Rolling in the fun--Pinstripes, Northbrook

I recently attended a Yelp event at the fabulous Pinstripes, at their Northbrook location (1150 Willow Road, Northbrook; a second location is at 100 W. Higgins Road in South Barrington).

Pinstripes is a unique destination, as far as I know--there are plenty of bowling alleys around, even fancy ones, but I've never seen an indoor bocce court before!

This place is big. About 50,000 square feet with 18 bowling lanes, a bar, restaurant seating, and 10 indoor and outdoor bocce courts (plus a big patio). It's also very pretty, with a rustic Italian feel to it.

While there, we sampled the menu's extensive list of pizzas and flatbreads. All were delicious, with toppings ranging from fig and prosciutto to truffled cheese to pepperoni. Staff and bartenders were very attentive and friendly.

And we had a lot of fun playing bocce and bowling. I'd never played "real" bocce before, and the staff patiently explained it to us.

This seems like an excellent place for an event, or just a night out with friends. There's plenty to do, great food and a lovely atmosphere.

Bowling and beverages -- Lucky Strike, Yorktown Mall, Lombard

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.