French King Entertainment Center

Love this place. Great family fun. And try the homemade fries. Yummy yummy. Great staff

I hadn’t ventured to French King bowling center in a very long time. The place has changed a lot since my last visit in that they decreased the number of candlepin lanes they had and completely eliminated the tenpin alleys. Not to be misled however, as in the remaining alleys are very well maintained and upgraded with Compu-​Score semi-​automatic scoring systems which is ideal for candlepinning. 100% Automatic scoring in Candlepin is annoying as it does not accurately score gutter fouls or late falling pins. So, major thumbs up for the semi-​auto score system even though I prefer just writing scores on paper.
A particularly interesting surprise was that lanes 1 – 4 were fitted with flat screen tv’s, a giant projector screen, leather couches, blacklights and modern dance club lighting and sound. Additionally, the entire bowling lane glowed violet beneath the lighting. It reminded me of a trendy high end NYC alley I had visited once. French King delivers the NYC experience, New England style without the NYC mile-​high prices.
They also feature a full bar with locally brewed beers on draft as well as a snack bar with a sizeable menu. The group I was with ordered a large hamburger pizza that we all had low expectations for, however were pleasantly surprised by the quality. Clearly this was not a microwaved frozen pizza and it far exceeded your average snack bar pizza. In fact I might go so far as to recommend ordering pizza from them for takeout. Also, get an order of fries, they cut them fresh from whole potatoes.
In addition to all of the above, they have a large arcade that features some classic video games as well as some nicely maintained pinball machines.
I’d recommend anyone traveling Route 2 to stop in and roll a few games, drink a few pints of BBC brews, and take in a Red Sox game on the big screen.
If you live locally to this place, you’d be crazy not to frequent it.

I’m completely biased here, so not going to slurp the place… I have been going here since I was seven. I love candlepin bowling, just another thing I can’t get in NC.
They need to crank the AC more, and keep the beers colder, which should be priority one and two for a roller hall.