Pins Mechanical Co. — Restaurant in Columbus

We went here with 3 adults and 2 young kids on a Friday around 5pm. We were aiming to beat the crowd and we did. We parked in the garage right beside Pins. This was my first time here. You walk in and pay for the duck pin bowling. I was pretty shocked that they made us pay for a 2 yr old...who pretty much got a gutter every time. Also, they accept NO CASH, but at the same time make you pay a processing fee. Doesn't seem right. At that time it's $9/person/game...more than regular bowling. In duck pin bowling you roll 3 times per turn. We got a lane right away. We ordered 2 drinks from the bar for $12 each and the glass was less than a cup in measurement, filled with ice and barely any alcohol. I got the one with whiskey, amaretto and caramel and all I could taste was caramel. It's a pretty cool place with tons of nooks and crannies to sit and play games. Cornhole inside, bocce ball, arcade games, and more. They have a 2 story slide were excited about for the girls, but I went down it first and man it is aggressive. I'm 5'6 and my leg jolted on the side with my tennis shoes getting slightly caught. Freaked my 4 yr old out when she went down it once. I was pretty shocked they had no food of their own. How does an active bar/family/friend gathering place (with multiple floors of people) get away with no food? Have Mike's Slices of pizza next door with an entrance from Pins. So you can eat pizza if you want. We didn't not try it, so I can't comment on the pizza. They have lots of tables that are for big groups of people, so that's nice. Bar upstairs and downstairs. The employees never checked on us and weren't the nicest at the ticket/entrance counter. The bowling itself was fine...it just went quick when you only play 1 game. We didn't want to pay $18/person to stay for another game. The massive lite brite that they have on the...

To start, the bartenders were great.

We showed up on a slow Monday with a larger group, and were immediately treated as if we were an inconvenience, while there numerous free spaces available. The staff was rude, but gave us an area to hang out it and play duck pin bowling.

Around 7, we started gathering the kids to leave after they had given us the signal it was 21+ time. The father of the kids was closing up the tab, then they left. Meanwhile, the staff was being continuously rude. As they were leaving (just 15 minutes after the curfew and saying goodbyes) they sent two security guards over, and turned off our bowling early (which we had paid for), even after the younger kids had left the building. When asked if we could get a refund or extend our game, they scoffed and replied “it’s up to you”. Apparently, “the CEO was across the street and if he came over, there would be trouble”. Anyone who has children knows that it takes a minute to wrap things up. I am in the service industry and have never felt so rudely unwelcome. Truly a testament to how far south the service industry has fallen since COVID.

We stayed for a little bit, while the staff so unprofessionally stared at us from across the room, clearly talking about us, and decided from that moment on to never give Pins...

I had a lot of fun here on a Saturday night! However, I do have a couple of suggestions for improvement. The drink selection is very limited and the ones they do offer are not very enjoyable, to be completely honest. One cocktail drink was almost $15! Lastly, I feel like the music wasn't very current. The crowd at this place is overall young adults and the music currently played is not relevant to the kinda we as a generational whole, could agree, is not what we grew up knowing. I'd like to see more modern day pop played. Despite the slight things I feel could be a bit better, I thoroughly enjoyed my time here. The bartender I had was super nice and had the most welcoming smile! I cannot for the life of me remember her name, but I do remember she had a 222 tattoo on her wrist. The environment was very lively and comforting. There were fires on the roof top to sit by, tons of comfortable seating, plenty of games to try out like giant beer pong, ping pong, bowling, large TV's with sports playing on and there's even a big swirly slide! The lighting was just bright enough, but not overwhelming. They did a great job at making this is an overall fun place to spend a Saturday night...