All Star Lanes

The last few times I’ve been here I have been disappointed with the service I received, particularly the last time. I was with a small group and they seemed very put out by everything we wanted to do (aka bowl and eat) — it was like they didn’t want out money! It isn’t a cheap thing to do either, very over priced in fact but the look of the place is worth it IF the service improves. The cocktails are also great, but if you ask for a virgin one for your pregnant friend and they serve you alcohol and then expect you to pay for it, then you may leave feeling it wasn’t quite worth it.

Decent service a friend and I only ordered appetisers but they came in generous sizes and the music selection was upbeat and not too loud.

great cocktails, the squid starter is superb. however, not a lot to choose from.

Great service, booked a table in advance and was seated immediately, ordered popcorn bacon and squid popcorn, both were delicious! I would come here again, bowling came to £8 ish per person and was very fun!

So I learned of this place via the Festival of Friendship but since I couldn’t make it into town, I thought I’d check out this place with my friend. We were really excited to go bowling and the £29 (Eat, Bowl, Drink) deal they have on at the moment sounded really good. Sadly, our Sunday-​funday was dampened with the inadequate food service they have here.
The bowling part of it was great! Being Sunday, we were lucky to walk in and get a lane immediately. Everyone was really friendly on that side. However, the restaurant was very slow to serve us. After we finished bowling, we had to queue up for another round because a lot of people were waiting. The queue was expected to be an hour so we got a table. I didn’t count how long we’ve been sitting, but we read the menu 3 times. Finally, the server came up to us and as we explained the £29 deal, he argued that they only have that deal from monday-​friday. We waited so long for food service, that our buzzer asked us to go back to the bowling area. It was probably less than an hr wait, but still. It was all too uncomfortable.
Finally, after our second bowling game, we were once sat down again, and they took 20 mins before a server came up to us. We nearly left, and in hindsight we should have just left. The food took another 20 mins to come out and the people who came in after us were served their food first.
In the end, our bill came up to over £100 between me and my friend because they put all the items in individually and (AGAIN) argued that the £29 deal is for a different location. Yet, they have the promotion leaflets and posters at the venue. They were happy to adjust the cost for us, but I left feeling disappointed. This wasn’t what I was expecting on a Sunday.

I’ve been to the Brick Lane All Star Lanes before, my friend did a private hire of 3 bowling lanes with the karaōke and bar room and it was quite nice.
Here however we were a part of the public. We did the Eat Drink Bowl for £29 offer, which is a great offer! You get 1 free game of bowling, 1 cocktail from a selected menu and dinner. What’s not to like?
The bowling alley is still quite new and so it was pleasant to bowl with. One exception is whilst we had 2 lanes, one lane had a bumper slightly sticking out meaning that when the ball hit the side instead of going into the gutter it bounced back and into the pins, so much cheating going on at the lane next to ours!
Another thing I didn’t like was that the scores at the end of the game were immediately wiped replaced by a big message saying that your game is over, speak to their staff. Really? You couldn’t give me 30 seconds to snap a photo of the ending score? That was maddening.
The nice thing though was I bought in food from outside knowing dinner is not for another hour, no staff complained we were eating external bought food nor did they complain about the rubbish and cleared it away nice and efficiently.
When it came to going to our table to eat, we were sorely disappointed. We booked a table for our entire party of 9 people but the waitress said there were still people there and they had not left. I suggested that she gave me the menus first and we got our cocktails first.
I felt so sorry for the barmaid. There was one barmaid and another barman but the barmaid was the only one qualified to do cocktails. 9 of us waited for our cocktails and she was also making cocktails for other diners and was clearly overworked and overwhelmed with orders. Nevertheless, she made some seriously good cocktails and I really wanted her own concoction (see photo of orange drink) as it looked amazing.
It took us a whole hour standing around the bar to get our table, which was pretty unacceptable for such a big group. We were literally eating at around 10pm at night once we got our order. I was surprised they didn’t just give us another table in the other area which was pretty empty, why did we have to sit next to the entrance?
The food was decent, I like the hot dog (not the bread), southern fried chicken was not to my taste, too spicy and sorry, didn’t like BBQ chicken wings either. The cheese croquettes were awful and no-​one of my table wanted it. Burgers were ok. I wouldn’t say food is the main draw here, I can go to TGI Fridays (literally next door) for better pretend US food, thanks! I did however like the sweet potato fries, hard to get that wrong really?
Service was a bit haphazard, they feel understaffed in general and really need some improvement.
Conclusion: Come here for a nice bowl and nice cocktail, try to avoid dinner.

I’ve been to All Star Lanes on a few occasions… twice to bowl, once for a milkshake… you know. Standard fare.
So one of my favorite things about All Star is that it’s an American themed chain, so they’ve got Twizzlers in stock! While this may not seem like an amazing thing to most Brits, and believe me, it isn’t, as most Brits who have tried my beloved favorite candy are not impressed, it is a HUGE deal for me. Bless them for this fact alone.
There are lots of lanes at this location. I’ve been to the location in Bloomsbury after having been to the Stratford location and found the tininess of it to be borderline hilarious. So if you need and like a bit more space, the Stratford location is the one for you.
Service was great! On my most recent visit (last night) we went for a cousin’s birthday and had a dedicated waiter fella the whole evening who gladly took our repeated drink orders, food all came out in a nice and orderly fashion, was prompt with the bill and taking our money… super lovely guy.
I will say the bathrooms were a disaster. Most without TP, pretty dirty in general without delving into specifics as nobody wants to read that. Although I suppose this is fairly standard for a mall-​located venue.
Otherwise, I will be back! And I have been back!

If you’ve been to All Star Lanes before you probably know what to expect. Pricier bowling that usual in a retro-​Americana setting. This venue is far bigger than any of the others I’ve been to (14 lanes) and has a more family friendly feel about it. Although this ‘seems’ more reasonably priced than their other venues.
I went not long after they opened. Service was good but the lanes kept malfunctioning, I hope it was teething problems.
My main problem was their score monitors, they are located just above the lanes but this is very far from the seating area and those screens are not big. My eyesight may not be ²⁰⁄₂₀ but almost everyone in our group struggled to read the score from the seating area for each lane. This kinda spoilt the competitiveness of it all (for me at least) as I couldn’t read the scores until it was my turn to bowl and I do get very competitive when I bowl (even though I’m crap).
They do take reservations but keep a few lanes free for walk-​ins. You’ve probably got a better chance of getting a lane here than at their other venues where I’ve been told the wait for lanes is upwards of 2 hours (Brick Lane, Holborn).