Looking for some enjoyable, classy bowling? A nice night out with friends in the 'burbs? Lucky Strike Lanes, located at the Yorktown Mall in Lombard, was a great choice for our pre-New Years celebrating.
We visited on a Wednesday night, and on a weeknight, at least, the prices for bowling are fairly reasonable - 4.95 per bowling game, 3.95 for shoes. We had a friend from NYC along and she said "so cheap!!"
So we got our lane and our games -- minor bit of awkwardness when we had to shoo away the people sitting on "our" couch -- and looked over the menu. Because this isn't your typical bowling alley; it's got a great upscale vibe (but still fun, not snooty, and still a bit loud) with modern decor, great lighting and great loungy couches all over.
Our waitress was friendly and not at all pesky (hey, we're trying to get our bowl on here) and was available whenever we needed her. The food, honestly, was pretty delicious. We ordered cheese fries, nachos, Key West chicken skewers and tomato-n-cheese "s'mores" to split among the four of us, plus a couple beers (them) and a glass of wine (me).
The fries and nachos were slathered in a delicious artery-hardening cheese sauces, with nice seasoning on the fries and a scatter of tomatoes and some zippy salsa with the nachos. The "s'mores" were like little caprese toasties, with crunchy bread rounds, ripe tomato, melty mozzarella and fresh basil. Yummy. And the Key West skewers seemed to be the biggest hit of the night -- they had a flavorful seasoning enhanced by both the squeeze of lime juice and the sweet chili dipping sauce.
A quick note on drinks: the beer enjoyed by my party was said to be quite tasty. My pinot grigio (selected because they 'didn't have' the riesling and I hate chardonnay) had no real body to it at all. But, it got the job done I guess. They have quite a selection of cocktails as well.
The bowling itself, well, it was bowling! There are no cute animations between frames, but the lanes are well-maintained, there's some fun blacklighting for the neon balls, and a good time was had by all.
One thing I noticed and found interesting was the fairly large proportion of kids around. Seeing as it's a loungey atmosphere I wouldn't have expected that. I guess it's 18+ after 9 on weeknights, 21+ after 9 on weekends, but we were only there till 8:30 or so, and saw a fair number of families. I guess if your kids like to bowl, great, but it just seemed a bit incongruous with the atmosphere.
All in all, you wouldn't expect this inside a suburban mall, and I'm glad we tried it out. It would be a fun place to come for a bite to eat, a drink, or another round of bowling with friends.
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