South Bowl

I went on a weekend evening and it was a lot of fun, but a little too expensive. They had good beer and food options but it was all super expensive in my opinion. The music they play are really great songs and the fun vibes really seal in their fun environment. But 40 bucks for two games for four people was a little much. I might go back, but only after 10 when they have their deals.

Went here with a big party for my friend’s 21^st bday for the 4 – 6 happy hour. We had a girl server most of the time with the ginger hair and she had on shorts and knee high socks, she was super sweet we all loved her! Everything went smoothly except our lanes had errors a few times. The drinks were reasonably priced as well as the food. Their tater tots, wings, pizza and funnel fries were delicious. Also, it’s a bummer that they were cash only for the bowling even though they accept credit cards for everything else. We had a great time and would definitely come back again!

This was my second time coming here. The first time was a double date and we had a great time bowling and the pizza we ordered was great. I believe I had a Groupon deal. The second time I went with my girlfriends for a gathering. We didn’t bowl but we enjoyed ourselves at the bar on a Friday night. The food and drinks were great. I believe we had wings and a salad. It was not crazy crowded and the food was great. I love the convenience of parking. The bartender was attentive. I recommend this place.

Things I loved: the great beer list, the tater tots, the music, the arcade games, the bar upstairs next to the lanes so that you didn’t have to trek back downstairs, the high tech lanes, and the overall space. Whether this is a brand new building or a renovation of an old factory, they did a great job.
What I didn’t love: the slow service at the downstairs bar and the cash only policy for bowling. Why do they take credit for food, but not the bowling? It was also odd because they wanted to hold my credit card to reserve the lane, but then they said they couldn’t use it to actually pay for the lane. And while we’re on the subject of bowling, Saturday night pricing for ONE game of bowling is $ 32! ONE GAME! Ouch. My goodness. For our group of three it was more expensive than we were anticipating. I suppose a larger group would fare better, but I’m not sure what the maximum is per lane (probably four to five people if I had to guess).
I still liked it here, but my recommendation is to come during the week from either 4 – 6 or 10 – 12 for their happy hour (they have food specials and $ 2 games). It’s too pricey during the weekend.

I had a great time here! The drinks were awesome, superb customer service, fun atmosphere!

South bowl has a lot to offer. The establishment is quite chique and chill. There are 2 floors for bowling. However, there are arcade games, an upstairs deck, a full bar, and a small area to just dine.
They also have a pretty good and cheap menu. Their selection of beers and drinks are also pretty easy on the pocket. However, you really can’t taste any alcohol if one was to order a mix drink. So, don’t waste your money on those.
Give them a chance, I’m sure you’ll enjoy South bowl.

Went on a weekday night for some dinner and bowling. Got a seat at the bar and our bartender was very friendly and attentive. I ordered the chicken Caesar salad while my BF ordered the buffalo dough appetizers (the actual name escapes me) and the chicken cutlet sandwich. His sandwich was very good! My salad was super salty unfortunately. The buff appetizer was different, but good. There was about a 30min wait for bowling right after but we had fun while we waited playing The Buck Hunter game.

The quesadillas are gross. They are made with caramelized unions and no meat. If the quesadilla was listed under vegetarian I would understand but my group was alittle confused. They were terrible.

Food: 4.5
Décor: 4.5
Ambiance: 4
Service: 3
Value: 4
Not as cozy as North Bowl, but it’s conducive to better bowling. Surprisingly good Pizza at this place.

Came here with two friends on a Thursday night. We originally wanted to go to North Bowl but the wait was 2.5 hours there, but they were nice enough to call South Bowl for us to put us down for a time later that night since South Bowl had a shorter wait time.
Stopped by the bar for some drinks — I got the Backyard Tea (sailor jerry spiced rum, lemonade and iced tea served in a mason jar). Would have been better if it had a bit more lemonade in it. We also ordered the original and garlic and herb tater tots which we finished dangerously fast.
We had to wait about thirty minutes before we got a lane. Once we were settled in our lane we had a great time. When it’s busy they only let you play two games if you’re with a group of three or more. Our waitress that came by to check on us was very nice but it took her a while to get us our waters. Other than that we had a great time!

This was a highly recommended experience after a friend had been here just a week before.
This place is located in south philly and is very spacious inside. Very inviting and the aromas of food that hit you when you walk through the doors, is enough to kick up an appetite.
They have an affordable cocktail menu and are not bad on their food pricing either. With an open wood burning stove, pizza is a must try here.
The bowling experience is fun as well. We ended having to wait for a lane to open up, but there’s ample space available on any given day at the bar. You can simply order drink and appetizers while you wait for an lane to open up. You’re given on of those buzzer that many restaurants give you, to alert you when a lane is available to you.
They also have special discount bowling prices $ 2 per game, per person between 4pm-​6m and 10pm-​12am Monday-Thursday’s.
The staff all great from my experiences and very accommodating. Servers are great too, despite how busy it can get at this place.
Definitely would recommend this place to all my peeps and Unilocalers!

I would rate this place a 3 for most of the service downstairs and at the front. The experience was great in terms of bowling. Relatively speaking the food was fine. I would give a 5 to the service upstairs at the bar for the night I was there, very friendly bartender. Overall it was enjoyable.

Probably THE worst bowling experience I’ve ever had and NO it had nothing to do with my God-​awful score.
I literally just left the place and I cannot help but to post this review immediately so I can feel a little bit better about myself. Since I was with my family, I kept my composure and I am extremely proud of myself.
We walk in I was very surprised of the ascetics of the place. Great looking establishment. There you are… that is your one and only star.
We get to our booth/​lane and get settled. Our server takes our beverage order and 10 minutes later our drinks come. It was busy, but 10 minutes was a long time.
Next was the food… the Mac and Cheese tasted sour. The best part of it was the Goldfish crumbled on top. And the «wings» were actual drumsticks. They looked great, but the attempt failed and it reminded me of rotisserie chicken dipped in hot sauce, but the chicken was a little undercooked.
So, as bad as the food was, that wasn’t the worst part of the experience. The actual bowling lanes were malfunctioning for the first 30 minutes and I had to keep asking my kids to wait… that was fun…
Don’t get me wrong, the dude that help fix the technical problems was fantastic. The manager, didn’t seem to care or notice until I walked over to him. Then he had someone ask me if I wanted to move or wait. We were with another family at the next lane, so waiting was the only option.
«Would you like a drink on us? Or would you like something to eat while you wait,» was not mentioned once. I am not looking for a handout, but I did have to keep my kids entertained for a good 10 minutes due to the faulty equipment. Needless to say, before it was fixed, the pins would get wiped out and the game (the technical stuff at the end of the lane) would freeze after every ball thrown down the lane.
Again, this was not enjoyable and I wasted time and money. To top it off we paid for two games and when I went up to say we weren’t playing the second game and the reason why, they still made me pay for the first game. Now, I didn’t ask for anything, but I also didn’t think I had to. I didn’t get what I paid for, which was a «simple» game of bowling with my family, but according to the girl at the counter, an «unenjoyable» game of bowling with several delays/​issues, should cost the same amount.
Never again!
This is the reason I prefer to go to Jersey and pay the $ 5 toll for family outings. Customer service and price point are so much better.

Went with my partner and another couple to bowl and have some drinks last night, and the entire experience was great! Service was wonderful (quick, nice!) at the counter, bar, and on the lanes. Prices are totally reasonable for bowling (it was about $ 15/​person for 2 games + shoes), and it’s nice that they charge by the game and not the hour (although that also explains why they don’t reserve lanes). We had NO problems getting a lane at 7 pm on a Friday night, and it looked as if there wasn’t ever much of a wait — it was busy, but not overly so.
Cocktails were weak but cheap ($ 6 for a martini!!!). Wine list was short, but $ 26 for a bottle? YES PLEASE.
And the FOOD! We have already talked about coming back just to eat. $ 5.50 for tots with cheese, bacon, scallions, sour cream — DELICIOUS. And the $ 7 pierogie skillet was a little weird but also yummy! Inexpensive and good! Saw the burger on our neighboring lane and will have to try that next time.
After bowling we played a few games of pool and considered Buck Hunter — a few good arcade games, no waiting!
An Über ride from CC is only $ 10 – 15, there is plenty of street parking, and the crowd was great — not hipsters (North Bowl), not young professionals/​suburbanites (Lucky Strike), but a good mix. We will be back soon!

I took my dad, a curmudgeonly old 70something, here to relive his bowling glory days. It wasn’t really a good idea.
We came in about 730 on a Sunday night. An off night, sure, but it’s still dinner time! We looked around and couldn’t find any diners or servers, so we headed to the bar.
The service was moderately slow. I noticed the bartender doing side work instead of handling our drinks or orders. And the bartender even remarked that the food came out slowly.
I ordered the Korean chicken tacos. I liked the spiciness, but the texture and temperature of the fried chicken was not right. It was kind of cold and soft. I expect fried chicken to be hot and crispy. My dad ordered a chicken cutlet, but he found it spicy. That’s probably more a comment about my dad’s ability to handle a longhot.
One thing was confusing on the menu — the tacos were listed with the sandwiches and at the top of that section it says «all sandwiches come with tots, specialty tots 1 $ extra» so when the bill came with a 5.50 charge for my specialty tots I was not thrilled to learn that tacos don’t come with tots.
This place seemed like a fine place to come as a hipster looking for drinks and games, but not a great sports bar or activity with my 70 year old dad.

Awesome alternative to Lucky Strike and North Bowl, although, yes, it is a hike out of the way but that’s why there is Über and Lyft! The prices are great, the facilities are new and modern. They have tons of drinks, as well as food specials. The food is on the fancier side for a bowling alley, I think we ordered almost everything on the menu, and everyone really liked the quesadillas, vegetarian drum sticks, tater tots and peirogies, as well as the pizzas. There is also a special for $ 2 games during the week. 0o and of course the cheesecake bites were great.
Great spot for a laid back night out with friends!

Much better than Northbowl. Far more spacious, better parking, more organized, and less wait times (for now). Overall, this is a really great weekend spot for a group of people.
Games are fairly pricy, but that’s the norm. However, LivingSocial offers really great deals here and you might be able to snag some if they offer them again.
I don’t mind the games being expensive because the food and drinks are super inexpensive (and delicious to boot). The mixed drinks like the malbec margarita come in giant pint glasses and are nice and strong, so it’s totally worth it. Beer is cheap. All variations of tater tots are awesome– you can’t go wrong. Pizza is decent. I haven’t tried anything else on the menu, but I have high hopes for it all. I would honestly come here just for the bar and the food and not even bowl.
As for bowling, they once told our group of 8 it was a 2 hour wait time and it ended up only being 45 minutes. We might’ve lucked out, but honestly just plan to wait here and spend your time eating and drinking in the bar or playing the arcade games and it will go by fast– might as well make a night of it!
The bowling maxes out at two games I think but when you have a lot of people you’re pretty much done with it by two games.
Lanes and seats are modern and clean, the DJ is always playing something non-​top 40 which is nice, and the screens have all sorts of fun features you can play around with.
Definitely my new weekend spot!

Great new bowling alley in South Philly! I’m so glad that I don’t have to bother with the hipsters at North Bowl, the parking situation at Lucky Strike, nor do I need to cross the bridge into Jersey to go to Playdrome. South Bowl is my new jam for bowling.
Came here with colleagues on a random Wednesday night. It wasn’t overly crowded, so we didn’t have to deal with the two-​game maximum… We played 5.
The food was surprisingly good for a bowling alley. The tater tots and arugula pizza were def my fave. Our server was bubbly and she refilled our glasses pretty often. The place is clean and your feet don’t stank since the shoes are still kind of new.
Coming back in a few weeks for a corporate event and looking forward to it!

I went here for the soft opening on Thursday night. I’m on the league at North bowl, so we got invited early. I got there around 8 p.m., parking was very difficult and the place was packed. got inside and met with some friends who had already gotten a lane for us. The lanes work well, the service was excellent and the management was very nice. I was only there to play a couple of games, so I didn’t try any of the food. I’ll be sure to give an update once I get the full experience.

I was excited to hear about South Bowl opening because I’ve observed North Bowl becoming a little too people-​with-​knit-​caps-​in-​the-​summer-​wearing-​dirty-​shirts-​and-​drinking-​PBR for my liking.
Went here on its first Saturday night since its opening and I really enjoyed myself. Parking wasn’t too bad. It was about a 90 minute wait for a lane, but understandable due to its first weekend. My brother and I sat in their café area and had dinner. We got the Seargent Pepper (pepperoni pizza) which they make right in front of you. We also got the tater tots and I got mac and cheese. The pizza was great, the tater tots, were phenomenal just as they are at North Bowl. The mac and cheese was below average. All that and a couple of drinks was $ 40.
Shortly after we finished our meal, we check out the upstairs area. It’s really cool, they have NBA Jam and a bunch of other arcade-​style games as well as a few more lanes and a bar. Looks like it could be for private parties.
Our lane was then ready and we got two games (which is their maximum), and it was $ 32 for two people for two games. Very modern and functioning lanes, plenty of balls, cool social media hookups for the scoreboard. There’s a giant TV by the pins where the Flyers game was playing. Good music while you bowl. Quick return from the ball return, quick reset on the pins. I was really happy with the bowling experience. Of course, I suck at bowling, but that’s not the point.
All in all, I had a very good experience. And I’ll surely be back. I hope that area begins to expand and shoot up some more, it’s a nice location, but it seems Tony Luke’s and not South Bowl are all that really goes on out there at night. Pretty dark and ominous otherwise.