Palace Bowling Lanes — Local services in Southside Place

I've been here many times before and always had a good experience. This time, not so much. The difference was all previous times, it was just me and my family. Just showed up and everything was wonderful.

This time since I'd always had a positive experience here, I thought it would be a good place to get my softball team together for a team building event. I scheduled a time for the team to show up.

I called Palace Bowling Lanes about 2 weeks prior to our scheduled outing to confirm that we'd be able to get a couple of lanes. I was told there were no leagues or other things that would cause us issues for the date I had chosen. I asked if I could reserve a couple of lanes and was told that they were first come first served. So no, I could not reserve any lanes.

So, on the date that we were to meet up, I showed up AN HOUR prior to the time we had scheduled to make sure that we could get the lanes we needed.

When I went in I went up to the desk and told the guy that I'd called earlier and had a group coming in at 1pm and asked if they had lanes. Only about half of the lanes were in use. He said that they had plenty of lanes.

I found a seat and waited the hour. My team started to arrive and I went back up to the desk to go ahead and get the lanes. At this time another guy was working the desk and he tells me that we can only have the lanes for an hour. I ask why since this is the first I'd heard that our time was going to be limited and there were still half of the lanes empty.

He tells me that there are several birthday parties and a cub scout group coming in and they are going to need the rest of the lanes.

So it appears that if you are going to reserve many lanes they WILL RESERVE lanes for you but if you are just going to ask for a couple, you're on your own.

I'm still freaken mad about this and will never schedule anything else at this place. I'm not one to write up bad reviews, I believe this is my first. But everything about this experience just infuriates me. Heck, even if the first guy had said, oh by the way, you're only going to be able to bowl for an hour, I could have informed everyone in my group that was going to show up and we could have just met...

Surprised how many negative reviews there are here. This place is charming in an old-school way. I've gone there bowling with adults and with groups of kids (boy scouts, birthday parties, and just on a whim) and always had a good time. I'm not sure what people expect but it's a local landmark that most people appreciate.

As for questions about reserving.. Since they have no website, I'll share what I know about kids parties. Last week I went to try to reserve a birthday party. Unfortunately the week I wanted was taken up by a weekend tournament. The fellow behind the counter, who was courteous and helpful,did his best to try to accommodate me to no avail. (That's not his fault but just a timing issue combined with trying to reserve one week before the date.)

What he did tell me, while showing me the form, is that they do reserve there and that there is a small deposit for each lane (I can't recall exactly so I won't say but it was cheap), they recommend that you reserve 3 -4 weeks in advance, and that it was $11 per child for an hour of bowling. They calculate 4 kids per lane in their reservation scheme so in my case (had I tried to make a reservation earlier) a party for 12 kids that would have been three lanes for an hour $132 bucks which is not bad at all.

Very friendly folks. It's old school to be sure and if small details like a carpet that looks to have been there for ages or bowling balls that speak of years of enjoyment bother you, then there are surely more expensive, modern, and more corporate alleys out there but for the price, location, and a quirky charm this alley is wonderful.

By the way - there were two kids parties already happening when I went to try to reserve my party at either end of the alley with all the kids...

My family and I went there last night and it was terrible. The place is old, smells like smoke. The balls are old, the machines are old and kept scoring incorrectly but since we were there to just have fun we didn't ask to move. We had already moved from the first lane because it wasn't working. Then the people in the lane next to us started smoking. Yes, smoking is allowed. I was shocked but I asked about it and the lady said that because they are not in the Houston City limits they don't have to follow those laws. They are in South Side place. Anyway, we won't be going back here, which is unfortunate because we live in the area. We'll have to drive out to the suburbs for the newer better bowling experience. We went to one in Webster that's awesome but it's new and doesn't smell dirty and smoky. We are gonna try the one on...