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Woodlawn Bowl
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Woodlawn Bowl

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Woodlawn Bowl
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#21 of 26 Fun & Games in Guelph
Bowling Alleys
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43 within 6 miles
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See what other travelers are saying
  • ljrexplore
    Walkerton, Canada8 contributions
    2 blackouts In a half hour , waste of money
    We have been here a few times before and liked how the lanes have radar to measure how fast the ball gows . Last night we wNt with another couple and the power went out on the lanes twice . By the time they turned the breaker back on and everything was running again , it happened again. So we just left . What a waste of $50x. Will not be returning . goes . does . goes goes
    Traveled as a couple
    Written October 3, 2015
  • Lebrocq17
    Chatham, Canada84 contributions
    It's Bowling - It's Not Cheap - Food should be improved
    Been here several times and never had any issues with staff like some other reviews. Would recommend finding the discounted bowling times to help lower the cost. This time we paid just over $80 for shoes, 8 people and two lanes for one hour on a Saturday evening about 5pm. Both lanes had issues with not refreshing pins and then one lane shut down completely. Fortunately the lane beside was empty so half our crew were moved to that lane - Unfortunately the staff added 10 minutes to one lane but not the other to make up for it so half those attending couldn't finish their game then waiting for the others. Also new scoring system does not give a blunt onscreen reminder of your time running down like the old system and also shuts you down pretty quick so we missed seeing our final scores. Food is mediocre - nothing wrong with it but we spent $40 for a platter with a variety of mostly deep fried items, a poutine and a pitcher, so basically just snack food and not nearly enough there for the price paid.
    Traveled with friends
    Written December 9, 2018
  • Ana's A
    Guelph, Canada38 contributions
    Birthday party
    Great place for the kids parties. They look after them well and the cost is reasonable. They also send out coupons each summer allowing you to take them twice for free.
    Traveled as a couple
    Written September 2, 2014
These reviews are the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor checks reviews for fraud.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
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Blingjunkie
Guelph, Canada48 contributions
Don't Waste Your Time or Money!!!
Feb 2015 • Family
I have lived in Guelph my whole life and have been bowling at Woodlawn Bowl for many years.... I have been on a league, I have done the cool midnight bowling....It used to be a really awesome place to hang out and have some fun...and recently they have renovated giving the bowling ally a much nicer look and feel...HOWEVER...during their renovations they failed to renovate two of some of the most important components to ANY business...#1 THEIR STAFF!! and #2 THEIR EQUIPMENT!!!
It's a nice shinny new "look" with the same crappy equipment and same grumpy staff!
We visited the bowling ally to check out its changes and have a game or two while we were there... The new lanes are nice, it was even nice to be able to sit close to the lanes with a pitcher of beer.
Immediately into our game the lane started acting up...the reset button wouldn't work, the score board didn't accurately calculate our scores, the girl behind the counter had to reset our pins manually from her computer almost every frame..(I lost count after 14 times!)
However, we pressed on and tried not to let it ruin our game, it's a good thing we weren't competitive and really concerned about the score!
Needless to say it was very frustrating.
When our game was over, we contemplated another game, after all we were only half way through our first pitcher of beer, and were about to order food.
When we went to the counter to ask to be moved to another lane, we were met with a snoody and down right rude "manager" who simply stated that there was no other lane available. (To be fair the place was busy and the only other lane I saw was ANOTHER broken lane!)
We understood this, so we asked to have a complimentary game on the same lane for our troubles and frustration. A total cost to the company of ONLY $16, however, with the food and likely anther pitcher of beer it would have been more than worth it to the business. $16 to keep the customer happy.
No not a chance...The RUDE manager told us it was "a computer problem, not the companies fault" I guess the owner is afraid to go broke over a $16 sale!
I failed to see how this was MY fault that they have have crappy computers!!!.
We finished our beer and left. I am in my 40's not some young punk kid who was trying to scam them out of a free game of bowling, and it wasn't that I couldn't afford the $16 to bowl again. It was the principle of it. The fact that it didn't happen once or twice...This was an issue the WHOLE time we were bowling!! over 14 times!
Woodlawn Bowl has VERY bad service and they think they can get away with treating their customers badly because they are the ONLY bowling ally in Guelph, HOWEVER...Cambridge is only 23.6KM from this location and WELL worth the drive!
Dickson Bowl at 61 Ainslie St S in Cambridge, ON (519) 621-6100 Has much better staff, better equipment and trust me you will have a much more accurately scored game without the GRUMPY and RUDE staff!
Written February 19, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
MadB0wler
Guelph, Canada4 contributions
HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT !!!!
Mar 2015 • Family
If you want to waste your time and money then you've come to the right place. Me and my family went to Woodlawn bowl for a nice saturday of bowling. After waiting patently for half an hour to get a lane, when we finally got one on frame 7 the pins stopped working. After it being fixed after asking numerous times for help, it decided to break once again. We were then switched to another lane where instead of the pins being stuck, the balls became jammed in the ball return. After an hour and a half we have now only bowled 7 frames when on a time line for a dinner date. When confronting the manager/ owner he accused us of "coming at him" rolled his eyes when asking for a voucher , and gave nothing but attitude. If this bowling alley can change anything its the owner. He has lack of loyalty, professionalism, and needs a job where he does't have to speak to people. When returning our shoes he then yelled at my family stating we've bowled to far and are receiving nothing to come back. When my boyfriend stated he was acting unprofessional he then began to come around the counter for a fight. i will never return to this bowling alley, or refer anyone i know to it. Waste of my time.
Written April 1, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Jean C
Guelph, Canada1 contribution
Worst Company Ever.
Jan 2016 • Family
I have a story to tell you all. So the manager of Woodlawn Bowl, is a complete crook. My family and I went to go bowling last weekend. Everything was fine until we had some difficulties to our lane, it was continuously blacking out. The people at the front desk tried to fix the problem. Clearly they didn't have anyone capable of fixing the lane in the back. So we asked to see the manager. I have never in my 23 years of life been treated so rudely. The manager told us that there was something wrong with the computers and that we would just have to deal with the blacking out. So we went back to bowling. Then get this.. Our lane was blacked out for over 20+ mins. We waited and waited. No one fixed the problem, after continuously asking the front desk to fix the problem. Spoke to the manager again, I have never been talked to so rudely in my entire life. He made it seem like it was our fault. We asked for a refund. He refused our "$30" back. We left. I will never waste my time at a place like this. ANYONE WHO WANTS GOOD BOWLING SERVICE GO TO Kitchener for a better bowling experience.
Written January 8, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Andy H
Cambridge, Canada224 contributions
First and last visit
Jan 2014 • Family
What an awful experience for a very expensive evening. We had problems with our lane which we were told would be fixed in 10 minutes, after 25 minutes and a very heated encounter with the manager he finally turned our lane on again so we could finish our game.

The food is expensive and greasy, poutine fries were swimming in gravy.

Would not recommend to anyone. Will never !!!!!!! go there again. It ruined what was supposed to be a fun night.

They are just interested in getting your money and have no customer service skills when a problem arises.
Written February 5, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
phil m
Mount Forest, Canada1 contribution
management
Mar 2015 • Family
After waiting 20 min. for a lane which wasn't all that bad, it took 5 of us a 75 min to bowl 8 frame after 9 breakdowns on one line which apparently was our fault .They moved us to another line where you guessed it , we put to much oil on the balls stopping them from returning 3 times . We decided to leave without finishing due to time issues. Telling management their equipment needed some work, while we returned our shoes. We were accused of charging at him in order to complain. The staff were great do deal with management however was not . Complete waste of 45 dollars
Written March 30, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Li Frost
1 contribution
Terrible Bowling Alley, and Terrible Owner.
Jan 2019 • Friends
I've been going to Woodlawn bowl for many years, and I have gotten to see first hand how terrible the bowling alley has gotten. The lanes are the exact same as the first time I went, and I doubt they are going to change any time soon. The machines are constantly breaking down, pins are constantly getting stuck in the racks, and they constantly drop pins. A lot of the ball returns don't work, and balls are constantly getting stuck in the back (a lot of peoples personal balls have been damaged that way). The lanes are so terrible its almost hilarious. Either the lane is so oily your ball goes straight, or so dry that a house ball hooks off the lane.

The owner obviously doesn't give a damn about the bowling alley. If he did then the lanes would have been updated to regulation standards 10 years ago. The last time he did anything to benefit the lanes was getting new pins, acting all high and mighty because he finally spent money on his bowling alley. This place isn't worth a cent. If you want to have a fun time bowling, go to Cambridge or Kitchener. Don't waste your time.
Written January 19, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
lisahennessey
Hamilton, Canada1 contribution
Worst customer service every
Feb 2018 • Family
Went there on Sunday for Family day and it was the worst experience every. Both the owner and manager could care less that we were not happy. One issue after the other and nothing to solve the issue. They did however continue to take money from new clients coming in. Thing went from bad to worse and we left with an hour left on our time and a big issue with our bar bill. The manager and owner followed us out to the parking lot. The manager was in our friends face begging him to take the first punch. He then threatened to call the police with our licence plate to report drinking and driving. I reminder him that we were drinking in his place of business!!! No one was drunk so why he was threatening this I'm not sure. The owner kept telling us over and over that there are posters everywhere stating that any issue you have we will not offer any refunds.
FYI- bathrooms were disgusting...clearly not cleaning in a while.
NEVER AGAIN!!!
Written February 21, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
tiffanywallace
Guelph, Canada1 contribution
WORST PLACE TO GO
Jun 2017 • Family
The prices are WAY over priced, the atmosphere is AWFUL. I would most defiantly not recommend going here for a place to have fun or book your child's birthday parties. The person in charge is very rude and literally walks around watching everyone which makes it feel very uncomfortable and not worth going. The food is very expensive, slow wait time and very unappealing.

Overall I obviously wasn't impressed with my service, I tried this place out around 3-4 times trying to give it another go and all times were just awful.
Written September 16, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
DWG99
Edmonton, Canada110 contributions
Fun place, bad food
Apr 2017 • Friends
Stopped by Woodlawn bowl with family to do some bowling no. The bowling was fun and reasonably priced at $50 for two hours. They are strict on the time so we weren't able to finish our final game but that's understandable. Ordered some food and everything tasted like it was in the freezer for the last 12 months, go for the bowls my not for the food and you'll have fun.
Written April 17, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
rnr636
Elora, Canada1,224 contributions
Hope the bowling is better
Aug 2015 • Friends
Can't comment on the bowling, we just stopped in here for a drink and game of pool. The bartender was kind of like Coach from Cheers...friendly and genuine. Limited selection of whiskeys though. We had already eaten so cannot comment on the food. Looked to be basic burger fare. They had some nice leather-ish seating which looked a bit off in the non-updated room.
The pool table is in sad condition...but we thought we'd give it a go anyway. Put our money in and the balls all dropped ok. Went to select a cue and there are only 4 to chose from. None of which had a tip !! It was just too crazy for words. We decided to have a laugh and play anyway. Needless to say I've had better games but it was entertaining to say the least. Bottom line, don't go here if you want a decent game of pool !! lol
Written April 25, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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