AMF Squaw Peak Lanes

This place is in sort of a rough area. It’s not the nicest bowling alley in the whole world, the staff always seems a bit shorthanded, but it’s always a good time. The bar is perfect. We love to take the kids, grab a pitcher, and play a couple games. The prices are very good, especially if you visit during a special bowl time. I’m definitely a fan of this place, the kids love it here. It’s one of our summer staples.

A nice, clean bowling alley. Most alleys have pretty much the same features as all the rest – lighted lanes at night, birthday parties, pizza and burgers, etc. At Squaw Peak though, you get it all without the dinge and wear that I usually see at a lot of other bowling alleys. The bathroom ain’t scuzzy, and you don’t smell residual 30 year-​old cigarette smoke.
I went here with my family last night and had a great time. After a warm-​up, I bowled a 161 – the best game I ever played. I think you’ll have fun too.

Big fan! From the outside you wouldn’t know the potential this place has on the inside.
A bowling alley is a bowling alley is a bowling alley. However, this one in particular was updated a few years back and is lookin good. Not to mention it has one of the best bowling alley bars. They took over what used to be a tiny bar/​pool room next door and turned it into the bowling alley bar. Great idea! Now there is a great place for me to sit and get my drink on while the boy plays in his boys bowling league. Great pool tables, and the bartender is superb! He always takes care of me and is great for a sports/​industry convo here and their. Go say hi, hes awesome!
The food is wildly mediocre, but that is to be expected. The staff is great, always friendly and takes care of everyone super fast. They also have some great specials… bowling isn’t expensive anymore. Sunday-​Thursday open to 5pm games are only $ 1.99 each, and Sunday-​Thursday from 9-​midnight you can bowl as much as you want including shoes for only $ 8, that’s winning in my book.
Something fun and not the usual bar fly night… check them out.
**the only reason they got a 4 and not a 5 star review is because Lucky Strike is a tiny bit better, more $$$$ but a tiny bit better** but almost a 5 :-)

I have been bowling consistently year round at every single bowling alley in Arizona since I was a little over 7. I have, for the most part, shunned all AMF lanes, minus the one on Christown, which has sentimental value because that was where I pretty much grew up bowling. This alley, much alike most AMF’s, has horrid service, from staff that range of their mid teens to their late 20’s and many whom despite their bowling background know nothing about how to treat the customer right. Most people know that lanes always staff people whom for the most part have a pretty big bowling background. That’s a major plus when hiring. Unfortunately, like I said, they suck at servicing the customer.
Also, the lanes and the area around are really poor. Like one person stated before me, they have old screens, which is not the case at any Brunswick bowling alley you may go to. The floor boards are extremely slippery, and it can easily cause injury if you’re foolish enough to run around on the approach, let alone go over the foul line. The food is comparable to all other publicly traded bowling alleys: its over-​priced and is horrible for you… DON’T EAT IT! Drink prices aren’t too bad considering where you are at, but its still bad. Bowling prices are always market rate… If you simply go on AMF’s main company website you can get coupons to lessen the $$ you are spending. There is no reason to not sign up on a bowling mailing list and get coupons, they save you A LOT!
With all this said, I give it 2 stars. Its not the worst alley in town, although close to it. It needs MAJOR renovations, even something simple like getting new TV’s would mean so much. Renovate, and you will see more business… I recommend you go elsewhere until they do just that. Go to privately owned and operated Let It Roll Bowl, just a bit down, with better rates and service. Go to pretty much any Brunswick, which will do much better on each level. Or, simply, choose another AMF, Scottsdale being the closest, and definitely a MUCH better option.
As stated before, message me if you want more details… I bowl a lot and can help you out! Later fellow Unilocalers!

This place is dated. The bar improvements look nice if the temperature wasn’t sweltering… the monitors are old too. I’d much rather go to the alley on Scottsdale and Thomas.

Im not sure what the hell people are smoking before they come here to give this place anything more than a 0 star… I literally hated this place. I usually go to the one in Tempe, which is very nice. Okay so this place blows… the staff is running around like animals not tending the guest and its just chaotic… so we start and the lane isnt work, its not starting the balls dont come back when we throw them and the gates are randomly coming down before we throw the ball, or before the ball hits the pins? WTF? The food is expensive… as expected since the others are. but seriously we paid for unlimited bowling for 2 hours and stayed for like one hour. Also all the balls… well unless you have little kids thumbs, or giant hands, they wont fit the balls. which in my opinion is like the # 1 thing when bowling… having a ball that fits… oh well. The lanes are oiled to hell and you feel like youll slip every time you go down to bowl. thats awesome. pay 15.00 to fit my fingers into smaller holes, break my neck while bowling, have the ball get blocked by a gate, and not get served? wow. i know ill never go back to this one at least.

Super clean, and an AWESOME deal through the end of October.
$ 14.00 + tax gets you unlimited bowling from 8pm to 1am Friday and Saturday.
INCLUDES SHOES!
Has full bar. Gotta say the wings looked tasty, but VERY expensive IMHO.
I’m going to try and get there for every remaining weekend of the special.
It will deserve 5 stars if they keep this special and/​or bring the food down to «normal» bar pricing!

I recently moved to the Phoenix area and joined a bowling league here. It’s in an older part of town — but safe. The snackbar is small buy has a fairly decent menu. I had a burger and it was quite tasty — greasy just like a bowling alley burger should be.
The staff is nice. The scorekeepers have recently been updated from what I was told and do the job — nothing fancy. If you’re looking for an «old school» bowling alley — a place to have fun without the attitude or frills then this place is it.

If/​when i go bowling, its up in N phx or N scotts. This place seemed out of date for an AMF. The screens are old school, and they don’t have the stupid videos playing when you get a gutter ball.
We went last minute on a sunday night… it was more busy than i thought. Maybe half the lanes were full. The bar was open (I headed that direction first time). I can’t complain about the customer service. Place was clean.
I guess just 3 stars cuz of lack of cool vidoes, and disco feeling that i get at newer AMFs

Not the best, but serviceable.
The equipment is old, but there are so many lanes that it’s almost always possible to get one or two for yourself for practice. It’s also easy to park. These two factors are enough to sway me towards this place over nearby Scottsdale lanes.
The help is an interesting blend of interesting people. Sometimes you have to be quite assertive with them in regards to discounts, etc. I get the feeling they are kinda winging it, amazed at how really expensive it is to run a business like a bowling alley, and how little profit it really makes.
Haven’t tried the food but I would expect it to be not the best, but serviceable.
So I would call this an authentic bowling experience whereas Lucky Strike (or even Scottsdale Lanes) is more like the refined, distilled, sanitized «urban bowler» type experience for people who probably wouldn’t bowl otherwise.

This is a pretty solid bowling alley overall, with the exception of a couple notable problems.
First off, while it doesn’t look like much from the outside, it’s pretty nice inside. Nothing too fancy, but certainly well-​maintained and clean. I was honestly surprised how nice it looked once inside.
We went here last weekend for the Extreme Bowling (or cosmic bowling, rock n roll bowling… whatever you want to call it). Couple of the ladies in our group were doing some research before picking which place to go, so they called ahead to find out the deal — they were told Extreme Bowling is $ 17 per person (plus tax). It starts at 8pm and that price includes shoes and all-​you-​can-​bowl. All of this is true… until 10:30pm. What we were not told was that $ 17 is for 8p-​1030pm, at which point they empty the place out and start over again, and you can pay an additional $ 17 for 10:30 — 1:30. Not knowing this, we arrived shortly before 9pm. Sorry, but we’re not going to pay $ 17 for an hour of bowling, then repay it again for the rest of the night. The cashier was a nice enough kid, this really wasn’t his fault. But they were not bending on the rules either. I can understand, but let’s mention that little detail when people call and ask. We were told $ 17 all you can bowl. Not $ 17 for the first session.
So we decided not to bowl session 1, but to head out to another bar for a few drinks/​dinner and then return at 10:30 for the 2^nd session. We returned and did just that.
The lanes are well kept, well maintained. The balls are old and scuffed, but honestly what do you expect for a rental ball. It would be great if they were new, but they’re not.
The bartender was nice enough and took good care of us, even if it is somewhat of a limited bar selection (nothing too fancy here, no Grey Goose only Smirnoff, etc). We’re not complete snobs, so we did OK.
Overall, it’s OK and it will certainly do in a pinch. I really would love to find a «good» bowling alley in the area, so we’ll keep looking. I wouldn’t refuse to return here, but it wouldn’t be my #1 choice.

This bowling alley looks really shady from the outside, but it’s actually pretty nice inside. It’s great for kids… they have light-​weight balls and they’ll set up the bumpers for you. The food/​beer is reasonable and usually after you pay, they give you coupons for «Buy one game, get one free» which I really like.

This place does the trick, in terms of being a place where you can bowl and grab a few beers. Other than that, it isn’t anything stellar. It is clean and they do have a decent beer selection for a bowling alley. The owner/​manager is really nice and helpful which makes me want to like this place so much more. I feel like there isn’t really a good bowling place that isn’t Lucky Strike (which tries to be more like a dance club than anything else). So until I find a happy medium, this place is good enough.

Any excuse to go bowling with friends is fine by me. I don’t go bowling often enough, even though I consider myself decent at lobbing that damn rock down the lanes. Ahhh, but the warm-​up game here was my turn to shine. Everyone sucks during the first game until they get all loosey-​goosey… which apparently involves hurling appropriately funny insults and drinking the requisite number of beers. I didn’t get primed until the tenth frame, at which point I nearly bagged a turkey.
At any rate, the best thing I liked about this place was that the Budweiser bottles are shaped like a bowling pin. And someone else was paying for the game and shoe rental. I threw respectably and got to talk smack to my fellow bowlers. That’ll do, pig, that’ll do.

So, we had a company party here last night, and we got to bowl 2 games. There were quite a few of us here, and overall, things went smoothly without incident.
I normally don’t hang out on this side of town. To me, its kind of an older, slightly run down part of town. Not scary, just… old. I don’t know how long this bowling alley has been around, but it appears probably a few years.
We had several pizza’s ordered while we were there, and surprisingly, the pizzas were tasty! Much better then the last time we were here last year. They serve beer, and thats always a great becuase it makes bowling much more fun.
I don’t know that I would personally return to this location, as I really wasnt all that impressed. Its decent, but nothing that I would return to.

Bowling+ Alcohol+Rock and Roll+ Cool Lights = Good Times. and low bowling scores!!!
So AMF is OK. I have experienced better. This location is your typical hometown bowling alley minus the line dancing or Karoke on Friday and Saturday nights… at least that’s what my hometown bowling alley had.
Oh wait so does this AMF in the bar… speaking of the bar… most of the staff here sucks and for the majority are probably older then this bowling alley itself, the drinks suck for the most part… the only thing I have had here that tastes halfway decent is the Long Island Ice Tea… but even a blind monkey could not mess making one of these drinks it is virtually impossible.
Prices are OK, the Rock and Roll bowling is cool but I think it is about time this place maybe did a remodel, all the balls are quite old and most of them need a good refurbishing. Plus it is kind of dirty, but what can you expect for a Bowling Alley. just go and look at the mix of freaks on any league night.
NUFF SAID!!!:)
I am still searching for a «GOOD» bowling alley.

This place from the outside looks pretty old, but on the inside it’s pretty nice as far as bowling alleys go.
A few times we had to wait in line for the late night bowling thingy to start, you know where they play music and videos and turn the lights down. Rock and roll bowling or Disco bowling, I don’t know, I forgot what they call it.
Food, no thank you, seems pretty typical pre-​made deep fried stuff.
Beer and bowling are always good. They put a ice container in the pitcher to keep your beer cold, but it displaces about one 12oz beer so you kinda get ripped off —-but at least the beer is cold!
I’d like to be more like The Dude from the Big Lebowski every time I go bowling, «that rug really tied the room together, did it not?».

4 stars.
Count ‘em. Uno, dos, tres… quatro! Uhm, por que? I’ll explain.
Before you hit the lanes, make damn sure you have somebody fun in tow. That’s the make or break. If you bowl with a dud, you won’t enjoy AMF Squaw Peak Lanes. Trust me. It all hinges on the company, for the serious good times begin when the sun goes down (and trust me, even in Phoenix, it eventually goes down.)
Never mind germs. Grab a brew or three and claim your lane. Warm those fingers up. Crack those knuckles. And most importantly, stretch those hamstrings and calves, for bowling isn’t just bowling anymore. The lights dim and the music rises. This is where it’s at — Rock ‘n Bowl!
Baby got back, indeed.
Upon leaving, one of my best friends and I got a round of applause. That’s right. No, it wasn’t because we were super studly bowlers (we weren’t half bad, though). It was because we were super amazing dancers. I mean, it’s Rock ‘n Bowl. You Bowl. You Rock. Part of Rockin’ is shaking your groove thing to whatever tune comes on. Yes, we are Equal Opportuney Dancers (get it?). Of course, what I love the best is singing about anacondas and baby don’t wanna’s, sugary sweetness and mutual silicone ickness…
Oh, and if you like throwing big, heavy balls and hearing the loud clank of pins hitting the ground, then you’ll enjoy yourself, too.
«You two got something special,» we were told on our way to turn in our sweaty shoes. «Aww, thanks!» I replied. He’s right. I’m tellin’ ya, it’s all about the company!

The alley itself is nice inside, and they do cheap bowling night during the week (Thursdays I think). I’ve bowled in a couple of tournaments here.
I get the feeling that Squaw Peak Lanes used to be an old big-​box store of some sort, because it’s part of the Food City strip mall and there’s no recessed step down into the bowling area like most alleys have. An OK place to bowl, and the service was good, but I think there are better alleys in town.

I suck at bowling, and yet I love it. I love that I can like something some consider a sport. I love that it’s totally ok that you aren’t any good. A group of people who aren’t good at something can have a great time doing it talking about how bad they are.
This is my designated bowling center. Sure, we go lots of other places, but this is always a solid central location. Plus, the fact that it’s so close to the Biz is a definite bonus! (I’ve had several years of «Bowling & Boogie» themed Birthdays… I’m a geek, but I’m ok with that.)
Though I’ve always called ahead just in case, I’ve never had trouble getting a lane or two here. The food is fairly decent too in a way that only bowling alley food can be. And what the heck is it about Bowling Alley bars??? My friend has a theory that the better the drinks the more games you’ll play — both to keep drinking and then to sober up before you go home.
The facilities are a bit older, and you’ll find a few areas that could use a bit of freshening up from years of wear, but I don’t mind that kind of thing so much in a bowling alley. Hopefully you won’t either.