Galaxy Strikes Bowling Center — Local services in Warrenton

UPDATE: Kindness wins at Galaxy Strikes, which will remain our go-to place for fun with friends! In the paragraphs below, I detailed an uncomfortable evening we had with friends and planned to leave Galaxy Strikes in the past after posting the review. But, as great business owners do, Patti and Brett immediately took action, talked with their staff, and reached out to encourage us to give them another try. Tonight we did just that.

I was nervous at first, but the staff greeted us with genuine smiles and quickly placed us on a lane where we had two hours of wholesome, glowing fun - just as we remembered!

None of the staff was in a rush, but moved efficiently to help and serve their guests. The kitchen staff was friendly and fast as they took guest orders and served our sodas.

All around us was the joy of families and friends having wholesome fun, exactly as we remembered. I'll leave the details of our previous visit below, but only to share that this was, in fact, a fluke experience. The owners are the heart of the business. They care about their customers. Give this place a try, and if you had a rough experience, it's still worth another go. 🩷

PREVIOUS REVIEW - Please note that this one experience is NOT the character of the business, but just one "off" day!)

We used to LOVE Galaxy Strikes, and even had a party here... we were so grateful for a fun place in town.

But they struck out tonight, a Friday night, when they should be on their A-game.

We paid a hefty $89 for two hours of glow bowling starting at 8 p.m. and only one pair of shoes. But we were happy to pay for the usual good service... except it wasn't.

The place was VACANT by 9 p.m., though they close at midnight. We still had one hour left on our game. A kitchen staff member came by, reaching over my friend and telling him she needs to "wash his pitcher." Weird, but okay.

All of the chairs were up on all the tables around us. It was 9:30 p.m. They definitely didn't expect any more service, which is a huge red flag.

The same kitchen staff member who took the pitcher came back, with 50 minutes on our timer, asking my friend if he had "one more swash" in him so she could "wash his glass." There was still 2.5 hours until they closed. She then wouldn't let him have another drink unless it was a bottled water or beer in a "plastic cup" so she could "clean all the glasses," then told him he looked sweaty (why would you even say that?!). We were all sweaty from bowling.

Then, by 9:45, the manager himself told my friend no more bottled water or ANYTHING to drink.

A man with a mop started mopping the lanes and gutters while one of my friends had a bowling ball in her hand, mopping the gutters of our lane (with still plenty of time in our clock). Then he said "whoops, the could've been bad for the ankles."

This has been the most uncomfortable experience here, we've felt unwanted and embarrassed that we're still here... two hours before they close.

I now understand why they're empty by 9 p.m. I miss what the place used to be when they first opened. This poor treatment across the board was absolutely heartbreaking.

There will now be four less guests (treated like impostors) visiting our...

I have to say that my family and I were super disappointed in the lack of customer service. We had come in August for my mom’s birthday and had a great experience so I thought why not bring my brother and nephews here too over the thanksgiving holiday. Unfortunately it was not a relaxing experience. We arrived a few minutes after they opened around 12pm on a Sunday. I am 6 months pregnant and I was immediately greeted with you can’t bring in outside water or coffee they have that at the snack bar. No hello or welcome to galaxy strikes just one rude and flustered manager. I will say we as a family had a great time bowling, lots of laughs and memories made. I decided to order a pizza for everyone. Once the pizza arrived our time in the bowling clock had just expired. So I thought okay no worries there are a ton of empty tables we can just sit and eat right here and then head out. Well right away the manager Brett walks over to me and was quick to say I can help package this up so you can eat at home. I’m like excuse me? There are tons of tables to eat, he proceeded to say you can’t eat here these are for each designated lane. Mind you almost all tables were empty. Brett was absolutely rude and has no customer service skills. He was quick to help us get out of there instead of saying hey there are plenty of tables by the snack bar if you and your family would like to eat there. That wasn’t even an option. Unfortunately I’m not sure we will be back here. The way my family and I were treated was unacceptable.

My response: I would like to say that I have no problem with company policy and respect them. It was how you spoke to me personally and how you handled the situation with me. You were not kind in your tone nor were you gently accommodating as a manager should be. That is what I myself as well as my family had a big problem with. Your delivery was poor and I encourage you to do better with your customer...

We had a birthday for our daughter here. Everything was mostly great. The Lanes were in good condition. Staff was friendly and present throughout the party to take care of our needs. They had provided decorations, paper plates, and napkins. They even offer gluten free alternatives which was nice to see.

The only thing I'm going to knock down a star for was the advertised pricing. It's incredibly misleading. What they don't tell you is that they'll add gratuity on the total after. I put down a $75 dollar deposit. Had only one additional gluten free pizza which was $13 dollars and my total still ended up close to the 289.95. so in the end one additional pizza put this party over $350.

Now I have no problems with gratuity but they didn't advertise that which most establishments do. Even restaurants have disclaimers about auto gratuity for large parties. The point is if you're going to put party pricing up there but the actual total of the package with gratuity. Then all you have to say is with any add-on additional charges may apply. Gratuity was somewhere between 10-15%. So they also lost 5% on what I would have tipped if this wasn't tacked on without me knowing.

Hopefully in the future they adjust their marketing to show the full price of the party with gratuity included. Instead of hitting people with that when they're checking out.

Edit: I see that now that was an oversight on my part. However, I would suggest getting mobile optimized web pages cause when looking at it it only shows 3. I only saw the rest after I read your comment. Thanks and sorry for...