Stratosphere Social — Restaurant in Maryland

This place was hyped up in social media so we were interested in seeing what is was all about. I have an autistic adult daughter who loves bowling so on her birthday we decided to come here with family. We were 13 people, 3 kids, 2 teenagers and 8 adults. The website said the bowling lanes were in first come, first serve basis, which was understandable with only party packages having actual reservations. When we first stepped in it was instantly a disappointment. Social media made it seem as if it was a huge warehouse but it was actually quite small. There were only 8 bowling lanes, the restaurant area was tiny with cramped tables, the game area was L shaped not even a fourth of an average Dave and Busters game area. The 3D theatre and the ax throwing were also small. We were told the waitlist for bowling was closed because it exceeded 3 hours. We went to a corner to look online for another place to go and while we were planning in less than 10 minutes the employee gestured to us and said they opened it back up and would only be 1 hour and a half. We asked for 2 lanes. They said that the wait time would longer for 2. So we asked to wait for 1 but to make a note that we needed 2 for when another opened up even if they were not next to each other. The employee said she would try. We hung around the game room for an hour and a half and they called us up. They said they had one available but couldnt accomodate us for 2 because of the long wait line, we asked if we could have an additional hour and they said they would try and see. We were assigned lane 1. Lane 2, 3 and 4 were empty. There was a party group that was leaving. Only 6 people in our group bowled, the birthday girl, the kids and the teens. About half an hour later lane 3 and 4 were filled. Lane 2 remained empty for the whole hour of our play. We asked if we could have lane 2. They said no, but could extend another hour on lane 1. We switched players and half an hour went by and still lane 2 was empty. I went to talk to the manager and asked why were we denied lane 2 if it had stood empty all this time. She said that they had to honor the wait line and they kept calling people up but they either declined or never responded. So we were there first, we had asked for 2 lanes and they preferred to miss out on booking the lane with us to honor people that werent even there. Not only that, the food service was horrible, the waitress was nowhere to be found most of the time. We were cramped and ordered a lot of appetizers and we had to keep handing dirty plates to her to take away to make room and she always made a face as if it was beneath her to take them. Halfway through we ordered a pizza for the kids and an hour went by and when we asked for the pizza, she said she forgot to put in the order. The manager came to apologize and brought a pizza free of charge. Needless to say, we are never...

I been to this place a few times before and ignored the customer service until yesterday. I suggested to my coworkers to come to this place to throw axes which now I regret. Their motto “come in as strangers leave as family” is completely a lie. The first time I came to this place my date and I was searching for our waitress and she didn’t appear until after we finished one game of bowling. Keep in mind the people bowling next to us waitress periodically came over to check on them and we kept asking her could we place an order with her and she kept saying I’m not the waitress for our lane and she will get our waitress. When she finally came I was too wrapped into the game that I placed my order and didn’t pay anything else any attention. The food was nasty and the drinks were ok. What sold me to come back was the axe throwing instructor he was amazing. I would come from time to time just for that hence making the suggestion to my coworkers to come after work. The axe throwing was fine. Our waitress was fine. The problem came with our drinks. We ordered the galaxy dust 2x. The 1st time the drink was fine. The 2nd time it arrived to the table, it looked different. My coworker taste the drink and said it taste diluted and asked me to taste it. I tasted it and it tasted like water. We told our waitress and she told her manager. The manager came over and said there’s no refund on food or drinks. We asked could the drink be fixed and she responded no. Due to the lack of customer service my coworker cancelled her order which upset the manager and she stormed off. We finished our game and went to pay the bill to leave. I attempted to speak to another manager simply because I need to understand why wouldn’t they just remake the drink and the original manager appeared to be agitated with our complaint. Once again I was told there are no refund on food or drinks. All drinks are measured and that’s the policy. Once again I said the drink taste like water, like the drink was sitting at the bar for a while before being served to us and once again we got an “oh well deal with it attitude”. Not wanting to cause a scene. I simply said ok and made it a point to never come back. I completely understand a no refund policy which we did not ask for. We simply just wanted the drink to be remade. I really wish I took a pic of the drink to show how light the drink was compared to the 1st drink that...

The concept is good, but management and customer service are sorely lacking and the food was nothing to write home about. We held a team building event in the backyard area. At the last minute (and only because I called to confirm we were good to go), I was told that my contact was leaving and she (POC2) would handle my event. This was said in a begrudging way and I did not get the same positive, happy to help vibe from her at all. I had chosen the burgers, dogs and sides for our lunch, and it was mediocre at best. I had arranged with my original contact to have an ice cream bar for dessert which I hoped would make up for the lackluster lunch. It was getting close to the last hour and some people needed to leave earlier, so I requested the server set up the ice cream bar. A half hour later, there was still no ice cream bar, and no one had said anything about it to me. When I asked the server, she said that the ice cream bar was not included in my contract and tried to pull out a copy from her pocket to show me. Apparently, the manager just told her to tell me that if I asked again and gave her a copy of the contract to prove it to me. I'm not sure how that dessert was lost from the contract between POC 1 and 2, but it is unacceptable that a manager (POC 2) did not come to tell me that when I asked - and try to work with me to see what we could come up with to make my team happy - in ample time before the end. AND it is awful that she put the server in that position. (Sorry Jenna!) I asked to speak to POC 2 and she came in with an attitude. There were no apologies and she basically blamed it on me and then told me to calm down and then we could discuss an alternative. So my team got a tiny scoop of ice cream with a dab of whipped cream and chocolate syrup with about 15 minutes remaining. Several had already left. This could have been handled in a much more professional and diplomatic way - and by management - not the server who was thrown under the bus. Needless to say, our company will not be going back and will not recommend Stratosphere Social to...