University Bowl

Last night my husband and a group of friend went out for my birthday as an early celebration and based off the reviews for all of the bowling alleys in SA we decided to go to University Bowl. Upon entering at 6:45 to get a lane while everyone else were told to show up at 7 the alley had about 3 – 4 open lanes left and it seemed to also be the time the alley started to get busy. But mind you this place has several arcade type games, a darts and pool area as well along with a full service bar and another area to get food. I will say for show rental for two people and two games it came out to $ 30 which seems a little high but it was a Saturday night and they go offer multiple discounts featured on certain night.
We did order fries and drinks and I wasn’t impressed with any of it. The fries were a darker brown which means they’re cooking in old oil and honestly store bough taste better. Then the beer tastes water down if it came out of the draft but if you got a bottle it was fine.
The lanes were not oiled or taken care of so don’t count of trying to have a professional experience but if your going to just have fun it’s fine however I will say the pit area doesn’t have enough seating since there were six in our group last night and most of us took turning standing and sitting. But they did have a wide variety of ball weights ranging from 6 – 14 and with small or medium finger holes.
Overall it was a fun night but I might see how the other locations measure up.

Updated review: I’m all about deals, especially in the summer with my kids. In the past, University Bowl offered free bowling in the summer for kids, including shoes. This summer, they do offer 2 free games for kids but shoes are still $ 2.75 each. My gripe is this… no discount at all for parents — and the kids deal is ONLY on weekdays from 9 – 5 when most parents are at work and can’t take advantage of it even for their kids :o (The other bowling alleys in town have «fun cards» which are $ 5 for the entire summer, include parents and include FREE shoes AND go until 8pm on weekdays and until 4pm on weekends… better for the entire family! University Bowl is still a great bowling alley but I wish they would go back to their old, better deals and keep up with the competition. Also, make it fair for working families :)

I give two stars only because the manager gave us a couple of game and bowling tickets to come back because all lanes were closed I guess reserved for parties till 8pm. I don’t understand my family and I just wanted at least one line for one hour. That’s bad customer service if you ask me. You could have closed half one side for the parties and left one side for Walk ins. We wanted bowling not games room. I will come back during the week to bowl and use the game cards but that’s it.

We’ve come here twice. The first time we came on a Saturday night and the staff interacted with the bowlers if they made a strike. You got to spin a wheel and pick a prize. It made it really fun for the kids. We went today before 5 and it was only $ 2.99 for each person per game plus shoe rental. After 5 was $ 4.99 per person per game. We had a coupon from a coupon book for a free game so we paid for the $ 2.99 game and got the second one for $ 4.99 for free. They have good food. I’ve had a cheeseburger with fries and a club sandwich with fries and I’ve enjoyed them both with no complaints. I just don’t like the way the chairs and tables in the bowling area are set up but that’s a minor dislike.

Great bowling ally! The games there are prices well and they have the same games as Dave and Busters!!! Had a blast playing games, bowling, and did the laser game! :)
No negative comments about this place.

I had a Groupon and apparently that info seemed to get lost in translation. It was my first time purchasing this Groupon and after what I figured was an hour and 55 minutes I went to go find out if they stop the game or if we stop it ourselves. That’s when Oscar (think that was the name) informed us that they were not informed of the Groupon (I had informed 2 different ppl). He immediately ended the game. So I went to inform the other players, who already knew bc the game had stopped. I brought up the shoes and the attendant that was there asked «how would you like to pay». Ugh! Apparently the «manager» Oscar had failed to put this info into the computer as well even though he had just redeemed my groupon just 5 minutes before. Add to that he was rude. This used to be my bowling spot… I think I need to find a new one.

My children and I had a great experience! Staff was courteous and prompt. Very clean facilities and I was expecting mediocre food, but was pleasantly surprised! They gave great attention to detail ! The adjacent arcade was a plus. My son would like his birthday party here. We’ll be coming back!

Very clean and up to date bowling alley! The computers that track the score, etc. are up to date. It even shows you which pin to hit to pick up the spare.
They have an awesome video arcade with the latest video games.
The ONLY thing keeping them from five stars is that the bar doesn’t open until 5pm, so no pitchers. You can buy singles from the snack bar but each person in your party has to have a wristband — so you can’t pick up beers for the rest of your crew.

Ended up here for a friend’s bday party. Seems like bowling is the new trend for adult bday parties these days. Anyways, haven’t been here for at least 10 years and this place has definitely done some upgrades. Seems like they wanna compete with funevent and other venues and have done a decent job. The arcade area is much bigger than it used to be. Lots of options from skeet ball to hoops yo racing fun. They also have a photo booth for some silly group photo ops. However a tight fit getting more than 2 folks. I am an avid pool player so appreciated the multiple pool tables addition. The bar has also gotten an upgrade from back in the day. The pricing is at par with most venues and service is decent as well. We will return for a night of fun in the future.

Service is horrible and the prices are rediculous! I was at the bar and no one in line and the bartender stops helping me to help this other couple. Just rude.

Had a really good time here in a «date night» with my teen. Open environment, had a DJ and even kept it interesting with a random green pin game. So if you get a green pin front and center, you notify the desk to watch, roll a strike and you get to «spin the wheel». Great arcade area, bar and pool tables. I have to say make sure you eat BEFORE you get here. The snack bar is horrible and looks like they never cleaned the kitchen area. If they remodeled the food area, I would come here regularly with the kids.

Our new family bowling spot. Used to go to AMF before it became Bowlero but it’s not kid friendly anymore plus way more expensive. UB is clean, friendly, helpful and food is good!
Will give it some time before 5 stars!

I grew up in northside San Antonio so i’ve been coming to university bowl all my life for friends’ birthday parties, church hangouts, etc.
Have to admit, it used to smell like beer and cigarette smoke for the majority of my life but this last time, man… They made the change.
First of all, don’t come on a friday/​saturday night if you don’t want to wait. Came here on a tuesday afternoon– perfect service. The lady at the counter was pleasant and gave us the run down of all our pricing options. The lanes and balls were in great condition and my friends and i had a fun time playing with their new touch screen controls, which now has a front camera to take player pictures!
The arcade is really a huge improvement! It’s no longer in a literal pit. The games are super new and shiny with probable HD screens. There’s also a laser maze game where you can dodge your way through like in the spy movies. The pool area is also upgraded! Everything smells nice now! Yay childhood bowling alley!

Great way to spend Memorial Day! Fun family atmosphere and the renovations look good.

On the expensive side for bowling, 4 people, 5 games, came to $ 120.
The music is loud and for the most part it’s good music (we were here on a Saturday night and they had the disco bowling with a DJ, fun times!), they have lots of tv screens to watch while bowling and the whole scoring system is pretty cool and very easy to use.
The bathrooms are meh, maybe that was just this time since a girl lost her weave all over the place, stunk it up and was disgusting but hopefully that doesn’t happen all the time.
Good beer selection, we didn’t order food but from afar it looked decent.
The biggest con was the lack of bowling ball options. They needed more of the average sizes we ended up sharing with another lane and even then it was’t a good fit.

Lanes are always full and the counter service is slow. They could let people know that they will be packed until late in the day, rather than having them wait in line for 10 to 20 minutes before telling them they’re full up until 9 PM.
The gaming center is decent, and kids will enjoy it, but some of the games are broken.
I guess it’s worth going to if you can get there early, but otherwise, for a 32-​lane alley, it’s not worth the wait.

With all of the negative reviews for UB, I thought that Iwould give them a positive review. Wife and I enjoyed a date out, and had fun with some of my former high school bowlers.
Staff was awewsome, no wait, no problems!

Wednesday night is ladies night and y’all bowl free after 930. I really like bowling here. This bowling alley has a pro shop, arcade and a full bar. Expected to be packed during peak hours and league night is on Wednesdays. I like ladies night because men bowl unlimited for 13 bucks. there is a live DJ and prize giveaways. Looking for somewhere to start your weekend early? Stop by University bowl on Wednesday nights after 930pm.

We had a great time bowling here on a Sunday afternoon! There was a group of six of us and they were very good about accommodating us asap. I did call in advance to find out the best time to come and they were friendly and helpful on the phone, which I very much appreciated.
We were surprised to find out they have lots of lights and music on Sunday afternoons. There was a wide range of music videos which we found just as fun as the bowling!
The place is clean, including the bathrooms. There is no cigarette smoke smell and the atmosphere was fun and friendly. I definitely recommend this place if you’re looking for something fun to do.

Whenever I come here I always remember the bowling tournament from that film, King Pin. Or I somehow think at any second that the Dude from The Big Lebowski is going to come out and give us his wisdom. But mainly through these doors pass eager bowlers, rowdy teens and stragglers who got dragged over here by the previous two.
It is pretty big inside. There are alley lanes filed far and wide apart. There is a concession stand that sells drinks and food. Word on the street is that the burgers are pretty good here but the cuisine at the bowling rink is not my style. They have an area where you can play pool. Couples tend to huddle around this spot, particularly when there is an overflow on the lanes.
There is a small bar inside also with a jukebox. Metallica (one time I heard a drunken guy butcher most of there catalogue) LL Cool J, with country, oldies among other artists and genres of music can be heard blaring over the loud system in here. You can buy single drinks or go bigger with a pitcher of beer here also. They have basic fare like Bud, Lone star, Dos XX, etc.
No more can be said about this place than what I have written above, of course I neglected to include the obvious. You can rent bowling shoes if you feel inclined to. Bowling leagues haunt the lanes with the fist pump and mocking at both victory and defeat. On any given night, particularly bowling league teams pack lanes with tournament games. So much so a fun game with a date or friends is out of the question.
So why the three stars you say? It’s a pretty cool spot but the games can be pricey. It also seems like there needs to be more space, especially for spectators or those who want to drink a pitcher with friends. Which is a good segway to explain their drink specials. They have none. The beer pitchers are way over priced, especially in proportion to the amount that is served to you.
In my opinion this place could be helped with a few suggestions, first they need to have better drink deals. They need to have some sort of Bowling Happy Hour other than for you to come in early on Sunday or before the flow of traffic. Another observation I have noticed is its proximity to universities like UTSA, which has the potential to reach a new demographic. Why not have a College Night and change up that scene a bit? Bowling still has a perception of being played by dudes who wear polyester shirts and rock a comb over. In reality, a Bowling Alley should be fun and vibrant. There is a spot across the way where the balls, pins and the lanes are Glow in the Dark. It shouldn’t be so stuffy.
The University Bowl is a fine place, if you are serious about your bowling. Maybe too serious. It needs to unloose it’s firm tie a bit and breathe. That begins with good drinking deals, spacious comfortable seating for everyone and above all, bowling specials. If not expect Bill Murray characters with the bad comb over like the one in King Pin hanging out and sucking on overpriced beers more readily.