Spare Lanes — Local services in Buffalo

I planned a night out for my mom’s 65th birthday with family. Almost everything from start to finish was bad.

They say you can have up to 6 people per lane, but they only have seating for 2-3 max at the lane. I had older guests and some handicapped guests. One of which couldn’t even come down to join us, because the ramp is steep, we were worried she would fall.

When we arrived for our reservation, there was a line with only one person behind the counter. It took nearly 20 minutes to check-in so, my 7:30 reservation didn’t start until almost 8:00.

We were told the lane was ready and we could begin bowling immediately. The lane was not working. I had to again, wait in a long line for nearly 20 minutes, the employee tried to fix it and couldn’t. She advised that she called the manager to come help her because she wasn’t sure what to do. She advised that it was her first day. We waited roughly 30-40 minutes for the manager to come down and assist.

I attempted to order drinks for myself and family, everything we ordered that was on the menu and or was a simple mixed drink, we were asked the ingredients or the employee would google the recipe. I had to send back 2 drinks, after which, I just ordered juice for the rest of the night.

I attempted to order food for everyone, that yet again, took 20-30 minutes to complete. I will say, that the food was delicious. That’s actually the only thing that went right the entire night.

The lane went down, yet again. After waiting in line forever to let her know it was down again, she called the manager back down. She never came. I ended up stopping two gentleman that I saw bringing food down and asked if they could get a manager for me. One of them advised that they were a supervisor and he fixed the lane for us. He offered a credit, which I accepted, however it really wasn’t sufficient based off of everything that I went through. It was appreciated, but at that point we all were pretty much over it.

I absolutely don’t blame the young lady, because I feel that she shouldn’t have been left alone to work the lanes, bartend, and take food orders, whether experienced or not. She was still very nice even though you could see the frustration, she kept it professional and didn’t lose her cool.

Overall, I had the absolute worst experience and will never return, which sucks because the location is prime and it seems like it could be really nice, if it was...

Hosted a birthday party here for my 4-year old daughter and 50 people. Initially, I was told I could only rent 6 lanes as there was already a reservation for 2 lanes, which was fine. Then, they insisted we rent the whole place out (8 lanes) and they would cancel the other reservation for 2 lanes. We felt bad for the other party, but agreed, and assumed they would be compensated accordingly for the inconvenience.

On the day of the party, we arrived and were told that one of the lanes didn't work at all, and half of the bumpers on all of the lanes were broken. (This should have been addressed in advance considering this was a party for toddlers who require bumpers.) Furthermore, during the party, a child was injured after striking their head on one of the broken bumpers, requiring a trip to the emergency room. Also, it seems that the other party wasn't rebooked like we were told, because half-way through our party, another party arrived expecting to bowl, which caused a lot of.confusion and congestion in the small space.

Overall, the venue seemed chaotic and mismanaged. The food was good, but for example, they brought out cheeseburger sliders with no condiments. When we said something, it took another 15 minutes for them to bring it out.

Honestly, I probably wouldn't have taken the time to leave this review if any of this was addressed following the party. They simply sent a generic email and invoice, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Nobody even inquired about the injured child. They desperately need to work on their...

It could be a fun experience. However, if you have any dietary restrictions, beware of the food! We asked if they had a GF pizza and she said they did so we ordered a GF cheese and pep pizza. They delivered it and I started to eat. The crust didn't appear gluten free, there is always a difference, no matter how good the chef is! So, I went to the girl to just double check. Her response... "I wrote it on the sheet but if they don't have GF they won't make it GF". Ummm?? OK?? So is it GF or no? She didn't know and was shocked when I asked her to find out. She called the kitchen then told me "See, just like I said, they didn't have GF so they didn't make it GF". That is just NOT acceptable. Not one time were we told they didn't have GF or that it wasn't GF. Not even when she delivered it to our lanes. Thankfully I realized it early enough and only had a small bite before questionning her. But had I not asked, I would be extremely sick today and not have known why, figuring that the GF food I order was really what I...