Poway Fun Bowl

I would give this place negative stars if I could. We have been here a handful of times and came here to celebrate a birthday and had a terrible experience. Thank you «fun» bowl for ruining my son’s night and the entire birthday.
We arrive around 4pm on a Thursday when there are maybe 4 other lanes in use and only one person working. She is talking on the phone when we get to the counter and stayed on it for a very long time. Meanwhile, Wee One is desperately trying to make his way to a lane to start bowling and we have to keep telling him no, he can’t have fun until the lady gets off the phone and helps us. Finally, another guy comes up to help since she is STILL on the phone and he doesnt have change for us to pay for our game, so we have to scramble to make exact change so we can play. We ask him for the smallest shoes they have (which are still HUGE on W.O., resulting in him falling over twice since he is wearing giant clown shoes but all bowlers must be wearing bowling shoes… I guess they don’t want you to play here if you are too old or too young) and the smallest ball for W.O. He gives us the shoes, leaves the shoe they take hostage on the counter, and walks off to help another customer. Promptly dismissed, we head to the lane, thinking maybe they keep the small balls out on the floor and have to go back up to the desk to get the ball he didn’t give us when we asked him for it the first time. The rest of us search through their TERRIBLE selection of alley balls and eventually find two balls that will «work». One with finger holes way too small for the weight and one with a huge chunk taken out of it, so it pulls to the side.
The five of us start up a game. Grandpa and W.O. both need bumpers up since they are beginners and one is 1.5 years old and the other is Grandpa. The first frame, a teenage boy that works there comes up and informs us that even though we haven’t allowed him to be (because we aren’t stupid), W.O. is not allowed to be on the wood while other people are bowling. He proceeds to tell us 3 times, talking over the top of us agreeing with him in spite of the fact that the ONLY time W.O. hasn’t been sitting in someone’s lap is when he was bowling. Irritating, but whatever, we are trying to celebrate, so we let it go.
Second frame, W. O rolls a ball that gets stuck in the middle of the lane and while waiting for it to be returned to him, he goes to grab one of our balls since he is eager to play and doesn’t understand the mechanics of waiting for someone to go grab the ball. Teenage boy comes up again and informs us that this is not okay, «only balls up to 8 pounds can be used with the bumpers». Which creates a problem since we specifically asked if Grandpa can use bumpers to bowl and he can’t use a small ball since, according to the giant sign on the wall, the rule is «small balls can only be used by children.» So even though we were told that it was okay for our Grandpa, who is entitled to the «senior discount», to use the bumpers, we are then told he cannot. Which kinda takes the fun out of learning to bowl to know you have no way to even come close to the other’s scores. But mainly, we are irritated that after specifically asking, no one seems to know what their own rules are. Get your crap together people, it isn’t that hard.
So we go to complain that twice now, we have been patronized by this teenage boy, we’ve been informed that no one here knows their own rules, and we’ve been shown that this birthday party isn’t going to be a whole lot of fun, so they offer us a refund. We turn in our stuff, disappointing Wee One that we can’t stay since 20% of our party isn’t going to be able to play and probably waited another 5 minutes while the now 5 employees completely ignore us, even putting the refund money that was set aside on the counter back in the drawer since no one there seems to know anything that is going on with anyone else. So we keep waiting while the manager comes back over and gets the refund out again so we can finally take my disappointed toddler home.
I will make it a point to drive to ANY bowling alley farther away now to avoid giving these people any more business. Thanks for ruining our night!

Fun to come with family and/​or friends, even date night. Have gone here a handful of times on each occasion and have a good time. Fair prices, good bowling alley food, fun arcade for the kids, and its clean!

Poor customer service and the lane kept getting stuck. Over priced for the quality of service and equipment you get. When I complained and told them I was disappointed the gentlemen said ok. What??? A total shame that this is the only place in Poway. Looking for family fun I’m not sure this is the place for you. A place of convenience is the only thing they have going for them.
I hope they look to improve their quality so we can return someday.
They should rename it to Poway not so fun bowl!

Poor condition of lanes. Ball constantly getting stuck and game needing to be reset. Expensive league fees. We are done with this place and moving on!

HORRIBLE and extremely rude customer service. Will never be back. Maybe invest in nicer people.

Inexpensive. Older scoring equipment. Older bowling balls. There is a bar and arcade, though. Decent experience.

I was on vacation with my boyfriend visiting his family and we were looking for something to do on a weeknight. We decided on bowling and headed to Poway. I’m pretty easy going so everything was fine and fun for me, but this place is definitely in need of some upgrades. It wasn’t super busy so the 5 of us got a lane right away. The shoe rental required that they keep at least one of our shoes (which is a policy I’ve never experienced anywhere else? But was totally fine with it). My shoes has some tears and a broken lace, but again, worked just fine. The lane was easy to set up but I noticed ours didn’t have any of the fun animations on screen that some of the other screens had (I got 2 strikes in a row and want a dancing XX!) I really liked that you could set bumper preferences for each player and they automatically came up and down on each turn, that was nifty. During our 2 hours the pins didn’t always reset so we did need front desk help twice during our time. That didn’t spoil our time though. A cold pitcher of pumpkin beer and soda for the kids refreshed us while we waited for each turn to come.
With not much else to do in the area I would definitely come back if I’m visiting again, but hope they can spruce up the joint a bit!

The employees were very nice, bowling and hourly pool is a decent price. But if you want to drink I wouldn’t come here. Very overpriced, unqualified bartenders (didn’t know how to make a Bloody Mary!), and mold in the draft beer. Clean your tap lines please!!!

I have family that lives in Poway, and last time I came to visit, we decided to kill some time/​have some fun. This place was meh, at best. Overpriced drinks. It was clean. I probably won’t be back next time I’m in the area.

Fun place to go with family or friends to have lots of fun! One problem that was annoying, when bowling using the machine to keep track of score with 6 people, the machine kept freezing up! Had to keep going to counter to complain and have machine reset.

It’s a fun relatively small bowling alley. Some of them do have a problem correctly scoring and switching off the bowlers. There was some cool stats after each bowl showing your speed and averages for points. There’s also a smaller arcade.

Very clean place, good customer service, played 2 games and wasn’t expensive at all! Highly recommend this place! They also have an arcade with a redemption counter lots of kewl prizes and a bar.

Prices are fair. There is a bar with pool tables for 21+, a small café for things like soda, fries, burgers, hotdogs or personal pizza. There is also a small arcade that has a pool table for those with kids that want to play. Negative aspects: only two ramps for kids in the entire place — for 37 lanes to share, we couldn’t find an ATM to get cash for the kids to play in the arcade, and there was one (a second came later) person behind the register who had no interest in answering questions, ringing us up or trading shoes. Neither one wanted to be there, which was unfortunate. The lady who ran the kitchen and rang us up was amazing and friendly… she’s the best part about the place. Great place for kuds, with lane bumpers and pay by hour. Kuds bowl free with shoe rental.

Typical bowling alley. Clean. 32 lanes. Lots of balls. (I think that’s the first time I’ve ever written that sentence). Great place for families. And people without kids (there are pool tables and a decent bar.)

Poway Fun Bowl probably the best bowling alley in San Diego. There are plenty of lanes to accommodate league play & the common bowler. There is a kids section to keep them entertained with video games and a few pool tables. More importantly, there is a section excluding kids. The bar has plenty of craft beers, there are a few pool tables & dart boards, & the digital jukebox is legit.

Our group was here today for a team building session. It’s close to our office and we thought it would be a good venue to throw down a little!
It’s your typical bowling venue, the house balls are standard although one of our guests had trouble finding an eight pound ball. Everyone else was able to find what was needed.
We got the package deal with bowling, pizza and drinks. For this type of event, and having done this with a kids party in the past, the cost was a little more than other locations.
Overall, it’s bowling folks, so you really get what you pay for.

Been coming here for years. Never thought of writing a review. The lanes are always running and the bar and pool are great places to relax. The staff are friendly and the prices are reasonable especially if you’re military. Great for kids, family etc. the parking is never too busy and the crowd is safe. I really like this place.

Awesome lanes medium oil pattern. Great customer service. Good food and a great place to hang out with friend’s especially during cosmic bowling. And great rares

I came by tonight regarding reservations and the owner took care of me as well as Mario. The customer service was great as I followed up in person from a phone call I made about a week ago, as this weekend my family and I are having a bowling party as relatives are coming from out of town. It’s nice to know how helpful they are as it shows through their genuine sincerity.
I’ve been here in the past and it’s always been fun! Seven years ago, I even saw a former Charger here at the alley and it was fun how they announced his name through the overhead speaker system. More recently I went bowling here two years ago as a date night and it was fun cosmic bowling. I also went to the local bar back then and it was funny watching the late night Karaōke they had going on.

They participate in the awesome national summer program
which is so wonderful. (2 free games a day!)
We have played here a few times during the day in the summer, and every time the staff has been SUPER nice and helpful. There are a couple of roller ramp helpers for the little ones.
They may even extend the kids bowl free and family pass til oct 30, 2014… The nice manager said to check the main website for a notice or coupon.
So much fun here! We even bought our own bowling shoes since we intend to come often. (Rental shoe fees are $ 4.)