Colonial Bowling & Entertainment

2420 Brunswick Ave, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648, USA

Address:	2420 Brunswick Ave, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648, USA
Phone:	+1 609-882-7700
Site:	colonialbowlingnj.com
Rating:	3.9
Working:	11AM–12:30AM 11AM–12:30AM 11AM–12:30AM 11AM–12:30AM 11AM–12:30AM 10AM–12:30AM 9AM–11PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 6

Suzanne Maloney

I had my daughters 13th birthday party here and did the teen party. A week before the party I called to confirm guest count. I asked about having food at the lanes and was told that was ok but I should order now so food would be ready at party time (Saturday night being busy). No problem, I ordered 3 sampler platters at $16.99 each and was told they would feed between 8-12 people (looked more like 6-8 to me). A few days later I called back to increase my count as more kids had RSVPd (total of 22 kids). I asked to add tortilla chips and salsa + cheese that I had seen on-line for $3.99 + $2 extra for cheese. She said all would be added. Day of event came and most went smoothly except after 15 minutes at lanes I asked about food and our party person said she was working on it. Another 15 minutes went by still no food I asked her again and she said they were still working on it. At this point I was frustrated as the point of the food at the lanes was to enjoy while bowling and now bowling was half over. I spoke to a person I think was an asst. manager and about 10 minutes later the food arrived. A manager came out and apologized, gave us a free pitcher of fruit punch and checked on us several more times to make sure we were ok. All went pretty smoothly from there until I received the bill. Unfortunately, being rushed to pay as the parents were arriving to pick-up kids I did not look at bill. The next day I noticed I had been charged $45 for EACH tortilla chip basket and salsa! I though for sure this was a clerical error. I called and I was told no indeed this was correct. That it was the banquet rate. Now I will take partial responsibility as I did not confirm that the online pricing I had seen matched when I spoke to the person on the phone but with sampler platters at $16.99 who would even begin to think a bag of tortilla chips and a jar of salsa would cost $45!!! Luckily when I arrived I reduced my original 3 to 2 but I was still charged for 3 so they did refund me for 1. So when booking a party with Colonial Lanes I would advise to be cautious on ordering extra food as it is slow and expensive!

Jessica Agosto

The amenities are great and is renovated very nicely with large screens, upbeat music, etc. The 3-star rating is based on a poor experience planning my sons 3rd birthday party. Aside from not being advised of any requirement to book private parties with a week advance we were charged a "late fee". However the most disappointing was the poor service of our "designated" party host Tatiana. She had zero energy or initiative, had to run my guests shoes to the counter for size changes myself, had to ask for the restrooms in our private room to be unlocked, guests were arriving without being directing to the appropriate area, had to run to the counter to request retrieval of stray balls (only one was retrieved of the 3), no announcement or verbal instructions were given to the party that well be transitioning from bowling to the party room for food and cake leaving the instructing to me,...the list truly goes on, finishing by distributing arcade cards which were not activated and guests approaching me to ask whether the cards should have credits as they were not working. I spent the party running around troubleshooting instead of enjoying my sons day. Very disappointed in the service for my sons birthday party and would not recommend hosting a party here.

Benjamin Rose

I live in town and tried to take my wife and sister-in-law out for a nice night of food and fun. We started out walking to Limoncellos across route 1 and had a nice meal. We took our leftovers and walked to colonial lanes. The security guards at the front door (kind of scary that security guards are necessary, no?) refused to let us in with food. We explained that we already ate, and would be happy to leave our leftovers at the front desk. They kept just repeating, "no food". One suggested we leave it in our car, which we couldnt because we walked. I asked to see a manager and again heard from them, "no food". I told them well done on losing business, and while the 3 of us walked back I called the manager directly. He took my call like a joke at first, could barely hear me, before moving into his quieter office. He took down my name, number, and story, and promised to make this right and get back to me. He never did. So why on earth would I ever want to come here again? I was on Princeton and IAS bowling leagues with my friends and co-workers, I will be telling them all how awful colonial lanes has become. There is another bowling alley in Hamilton near estates boulevard and Kuser road that wont put you through this kind of experience.

A Private User

I love this place. Tons of lanes. Never mobbed (at least when I go). Friendly staff. Great rates at certain times ($1 per game on weekend mornings) while other alleys are robbing people for ~$5. Theres a nice bar in there with pool tables and TVs. The place has an old-school feel but is still clean and the equipment is mostly in good condition. Unlike some "modern" places, Colonial doesnt have unnecessary stuff like screens overhead showing annoying cartoons that taunt you when you miss spares... which I think is a good thing. Edit: BEWARE of sudden price changes. Ive been going to Colonial often with a friend on Sat/Sun afternoons for over a year. We initially paid 2 bucks per game, then they lowered it to $1 for a while. But this month out of nowhere they changed the prices to $4.50 in that time period... so one day Im checking out, expecting to pay $6 and the guy rings up $28.50... OUCH! They still have $1 games 10-1 on weekend mornings, but I no longer consider this a too-good-to-be-true kind of place.

Virginia Julien-Kornegay

ABSOLUTELY THE WORST PLACE EVER!! Customer service SUCKS, prices SUCKS. EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS PLACE SUCKS. If your looking for a good night out with friends or family, this is definitely not the place. And certainly not the place to hold any kind of birthday or other kind of party. It is not very well managed at all. Supervisors arent available when needed and half the machines dont work. Had a very awful experience with Ann Marie who double booked a very expensive VIP party and then had to deal with some guy named Wayne (the so call) Director of marketing who wanted to completely overlook the fact that Colonial was wrong and pretty much wanted to ignore all the wrong doing and didnt help in any kind of way. In fact they are this very moment trying to charge me $400 over my original amount AND I HAVENT EVEN HAD MY PARTY YET. HOW DO YOU UP THE PRICE ON SOMETHING THATS WASNT EVEN AT FAULT OF MY OWN BEFORE THE ACTUAL EVENT. I am completely speechless at the whole matter.

Amanda Hampton

My major complaint was they did not honor 50.00 game card listed on thier website that said it came with "any package".... the small print or exclusions listed said it could not be on a mini bowling party. I did the biggest one. It was the main reason why I booked. Also they forgot to charge me for adult food. Which they told me the bill was paid in full after waiting at the desk, but an hour after leaving they continued to call me 4 times and text. Which i didnt answer at first because I was driving. It was then in front of my family which was kind of strange and made me feel as if they put the blame on me they wanted my credit card over the phone right then. I went up to pay and she said it was all taken care. I assumed it was put on my card on file from her tone . The party hosts were amazing. They did throw away a huge bouquet of balloons but oh well things happen Im a manager I understand but multiple incidents kind of ruined it for me or basically anyone.