Lava Lanes of Medford — Restaurant in Medford

tl;dr: I would go back after saving some money, and split the check with friends.

Prologue: Group of 2, 5PM - 9 PM, Saturday.

Venue: The building itself is rather large, with lots of space. It is clean, and doesn't smell. The facilities were well maintained, and I found it hard to find issues anywhere with the actual building.

Bowling: So far it is the best alley I've been to in Southern Oregon. The competition isn't very steep, but it is well worth the drive for me. The price for the first game was around $20, including shoes. The two games after were $10 each. There was plenty of seating, though storage for bags or shoes was lacking. There was a good variety of house balls to pick from, and the shoes I rented were fine, though a bit smelly. The score interface screen was a good touch, although the camera was broken, so I could not set player photos. The ball return machine was quick, and the pin reset was rather fast; I never had to wait too long. For the price it was a good deal.

The Bar: I was taken aback a bit by the bar, a very long line, with no real structure. Only one bartender was working at the moment, and when I got to the front of the line I was informed that they did not serve pitchers. I had to leave to get the other guest I was with so he could get his pint, and after another wait I asked if I could start a tab. In order to start a tab here you have to surrender your credit card for as long as it is open, which is certainly unnecessary as there are point of sale systems that allow you to open a tab without keeping the card. In order to make other purchases you must return to the bar and close the tab, which involved waiting in another line. Just a strange and altogether unnecessary bottleneck to my experience. We ordered a couple pints and a few shots throughout the night, coming to a total of around $60.

The Arcade: The arcade works on a card system. You get the card, charge it with money, and tickets are awarded to it. One of the two machines wouldn't take my cash, and when I tried to use my debit card it wouldn't scan my arcade card to recharge it. The games themselves are a little pricey, $1 for ten credits, and most games take 10 or more credits to play. Overall there is a good selection of games, and the prizes are okay.

Food: We ordered a 12" Pepperoni Pizza and the Tater Tots for around $30. There was a 40 minute wait for the food. When the food did arrive, I was surprised at the portion size of the tater tots being as large as it was. The pizza itself was obviously made in a conventional oven and with a frozen dough, but it was hot. Overall I think I would save my money and eat elsewhere either before or after coming here next time.

Overall Vibe: I think they need to find an identity and stick with it. The 40 minute wait I mentioned for the pizza? In that time span the music shifted from Watch Me (Whip / Nae Nae) - Silentó to Jessie's Girl - Rick Springfield, then to What Makes You Beautiful - One Direction, then straight into Shout! - The Isley Brothers. It might just be a personal preference, but I didn't like the constant jerking from genre to genre.

Conclusion: I think Lava Lanes of Medford is painfully average. I did have a good time, but checking my bank account after the fun was quite the snap back to reality. Next time I go I will make sure to eat elsewhere before, and find a different bar after.

EDIT: I know the food and drinks can be cheaper because not even the Applebee's in Salem is...

Being a native of the area when we visited this time around we were really looking forward to our favorite bowling place. We know some things change so cosmic bowling was at a different time and the rules were a little different which was okay. Cosmic bowling is now at 10:30 which could have been there for a while because we have not bowled there for over a year, so we arrived just after 9:00 and realized that we could try to squeeze in a game and then Lanes were to be shut down at 10:00 and reopen at 10:30 with an additional charge. All of that was understood and okay, what was not okay was the communication and the rudeness that we got from the actual manager on site. Her name is Marie or Maria? However when we ask for her name she lied to us and told us that her name was Amanda, I'm guessing because she knew how she treated us was unfair and not professional. We had originally planned to do cosmic bowling but after finding out new arrangements We said okay we'll go ahead and squeeze in this game and then let you guys know if we're going to do cosmic bowling and pay the additional charge. As soon as 10:00 hit we've had finished our game just in time but as we were discussing if we were going to continue cosmic bowling that was supposed to start at 10:30 she had it assigned someone on our lane when there was literally no other lanes being used, those folks were able to start cosmic bowling right at 10:00 not at 10:30. She seemed to have a chip on her shoulder from the beginning but that pretty much solidified it and I was not sure why, The reason is because we had a light-hearted conversation with her before we started bowling about whether or not we were going to stay but that we wanted to play and we will let her know after our first game. We really wanted to stay! Then she put someone on our lane! I returned my shoes and said to her, wow you really are mean You knew that we were going to want to play maybe and you put someone on our lane that we were already on when all other lanes were literally open! We then went into the bar area and I asked a nice bartender there if he could discreetly get the manager who he said the manager's name was Maria, enters the so-called manager named Maria who she told us her name was actually Amanda, when we asked her why she told us her name was Amanda she said it's actually destiny jk then she said she lied to us because she didn't understand why she was in trouble. Like what?! We told her she was not in trouble what we wanted to tell her or the actual manager was how she treated us was not okay it she did was intentional and she knew it. We told her how uncool it was to put someone on our lane knowing that we were coming all the way from Florida to come back to our favorite place and we were going to let her know if we're going to play cosmic she put people on our lane then she tried to make excuses for why she put people on our lane. The customer service was just absolutely terrible and very unprofessional and I don't really understand why, the only reason I can think of is perhaps maybe she's at super unhappy at her job or racist? Anyways if some chick at the front tells you her name is Amanda or destiny it's actually Maria and she's a terrible supervisor or manager person. Lava Lanes missed out on loyal fans of the place and monies. We will come back and further promote the place as long as Amanda or Destiny or Maria or whatever her name is no longer...

Just a little FYI for their Covid restrictions. Twice now, I have gone down to bowl and had to put my name on the list. Both times were 1 - 1.5 hour wait depending on how quickly people cycle out. The first time I waited 2 hours, could not get anyone to give me a heads up on time frame and I left. 2 hours for a 4 year old Toddler was torturous. Fast forward to last night... got there at 330pm, there were 4 names ahead of us, another 1 1.5 hour wait. At 445pm I went up to ask about an updated ETA... the list STILL had 4 people ahead of us... and no one had been seated. We hung out in the Arcade and by Front Desk. We watched at LEAST 10 parties turn in shoes and exit the facility with not one table or lane cleaned or someone moved into the lanes. The two teenage girls or at least young adolescents, seemed to have NO idea what they were doing. The one girl looked me dead in the eye at 445pm and said, "Oh I haven't done a head count in about an hour, I guess I should do that.". She promptly turned around and continued gossiping to her coworker. We waited about 5 minutes and then my husband went up to find out what was going on... she said the same thing. There were 15 lanes open in the middle of the alley. We were very confused. We called Roxy Ann Lanes even though we did not want to leave Lava Lanes. They had 1 lane being used and per state mandate they could occupy EVERY OTHER LANE. Not sure why Lava was different. There were 4 other parties that followed us over to Roxy Ann. We were placed within seconds at a lane, had a nice quiet alley and didn't feel like cattle. I have been going to Lava Lanes for YEARS. I live less than 5 minutes, but I think until they get their stuff together at their front end, I will no longer be going there. Along with every other guest that was in that lobby, which was about 20 people. They were unprofessional, and had NO care for their patrons that wanted to spend money there. Kids were sitting at the ticket area waiting for help from the two employees that thought it was gossip hour. People were sitting at the front waiting to be helped and other employees from kitchen staff had to walk over and point to the guests and tell them they needed help. Not sure those two girls should be working...