Kings Bowl-North Hills — Restaurant in Raleigh

Visitsd Kings tonight with my wife and another couple as a date night and will NOT be going back any time soon. This was the worst customer service experience I've ever had and I did make sure the manager was aware on our way out.

We had a reservation for 5:45 pm on a Friday. It was the only reservation available, yet when we got there and got 30 minutes into bowling, more than half the lanes were still open.

When checking in for our reservation, the person working at the counter was very short and not personable. There was very little greeting. When he asked us for payment, we werent allowed to use cash for one, but when we told him how to split the bill, he rolled his eyes and responded in silence. One of the parts of checking in was providing shoe sizes which we provided on paper as requested. A second worker came up and asked us for our shoe sizes anyway without bothering to check the form we'd filled out less than 5 minutes prior.

Another key to the check in experience was that there was a tip line. The person who checked us in pressed less buttons and had less interactions than someone who works at a fast food restaurant. There should be no tip line on the card statement that needs to be signed. Especially when it costs $120+ for 4 people just to bowl for an hour and fifteen minutes.

We were brought to our lane and prepared for a fun session of bowling. We were not approached by a server at all until after we had to go to the bar to order our own drinks. The server was an African American girl with dreadlocks at least 4 feet long. When she finally did approach us, we were all half way through our first drink and 3 frames thru our first match of bowling. She said "Im here to take really good care of you tonight" yet we literally never heard from her again.

We purchased two drinks a piece and a plate of fries. This likely wouldve been twice as much had we had any sort of service at all.

In comparison, the group directly next to us, who showed up an hour after us was greeted with waters menus and utensils before they even took their jackets off. These customers were the same demograhic as our server and it was clear she was showing favoritism. This is the most politically correct way of putting this.

The drinks were $7 for draft craft beer and thats fine. The lanes for the bowling were well lit and they had a good selection of bowling balls to use. The vibe of the place was fine, although it did seem like none of the employees wanted to be there.

I brought up our experience to the manager on duty, but all he wanted to do was bring it up to the server directly with us there and a dozen or more other customers within ear shot. That wouldve been embarassing so i told him my piece and then our group left. There was no apology and no offer for compensation. We will not be returning as long as this establishment has the same staff and management. The owner needs to take a good look at the recent reviews because clearly my group is not the first to have an experience like this recently.

I'm sure there will be some sort of response by the same guy who's responded to all of these reviews, but considering the plethora of negative reviews over the last few months, Dan Cordon likely isn't relaying the review contents to ownership or maybe the ownership just...

Kings

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Kings 4.5 (342) Live music venue Overview Reviews Photos About

Google review summary 5 4 3 2 1 4.5 (342) Reviews All bands14 beer9 space8 crowd7 +6 Sort by Most relevant Newest Highest Lowest

jahi gyenyame Local Guide·194 reviews·3 photos I thought this was a safe family friendly place. I was wrong. They actually pat everyone down by an armed guard when u enter - REALLY!!! … More

Kings (Owner) 13 minutes ago Hi, Jahi! We are a music venue in downtown Raleigh, not the bowling alley in North Raleigh.

Tim Busekrus Local Guide·258 reviews·672 photos 2 months ago Awesome music venue and great service! Video is of MJ Lenderman performing with his ex😬 Video 1 in review by Tim Busekrus Photo 2 in review by Tim Busekrus Photo 3 in review by Tim Busekrus Photo 4 in review by Tim Busekrus+4

Dieter Unrath Local Guide·742 reviews·617 photos 9 months ago Really interesting room to see a show. Love all the art and the disco ball is massive. Staff was extremely friendly, punctual and helpful and made the show an easy experience for all involved. Would love to come back here for a show x Photo 1 in review by Dieter Unrath Photo 2 in review by Dieter Unrath

Kiss Younow Local Guide·115 reviews·47 photos 2 months ago Cute little place - Sound system was not great and do be careful where you park here! Some of the city parking lots are filled with panhandlers that do not easily take "no" for an answer! I go to things all over in multiple states and it's … More jahi gyenyame Local Guide·194 reviews·3 photos 28 minutes ago New I thought this was a safe family friendly place. I was wrong. They actually pat everyone down by an armed guard when u enter - REALLY!!!

Also, the servers r not friendly and our $15 dollar were not well blended. It just tasted like alcohol. Bartenders are losing you money making drinks that strong.

Later on I understood why they pat u down upon entry because half the patrons smell like Marijuana. The place has a strong scent weed everywhere.

Lastly, we did not get to bowl because their notification system needs to improve. We waited an hour at the bar to bowl but not hear the notification. It did not matter to them, no one said story or attempted to apologize. Just said it was our fault. Their CUSTOMER SERVICE IS DEAD!!!

It is a party place for young people because they r OK being treated that way. They don't know better.

Good Luck Kings. - My friends and others will not be back. Kings (Owner) 13 minutes ago Hi, Jahi! We are a music venue in downtown Raleigh, not the bowling alley in...

I never usually write reviews, but when doing so it comes with either a superb experience or one that is the complete opposite.

Going to Kings bowling I went because of a high recommendation from a peer at work. I had family visiting from NYC for the weekend and was looking for a great bowling experience.

I did not make a reservation, but upon arrival I was told that the wait time would be 2 hours (I arrived around 1pm). I thought, okay 2 hours is long wait to bowl, but I’ve heard great things and decided to wait.

We did not come with the intention to dine, but since we were waiting 2 hours we thought it could be a way to kill time. Our group order totaled about $150. Everything took a pretty long wait, but by the time we finished (we took our time) it was about 4:50.

We had a pager that never buzzed the whole time and caused us to have to check in with the main desk. Upon checking in I voiced that my family was told we would have 2 hour wait. Even though we were waiting well over 2 hours nobody came to say anything and the fact that we have been waiting around 4 hours to bowl was unacceptable. Especially with no check in. I was then told that there were several reservations that only allowed 3 lanes to customers and would still have to wait 45 minutes. I then explained my frustration in hoping that was explained on the front end so I would not have waited and wasted my time.

At this point I was done with this place for the sheer fact that there was very little communication on wait time and nothing was told on the front end. I was told and unrealistic wait time and on a weekend that my family came wasted 4 hours waiting. The food was fine, but in all honesty, could have had a better meal elsewhere and spend less.

My recommendation to future customers is if you don’t want to wait to bowl, then go elsewhere. Our server was pretty good though and for the most part food was fine, which is why I have the one star. But to say that this place was a disappointment would be an understatement it was much less than that, especially when I arrived with such high expectations and a positive attitude. Save your money and go elsewhere. I will never...