Union Square Ice Rink

Today, January 18, is the last day to skate at Union Square’s Holiday Ice Rink. This is a great venue to have a skating rink. You can drop off your kids for an hour and half while you shop in Union Square. On the week night that I went, it wasn’t crowded.
Admissions for adults are $ 11 and children eight years and under are $ 7. Skate rentals are $ 6. Your admissions allows you to skate for a hour and half. Skate time starts on even hours. Union Square Ice rink is sponsored by Bank of The West. Every Wednesday is free skate rentals for all. There is a bonus for Bank of the West Customers. If they show their mobile app, debit or credit card, they also get free admissions up to four people.
A hour and a half is a long time to be skating. I felt that it was more than enough time to skate around. Thank goodness they have benches as my feet were aching.

Drove from Sacramento on a Saturday night to check this place out. Arrived around 2 pm and the earliest session that was available was the 6pm-​730pm session, as all the earlier sessions were sold out… BUMMER! We decided to purchase tickets and wait until 6pm. They have mini lockers available to be able to place your valuables/​personal items in. There were tons of people and the scenery was so beautiful with the huge Christmas Tree in the back! Ice rink wasn’t too crowded but there were tons of little kids.
Ice skating is not my thing, but it was a great experience with friends.

Why don’t they post online or tell people in line their sold out for the night?
A couple days ago on the 29^th — it was my birthday and I planned to go to dinner and then go ice skating after since their hours are till 11pm. I’m from the bay and have never ice skated in union square so I had 5 of my friends and I all come to the city (and one took Bart from Rio Vista) to ice skate for my birthday. We’re standing in line with a bunch of people and we see on the board all skating times are sold out but people are still standing in line & there’s someone still in the ticket booth. When it’s finally our turn they tell us it’s sold out. I said please I came all this way today’s my birthday and they said maybe I could talk to the manager.
WTF. Why would you let people stand in line and have someone in the ticket booth if it’s sold out completely? Talk about horrible service and just plain stupid. Shut it down so people don’t wait and don’t have someone there so people think they can. There were two girls next to the ticket booth that looked like they were taking tickets and one of them said super rudely I could wait for the manager while they let like 7 people into the rink… the manager comes out and gives a couple two tickets. I talked to her politely and even showed her my ID to say it was my birthday and If there was anything she could do since we came all this way for my birthday.
Nope. She offered to possibly get us in for 1030-​11. I said you want me to pay the full admission price of $ 17.00 a person for half an hour (not even the full hour why would I pay that for not even the full hour), for 2 ½ hours from now?
No way.
She did not care & said its possible the to embarcadero center had more room. The whole exchange was not very customer service friendly at all. I will never be going back.
We had to pay for parking and then leave to go to the embarcadero — parked in another garage walked up and the embarcadero ice skating rink was closed. Thanks union square ice rink manger — THANKS. We had to leave and pay for parking again.
So on my birthday I couldn’t even ice skate. Stupid.

Got in before out scheduled time. The rental ice skates were soaked on the inside and the blades on them were super dull. The rink itself is very small with the large portion of my group hanging dear life to the walls. I even had one person ask me to help her to get to the railing. The rink itself needed to be resurfaced really badly as the ice shave built up quite a bit. I’ve been grabbed onto from behind quite a bit by falling new ice skaters that were away from the railing. The staff on the rink were quick to react to fallen skaters. Overall its okay for a one time experience.

My kids were really looking forward to skating in Union Square but unfortunately, they didn’t enjoy it. The rentals were whole sizes only and rock hard. We tried several pairs but they were either too tight or too big. I heard a lot of skaters say their feet hurt. (I didn’t skate, just my kids). Had they brought their own skates, the experience would have been better. 2 stars because employees were very nice and Union Square is beautiful at night.
The rink was small and packed with lots of beginners gripping the sides, slipping/​falling and occasionally crashing into the plexiglass siding. People would laugh unless it was a really hard fall. I saw 2 kids bump heads and start crying, desperately trying to exit the ice, with their non-​skating parents reaching out from the edge. The cut-​up ice and crowded rink are not the best conditions for beginners. Bigger rinks have beginners too but the difference is there is more room to avoid them. My kids are good skaters but called it quits after 15 minutes. They are used to better ice and a bigger rink, so this was a bust.
Also, all sessions were sold out when we arrived at 5:30pm, except for the 10pm slot so plan ahead.

I’m from Hawaii and haven’t gone ice skating in almost twenty years! My friend was nice enough to let me drag her to Union Square to go ice skating and I was so excited!
$ 17 for adults which includes your skate rental might seem a bit pricey but I think it’s a nice treat for the holidays. Our skates smelled a bit funky so beware. The rink itself is small but makes for a great date night or people watching. They have attendants that’ll help give you tips and make sure you’re doing okay. Whether you hold onto the walls the entire time or skate like a pro this will make you feel like a kid again and get you into the holiday spirit! The rink is very small and it does get quite crowded. We skated for about 15 minutes and that was enough for the two of us. I loved it and I’m so happy we took the time to make a special memory together.
Pro Tip: Be sure to order your tickets online ahead of time so you’re not disappointed if they’ve sold out!

Arrived here at 10pm on a Friday night and after waiting in line for about 15 minutes, one of the workers approached my boyfriend and I in line and said «You know that we’re sold out for the night right?» She could’ve been nicer and said something more informative along the lines. ⁰⁄₅ for service.
I’ve been driving pass this place for years and always wanted to skate here but never have the time to, and now I’ll probably never get the chance to. It was also the last session for the night.

The Ice Skating is up and in full swing even though the Tree is not lit yet.
Price:
General Admission $ 11
Children (Eight and Under) $ 7
Skate Rental $ 6
Hours:
10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. daily.
90 minute skating sessions start on every
even hour.
Sessions:
10:00 — 11:30 am
12:00 — 01:30 pm
02:00 — 03:30 pm
04:00 — 05:30 pm
06:00 — 07:30 pm
08:00 — 09:30 pm
10:00 — 11:30 pm

This was a pretty interesting experience for me as an east coaster… ice skating around people with short sleeves on, sans gloves and scarves… no hot cocoa and runny noses… it just didn’t feel authentic, and the rink was so tiny! I think we lapped the rink about 30 – 40 times, which got boring because the space was so small. They also didn’t smooth the ice over in-​between skating times (which is something they usually do at ice rinks?), and more than half the time, I was just nervous that a child would knock me over because it was so crowded.
Maybe I’m just sounding like an old grinch here, but it would have been more of a pleasant experience if the staff could referee the small space to avoid all the people knocking into each other.
I don’t know if I would do this again, but it’s definitely something to try around the holidays in SF!

This is one of three — count ‘em, THREE — ice rinks within a mile of each ot