The Alley

Best deal is to go in Monday night for unlimited bowling (2 hours) for $ 5 and PBRs for $ 1.50. The only downside was that when my friends and I arrived, it is hard to find light balls. Most of what were left were heavy ones. It was fun trying to learn to keep score yourself instead of relying on a machine. Two hours is plenty of time to play and just enjoy the night out. You could also run across a problem with it being crowded that you won’t have a lane, but luckily my friends and I came at a time when one lane had freed up. Overall fun place and a great deal to go out to on a Monday night.

Old, restored, beat up, cheap and used. With all that said, this place is fun. The Alley is perfect for just hanging for some beer and bowling. No automatic scoring, so you keep your own score. They have quite a few selection of bottle beers and a full bar. These guys are laid back, and very helpful. My man at the counter offered to tally up our score, if we didn’t know how or have a phone app. Once you get in, you just want to have fun, and The Alley delivers.

Best burgers on campus and great wraps. Carolina-​style burger done properly. Option for lamb. Great prices.

I’ll give this place 5 stars for value. This is an old semi restored bowling alley. The lanes are a bit beat up, as are the balls. You keep score on paper (or just download a phone app)
Bowling is unlimited (for 2 hours) for like $ 13 bucks. Or $ 5 on Mondays. The food is decent, basic, but cheap.
Beer selection is actually pretty good, decent amount of microbrews and nc beers at typical bar prices (if not cheaper)
Can’t beat this place as far as having a good time on a college student budget. Weekend nights I would say are not kid friendly if that’s an issue for you.

Came here with some friends on Saturday night at 8pm. They have a special of 2 hours of unlimited bowling with shoes for $ 13, which is a great deal. The Alley is an old school spot on Hillsborough Street that has been decently maintained. You have to keep score on paper, which is kind of fun unless you don’t know how to keep score in bowling. Pretty wide variety in their well stocked bar. Bathrooms are a little sketchy. Overall, if you go into the Alley with expectations of having fun bowling with your friends, you’ll be happy. Don’t expect a Kings at North Hills type of experience.

This place is retro and that was a big plus for me! You have to keep your own score and took me back to high school days. The staff was friendly and took great care of me. I had a burger while I Was there and it may not be the best burger town but it was very good. Want to go bowling then The Alley is the place. Thanks to everyone for a great time.

What. The. Fuck. I apologize in advance to all those who are easily offended. This will be my first review that includes swears, but I’m pissed. Also, for those who aren’t so uptight, swears are very funny.
So, I’m innocently trying to go bowling with some friends, right? Free bowling with shoe rental late at night on Wednesdays. What can go wrong?
There’s a guy out front carding, to help the bum-​rushed bartenders figure out who is and isn’t 21. He read my ID and yelled «Are you a pedophile?» I rolled with the rather unfunny joke, but this comedic genius kept going «You know, there’s support groups for people like you.»
Yes, I’m an atypical college student. And no, I wasn’t exactly looking for my younger peers to know my age.
The bowling experience here is a very poor one. Keep your own score in this rundown garbage can. That’s not the worst thing in the world, since anybody should be able to do the basic arithmetic to keep score in bowling. But how are you supposed to see behind the front pins?
Just in case my review wasn’t clear, let me not mince my words — fuck this place. It is nothing short of a true tragedy that NC State students will keep this place in business. Any place that thinks this downright farcical behavior is remotely tolerable should not be in business.

I haven’t gone bowling in a while and really wanted to bowl a few rounds. The bowling alley is older and (i think intentionally) not updated with new technology.
You will need to know how to tally your own score. That was a challenge.
Overall enjoyed the Friday afternoon out and had fun at The Alley.
Street parking and use the $ 13 unlimited bowling ($ 10 with your own shoes) if you want to bowl more than 2 turns.

The Alley is great! As other reviewers have said, it’s definitely an old-​school bowling alley. The staff is awesome, the bowling is bowling, the drinks are cheap. Because it’s across the street from NC State, it’s more geared towards adults than children (I went at 4pm on a Saturday and saw lots of PBRs and very few – if any – children).

Let’s begin with a disclaimer: we are not bowlers.
That said, my BF and I do both enjoy bowling, but our experiences at alleys here in the Triangle have left us wanting something different. Many bowling alleys around here are reminiscent of 1983, with crappy carpet and stifling smell of smoke.
But not the Alley. I was glad to see this establishment get shined up since my years at NCSU. The lanes, slightly warped towards the end, are vintagely beautiful and well maintained. Keeping our own score made us slightly more competitive, and the unlimited bowling ($ 13 on a Friday night!) and beer specials cannot be beat.
If you’re looking for a fun throwback experience that’s also just darn fun, hit up the Alley on Hillsborough. We’ll definitely be back soon.

I have passed this place literally like 100 times but never stopped until recently and It was actually one of the best bowling experiences ive had in a while. Mondays are $ 5 unlimited bowling with shoe rentals! there is also great beer specials through out the week. The Alleys are clean and have this beautiful retro vibe to them I totally need/​want one of their bowling desks for my house.
xoxo

Let’s go bowling! Well yeah, I don’t hear that often but every now and then it’s fun to put on a well-​worn pair of vinyl shoes and slide down an alleyway. And maybe knock over a few pins… My first visit to the Alley comes courtesy of a Unilocal event sponsored by New Belgium. Who can complain with free beer, bowling and great company?
The Alley is all old-​school, all the time. 80’s pop tunes blaring from the speakers, day-​glo paint job and industrial steel lamps over the scoring tables, sharpen up your #2 and math skills if you want to keep score! The balls are a bit banged up, the lanes are bit warped and worn but the place is in very good shape for its age. But given the age, well it still feels a bit old. But unless you’re really serious about your bowling, you’ll still have fun and enjoy a throw-​back, retro evening.
The Alley may not be high-​end bowling or have fancy food but it is F-​U-​N, fun. And that’s plenty good for an evening of silliness and beer!

Nicely maintained old school bowling alley reminded me of the ones that I bowled at when I was a little girl. Employees couldn’t be nicer at the bar and at the shoe rental cash register area. Lots of balls to choose from and the colors inside on the walls are vibrant and cheerful. I don’t think anyone could go to the Alley and not have fun. I can’t wait to go back and bowl again.

I’ve been a bowling fool in January of 2014! Raleigh Chicks and I headed here twice in one month and we had a blast. I’m sure many adults in grownup-​land forget about how great The Alley, right across from NC State on Hillsborough St, really is because it’s not fancy, easily accessible with its own parking lot, and it’s not where most of Raleigh passes by.
I love that it’s vintage bowling though. I don’t know how long it’s been around, but this place has been around for quite a while! There’s no automatic scoring computer. This means that in between those sips of cheapo beer, you have to pay attention! In case you forgot, there’s 10 pins at the end of that lane. ;)
Cheap bowling. Laid back atmosphere. Old school. In the midst of the college kids. What’s not to love?
The only parts that are a pain are that you have to hunt for your own parking and since the machines are so old, they might decide to reset themselves on their own… repeatedly. Otherwise, the guys who work the front counter are great to work with the and guys behind the bar are friendly and will grab you a drink quickly.
I’ll keep coming back and enjoy the old school Alley times just like I have for the past…10 years.

What’s not to like about throwing down some 22oz PBRs and $ 5 bowling. Had my first experience ever at The Alley on a Monday night. This place was packed we even had to wait a little while for some lanes to open up not sure if school just let out or what but it was the place to be on a Mon. The crowd is hipster mixed with college students.
The Alley is located right across from NC state on Hillsborough st. you can park on the street or in the parking garage next door. It’s a great old school bowling alley you have to keep score with pen and paper no electronic scoring boards here. There is nothing fancy about it the shoes however looked pretty new I must say. They have plenty of bar food to order and plenty of drinks specials. It’s hard to find cheap bowling these days so thank goodness for The Alley.
Typical of a bowling alley they also have a few arcade games including some skeeball. I probably should have just stayed at the skeeball game all night might bowling skills were pretty sad. But hey nobody could judge except for the folks who were playing with me they were the only ones that knew about my pitiful score.
In my opinion this is one of the best bowling alleys around who needs all that fancy crap that everyone is opening up these days. Let’s take it back to the old school order a basket of fries, a cheap bucket of beer, and make fun of your friends. I am putting The Alley in my monthly rotation of nights out on the town.

Great place for a cheap bowl! I loved the old-​school ambience, and all the employees were cheerful and fun. My only issue is that I kind of starved. I strategically eat low carbs on certain days, and there was only one food item that I could eat… and nothing to drink that was low-​carb except diet coke, which was unfortunately served in Styrofoam, which I’m not ok with.
But that’s just me being pretentious, and who goes to a bowling alley for the food? I’d definitely recommend this for an outing with friends, coworkers, or family! I loved keeping score by hand, they played great music, and they have an assortment of awesome specials (e.g. free bowling after 10pm and $ 9 pitchers).

The Alley is located in the heart of Hillsborough Street, the main strip along NC State. It’s on the second level of a strip building. We were in town for a wedding and the bride/​groom used this place as a party for all the out of town guests in lieu of an exclusive rehearsal dinner… it was an amazing idea! It seemed like they had a rather easy time reserving half the lanes as well as had Carolina BBQ catered by the staff (delicious, btw).
It’s a place that has literally not been touched since the 70’s — classic bowling experience. Just remember to brush up on your math and bowling score keeping rules, you’ll find no computers here taking care of that. Not sure about parking as we walked from our hotel. A fun ‘something to do’ if you’re in Raleigh!

Let me first start off by saying, I am not a bowler. I have absolutely NO skills and I have never even broken a score of 100. Usually when I get sucked into going bowling I leave frustrated and never really have a good time.
That being said, I had a really good time at The Alley. I heard about it from a friend, and decided to check it out with family who was in town. My boyfriend’s two parents and little brother who is 17 were visiting and we had to find some fun under age activities. This place was great. When we first walked in we were greeted by friendly staff who took our shoe sizes and money. We got the $ 13 unlimited bowling deal, which includes shoes. For one game you pay $ 7, so even if you decide to only play two with the deal you are still saving a little bit of money. We were given our lane, and our score card because yes, you have to keep score yourself.
This place looks like it is straight from 1975. It is so old-​school and so fabulous. It was cheap to drink, and they have a snack bar that has a lot of choices, although I didn’t get any food. The music was great, they played some old school, and some top 40 hits. I wasn’t worried so much about my terrible bowling because I was enjoying good company, cheap drinks, and great music.

Let me tell you something, pendejo. You pull any of your crazy sh*t with us, you flash a piece out on the lanes, I’ll take it away from you, stick it up your @$$ and pull the f***ing trigger ’til it goes «click.» — «The Big Lebowski,» 1998
How can I have checked in to The Alley only once?! How many times friends and I came after a night of drinking downtown, pretending it was a scene from the movie, I as Jesus, friends being The Dude and Walter, and just being plain silly?
They Alley has no other amenities except being the purest form of bowling: just simple lanes with ten wobbly pins, a fourteen pounds ball, and carve every point of victory and glory with your own pencil and score card.
Now if you really want to get into Jeff Bridges’ character, The Alley does have beers for your parched throat and spirit.

Um, it pains me to give this place two stars. For one thing, walking in is awesome. You go up the steps and are transported to a swingin’, retro-​y good time. Also, they honored an expired Groupon, so that can’t be bad.
However, if you take bowling seriously at all, such as myself, this is not a good place to bowl. The equipment and the lanes are in horrid shape. Each bowling ball had a million chunks taken out, and there were not many to choose from to begin with. The lanes are not slick, and they are bumpy and uneven. My brother brought his own ball, and after going a couple frames, decided to put it away because the lane was actually damaging his nice, new ball.
Not to mention, in the ladies’ room, there was one stall without a door, one stall with a plunger on the toilet, and the faucets were pretty weak.
The gentleman at the counter was friendly and the shoes were cool, the price is right, but I’m sad to say I don’t think I’ll be frequenting this place often. Also, keeping my own score? Yikes. Math is not my strong suit.