Capital Lanes — Local services in Tallahassee

Extremely disappointed with the management team present on Saturday, April 1st. My son bowled the Pepsi tournament and recently injured his finger, so we were trying to get some practice in to test his stamina and make adjustments if needed. Friday night we went up to the lanes and got a pair with no problem as well as a rate of 10.75 for the three games. Fast forward to Saturday night and WOW, what a disappointment . . . Jeremy the manager was completely unprofessional and didn't care that my son was working through an injury, nor did he do anything short of being rude and holding back laughing in my face. We wanted to bowl a single game and were told on Friday to come back around 630 Saturday evening. We arrived around 615 and were told that they were still cleaning up, no problem. We sat next to the counter and waited. There were two large families that came up to the counter, so we waited for them to get settled in. About 7pm, we went to the counter to get lanes and were told it would be 36 dollars!!! THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE!! We only wanted one game and the manager said the button doesn't work after 7 and because we sat there for 45 minutes we were not getting a single game. So, I told him what we paid the night before, what was going on with my son's finger, and that we were trying to be considerate of their time as well, coming from a bowling family, we understand how demanding tournaments can be. The gal from the night before basically told me pay or leave!!! I asked the manager to step aside and have a conversation with us, and he straight up refused! On top everything else, the website has false information as it doesn't reflect the price we were being charged nor the correct hours. It states $32 (I believe) for bowling and single games stop after 6, had we known this we would have made time. Then we asked if there was another bowling alley to go to and were told no, not true! Went to FSU and had an amazing practice, in a friendly environment, and paid far, far less. We were greeted and treated like we were family and...

This is actually from a while back, about fives months. A few friends and I decided to bowl a couple of games on a fairly empty night. The only reason I'm giving 4/5 is because our lanes kept screwing up (skipping players, skipping turns, turning off, getting stuck, et cetera), however, the rest is based on an employee who was working that night. Sadly, I can't recall his name, so I'll just call him "C" (I feel it was something like Colby or Cody). One of my friends is rather ill-tempered and impatient; she was extremely sour the whole time, even when the lanes weren't screwing up. C was the only one there as one staff member was in the office-looking room, and another was behind the lanes. I explained to C what was going on and he moved us to another lane, with our game in tact. C showed me how I could go back whenever the lane skipped a turn or a player. C kept coming over to fix our lane when it went out. My friend went up there one time and I remember her interaction with C was not pleasant, as she responded to his question with sarcastic and angry tones (sorry, C). The last straw for her was when we paid for two games, and only got one (we each paid half). I was ready to go home but she threw a temper tantrum. Even though I didn't much mind, she threatened to start an argument with C so I went up to the desk and explained to him what happened. My god, was he gracious; he fixed our lane and threw in an extra game (this news was met with a deep, annoyed sigh by my friend who "only wanted to play two! Ugh!"). I thought you handled that night awesomely, C - I'm sure on the inside you wanted us out of there, but it never showed and I thank you for remaining...

A bowling alley needs a few things: lanes, pins, balls, shoes, employees, and beer/food. Capital has lanes, but the ball return looked like it was held together with duct tape and a prayer. And the scoring system looks like it last saw an update in the 90s...the early 90s. They’ve got pins, and those seemed to be just fine. The balls are a painful embarrassment. Painful for the client as they are in the worst shape of any bowling alley I’ve visited. They are gouged, chipped and filthy. And the holes will likely destroy your fingers. They have shoes, but those look to be from the early 80s. While the laces were there and long enough to tie, the inside of the shoe was a complete mess with most of the footbed missing or misshapen.

They have employees, but it’s clear that customer service is neither encouraged or rewarded. Hence the sign for them next to the cash register saying that the employees can no longer use cell phones as the customers feel that they are then not paying attention to the lanes. Note to management: let them have their phones. They aren’t paying attention with or without them.

I looked at the food counter and behind the food counter. I wouldn’t eat there if it was free. And note to management: if you are going to have the popcorn machine front and center for customers to see, it might be a good idea if it was cleaned. And there was no way I was going to chance a beer as I’m not sure the pitchers would actually be clean.

So you can come and throw a ball down a lane. But it’s likely not going to be either a good or pain...