Lord Calvert Bowling Center — Local services in Prince Frederick

Update, removing a star this place is awful

TLDR: Make the drive to another bowling alley, you will be glad you did

Very disappointing, we want to love this place but it's just not possible.  I held off writing a review once I heard there were new owners. They have made some good improvements to the business I wish them luck in turning the place around there is a long way to go.

Debbie at the front counter is insufferable. Two words excluded from her vocabulary are happy and hurry. The final straw for me was when I heard her name calling young kids on Saturday morning. She was probably joking, but judging by the kids' faces, they did not understand. That is flat out not ok.

It seems they want to offer more serious bowling which would be amazing, but they need to put some time into fixing how lanes operate if that's going to happen.  The pinsetters are newer Brunswick GS-X, there is no excuse for all the issues they have. More than half the lanes cannot set the pins straight on a fresh rack. Nearly all cannot set the pins straight for a 2nd ball.

The pins are worn out and many have significant damage to the pinhead. Several lanes have chronic issues that go unresolved. For instance, lane 21 has been dropping pins on full rack for the last 2 months.  When a lane has a problem you have the distinct pleasure of tracking Debbie down and tearing her away from her important phone conversation and inconveniencing her with her job duties so you can continue bowling.

The lanes are synthetic, like nearly every other bowling alley today.  However, the shot is very inconsistent lane to lane, week to week.  Either the lanes need to be resurfaced or they don't know how to operate the lane machine.

They do not allow outside food or drink and most bowling alleys don't. I don't blame them I would not either if I was the owner. But they have a sign explicitly stating they will not provide a complementary cup of water for anyone. You can buy a cup for soda and they will fill it with water but they will not refill it.  This absurd, I won't bring my kids here if I can't bring water for them or have to pay for TAP water for them.

If you have to make money on water, which is absurd, go to Costco but a case of bottled water for $4 and sell them for $1.00 each for a 600% profit. Or just do what every other bowling alley does provide a water dispenser or cooler for guests to have water.

The snack bar is quite expensive for type of food. The quality is poor roller dogs for the gas station blow their food away. Service is extremely slow, I can't bring myself to spend any more...

The cost to bowl here is crazy and the food eat at home before you come. It takes forever to get food and then when it does come it’s cold or over cooked. The salads use to be excellent I don’t know what they’ve done but they just aren’t that same. They use to take your table number and bring out the food when it was ready, now they give you a buzzer so you know when to get your food but that system it even worse. The cook is supposed to cook food not cook deliver and take orders, the past two weeks people at my table have ordered food. Last week someone went up ordered food they got there sandwich and hour later got there fries and the cook delivered both why doesn’t he just cook that’s what the other help is for and why give a fuzzed if your going to deliver it. Then there was another buzzer on the table and someone picked it up and then put it back on the table the cook came over and says, when the buzzer goes off it means your order is ready. No &$@! It wasn’t his food so the person says to him if you’re going to tell me food is ready why didn’t you just bring it over he said he’s not allowed to deliver food. Then this week he made a sandwich the person had a buzzer and it never came he finally brought the sandwich to the table he said he forgot to set the buzzer off and put it under the heat lamp to keep it warm. Yes it was cold then he refused to make it again because the sandwich was cold. This is every week get a new cook that knows how to cook like Wayne he was awesome and could put out food and good food. I asked for popcorn 3 weeks ago the lady tells me no she’s not making it because then she has to clean the machine. That’s your JOB if you don’t want to work get a new one.

This place use to be great, after bowling was over around 9:30 you could come to the bar relax have a drink something to snack on while talking play keno. Not anymore 8:15-30 they sit down the food shortly after the lottery and around 9 last call for the bar. I keep hearing people talk they aren’t coming back once the leagues are done it’s just not fun...

Came here with my family, which includes young children one afternoon for a little bowling fun. We reserved two lanes earlier in the week and were able to add a third lane when we got there due to extra people in our group. We bowled two games and decided to add a third when I noticed the bowling specials sheet by the register showed Tuesday and Thursday were buy one game get one free, just like the website says. I checked my receipt and noticed we weren't given the deal, so I inquired. The man said specials are not honored if you reserve a lane ahead of time, you have to just show up and hope they have lanes available for that. He told me that should have been explained when I made the reservation, but I told him it was not. He refunded me over $30 on the spot and I felt that was fair. During the course of our game, I realized that it was Wednesday and should not have received the discount, so we settled up before I left. I work rotating shifts and just came off nights so I had my days wrong, but I give them an "A" for customer service.

Overall, I'd say I was pretty happy with our experience. Great customer service. Prices are a bit high though if you don't grab a special, and it would be nice if the website reflected the no special on reservations...