AMF Durham Lanes

Worker/​manager was be biggest asshole I’ve ever dealt with at a public establishment. Condescending, sarcastic and rude. Literally terrible.
Pretty upsetting that I had to give this business a single star considering they didn’t earn it.

Terrible customer service. Walked in with two friends and saw a sign (and by sign I mean 8×11 sheet of paper) on the front door saying something about not having lanes available. It looked pretty busy, but we figured we would just go in and ask anyways since maybe the sign was from earlier and things were wrapping up or it was from an entirely different day. The conversation went something like this:
Me: Hi, just wanted to pop in and see if you had any lanes available
Manager/​Worker (read in condescending tone): Can’t you read the sign on the front door? Apparently not. I don’t know how you missed it. We don’t have any lanes open until 9:30 *continues to say things about us not noticing the crappy sign on the front door*
Me: Well you guys look busy but we figured we’d ask anyways
Manager/​Worker: The sign on the front door said we weren’t available. Don’t know how you missed it… so we’ll see you at 9:30. Okay?
Not verbatim, but you get the idea. 1 star because I had to. There is absolutely no reason to be rude and condescending to a customer who politely asks you a question about availability. No, ass hat, you will not be seeing us at 9:30.

I come here with my friends on Sundays when it’s service industry night. There’s also all you can bowl for $ 12 on Wednesday. Nice staff but the facility is a little rundown. The drink prices are a bit pricey. Sometimes they have Groupon promotions for bowling. This is exactly A-​OK in my opinion. Not bad yet not great.

Nice staff, but the facilities could use some help. They’re kinda dumpy. Sometimes the lanes stop working for no apparent reason. The men’s room is truly rank. The bar tender is personable, but the drinks are a bit steep.

Fantastic lanes. All you can bowl Wednesday’s for $ 12! Refurbished lanes. Good service. Beer specials.

Joel the assistant manager is awesome!!! We did this for a team building exercise! They have beer and food. Customer service is awesome and the lanes are very clean. It was during the day so it was mostly empty but still nice since it was just my coworkers kinda made it feel like we owned the place.

Worst customer service experience ever.
The assistant manager who was in charge put us at the very bottom of the waiting list because he stereotyped us as cheap college students who were there for the Thursday college night special of $ 5 unlimited bowling.
We waited about an hour for 2 lanes.
What was infuriating was that he only gave us 2 lanes when we had a group of 14.
Funny, for a Caucasian group right before us, they were given 2 lanes for 4 people.
For us, (an Asian group of 14), he said that he had no room to give us more than 2 lanes.
There were about 5 free lanes next to the two that we were given but he said they were reserved for other waitlisted people.
If that were really the case, then why did those lanes remain free and available the entire rest of the night?
Also, he was rude and disrespectful as he was giving us his excuses. We asked to split our group up and he gave us an attitude back. He kept talking at us with his head down, staring at his notebook.
In the 2 hours we played, we weren’t even able to get in 2 games because of the limited number of lanes the assistant manager chose to give us. I don’t understand when he intentionally tried to make it difficult for us.
If you can’t handle the specials, you shouldn’t be working on the days they’re offering them in the first place.
Tip to amf, learn to be fair with all your customers.

The bowling here is a lot of fun. My group has bowled here several times; however, the draught beer tastes… off. We like to buy the large pitchers of Miller Lite for the group and the last 2 times it has tasted terrible. I let the bartender know and all he said was, «well, the keg is new, so…» It was pretty expensive for beer that was undrinkable. The last 2 times we all woke up very sick and have decided it’s probably time to find a new alley. Hopefully they can get this figured out soon. Yuck.

Past few times I’ve been the bartender doesn’t seem happy to be at work. Looking like the dog with the droopy face. I understand I wouldn’t wanna be at work, but at least make us customers feel like you’re happy we came to give you business. Conversate with the customers, ask how their day was. Also why not have drink specials on Sunday’s.??

Staff with no knowledge on their on going promotions.
No planning to honor their promotions.
We called them before leaving home about promotion and when we reached at the location the staff was unable to do the promotion. There is no sync between there front desk and support staff.
Disappointed and we never going to brand AMF.
It’s better to go with local bowling lanes

We took 15 children (age 10) to AMF Durham Lanes for a birthday party, and everyone had a marvelous time. The staff were very attentive, helpful, and friendly. They gave us all we needed and more, helping us when we had pins down that couldn’t re-​set (a consequence of bowling with kids!), putting our birthday cake in the fridge, and even letting us bowl for longer than we’d originally scheduled.
We will come back!

Worst customer service ever, the manager was rude and wouldn’t honor my military ID. Well guess what y’all lost over $ 60 dollars worth of business. We will take out business elsewhere… Mardi Gras is way more friendly and they honor our troops. Never again!!!

BOWLING!
Robert Putnam once said that America’s social capital was declining, and used the dearth of bowling leagues as an example (hence why he named his book «Bowling Alone») Clearly Putnam has never been to AMF Durham, where there are in fact bowling leagues, complete with intricate setups and statistics (there are STATISTICS!!!)
Unfortunately, AMF doesn’t see fit to let non-​leaguers know that these are going on (answer your phones!), so we had to wait an hour until the leagues had finished playing to actually play ourselves. The playing was not too shabby. There are beverages of an alcoholic nature here, so you can have a brew and hit pins with a giant ball. They also have glow in the dark bowling, which is pretty cool.
Overall, a little more communication on their end would be nice, but AMF is not too shabby.

Join a league! They’re challenging and fun! The front-​desk service could be better, but the restaurant and bar staff are always nice and polite. I have only had two bad experiences while bowling here (I have been bowling for 3 years now), with one of the Team Leaders. Considering I am a league bowler (meaning that I spend nearly $ 1,000 here per year), I would expect better service, but I would think she just has issues because I never have a problem with anyone else. I will be speaking to the new manager about her the next time I bowl; rudeness is completely unacceptable when I am just trying to enjoy one of my favorite hobbies.

We decided to go bowling yesterday, since the weather was pretty terrible.
The service was great, the guy behind the counter was personable and professional. The price is comparable to other bowling lanes in the area, and is clean and well-​kept. They serve beer in bottles and draft, and also have a nice looking menu if you’re hungry. We had a great time, and I was really impressed by the overall appearance and service we had while there. Will certainly be back!

Join a bowling league and you’ll get 20% off food and awesome benefits! WAKA has a great league currently on Sunday nights. E-​mail
the league manager!

Whereas: at other bowling alleys in the area, the art behind the lanes are floating bowling balls and pins in space while laser fire in the background.
At AMF Durham, you’ve got pictures of junk food and beer, daring you to partake.
Edge: AMF Durham.
Whereas: at other bowling alleys there is no alcohol.
At AMF Durham: come get you a $ 9 pitcher.
Edge: AMF Durham.
Whereas: Other bowling alleys have gimmicks with black lights that cause you not to be able to see the lanes you need to help you bowl.
At AMF Durham: they might have some sort of black light bowl, too, I dunno.
Edge: Tie.
Whereas: At other bowling alleys in the area, sometimes the bumpers are up, sometimes down, and man it takes a lot of effort to ask someone for help.
At AMF Durham: No bumper issues.
Edge: AMF.
Okay, really it’s just about the beer. Bowling is bowling. Prefer the AMF Durham.

AMF fulfills the need of a basic bowling alley. I will say eat before going here as the food is not anything to write about. The pitchers of domestic beer are just under $ 10 and for something like Sweetwater you are looking at $ 15.
I would love if Durham got a more modernized bowling alley with good food and a nicer feel (seeing this trend in other cities such as Charlotte and Charleston) but until then AMF will suffice.

!Good

We had a total blast bowling at AMF Durham Lanes!
I visited with my sons and two friends. We went on a Saturday night, and we did have to wait about 30 minutes to bowl, but we were requesting two adjacent lanes (one with gutter-​guards, one without). It would have been a shorter wait had we only needed one lane. They have 30(ish) operational lanes, so even when they’re packed, loads of people are bowling at any given time.
This is a popular spot on Saturdays, and I can see why! It’s kid-​friendly (good snack foods and sodas at the concession stand, video-​game arcade, air hockey table, candy machines) and also fun for adults (beer on draft and in bottles, wine, open til 2am).
The bathrooms were cleaner than I expected given the crowds.
We paid to bowl for 2 hours, and when our time was up, there weren’t any people waiting for lanes so we were able to keep bowling anyway. That was particularly nice. The kids had a blast trying out our «normal» lane even though we weren’t keeping score any longer.
The manager even came by and talked to me about the youth bowling league and the summer programs, and got me signed up to the e-​mail list so the kids could go bowl for free during the summer.
The only complaint I had at all was that the people working the «bar» side of the concession stand were VERY slow compared to the «food» side. I ordered fries and they were ready within 5 minutes; compare that to (at one point) standing in line nearly 15 minutes for a pitcher of draft beer. I recommend avoiding this problem by going between rounds of bowling, and going before your glasses are empty.
Prices are VERY reasonable, partly because this is an old-​school bowling alley (no table service, bussers, or waitresses). This is the alley you remember from your childhood, NOT Sparians. What they do, they do very well. I recommend you give them a try!