Brooklyn Bowl

I came here for an Elvis tribute night and it was packed with lots of people dressing up for the occasion in fifties style outfits or as Elvis himself! It was really fun! I had a frozen margerita which was like a slushy, but punchy with tequila, mmm it was great =]

Came to a gig here during C2C 2015 and the atmosphere was great (the bowling noise going on in the background added to the quieter numbers!). No bottled beer and the railing around the bar made it difficult to get around when the venue was at full capacity, but we had an amazing time nonetheless.

Sooo I’ve been to the real deal in Brooklyn on a trip to NY and admit it was a good bowling alley — but what makes it awesome are the gigs they hold in the bar area which are right by the bowling alleys
I hadn’t even realised there was one in London until timeout were advertising their bowling offer — £20 for two people, 45 mins on the lane, free shoe hire, a pint each, fried chicken and chips. For that price I immediately bought it and also asked another few couples if they wanted to join
It had a few months redemption so thought it would be easy to book for 3 couples but I was so wrong! To begin with you couldn’t book more than a couple on one lane?! Then they changed their minds and you could have 4 on a lane for 1 hour 30 bowl time — pretty good but a bit awkward with 3 couples. There was also a problem with guaranteeing lanes would be next to each other and there was limited availability for timeout offers
Because people got booked up so quickly we ended up booking the last Sunday it was redeemable with only 2 couples — bit of a palava but partly my fault as well
We turned up just before our booking at 3 and tbh it was a pretty slick operation
After taking our timeout vouchers (a rather rude lady) we were taken to our lane and our shoes were brought to us
We were damn awful at bowling but other than that it was good fun!
One gripe is me and another girl were REALLY quite bad but they wouldn’t let us put the barriers up. They did explain it was because we could damage them but they weren’t that nice about it!
Food came after 15 mins of arrival and boy was it a lot! The chicken is really nice and comes on top of some sweet fried bread which I loved! Chips were covered in cheese and gravy and their were heaps of them. Bf and I were impressed (we hadn’t had lunch and it filled us up!) but the other couple weren’t too keen on the food.
Also good choice of beers for free, after that though be warned at a pint is £6!
We managed to get in 2 full games and were on our second to last bowl when our time was up
It just shuts you off so we didn’t even get a chance to look at the score. Doing it timed does make it good value for money but we were chucked off really quickly with them explaining someone else had the lane and while sitting in the bar finishing our beers saw that it was free for the next 45 min! There were also 4 other lanes free at the time! Bit funny…
However overall the venue and bowling is really cool. I’d come again especially if there was a band on
Another highlight for the boys was that the football was showing on screens all round the alleys and on the stage! They didn’t even have to miss their Sunday matches!
Next time I fancy embarrassing myself I am going to try All Star Lanes in Holborn and see if I prefer!

It was a Sunday evening when I visited Brooklyn Bowl with a friend and I wasn’t sure how busy the place would be but we needed have worried as apart from one other table of two the place was empty!
Brooklyn Bowl at the O2 is an offshoot of the original Brooklyn Bowl NY and specialise in classic American fare as far as the menu is concerned. There’s also a third site in Las Vegas. As the name would suggest it’s also home to a bowling alley and is also a great place for gigs and events.
I started out with a vanilla milkshake and after much deliberation went for the fried catfish sandwich at the last-​minute instead of the fried chicken dinner while my friend settled on the French bread pizza. Everything (but especially the milkshake) tasted really good with my only complaint being that there was just too much of it — never a bad thing!
The catfish was crispy and the bun lightly toasted. Even the chips were delicious. The place itself is really cool and inviting and we never felt like we were being rushed (in fact the service could have been a little more attentive as it took us quite some time before we were given a bill/​allowed to pay.)

I love London. Lots. But sometimes, just sometimes, I miss home. Home, generally speaking. Like «North America». Things like «American bars».
I have a particularly soft spot for The Brooklyn Bowl (the original one in, erm… Brooklyn). Celebrated by 30^th birthday there. Ate some of the (amazing; get it) fried chicken. Listened to Questlove (?Love to the die-​hard fans) kick some beats.
BROOKLYN BOWL IN LONDON? IN KINDOF A WEIRD MALL SET-​UP ADJACENT TO THE 02?
Well, ok. Ok, sure.
That said, step inside and… it’s almost like being back in the BK. Wood paneling. Awesome lit-​up bowling alleys. Screens playing great music. DJ Booth. Good selection of beers (Brooklyn Lager, whattup).
It’s *great* fun. It’s not Brooklyn, but in lieu of a teleporter it’s a great find.
Unilocal note: check out their website for their themed nights. AND DID I MENTION THEIR FRIED CHICKEN? Served as it should be (with honey).

Somewhat off-​putting how stingy Brooklyn Bowl is with their bowling time allowance as their 30 minute slots are timed to the limit and you’re told to pay extra if you run over the allotted time even if your game hadn’t finished. The food is presented well and quite nice actually but in retrospect, it’s probably not a good idea to eat while you have a game of bowling since you are under timed conditions. Tip: make sure you arrive early to collect your bowling shoes and know which lane you have been booked onto before your 30 minute run down of the clock starts.

So my friend and I decided we fancied going for some American food and thought we’d check out this place. Pretty quiet when we got there, so got a good table and served fairly quickly.
The downside sadly was the food at 10 pound for a veggie sandwich, I was a tad disappointing, especially given my fries were far from warm. My friend went for the catfish, which although it was nice at 14 pounds, was also overpriced. Dessert wise didn’t have any complaints. We ordered a brownie to share, which was amazing. The tea was another story, we were waiting at least 10 minutes for milk.
All in all, fairly average food at a premium.

I was going to see a film with a few friends and we decided to have dinner before we went to the cinema. Unfortunately we picked the day when Pharrel Williams was going to play! Most places were full and of course so was this place. They told us that we would have a half an hour wait so we went to the bar. Which was fantastic! The frozen margaritas were phenomenal and when we went to our table son was the food! I am certainly going to come back. Food was great and so was the service!

We found this venue a little sad. We were here around 11pm on a Saturday, and they had an advertised Michael Jackson vs Prince «dance-​off» with a DJ. Well, the floor was deserted, and the music/​video combination didn’t make sense. The screen would show a minute of MJ, minute of Prince, minute of MJ again, but no connection with the music, which was occasionally by either of them (but not matching the video) and occasionally something else. I didn’t get it.
The Nutella milkshake is delicious, but even though we were the only people at the bar, it took them a good ten minutes to make our shakes. The bartenders were all just standing around talking, doing nothing.
Is this place meant to be American themed? Didn’t feel American at all. Would not return either.

I bought tickets for the Reel Big Fish when I heard they were coming to London and then started looking at the venue, Brooklyn Bowl. It’s a bowling alley inside the O2, pretty much as far as you can get from the main entrance, quite close to the entrance to the arena.
We got there about 6pm, and got stamped. We’d looked at the various restaurants on the way to the alley, but hadn’t seen much that interested us. Seeing as their sister restaurant in Brooklyn (hence the name) NY, had been featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, we decided to eat there. The inside tables were all booked, so we sat ‘outside’ (Can it be called outside if you’re still inside the O2?). Drinks first, we got a pitcher of frozen Margarita with fresh strawberries, strong and with a good kick of alcohol, the berries also add to the flavour but you need to stir it in. Food arrived, a dark meat chicken dinner for me, and cajun catfish for my date. The skin on the chicken was salty but the rest was really good, if you didn’t eat the skin by itself, it all worked together, Catfish was good but could have had a stronger flavour. Sides for both of us were mashed potato and collard greens with bacon. They went well with the main dishes. Our server was a little busy but a really nice guy. Paid up, finished our margaritas and walked into the venue main.
And it’s bigger than I expected, it’s a really good concert venue, two bars, and I think 14 lanes for bowling. It’s dark inside but lit where it needs to be. I’m not sure if it’s because of the concert but I guess I’ll need to come when it’s just a normal day. Instead of the normal plastic chairs they’ve got leather couches at the lanes, a nice touch. It being the O2, there’s one of those massive support struts going through the venue, what did they do with it? One, the lanes go under it, Two, they put a couple of big lights on it, Three, they hung a huge disco ball from it, talk about making it a feature!
The concert was great, the space is good for music, and they project it so that people still bowling can watch. The venue stays open after the concert finishes and they have special drink offers.
All in all, I’d really like to go back for just the bowling, and as long as they keep getting good bands in, I’m coming back.
The only downside? It’s just so far away from me, the O2 is not a place that I visit regularly and if you miss the last tube (done it before) then it’s a real pain to get home from…

I’m not really a fan of faux corporate intimacy. This place is decorated with a simulacrum of Americana, including rusty signs and aged wood, but it’s only a few years old; it doesn’t have the proper grease that builds up in the type of old diner-​cum-​venues that it’s aiming to imitate. The combination of the bowling spotlights and the stage were a bit too noisy, although the bowling ended when the show (Dandy Warhols) began. We didn’t have dinner there, but I always wonder why ‘classic American’ in London always means Cajun. The beer and cider selections were good, with minimal queuing as it has a long bar, and thanks to YPlan we had half-​price drinks all night.

Myself and group of German friends were over in London for the weekend to watch Monty Python, We reserved a table to watch the Germany v France game in the Brooklyn bowl. We were ensured that they would be showing the game with sound and that our table was directly in front of the TV.
When we arrived they had the tennis on and after being asked they switched over to the Football but without the sound. We asked the barman if he could put the sound on, which they said he wouldn’t. We checked out all the other venues around the O2 but all were full. When we got back in our seats had been taken and now the football was playing with sound. We expressed our displeasure to the waitress and she said she would see what she could do. She spoke with the manager and outlined our situation. He was very professional in the way he handled the situation. He asked us to give him 4 minutes and he would find a solution for us. To his word he was back within 4 minutes and asked us to accompany him to the V-​area. He ensured we had a spot in front of the screen and even got the staff to take our orders rather than having to go to the bar to get served.
You sir, take pride in your job and delivered a very good level of service. just wish I had got your name so that I could have included it here.
As for the rest of the experience, they have a very good variety of beers. 3 of us drank the Sam Adams Boston beer and the other person had cider. We all ordered big sandwiches which were true to their word. I had the catfish sandwich on ciabatta which was huge and very tasty. I shared this with a friend who had the veggie buster. we shared these half and half. It was also very flavorful. The vinaigrette on the vegetables was just acidic enough to cut through the cheese. all in all very pleasant.
After the slight stumble at the start the overall experience was a positive one and I would go back if I find myself at the O2 again.

Alrighty then, first to review. It’s been a looooong time since I was the first to review a venue, so here goes.
Note that this rating is an overall rating of bowling and food/​cocktails. If I were to rate the bowling experience alone, then it would be five stars. If I were to rate the food experience alone, then it would be three stars. Hence the blended four-​star rating.
My husband and I stopped in on a Sunday around 7pm on late May bank holiday weekend. Of the 12 lanes, four were open, so we snagged lane #8 which is a less desirable lane than, say, lane #1 which is much more private. Check-​in was smooth and friendly, and everything was explained in detail. Once at our lane, we noticed the coolness of the bowling alley. Gone are the days where you have to sit on metal or plastic seats while waiting for your turn to bowl. Brooklyn Bowl boasts huge leather sofas to relax in while you wait. The space is new and clean and huge with movies playing on large screens above the lanes and a dance club behind the «lane waiting» area. The bowling shoes were new and even kinda cute and they didn’t feel as though I was going to walk out of the bowling alley with a case of athlete’s foot. Win-​win!
As for the price, we paid £14/​half hour for our lane and were there for 1.5 hours — the max per reception. We were able to finish 2.5 games during this period but would have finished 3 had we not eaten dinner. Each lane can accommodate up to 8 people but I think that there is a law of diminishing returns when there are more than 4 people simply because a single game would take forever with eight people. I think the correct price/​game ratio would be to have four people to a lane.
On to the food and cocktails…
Sadly, the food was only average for me and the drinks were terrible. I ordered a mojito to start and it lacked any flavor. The husband ordered a margarita on the rocks and said it was gross. We switched to beer on round 2 — a much better choice.
For food, I ordered a BLT which, to my delight, was made with American style (aka crispy) bacon though it was super duper salty. I would not order it again for fear I may dehydrate right there on the spot. The skinny fries which accompanied the «jumbo» sandwich were right up my alley. Do you see what I did there?
The husband ordered the 3-​piece chicken fried dinner (dark pieces) and said it was really, really good. The pork sliders we had a starter, however, left a lot to be desired. They were dry and kind of stuck to the roofs of our mouths when we took a bite.
Would we return to bowl? Absolutely. Would we eat on a return trip? Yes (but I’d opt for the fried chicken as it seems to be a sure bet).