Laphto Mall — Local services in Addis Ababa

I don’t usually leave reviews but I need to. Went earlier today to bowl. They initially explained that they charge per 20 minutes per person. Then we proceeded to ask for an hour slot for two people. They were very reluctant to let us play for that long, reason being they would rather have more than two people playing per 20 minutes to make more money. They reluctantly allowed us after much protest, we then changed shoes and proceeded to throw our first bowl. Only to find out that they had 8 pins instead of 10, I asked one of the “trainers” if I was miscounting. He acknowledged my question and motioned to one of the technicians. The technician went behind and we were then under the impression that it was being fixed to the 10 pins that normally constitute a bowling game. 5 minutes go by…. nothing. I then asked the same guy if something was happening, he then pretended like he didn’t hear/understand what I said to him. At this point I didn’t understand that they were trying to make us pay and play with 8 pins. I protested, when got the cashier explained the situation and then manager motioned for us to get a “manual lane” where a person would put 10 pins up each time. After we changed the lane to the manual one, the person assignees to manually pick up the pins when they fall asked us how long we paid for I answered for an hour and he seemed visibly irritated at the length of our game. Then he proceeded to explain to us that we had already played 10 minutes since the time of the receipt being issued was 10 minutes ago. I explained to him calmly, he very rudely told me that we had 50 minutes left and time was ticking. At this point I didn’t even want to play as I was not only irritated but also annoyed at their customer service. We went to the manager to protest and she went back on her words and told us that we had also played 10 minutes. So I requested our money back and left.

All this to say, please please don’t bowl here… go bowl at Guenet hotel where the staff is nice, they have 10 pins and the atmosphere is amazing. STAY AWAY...

It is worth to be the only bowling center in Addis and underground cafeteria is quite good. Shoa is filled with many basic items so most of times I can buy necessary things.

However I would not recommend to use a flower shop on the ground flr (in front of Shoa) The staffs are not ready for serving customers and even made a frown face when they got an order. I met two female staffs for the last two years and they haven't been improved at all. Beautiful flowers but the staffs are NOT. I will definitely find another flower shop and can surely say that they ruined my good images...

This mall/complex really does not have any redeeming qualities. A broken down bowling alley, a cold pool, stores selling the exact same items if they are even open. The gym is inconvenient and often there is no receptionist to allow you to enter, and in fact when there is, it’s cash only. The outside seating area is nice but could use a spruce up. The last few times I have been there, there was construction occurring yet I wasn’t sure if they were building something new or repairing something. A four minute walk through and you’ve seen the...