The Southwest Rink at Park Tavern

This is our 3^rd year going to Park Tavern skating. Every time we go, we pinch ourselves. How lucky are we to have a place to skate, have sushi and excellent hot chocolate all under the same roof? We also think the music is great. Thanks so much SW Airlines and Park Tavern for bringing this great amenity to midtown!

We enjoyed this place. my daughter had a blast. Wish the heaters were a little stonger you will need a coat

The Rink at Park Tavern is located off of Monroe and 10^th near Piedmont Park.
It’s located behind the restaurant and at the bottom of the building.
My friends and I wanted to ice skate and since it was raining; we decided to come here because the skating rink is indoors.
SCOUT MOB
There was a scout mob deal going on for $ 10 per person with hot chocolate included. So I got tickets for all of us right at the register. Once you fill everything out and purchase the tickets; it’s sent over to their system and they ring you up. #bargain
PARKING
street parking or valet or park around the neighborhoods.
WAIVER
You’ll be required to sign a waiver as well as present your driver’s license or passport (visitors).
ICE RINK/​SKATES
Fairly large, but well lit with pretty blue lights. There was also a christmas tree on one side and definitely a popular place in the rink for some quick snaps (photos). I saw many brought their own skates, which is ideal. Haha. The skates provided were okay; bulky and odor problems of course. Don’t even think about that part. Just skate!
BAR
There’s a bar where the skate rentals are. drinks anyone?!
Overall, a great time with friends! You know, we were all channeling #michellekwan and #evanlysacek :P

We came on a Saturday night for the adult-​only time. It was an ok time, there were quite a few drunk people on the ice making it hard to skate (but we’ve all been there, right?). The rink was small so it would be a mess if it were really packed. We only skated for about 30 minutes and noticed that several people waiting to get shoes were the same people who had been in line with us to get skates when we got there (so it looks like most people just have a taste of the skating then move on).
If you’re going on a date, going to actually skate, or don’t want to get inebriated, I recommend getting there a little closer to the 8:30 mark. We did that and had a pretty good time. When we turned in our skates and started people watching a little later, the rink was getting more full with people who probably shouldn’t have been trusted on a pair of skates. It was fun to enjoy a drink from the sidelines and watch them though!
Definitely a fun hour or so, but probably not a place to spend a whole evening unless you’re with a group. Don’t forget to check and make sure they don’t have an event planned before you go as well (the website has them listed and lets you know what nights the skate rink is closed to the public).

Not a great experience. The rink is really small, and it’s crowded on a late Sunday afternoon. We waited forever just to get skates. If you actually want to skate, as opposed to wobbling around, this is not the place for you. Also, if you fall, you’re gonna end up at the bottom of a heap.

It’s a cute little place, but the rink was tiny. It took them 45 minutes to resurface it. I got the Groupon for 2 with hot chocolate, but I wouldn’t go back in all honesty. If you want a great place to skate near atlanta, just go to the ice forum in kennesaw. It’s much better.

Enjoyed it, had a really nice time! Highly recommended! Great food, and even better staff! Keep up the good work. OH, and I loved the fact that you could get sushi rinkside!

The ice rink is the size of a small swimming pool. The chunky, unconditioned ice makes it feel like you’re skating on a gravel parking lot. The skates smell and are in horrible shape. It’s packed to the point you can barely move, and parking is not included in your ticket price. To cap it off, I had to wait in line for almost thirty minutes to get my shoes back. Save your money.

Pretty disappointing. Went on a Saturday afternoon in late January… packed with kids to the point where you couldn’t skate freely. The rink is also pretty small which doesn’t help things. It’s a shame that the rink doesn’t offer a view of Piedmont Park… that’s the best thing about Park Tavern and it’s missing here. A little too claustrophobic for my liking!

Went on a Monday night an it was a blast! All these people complaining about crowds and what not. Act like you have left the house before! The rink is small but for the 15 or so people who were there on Monday night there was plenty of room. The ice was in pretty terrible condition but it didn’t take away from the fun. The skates that they rent are better quality than the ones you get in Gatlinburg at their massive skating rink. For 16 bucks at the door we got to skate from 8 – 12 we didn’t get there until after 9 and I feel like we still got more than our monies worth. For whatever reason the snack bar wasn’t open when we went so we ordered a hot coco from the restaurant. I think the waitress forgot about us so when it finally came she didn’t charge us. We were very thankful and the coco was surprisingly very very good. I will remember this experience for a long time. Thank you Park Tavern for an Awesome Monday night.

Great rink at a great restaurant/​bar. Kick back for a «rink drink» and some sushi while watching the skaters. If you are feeling adventurous, the rink is the perfect size for new skaters!

Now called the SouthWest Rink at Park Tavern.
If you are an adult, and are only skating with adults-​I highly recommend skating the adult session at night 8:30-midnights on weekends. OMG we went there on Sat afternoon and there were like hundreds of people there, kids and all. The Groupon deal that went out severely over-​packed this place (FYI the deal isn’t good for the holiday dates 12/21−1/3…so it should fare better in crowd around that time). The session hadn’t started yet, and I can’t imagine all of those kids bumping/​falling into each other in that confined rink. Super glad we were all adults to come back later… on a Sunday night there was roughly 40 tops in the rink at one time.
I also agree with the service… it could be more polished in getting our things.

I guess my expectations were way too high: The ice was bumpy and full of snow, the skates were lousy, the rink is tiny and the people working there are rude. Like a previous reviewer, I paid the $ 5 parking and had a $ 29 Eversave voucher that was about to expire. The voucher was good for «ice skating plus hot chocolate and s’mores for two ($ 60 value)». My daughter and I got the skates but received only 1 ticket for hot chocolate and s’mores. When I asked them about it they said «you only get 1 hot chocolate and 1 s’mores to share.» (what?) Well we went to get our hot chocolate and s’more and the lady at that counter said our ticket was only good for 1 hot chocolate. (what?) Anyway, what I thought would be a sweet memory with my daughter turned out to be a 15 minute waste of time (and money). :-(

The ice here is bad. Their website says there is a «30 minute break» for ice resurfacing, which sounds like they’re using a Zamboni. When I got there I was amused to see that they were using a squeegee and a vaccuum cleaner to resurface the ice. I have posted a picture of this in case nobody believes me. I have skated at several rinks and have never seen this «method.»
If there is no Zamboni blade to scrape off the ruts then the ice never gets smooth. It is not quality ice maintenance, and can be quite dangerous. I get the feeling that whoever put this rink here does not realize the work involved in keeping an ice rink smooth and safe, because they clearly do the bare minimum. Which is probably why they make you sign waivers, signing your life away.
They finally got done «resurfacing» after almost an hour so the 10:30 pm session started at 11:00. I was scared to step on the ice because there were visible lumps, bumps, not well lit, and the corners drop-​off precipitously. Since I had already paid for my admission with the Half-​Off Depot deal, and paid $ 5 to park, I had to at least give it a whirl or waste my money.
I have been on worse ice than this (Marietta Ice Center — don’t go there, trust me). At Park Tavern I could at least spin around for 45 minutes before it got real-​real-​real bad, but in the future I’ll stick to one of the professionally run rinks like Town Center or the Cooler. At least I can now say I have skated on a rink, in a bar, that was resurfaced with a 2-​foot squeegee.
If you have never skated before, you will probably not give a hoot about the ice quality here, especially if you have been drinking. I recommend going to the 10:30pm session, which is 21+, because drunk adults skating are more well-​controlled than children skating. Children are terrors on ice and I commend management for keeping one session for the adults. Even with all the bumps, holes and drop-​offs, I lived through the experience but it was risky.
If you look at the «filtered reviews» below, that is closer to what I experienced.

My boyfriend took me here to ice skate and get hot chocolate. The ice skating experience was fun but the ice skating rink was not so great.
The ice skating rink was small and crowded, but not overwhelmingly so. The skates were hard plastic which was hard to put on and take off and it was not comfortable at all. The ice had bumps and dips everywhere, not smooth at all. On the other hand, the décor was really nice and trendy. They have lanterns hung up, lights shining, and music playing.
On a side note, their hot chocolate was so THICK! Almost like hot chocolate syrup. My boyfriend loved it. I hated it. Depend on your hot chocolate preference I guess.

This was a great way to finish Valentines dinner. The rink isnt the biggest but didnt seem too small either. The lights and music at night made it very enjoyable. The view of the lit skyline was perfect as well. I would recommend going during the night session as there are no kids allowed.

The ice is uneven and full of bumps. Yes, the music is good!

Rink at Park Tavern was a great way to spend the weekend. We used a half-​off depot coupon and got in for $ 10/​person, but my friend actually paid $ 15, so I don’t know if it was discounted for that day or because we came kind of late.
I think the skating rink is about the same size as the skating rink in Centennial. This rink has heaters, which was nice when we first entered, but after a bit of skating, it wasn’t as pleasant. There’s a free coat rack where you go to pick up skates. I’m glad I wore a long sleeve shirt. You warm up really quickly so, there’s no need to really bundle.
It doesn’t look like the ice gets swept often. It kinda sucked for the unskilled skater like me when I first got on the ice. However, things got better when I picked up speed.
The Rink opens at 9 and ends at midnight. I really like the music they play at the rink. It’s a good mix to jam to.
I think the Rink at Park Tavern is a good idea and I hope they’ll continue to offer it in the future.
Unilocal 365 #37/​365

I had an idea of what to expect (Friday night) but I still dressed super warm. I don’t recommend wearing light clothing, but wearing a sweater AND a scarf AND a hat was a little excessively warmer than I had intended.
The rink itself is a smaller than I imagined but still immensely fun. Although the ice isn’t completely smooth all over (a little bumpy – watch out!), luckily I didn’t fall or anything (yikes!). I did try to steer clear from this one guy that looked like he might have had a little too much booze and ice. He was practically falling all over a place.
Around the skating area, there’s a lounge area (good luck finding a seat) where you are allowed to drink and hang around. The 2 adjacent rooms to the rink is the bar area and the restaurant.
We got the skates by exchanging our shoes and taking a number. There’s also a coat rack. AND in the bar area, there were a couple of tables for people dining in. It can get a little crowded with everyone attacking the ½ off sushi special (after 10pm), but the skating area really wasn’t too crowded.
Overall I had a good time! Also, it will take forever getting the frozen hot chocolate — but ohhh my gosh totally worth the wait. It was thick, creamy, and chocolately topped with whip cream and chocolate shavings.

I had gone here back in December before Christmas, and really enjoyed my experience. I had been to the Centennial Rink in the past, but this one beats that one by far. I love the lights and the décor surrounding the rink, it gives it a nice fun feel to it, rather than just being your typical ice skating rink.
In addition, I went for the after 9 pm session, which was only 21+, so that definitely increased my enjoyment level, as I was not having to compete with or bump into kids of all ages.
It definitely makes a great date night, or a good time with friends. Not to mention the yummy drinks and desserts that they offer. It also helps that this rink is heated under the tent, because it allows you to enjoy yourself, without freezing! :)
Definitely hope this becomes an annual setup!

Went to The Rink at Park Tavern over the weekend and had a lot of fun. I’ve also ice skated at Centennial Olympic Park and thought the rink at Park Tavern might be bigger since Piedmont Park is much larger than Centennial. However, it turns out they’re both about the same size. The rink at Centennial may actually be a bit bigger. The Rink at Park Tavern is 80×45 feet and can handle up to 200 skaters at a time.
When you go to The Rink, you have to choose which session you’d like to skate. Each of the sessions are 3.5 hours long. You can choose from two sessions on weekdays and four on weekends. I went to the 9pm session on Saturday. The 9pm sessions are 21 and older. For a Saturday night, the place was not as busy as I expected it to be. The rink was at no greater than half capacity at any given time. The rink is located on the ground level facing the park in the tavern’s «Garden Tent.» It’s mostly indoor. One side is exposed so you can see the park and the Midtown Atlanta skyline.
Tickets are $ 15 ($ 10 to skate, $ 5 for skate rental). You can buy online or at the door. If you buy on-​site, tickets are purchased at the bar and they do accept credit card. There are a lot of online deals (e.g. Groupon, Half Off Depot, Living Social) floating around for The Rink if you keep an eye out for them. Actually, today’s Living Social deal is $ 22 for two, skating at the rink with cake and ice cream (
)!
You exchange your shoes for your skates, so your shoes are stored securely, unlike at Centennial Park where shoes are just everywhere. They have hangers for you to hang your coat, which you’ll probably want to since you can get very warm/​hot once you start skating — The Rink is indoor, after all. They’ve also got large heaters which blow hot air into the rink. I didn’t like skating in front of them. I wanted to cool down, not get even more hot! I definitely broke into a sweat by the end of the night.
The Rink has cool ambient lighting. They play mostly top 40 hits over the sound system. There’s a person in a referee shirt that skates around and monitors the safety of everyone out there. He’ll tell you not to take pictures or film while skating (you have to keep one hand on the rail) and that skaters cannot form a train of more than two people. Boo. The ice at The Rink feels thinner than the ice at Centennial. There are plenty of existing skaters’ groove marks in both, but the ones at Centennial seem deeper.
Finally, since The Rink is located at Park Tavern, you have their full menu of food and drinks available to you. There’s plenty of seating outside around The Rink for you to take a break and watch the skaters from afar. All in all, a good time can be had here. They’re open until February 28^th.
#Yelp365 — ³¹⁄₃₆₅