AMF Star Lanes – Asheville

Went to Star Lanes tonight and had a great time. Usually most bowling alleys I have been in with only a few exceptions, are dark, dingy, and reek of smoke and alcohol. I can say that Star Lanes is not that type of a place. It was clean and very presentable. I was with a group of 4 and we bowled 3 games each and never had an issue with the pin hopper or the ball return, which can be an issue at some places. Even thought we were there for an open bowl, the lanes had nice oil and fun to play on. I did notice an arcade down the hall but never made it down there. On the end of the alley where we located at there was an air hockey table (YAY!!) and a pool table as well as a lounge. The kitchen looked as thought it had a pretty wide variety of food. The Nathan’s hotdogs were quite good, but then again they are Nathan’s so of course they are. The staff was friendly and smiling. The score screens above the lanes were pretty cool as you were able to select a theme for the game. (This isn’t a huge selling point, but was kinda cool, never saw that before). It also kept track of the ball speed on the screen which was super cool… haven’t seen that before either. I am curious as to the «neon bowling» or what ever it is called there. In some places, it can get pretty rockin’.

Boy oh boy.
Who knew that having 28 people attempting to bowl on 5 lanes, all situated next to each other, with various arrival times, needs, requests, and coupons on the night of Thanksgiving had the potential to be a highly challenging situation for the management of a professional bowling alley?
Not this guy, but now I know better.
My family has a tradition of bowling after our Thanksgiving dinner, and this year we openly invited as many friends that wished to join us. Our humble family bowling party exploded into a 28 person bowling extravaganza. The bulk of our group showed up to an unexpectedly full bowling alley considering that most people should be in turkey induced stupor.
Ronda, the manager behind the counter quickly assessed our needs, figured out how to position 5 lanes next to each other, and accept various forms of payments, and coupons from our group. To go into extent about how intense this situation was last evening would take up a great deal of this review, but trust me when I say, my knuckles were white with tension.
AMF Star Lanes is lucky to have a manager with as much grace under fire as Ronda. There was never a point where she showed any frustration, she replied with only kindness. It was an impressive feat.
Star Lanes itself is clean and well kept. They’ve got the fancy animated score screens with multiple themes to choose from. My lane selected Christmas because we’re all about getting into the spirit of things.
During x-​treme bowling like last night they have two projectors set up above the lanes playing current Top 40 music videos, multi colored lights, and a ton of spinning lasers giving the place an extremely fun and party oriented atmosphere.
FInally, I was ultra impressed by how clean and well maintained the bowling alley was. Clean carpets, clean benches, well organized bowling balls, and nothing in noticeable need of replacement.
The ONLY complaint I have about this place is the lack of a Big Buck Hunter style of video game. They totally had one before but have replaced it with various crane games. I, personally, enjoy hunting digital animals after a good round of bowling, and attempting to pick up a teddy bear or a UPS Racing snapback hat is not going to lure 50 cents out of my pocket the same way that holding a bright orange plastic shotgun would.

This is the best alley in Asheville. Tons of leagues during the week here. The extreme bowling on Friday and Saturday nights is pretty fun. Loud music, video screens, black lights and fog! This is a great place for a party. They have a full bar with an arcade and several pool tables. Lots of fun here! :)

Reserved 2 lanes for Saturday night and still had to wait an hour and a half once we arrived. Go to the Patton ave bowling alley instead.

Brought a group of 15 or so on Saturday night, and this place was great. If there was a problem, it was fixed. Had no problem reserving four lanes on a Saturday night, there was a full bar and at 11p, the place went towards rockin’ bowl with videos, etc. Will definitely go again.

There is not a wide selection of Bowling Alleys to choose from here in Asheville. That being said, I have gone to Amf Star Lanes on more than one occasion.
First off — the service is not so good! I called a couple days in advance to find out about hours… only to show up and have the entire bowling alley rented out by a youth group. It is not fun to show up with a group of friends and get rejected at the door.
Other times, ‘cosmic’ bowling has started and stopped at abrupt intervals. The bowling alley has shut down at hours that seem to have no correlation with the operating hours posted on the outside door. Saturday nights are supposed to remain open until 2:00am. However, at 11:00 the P.A. system started announcing that all the lanes would be closed at 11:30! Ridiculous.
Also, this is a smoking establishment. The inside can get quite hazy on weekend nights. On top of this, you run into the usual bowling alley mechanical problems that seem not to record strikes and not recycle pins, etc. Perhaps many of these complaints could be overlooked if you get in the right «mind set,» but the beer selection is quite lacking!