Gateway Rec Centre

For starters we couldn’t reserve a bowling lane and ended up waiting 1.5hr for one. The dart electronic games that we have played in the past were all out of commission. During our bowling when we were finally able to play they froze our game during our last box or round and resulted in cancelling out our previous play and than to top it all off my brother’s sweater was stolen from the bench right in front of our noses. Poor security. Poor organization. Poor customer service.

Eeeeek! There are MICE at Gateway Lanes!!! Absolutely disgusting!!! We saw two of them!!!
When we told the staff they said not to tell the other customers.
What kind of a place is that?
Everything else was horrible, filthy bathrooms, dead bugs in the couches, just a pathetic excuse for a bowling alley.
We will never go back, for any reason. With two mice sightings you can be certain there’s dozens more.
Avoid this place. Bonnie Doon Bowling is very clean, very well lit and is immaculate. This is the place we should have gone to in the first place.

I brought 5 children (Birthday Party) to Gateway Rec Bowling Lane on Wednesday July 8, 2015 at 5:58 PM to take advantage of the reduced rates before 6.00 PM. The attendant — Judy (who claimed to be the Manager) did not show up until 6:01 PM (and claimed at was 6:02 PM despite three (3) cell phones saying different). We told her that we arrived before 6:00 PM. She said we DID NOT. She said that she was gone for 1 second. We told her that we took a picture of us standing there at 5:58 PM and we offered to show it to her with the time of the photo on the cell phone. She said that she does not care and we were not there before 6 PM. She was very rude. We will not come back here again neither will we recommend it any of our friends.

People will often enthusiastically described places as «hidden gems», and wax poetic about them.
I don’t think anybody would do that at the Gateway Rec Centre.
It’s almost always full, so not very «hidden» and between the lackluster service and ok pricing it’s not quite a «gem».
Don’t get me wrong.
This is the best place to go bowling in Edmonton.
This is one of the best places to shoot pool
So why the 3 star rating?
Pros:
Great prices Tuesday
Video games that are fun to play
They serve beer!
Free Parking!
Cons
Atmosphere, it just is so badly run in there, you can tell that the staff are really overworked.
Too many kids. I wonder if they could have a kid free night? They have a pub area, but It doesn’t feel very pubby
Security guards everywhere. I don’t know why you need these many guards, but there must be a reason.

Bowling here is a serious joke. It was so expensive to play 2 games, and the pins kept messing up and we needed to call for someone to fix the lane a number of times while we were there. I don’t mind if something looks dated (which it does) it just needs to work and not feel and look so unclean. I worry for the future of Gateway once the new entertainment complex gets built in South Edmonton Common. As sad as it is, a big corporation like Cineplex has the money to maintain and upkeep a facility like that, whereas I don’t know if Gateway does. As for everything else, they have mediocre laser tag when you compare what is available at laser quest and food is very underwhelming. I am not much of a pool shark, so the tables and cues they have available are fine for me, but I am sure anyone with more experience would find an issue with it. In terms of concept and location I think it is great– it just needs a lot of love in the form of money to do a complete remodeling of the place.

A group of us purchased a Groupon for Gateway Lanes that included an hour of bowling, 2 pizza’s and pop. Very much looking forward to it, we went down one weekday evening, and it was moderately busy.
No problems at all with bowling — shoes were as you would expect, lanes were working, we had a good time. When our hour was up, we approached the counter to ask about the Pizza’s.
The woman we spoke to had to be persuaded to help us and when asked if one of the Pizza’s could have ½ with no cheese, what resulted was a very rude back and forth about whether it was in fact an allergy or a preference. The woman got progressively more upset, eventually raising her voice to a near yell. Taken aback, we asked to speak with a manager, which turned out to be her. Another employee intervened, and kindly put through the order for pizza.
When the pizza arrived (sans cheese, as requested) it was unremarkable, but edible.
The whole evening was enjoyable with the exception of the nearly comical over-​reaction to our pizza request. Had she just said «sure», the review would have been given 4 stars. (Decent bowling, so-​so pizza).

Let’s be honest, this place needs a face lift. It’s starting to feel shady, I wouldn’t even feel comfortable taking my small children here (if I had any, which I don’t). The service is mediocre and everything looks tired. The comedy club doesn’t feel cheerful or fun, it just feels like the back hallway of a banquet room.
Great parking and good location though. Please owners, please put some money into this place. It really needs it.

I think that this location desperately needs some care and repair… particularly as we were having some major issues with our bowling lanes. But it is still a fun place to visit to bowl, play some pool and have some casual drinks/​eats. The food is nothing special (particularly greasy) but it’s a fun place in general. I wish it were more transit accessible.

I enjoy bowling with friends here but the service staff is abysmal. Maybe they get paid like crap but they are unfriendly and just plain bad.

I’ve been here three or four times. Once for bowling and three times for The Comedy Factory.
The bowling is fun once you get a lane however you do have to wait awhile. The beer selection isn’t bad but the food seems overpriced.
The Comedy Factory is decent. The acts are pretty funny however they tend to repeat acts over and over. Also the building had «universal» menu however items are only available in certain areas. A waitress once said «we have that in the bowling alley but i don’t feel like going over there» that was only once though.
I would go again

The food is overpriced and horribly made. $ 5 for overly salted fries with half-​empty a bottle of ketchup, and $ 6 for five peanut sized brownies. 30% of all games were out of order and the rest ate your money. Gross bathrooms and the females restroom was out of order. Lanes malfunction and the staff were reluctant to fix the problems

The food and the service was really horrible ! 3 $ for pop refills. The bowling lanes were not that great either .
Have been here coupe of times and their laser tag place stinks .
This place can be really good if they hire more people and serve some good food.

Came here for a «team building» exercise for work so we basically had all the lanes for us to use. I’m not sure how old this place is but it’s getting a bit dated. It could use an update for sure. Plus there was hardly enough room for people to sit or stand around the lanes without encroaching on to other lanes. I suppose that’s all right in a work situation where most people know each other but it would be awkward when you’re there with a smaller group. The worst part was the food. Really dry wings and greasy deep fried everything is all I remember.

Bowling — crowded lanes & seating for your lane. Often bumping into people in the lane beside us. All the balls were very heavy so not much fun to bowl with.
We ordered onion rings & fries as well as a pitcher of pop. There was 4 of us, 2 adults, 2 kids under age of six. The food was not too good at all. The ketchup bottle was empty (as was the one for the lane next to us). The 1 pitcher of pop which poured approx 4 average (more on small side) sized cups of pop filling each just over half.
I was scammed when the bill told me $ 10 just for the dinky pitcher of pop! The table was also dirty.
Games — Didnt even bother
Lazer Tag — Walked up to counter 3 times wanting to play. First 2 times they said we had to wait for the staff who actually worked that area to come back from a break?
Finally when they said okay the 3^rd time it was just the four of us playing. I felt like I was in a home made plywood maze in an unfinished basement with the lights shut off. There were areas in there that were obviously unsafe for whatever reason but were not blocked off even and it being dark its hard to tell at first that its not safe. Also, before we started I wanted somewhere to secure my coat, money, iphone, etc. I could either just hang it up where anyone can grab it or leave it behind the counter with them. The many many lockers I could see from where I stood are not for customers to rent but all for staff?! Despite the 10 kids from a bday party jumping on and around them as they chased each other.
Bathroom — one word: Dirty!
Spent too much $ and felt scammed! Not nearly enough of a good time!

This place has seen better days. And I wish the staff were a bit more friendly.
And it has a weird smell when you first walk in.
We played pool and there were no triangles to rack up the game, nor chalk for the cues.
The bowling lanes were also problematic, as the pins wouldn’t reset properly and we had to flag down staff numerous times to get it going.
Two stars, ’cause you don’t pay much to play.

In an effort to get out of the house and do something fun with a couple of friends, we decided to go bowling on a Saturday night. I was a little leery of Gateway Rec Centre after reading some of the reviews here, but my experience was quite good overall. We arrived at 8 pm, and were told it would be an hour to an hour and a half for a bowling lane. We put our name down on a waiting list and went to kill some time at the neighbouring Monster Mini-​Golf — that turned out to be a bust, as we were told that it would be a 15 minute wait and ended up getting a refund after 20 minutes when it was clear we would be waiting a long time for our turn (the counter was at 4 and we were number 13). While waiting for our bowling lane, we sat down at a table in the middle of the bowling alley, and a waitress was quick to see what we wanted to order. Our nachos came in under 10 minutes, and were delicious. By the time we were done eating, I noticed there were 8 – 9 empty lanes and got my fiancée to go check with the desk. They insisted that if our name was on a list they would call it, but we were sitting there for 45 minutes and didn’t ever hear anyone’s name called. We took one of the empty lanes without a problem, but I don’t know if the waiting list for lanes did any good.
While we were bowling, our waitress checked on us a few times to see if we needed any more food or drinks. The bowling was fun, although our lane did malfunction and we had to ask the staff twice to get it fixed, and were sitting and waiting for over 10 minutes. Contrary to another reviewer, I enjoyed the music they were playing, and didn’t find it too loud to have a conversation. The bathrooms are a bit of a hike from the lanes (in the bar area) and were as clean as I’ve seen at any other bowling alley’s I’ve been to. Around 10:30 or 11 pm, there were lots of free lanes, I’d recommend coming later on a Saturday night if you don’t want to wait and don’t mind being out a little bit later in the evening. Despite being busy, I enjoyed my visit and the bowling.

I don’t know about you, but I the thing I really like about bowling is not bowling in and of itself, but it’s hanging out with my friends and having fun doing something that most of us are equally bad at. Gateway Lanes is a bowling alley which makes everything I enjoy about bowling virtually impossible.
First of all, there is simply not enough seating. For each lane, they only have two seats! There is a counter behind the lanes with additional seating for one or two more people, but it’s too far from the bench to allow for all people bowling to have a conversation.
Not that it would be possible to have a conversation. Gateway Lanes seems to think that it should strive for an 80’s dance club vibe — black lights, strobe lights, music videos on huge screens on the wall, and loud, loud music. Now, I know bowling alleys are usually loud, and maybe I am just too old, but when a person two feet from you can’t hear you yelling their name, I think it’s too loud.
I think Gateway Lanes tries too hard to be cool. But the truth is, bowling simply isn’t cool. It can, however, be a lot of fun. But in trying to be cool, Gateway Lanes makes fun very, very difficult.

This is a great place to go when looking for something more than just sitting at the bar drinking your face off (which can also be fun but variety is good too). I have a had some good times here starting with a few drinks in the pub, then some zombie killer/​shoot-​y game in the arcade, then a few rounds of bowling, and then a few games of pool. This place has it all! They also have laser tag, a pro shop, a comedy club, and a banquet room — and I keep finding more stuff hidden there so I might be missing a few things.
The staff is usually pretty awesome. I have recently joined a bowling league and, although I suck terribly at bowling still, I have a blast every week and am always excited for next week. The bowling lanes are all newly renovated as of this summer. The place can get pretty busy on league nights and on Friday & Saturday evenings but I have only ever waited a max of half an hour to get a lane, and with so much else to do the time goes by fast! I would recommend this place to anyone!

Gateway lanes provides a nice alternative to your usual activities. If you are feeling bored I suggest you gather up some friends and go bowling.
It’s a decent price and it’s a lot of fun. The place is really busy on the weekends, especially at night. So if you really want to bowl you have to get their early. I am not sure if they reserve lanes or not. I was actually surprised at how busy it was but that just showed the entertainment level was high.
Teams games can provide some friendly rivalries.

Gateway Rec can be a fun place to hang out.
I find that it’s usually full of high school kids though because you don’t have to be a certain age to get in. I actually hung out a lot here in high school.
The main things to do here are bowl, which can be a lot of fun, play in the arcade, laser tag, or sit in the lounge (if you’re 18+). There’s always something to do, I’ll give them that!
I’ve never had good service in the lounge, in fact, it’s some of the worst service in the city.
I don’t go here much anymore because I find myself feeling old there. It’s really a younger spot. And with all the theatre and events going on in Edmonton, I’d much rather be doing something else.