PINSTACK — Local services in San Antonio

I am not one to write review but the experience here needs to be written down to save someone else from a bad experience. This was my first time here and I had heard good things so figured I’d give it a try. I have my review broken down by different sections for easy viewing :).

Customer Service: Upon entry, there was no one at the front desk to direct me where to go, no one greeting to say “hello, or welcome”. They came around the corner as I was already walking past. There is no signage to help navigate where things could be located. I went to the bowling counter where 3 employees were just standing and talking not realizing a customer is waiting. One finally noticed and decided to help me. She was rude- did not help me at all, I didn’t know the process and she could not explain the process. She told me that I could get a lane now & that my time for the lane would start once everyone there. I was waiting on 2 people about 10-12 minutes out. So, since she told me the time wouldn’t start, I went ahead paid and proceeded to the lane. After sitting at the lane, another worker came up to me and told me my time had started & that you only get 7 minutes from when you pay at the front counter until your time starts. So, no one was on the same page in the building & we lost 8 minutes of play by the time we got situated. Then, during play our lane broke for 4 minutes, no communication was given to us and no time back was given. So 12 minutes gone that could have been used to play. No one knew how to communicate & didn’t seem like they cared about their customers.

Food: Pizza (shown below) was a cardboard box. Saw an amazing video on TikTok of pizza and this was nothing like what was shown in the video. The second the waiter set the pizza down, you could tell it was dry. Other food that was ordered was mediocre, nothing worth the prices they charge.

Drinks: Margaritas were not good, all pre-mixed juice mixed with bottom shelf tequila. Looked like yellow gatorade.

Bowling/Atmosphere: Boring. Nothing fun about the bowling alley, very small. Just TVs against the back wall, no fun decorations or lights. There are multiple different games to choose from for the TV to show you cool things but if you’ve never been here before, you don’t even know where to begin. Would have been nice if one of the 10+ staff standing around could have greeted you at the lane to help you navigate their system on picking at game.

Really thought this was going to be a better experience. Better off to spend your money at main event or another smaller bowling alley where they care about...

My sister wanted to celebrate her birthday at Pinstack this week. We were excited to try the new place. Upon arrival, 30 minutes before our scheduled gathering, we asked to reserve a table for 14 at the restaurant. The front desk assistant said that was no problem and our reservation was set for 7PM. We proceeded to get arcade game cards until it was time to eat. When we went to be seated we were told that we could only choose from 2 family platters and were not able to order from the full menu. We were told our order would overwhelm the kitchen and our plates would arrive staggered and not together. There were all of 3 tables occupied in the restaurant. There were no other patrons waiting to be seated. The supervisor or manager, Hector, refused to budge and not allow our party to order from the full menu. I posed a scenario, if we all came in as separate parties in groups of 3-4 people each at the same time, we would not be offered a limited menu, then the kitchen would get the same amount of orders, stress, etc. but because we are all sitting together we were limited. We told him that we understood that the food may not come out all at once and were okay with waiting and he refused to allow us to order from the full menu. After informing him that we were there to celebrate a birthday, were excited to experience the new establishment, and willing to spend our money despite having to wait longer he would not budge. I was shocked that he was unwilling to change his stance while there was little activity in the restaurant and no others waiting in line to be seated. He was willing to bypass the potential revenue from a large party to include food, games, and bowling on such a slow Wednesday night. I could understand if the place was packed but there was hardly anyone there. His reluctant (personal) call to not allow us to have dinner via the full menu while we were willing to be patient was unacceptable. I am upset that this was not relayed to us when we made the seating reservation 30 minutes before our family got there. If they had, we would have not spent money at this location at the arcade while waiting. We left and went to Dave and Busters down the road which had no problem accommodating our party size. However, we were still inconvenienced due to the lack of initial communication from the front desk, and flexibility from the manager. There are no signs posted for such policy, it is not on their website, and this was a personal choice on Hector's part to ruin a family outing. I will not ever consider going back to Pinstack. If I could give zero...

We invited a family to join us for a Friday dinner, games, etc. we normally come to pinstack with just our family of five. We have experienced other pinstack locations Austin and Dallas/Plano and have never had an issue. So far we have had VIP events, which was a hectic to day the least for our party. We had to change locations for bowling two times because of issues with the lane and the computer system.

A lot of the games were out and took credits from our cards, even though we couldn’t play.

This time around, as mentioned, we invited a family I have never attended to enjoy it. When we arrive to the guest, we were told that a party of 10 cannot be accommodated, unless authorized by a manager on duty. We definitely understood as this was a different size party. But we do not appreciate was the attitude with the entire situation.

Our families did want to enjoy eating first, then going bowling, and playing games after that. We had a total of six kids did not want to do bowling all at once, as it is easier to eat at a table with little ones! Haha, I’m sure one could understand.

We were then told that we cannot order from the regular menu and can only order large entrées approximately $45/$50 each. The limited menu essentially only covered appetizers or a pizza. We definitely could have an order how much bigger tab ordering individual entrees for each person. The manager later said that the priority was lane-ordering and not the restaurant. (…. Hmm, then why have a keep open table area specifically for food).

The entire situation was rude. The manager, brushed off the waitress when asked to speak with me.

I shared my thoughts and the manager said that it was just my opinion, and that this particular PINSTACK was able to achieve the highest grossing location, so they were doing something right and we were welcomed to leave.

We did decide to leave and take our business elsewhere. I will not no longer hold anymore events, nor take my “large family/friend” to this location.

Thanks for letting me share my experience. Please check out the video of the “very...