proceeded to tell me he could not start the game without me paying for the extra pizza! My whole mood went sour at that moment. For 1, if that was the case you could’ve mentioned that from the jump. And secondly, that is NOT the way you treat customers. Especially with the fact that I’ve already paid for the package in FULL prior to us arriving. The pizza had NOTHING to do with starting the game. I decided not to make a fuss and just paid for the pizza because I did not want to ruin my child’s day. The drinks then came out maybe 20mins later and the kids had no way of differentiating which belonged to who so I asked to borrow a sharpie to write their names and I was met with the response of “Ok but bring it back cause I’m not even supposed to be lending out supplies” As if I looked like the big, bad sharpie thief!! The kids disliked the pizza, they all said it tasted like stuffed cardboard and ended up filling up on popcorn which was the best thing this place had to offer (their words not mine). The music was tasteless, vibe was off. We were not at all pleased with the outcome at all. I regret having my child’s birthday here. And the other reviewers are totally right the price is definitely not worth it. This place would never see a red cent from me ever again and I WOULD NOT recommend it to any of my family or friends!

It’s the LIES for me!! Lol ALL of your responses to bad reviews you are defensive instead of taking accountability and apologizing. Talking bout I said thank you. Y’all heard me complaining and my husband told me don’t worry just leave a review..that’s when you guys decided to start acting HALF decent. UN FREAKING...