Reviews of Bowl-A-Vard Lanes (Bowling Alley)

TJ Dowling

The food is hit or miss. I've was a regular that stopped 3-4 times a week for pool and food, but constant staff turnover seems to have effected the food. Get the right cook, the juicy Lucy will make your knees buckle and thank God your a man... Or a women, but it's a pretty manly burger...

Jeff Meyers

Well maintained alleys and nice scoring systems. There are at least 3 party rooms that you can rent out to have get-togethers at. The largest one has a private bar available. Food is pretty basic (burgers, chicken, BBQ pulled pork) but has always been tasty and fresh.

Aaron Floyd

We have a volleyball team that plays at Bowl-a-vard and we come back every year! The courts are the best in town and the atmosphere off the court is great. Nice large, outdoor bar area with TVs, good music, and always a good crowd.

Joe Maly

4 pool tables, making this a choice location for a game of pool as well as bowling. Lots of space for family and friends, and great food their cheese curds and fried pickles are unbeatable. They also serve pretzel bites with cheese for all you lovers out there.

Asrat Cook

Great place to go out and play.

Cyndy Woods

Great staff and a very accommodating business!

Jason Whitley

Went there for our volleyball league. Nice courts and fine judges. Wish there were bathrooms outside or a convenient entrance to inside from the courts. Ordered pork nachos and they were awful. Shredded cheese over them (online menu said cheese sauce, they need to update that). They were dry and bland and just overall not good. Bartenders and servers seem decent.

4wesomeAdam

This place is so much fun. Music during the summer.

Cody Drager

Have had enough bad experiences here to never want to come here again.

Cheryl Thornberry

Grandson and daughter bowled. We had burgers which were really good.

Dakota Albrecht

I like drinking at the bar, never actually bowled here but the drinks are fantastic!

Larry Peiser

Fun and food

Amanda Belanger

Best bowling alley in Madison...hands down. Hourly lane rates, good drink specials. My boyfriend and I come here almost weekly...no other bowling alley will do!

Joseph Harrison

music too loud but equipment in better repair than prairie lanes and decor more up to date.

Rick Hajdu

Great place. We went for a fundraiser. We had an awesome time.

diane marie

Fun place to go to dance Wednesday and Thursday nights in the summer.

Sandie Kisting

Celebrating my daughter's 21st birthday. They had gluten free pizza and let us bring in cake. Absolutely great time!

Chad Martin

Bowling fun for the whole family and much more

Bob N-S

Kinda dark bartender was great

Hailey Judkins

If I could give zero starts, I would. We asked to bowl until closing, and they didn’t give us that time. The machine and lane didn’t work the whole time, and when asked for the time it didn’t work, they said no. Then as we were walking out their “security guard and register employee” kept talking about us, very immature and rude. Will not be returning!

Stephano mixer

Bike night during the summer is always great! Live music events are always fun but drinks and food ar overpriced for a bowling alley!

Tia Ekern

Fair rates. Fun times. Themes are fun! Shoes smell a little though.

rohil khanna

Great place..!! $10 FOR 2 HRS.

Alan Sherman

Bowling was fun, Food was good, service was just okay fun place overall!

Son of a Hun

Staff was somewhat inattentive

Justin Rupert

Nice lanes, good food, good bar

Lexy Frautschy

Nice lanes. Decent food. Good, fast, and friendly service. They also have a small arcade area.

Hattie S

Make sure they put you in the right volleyball league. They don't consider your experience level, they just want bodies to fill the spots. And don't expect a refund. Lazy management. Never playing there again.

Jewel Tulod

This place is good for children’s field trips but in any other situation it’s ridiculously overpriced for both the actual games and for drinks. The bartender was rude.

Moco Dulce

I flew into Madison Wisconsin and stayed with friends who took me to Bowl A Vard Lanes on the east side of Madison. On this night it was biker night and they had a band playing. We did eat and had a great burger and fries and it was very good and we had to get FRIED CHEESE CURDS. When in Rome, get the cheese curds. They are awesome and you can get them on quite a few places. Culver's sells them and I am so happy that they are in Texas to satisfy my need to eat some fried cheese curds. Oh yeah, now if they could also sell Spotted Cow beer I would be in heaven. Ok back to Bowl A Vard Lanes. Sand volleyball courts, bands, bowling, nice bar and grill its got a little of everything for everybody. I suggest you stop in and check this place out.

Amy Doty

The bartenders in the back band area were outstanding! Fast and accurate!! Wow, amazing guys. Great band, great food!

Shawn Peters

Fun place to bowl and play arcade games....

Shahira MS

It was an event organized by our management at work. The food had ingredients that were not mentioned in the menu. It made me sick for three days.

Paul Jones

Perfect in every way

Jenna Voegeli

It is fun! You might have to wait for service, but other then that, it is a fun time with great food.

Christian Bohnhoff

Really, tell everyone why you hated this place.... Took over 35min to find someone who was actually capable of just tapping a beer. Lame sauce!

dean siewert

Clean facility with modern equipment. Nice pricing model: $9 for 1 hour per person, $10 for 2 hours (shoes included). Or, you can also pay by the line if you want. Will be going back.

Paul Bahr

We've had probably 10 birthday parties during open bowling for my kids at BAV over the years. This year will be our last. In every instance, we've given them our credit card, took out however many pairs of shoes we needed, threw as many games as we wanted, and then settled up when we wrapped up. This time around, everything had to be prepaid - lines and shoes. We had to estimate how many bowlers we were going to have and ended up coming in too high. Setting up all of the bowlers we originally estimated seemed to screw up everything. We had to skip bowlers that weren't actual people. The skipping caused more problems abruptly ending several games that needed fixing by the less-than-accomodating staff. When I asked why we can't just open a tab, I was told that everything was now prepaid. When I asked when that changed, I was told at least two years ago. That's a line of bull because it wasn't that way when we were here last year. It's one of the reasons we came back this year. Between all of the prepay garbage and the games ending before completion, we're done. There are other houses in the area - one of them will get our $300+ business next time.

Dawn Valenta

Thank you so much for a great time!!! Jeff, Jenna and that tiny girl behind the bar are awesome!!! Your staff made state so much fun!!! Fyi... Great food too!!! Thank you!!

Nathaniel Ellis

I've not been yo bowling alley on years. We celebrated Christmas Eve there. Had a great time with Pizza and soft drinks. The lanes were clean and employee staffed with friendly people. Equipment automation worked with out a hitch.

Adam

Great pizzas, clean, nice lanes and helpful staff.

Micah Zart

The place was clean and staffed appropriately for our company bowling event.

skyboy 46

Watched road trip here. Mixed drinks were a little pricey.

Bri Taylor

I always have so much fun when I am here. Modern tech for game setups, pay by the game or pay by hour, drinks or food or arcade games--lovelovelove

John Clark

Very nice for bands. Like DS Juken. ..

Cole

The bar area is big, they have okay pool tables and the staff was friendly. There are plenty of lanes of bowling and the price was right. Fun place to go with a group and seemed like a good atmosphere.

Sandra Burke

Went for paint nite. Friendly bar staff

Jason Boynton

Excellent bowling ally, my only complaint is the variety of rental bowling balls...seem to have a lot of 14 lbs and up and lighter than 10, but not much inbetween

Joshua Schultz

The lanes are great, staff seem good. It's pretty expensive though to bowl.

terry witte

Open enough for people who work almost any schedule.

Danny Judkins

If I could give it a zero I would. Very rude workers, said we wanted to bowl til closing, didn't let us. Machines and lane didn't work the whole time and wouldn't give us the time that their machines didn't work. Then we left and they kept talking about us, very immature.

Kendra Inman

The two hour all you can bowl is a great deal.

Olivia Shields

Bowlavard used to be one of my favorite places to go, for the arcade and bowling, but after these last few experiences, I’m not coming back. The staff has become very hostile and clearly not happy with their jobs. The last night I went, I was there for a friend’s birthday. Not only did the woman with the half shaved head, deny us 2 hour bowling when we were 5 minutes late, but she yelled at my group twice, from 3 lanes over. Ex.) One of our bowlers was mid-frame when the screen shut off. He had already taken his turn and the lady yells “if your lane is off, you are NOT BOWLING” when clearly it had just gone off. Very terrible customer service from her. (Shoutout to the worker at the bar that still let us order food @ 11:55 when the kitchen closed at 12.) She should take a lesson about customer service from that guy.

Robert Johnson

Hated the lanes... could not see the marks because the lights reflected too much... Also, could not see the pins all the way...

Mrs. J Roth

Nice that they have a Proshop in house, I wish the hours weren't so limited (night hours during the week, 12 on Saturday, closed on Sunday). The man who works there is friendly enough though and helpful as well. The lanes were clean, it wasn't too busy, we had a good time.

Leslie Sainsbury

We were here for State Tournament and have never had a more disappointing experience at a bowling alley. The staff for the tournament check in and brackets new what was going on, but the staff that worked for the alley appeared clueless and very fluster in many different situations. Waitress brought wrong drinks, prices on the drinks changed with almost every order, ordered an adult beverage and it was delivered to a different lane and then she brought it back about 15 minutes later. Ordered beef nachos, without black olives, and we got nachos without beef, returned them and they came out with beef and black olives. Just prior to starting practice we had a staff member come through the sitting area with a mop bucket, leaving water splashes behind her, no clue. 7 minutes of practice took about 5 minutes to get the lanes even turned on. Had wrong names up on the pairs of lanes for several teams. Intercom system sucked, unable to hear the National Anthem and announcement of achievements during bowling...... Disappointedwomensstatebowlers2019.

Logan B.

Basic bowling place. Food was not great. Had great prices for bowling. Even has an arcade

Denise Johnson-Walterscheit

So Fun, Denim and Leather absolutely rocked!!!!

kristen Brantner

Didn't even go in! Parked in the lot got ready to go in but activity by the door then walk too cars seemed like more was going on then just bowling and a few drinks at the bar

William Bonfiglio

Fun place. Good food, good service, lots of games.

noah gessler

Went early, nearly empty. Was fun basically your standard bowling alley. Really clean too.

Michael Danielsen

Great outdoor patio. Great place to watch the Brewers.

Kathy Disrude

Very nice and clean had a great

mike wallsch

Best food for the cost in the general area.

Jamie Kaufmann

Fun place great lanes, good food and drinks, fun place to go!

Ashlie Crooks

The touch screen at each lane was neat, even though navigating through it wasn't especially intuitive. One in our party was suffering from a twisted ankle so we easily put up the bumpers so they could "compete" with the rest of us.

John Winters

Friendly wait staff with massive portions of food, good drinks too

Lisa Avila

We went to see the Badger Game and stayed to see Angels and Outlaws. Fun Night!

Maribel Wells

Wednesday nights car show and live music, good deals and good food...

Edward Johnson

Been many years since I have been here but came in last weekend. Not sure when they renovated but the improvements are very nice.

airbagabe

Probably one of the best places to bowl in Madison. 36 lanes, very cheap hourly rates, cheap beverages, a nice arcade for kids, and friendly, casual staff. Biggest downside is probably the location, as it's kind of a haul from pretty much anywhere.

Jeana Corrado

Love the place so does my 10 yr old

Megan Schultz

DO NOT ORDER THE CHICKEN SANDWICH! It's pre-cooked and has artificial grill marks, tastes terrible and is definitely overpriced. Manager only credited me half of my money back because I had eaten the fries and one bite of the bun that it came one. NOT IMPRESSED!!!Should be removed from their menu.

Linda Yamben

Went for drinks. It was okay, reasonably priced. Kind of a dive in a good way.

Katie Gelhar- Stahl

Modern, fun bowling alley. Good food!

Chris Shank

Great place to take the family out to bowl and super food

Don Mann

Kinda pricey but nice facility

Phil Leighton

Great place to bowl since 1951.Im the last of the original Bowl-a-Vard Whizkid.

Aaron Goldbin

THE BEST fried pickles.

Miranda Meyers

We went to Bowl-A-Vard last night as part of our date night in hopes of bowling two games. We had been aware that they were having an event tonight and planned accordingly to avoid it. When we arrived, maybe 10 lanes were in use out of 40 and we were told there was nothing available because they weren't "clean" or anything and it would be about a half hour. So we stuck around and checked back in a half hour later, and the staff seemed annoyed with us asking to bowl. They were rude and snippy and said they still didn't have anything and wouldn't for awhile. We promptly left. Very terrible service in the bowling alley area.

Mark O'Melia

Good place to get gas.

N Moreno

Front desk lady is very rude. Rather than coming and enjoying ourselves till we are ready to leave and than pay for everything we now have to guess how many games we will play and than prepay for every game. Rental shoes were very sticky, bumpers didnt work, lane kept sweeping away all pins after first ball. Ended up leaving after the first game. This place has changed for the worse.

Sky Marie

A few of my coworkers and I decided to go bowling for a friends birthday and one of the workers there (wouldn't give me her name when asked for it, but she has brownish hair with on side of her head shaved). She was SUPER RUDE to everyone in my party. First off when we asked about getting a two hour game, she replied "no you can't get a two hour game" without telling us a reason. Second, one of us was going to bowl for a friend and this employee yelled from across a few lanes "no shoes no bowling" in a rude tone of voice, but we shrugged it off. The third incident is the last string and is the reason for this complaint. A friend was bowling and their second bowl came up, but as they were going to bowl, the game shut off because their time was up and LITERALLY AS SOON AS THE LANE WENT DARK, this rude a** employee yelled at them saying "If the lane turns dark, you're done bowling so stop!" and this made my whole group upset. This employee was incredibly rude and her attitude/the way she spoke was completely unprofessional. Employees are suppose to be nice, understanding, patient, and professional and had she have been, this complaint would not be happening, she could have handled the situations better with more respect and with better communication skills, yet she didn't. She could have easily have come to us and said "Sorry we can't do 2 hours this late, but we can start you off with one game", "Because you don't have bowling shoes on, I can't allow you to bowl, I'm sorry" and the last one, she totally jumped on my friend AS SOON as the lane went dark. She could have waited to see if they would stop after their turn and then said something. Honestly this whole experience(my first) was horrible because of this employee. Please do something about this.

Xeng Vang

We ran into the same issue with the lady with the under shaved hair. We asked to switch lanes because we wanted to be closer to the bar. There was like 20 open lanes by the bar but she insisted she cannot do that. A manager on duty came and said the same thing, they cannot move us. I don't understand why you would not move your customers closer to the bar. It's a win win situation for you. You get money from bowling and more money from the bar. They were so rude about it that we just left. This place needs to understand that if you please your customer, they will always come back. The minute you disrespect them, them and their whole family and friends will never come back. It's such a simple request to please your customer and they can't even do it. It's sad that they don't understand that customers are their life line.

Lukas H

This is my new favorite place to bowl! Updated bowling machinery and a huge arcade makes this an awesome place to bowl!

Jordan Connor

18$ a game. RIP off. Won't refund wont add time because bartender Tom 15 minutes to get us a drink. First and last time. Thanks for the life lesson.

Leo Cross

Good times. Very open layout for bowling and dining in the bar.

Tim Bergen

Special Olympics State Tournament. Staff was superb. Great day.

Zachary Rhodes

expensive beer, good popcorn

kari hailey

Nice updated game room. Very very very toddler birthday party/ bad bowlers friendly.

Levi Bozacki

The nachos they have get a 5star but the bowling was not good. The lane I was on broke down three times and the last time it was so bad they had to move us to a completely different lane. I think its time for some upgrades if you ask me.

Scott Gordon

Great music great staff!!!

Linda L

Got a great Groupon deal and checked out this bowling center. Nice lanes, updated electronics and they have wine & craft beer leagues!

Aaron Knuppel

Large, clean and well lit bowling alley. They have a newly expanded game room.

Elizabeth Blindauer

Great family setting. Also great food!

ben white

Bowling is going to be the same almost everywhere. the food was good. had a great time. not too loud, good atmosphere. if looking for a place to bowl this is a great place.

John Cowan

Lots of fun helpful staff

Ryan Andrews

BIKE NIGHT HOST ON THURSDAY NIGHTS WOOHOOO! They usually get some really good local bands playing too.

Carmella Beattie

Food was good, but did not match menu description. Said roll, was plain bread said pile of thin sliced turkey, was two slices, said side of mayo, did not receive.

Mary

Great lanes! Clean and nice

Salina Wilson

Very nice inside and the food is great!

Joshawa Gray

Great Sunday deals. The bartender Chirs is awesome. The CBR pizza crust was a little undercooked. My meat lovers was great. The chicken wings were also really good!

Bruce Hirsch

Good pro shop, very knowledgeable

Alex V

Spent 10 bucks on the TouchTunes Jukebox so I could turn the country off. It said my songs were playing but it was definitely still country playing. Basically stole my 10 bucks lol.

Jesse Ransom

Fun for the whole family!

Jim Zobjeck

Every Wednesday during summer outdoor live band no cover charge, antique or old cars. Thursday nights 6 to 10 is motorcycle night outdoor entertainment during summer week.

Rick Coker

Sunday night bowling is great deal

A Wolfe

This place is pretty cool. Saw a band in the arena part. Bartenders were good, drink prices reasonable.

Jeff Vike

Went there on a few bike nights and found the bands very good and free admission.

vannigirl

Great bowling alley. Have never came in and not been able to bowl, have a ton of lanes. Would definitely recommend this bowling alley.

AZboyinWI

I was there on Wednesday evening for car night. Inside I found a nice establishment with good service & reasonable prices

Shawn McGrath

Great bowling and arcade games. Also good drinks and food. Nothing to complain about.

Corey

Good times!

Chuck Thomas

Great band and outside bike night.

iTAP- Astro

Good food really good pizza and ok service great place to go bowling

Brittnee Wu

From looking outside you would have no idea how nice it is inside. The food is amazing and in big portions, there is a cute little arcade, pool tables a couple bars and of course bowling. My only complaint: We had multiple lanes open for a party, and we had some stuck balls. We hit the call attendant button and several employees walked by and nobody acknowledged us or anything.

Joel Pollen

Decent bowling alley with reasonable prices. My friend had a hard time finding an appropriate ball from their house selection.

Brett Drew

Car night and bike night are great! This is a really fun place!

Kaller Jones

Family fun. This place is upgraded. The bowling shoes are newer. There were light weight balls for the kids and adults. This place It has a full sports bar. The Kitchen boasts a large array of menu items. LOL Be careful, the bill will get up there before you know it. Everything was good but I don't suggest the nachos. It's a large portion but not worth the $. Prepare to loose the little ones to the game room.

Cherise Nova

Great deals, awesome arcade. Better than the old Rocky's

ray hinman

great place

Laura Connor

Awesome to hear Roadtrip Band!

Tarik Amach

New touch screen system, easy to use with front camera to customize each bowler. They also have a new arcades corner, so if you have not been there for a while, well go again and you will like the new upgrade.

travelle tucker

Made my woman. 4 year child and I sit outside at closing time rather allow us to sit in bar area and also didnt let the massage chair finish that I paid for because I was a minority. Then when I asked the woman for her name she ran in back and not answer.

Therese Bethel

Here for a birthday party, and it went great with everything they provided for the kids! For bowling it was easy to enter names and set up bummpers too. Kids loved the pizza and drinks and the little goodie bags that the staff provided.

Eric Paeschke

Came for my girlfriends friend’s bday and witnessed the whole group get treated poorly by the female employee with the half-shaved head. She was very rude to us from the start. We arrived around 11:05pm and weren’t allowed to do 2-hour bowling even though we said we’d be okay with losing the last 5 mins. This meant we couldn’t bowl on the same lane as the bday party. She also yelled at us from several lanes away at the exact moment the 2hours expired and as one of our bowlers was mid-frame when the lights went off. Also, the bartender served me a double malbu pineapple for $6 and a margarita for $7...didn’t make any sense to me. Overall, I was not impressed and I’m never coming back here. Schwoegler’s bowling is WAYYY better!

Lord Drake

Would you mind turning down the bass at a decent hour so those of us who live near by can get some rest?

Mitch Michaels

So many lanes to bowl on!!

charles clay

Best place to bowl, drink, play pool and sometimes listen to live bands.

Kevin Conley

Mediocre weather in the lanes or at the bar. Needs new management... Again.

Branden Gile

Great food and fun times!

Mr Satan

Bartenders were attentive, but our game ended early since one players time was up, while 3 others still had 20 minutes. More to the point they skipped music on the jukebox while we were the only patrons. The reasoning given was "people can pay to skip" which it was my song next so that didn't happen. Then she came back with sometimes songs just randomly skip, this was the only one and she continued to dance all over her boyfriend to the song she wanted to hear which was mine (wannabe, spice girls) this incidence of lost jukebox money was my only real concern lanes functioned properly.

Eileen Weum

Great place to spend with the entire family bowling

LORENZO CARTER

Had a great time with family friends!!

pk boettcher

Bowling for Colon's.... great time

patricia achilli

Fun staff, reasonable prices, good food

Q9 PowerSports

Went to go watch live music on 12-13-18 And celebrate a friends birthday at the bar in bowlavard. The bartender charged me throughout the night different prices for the same exact drinks that me and my wife where drinking the entire night, He must’ve thought I was getting drunk because by the end of the night he was really ripping me off and that pisses me off and this bartender should be fired, I didn’t confront him because I didn’t want to make a seen and get into a fight. Worst bar ever! Staff is ripping people off, right in front of their faces.

SOPHIA CLARK

Had a great time and I can't even explain how great the girl was with the half shaved head was.

Prudhvisaivardhan Challa

I've only bowled here a couple of times, but I have had fun every time. Though I find it hard not to have fun while bowling (no matter how bad I am). The new fangled screens they have on the lanes are also super nice and definetly make the experience more enjoyable. Overall great place to bowl.

Jessica Werner

Great lanes

Dover Amos

Enjoyed a great band outside

Karen Woodson

Great place for bowling and bands.

John Robinson

Impressive facility. Very clean and high end. Lots of lanes. Big arcade. Nice bar area.

Cheryl Clements

Fun family place!

Lu Riese

Food is surprisingly good!

Rachel Westberg

I personally just visited the bar part of this bowling alley but was very pleased with everything. The bartenders were on top of everything and I was quickly served. Food is great too!

Josef Burger

Bowlavard used to be a pretty fun place to visit. They cut back on staff and their great food, such as their delicious Friday fish fry. Now you have to stand around a long time to be served. It still has good food, but it takes a while to get drink or food.

Âmanda Hornung

Fun place to bowl!