Management was top notch. JD did an excellent job Hosting my daughter's bday party. Long story short, there was a little snafu. Management not only fixed the snafu but went above and beyond and were genuinely sincere about everything. Great Job Colonial Bowling read more

It was a fun bowling alley and set price for group of 4. Place is a bit run down feeling and can get crowded since not a huge place. Was still fun and would go back since it's nearby. read more

Stopped in here for a birthday party. They had 2 hours - 1st hour of bowling, then an hour in the party room. The bowling was fine, they have the bumpers for the kids or folks who aren't so serious. The Doc's bar and grill in the back has some food/beer/drink options. Plenty of parking outside. For a bunch of teens, it's less interesting to spend the hour in the room, so they were bored after eating the pizza, chicken tenders, and drinks, so they went out with 25pts/card ($5 game card) and played games before the cake. Pizza wasn't great (worse than my high school cafeteria pizza), but the kids didn't seem to mind. Boneless wings weren't bad. Turns out they were all entertained the most with the lasertag (separate charge), shooting at us as adults and each other for 15min. Not all the kits were easy to put on, they didn't explain much of it and just let us rush through it and walked in. Not every gun had a working display so the numbers on the guns didn't correspond to the names in the post-game score TV summary. HOURS OF OPERATION from their website: Mon-Thurs (4pm-11pm) Fri (4pm - 12am) Sat (11am-12am) Sun (11am - 10pm) read more

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Spent an hour bowling with my college brothers. Pretty spacious bowling alley with a huge seating and table area by the bar. I like how they have giant screens at the end of the lanes showing various live tv channels or music. read more

Colonial Bowling & Entertainment - Bowling with my brothers - Bowling Near Me - Lawrenceville, New Jersey

I purchased a birthday party package through Groupon for Colonial Bowling & Entertainment thinking it was a good deal, but the experience turned out to be very frustrating. When I arrived, I was told I still had to pay additional taxes and gratuity, which I understand--but there were many restrictions that were never explained ahead of time. I wasn't allowed to access the party room at the start of my reserved time (4 PM), so I couldn't decorate, and even after the party started, the room still wasn't ready. The bowling lanes also weren't clean. There was no flexibility with bowling. Only the kids in the party were allowed to bowl--parents weren't allowed to join, even if we were willing to pay. I tried to get an additional lane nearby so adults could participate, but that wasn't allowed either, and none of this was communicated beforehand. On top of that, everything had to be strictly managed through the front desk, with no ability to easily adjust names or make changes, which made things unnecessarily complicated. Overall, there were too many restrictions, not enough communication, and very little flexibility. What seemed like a good deal through Groupon ended up being a stressful and disappointing experience. They really need to improve how they communicate their policies and handle parties. read more

Came here for a date night last weekend and had a decent time. Plenty of parking was available, although a few letters in the neon "Colonial" sign were burnt out so it was a little creepy :) Anyway, once inside, there was a pretty large amount of stuff! I was impressed by the arcade, but we were there for bowling, so we waited patiently in line to rent our shoes and get to work. It's kind of crazy how much bowling costs nowadays, but this seems to be generally true for all bowling alleys in the area, so it's not just a "Colonial" problem. Once we had our shoes on, we wandered down to our lane and started to battle. Unfortunately my wife is much better at bowling than I am :( I will say that the bowling balls did seem pretty disorganized, and it was hard for both of us to find an ideal ball. The lanes were pretty close together as well, so it became kind of cramped once another family started to bowl next to us. There was also food and a bar (!), but I didn't partake so I have no opinion on those :) Overall, the experience was OK, but I think I'd try another bowling alley next time, just to see if I could get a less cramped and more organized experience. read more

Colonial Bowling is a great family owned business offering bowling and arcade games. There is also laser tag but we have never tried that. The bowling alley offers great specials to fit your budget. We just went for the Saturday morning special which is $5 for shoe rental and one game of bowling. Perfect for young bowlers. Arcade games are in good condition. We come often for a fun activity indoors. read more

We've had both of our kids' most recent birthday parties at Colonial Bowling and Entertainment Center. We did the laser tag and arcade for one and bowling for the other. Both parties were about $30 per kid. With taxes, fees, and extra food the parties for about 16-18 kids came to about $700-800. The nice part is parents are able to hang out and we got some pizza for them too. It's a pretty good spot for kids to have a birthday party. read more

Colonial Bowling & Entertainment - Bowling Near Me - Lawrenceville, New Jersey

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I really wanted to give this place a good review especially because no bowling alley ever has last minute availability on a Friday night. That being said, there is a reason for the availability here. They ask you your shoe size but all of the shoes seem to be too tight in one's regular size (male or female). We purchased a lane for an hour ($39.99 and $5.99 for shoes) and had to request time to be placed back on the clock for multiple lane issues (including the lane not working and being switched to another lane). Lastly, the food was pretty bad (see pic). Chicken tender meal ($10.99) had almost no fries and when I asked for bbq, the server basically told me it was not worth it. Ketchup tasted off so much so that I didn't use it. Tenders were average. I want to end on a good note....the place had enjoyable arcade games; laser tag available but I didn't try; friendly service; many tvs and decent music. Decent bar. Still wouldn't go here again unless really desperate however. Try at your own annoyance. read more

Colonial Bowling & Entertainment - Lanes/tvs - Bowling Near Me - Lawrenceville, New Jersey

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Terrible experience. We had received game cards which was the reason we came here instead of our usual spot and the cards we were given were expired and all they said was not sure why they gave you old cards so we didn't get replacements. But as for the bowling we were assigned a lane...lane broken had to move....lane broken had to move..finally on the 3rd try it was working but the lane keypads didn't work on any of them so you were unable to skip bowlers or change anything, the bumpers on the lanes were almost all busted where they didn't go up in spots so my kids were still getting gutters, the balls would get stuck to where there was 4 behind the pins and tried to order drinks yet nobody to be found..stay away go some where else read more

The bowling area was pretty good. Had to wait just a few moments to go, we went on a Saturday afternoon. Went with the whole family, five people. I like that they have the guard rails for the younger kids so they can still have fun and not throw gutter balls all the time. We ordered some food, really wasn't that good, and for the most part overpriced a little bit. I guess that's to be expected for a bowling alley. A lot of these businesses should realize if they reduce their prices some they get more people buying food and drinks. If the prices were lower, I would've had two beers instead of one, I'm sure their profits would've been higher. It was a fun experience to go bowling once in a while. Probably will go again in the future. Probably won't order the food. read more

Overall nice bowling alley. The drinks were water down and over priced. But we had a nice time. read more

Colonial Bowling & Entertainment - Nice so far. - Bowling Near Me - Lawrenceville, New Jersey

Too expensive for the lanes not to function properly. One girl from the bartender staff is super happy to do her job, she's very nice

Place was nice, staff was kind. Bowling Friday night - $49 for an hour for 2 people $109 for a cheap cheesesteak quesadilla 10 microwave wings 2 ipa and two cosmo $10 for 1 round of a basketball game in the arcade. When did bowling get so expensive. Popularity due to entertainment scarcity in the local area have skyrocketed theses prices. Cops were heavy in the area leaving. Not going again. read more

I'm a 300 league bowler and gosh oh gosh do I have something to say. Normally, I don't go to different bowing lanes other than the one I am a regular at but some circumstances led me to here as it was the closest nearby. I am putting a two star on this place because it could've been a lot better. As I mentioned before, I'm a 300 league bowler and I have been bowling for over 20 years ever since I was five. And with a lot of experience you tend to notice the way the oil is done based on how it looks on the lane and the way your ball rolls. Never once, have I ever complained about a bowling alley... until now... I have never complained about bowling because it's something I enjoy, however, when I came to this bowling alley, I ended up complaining for a few reasons. 1. The entire building is slanted slightly. At first glance, you won't notice that the place is slightly slanted, but if you have had to go through balance rehabilitation due to an injury in the past, you'll definitely feel the building being slightly slanted. This is a safety hazard for everyone in the building. 2. The oil of the lane. I've been used to having oil being badly applied onto the bowling alley, but never once have I had it on a level that is just mind-boggling and baffling until I came here. If you're a bowler with experience, this is not the place for you. Your ball will likely get hurt. I have never a lot of marks from a conveyor belt in a bowling alley, but today when I looked at my ball at the end, there were scratches everywhere! I only had one to three scratches on my bowling ball before this and now I have 35 scratches on my bowling ball! I'm trying to not get angry in this post but it's proving to be difficult. This is a ball that means a lot to me because it's the ball that was given to me prior to my father dying and this ball being scratched the way it has been scratched is making me want to explode. 3. The employees. Now most of the employees were nice but when I first came in, I heard a manager and an employee annoyed at another worker for "not doing their job" and also arguing with each other. However, while this is probably related to the oil on the lanes, the way they were speaking was wrong. They were shifting blame on each other for the employee's actions and if anything, that work environment is not healthy. The only positive thing I got to say is the cheap food of the bar. It was only $10-20 for a soda, mozzarella sticks w/ sauce, and chicken fingers and french fries. However, the fact that the place is charging $51 PER AN HOUR for the lanes to only be AWFUL QUALITY with the oil on the lanes be mind-boggling bad just shows how much of a rip off this place is. Not only this but this place has a league, and part of the league rules of the national bowling association if I remember correctly is that the bowling alley must keep the bowling lanes well-maintained and well-oiled at all times. This place had NO OIL on ANY OF THEIR LANES which was obvious based on the way the other balls in the other lanes were behaving. This is against the National Bowling Association's rules for the leagues and their building is a safety hazard so this place is just a Pandora's box waiting to be opened. I wait to see what comes out of the Pandora's box when the government and the National Bowling Association comes down on this place for the building's safety hazards as well as breaking the league rules that bowling alleys are supposed to follow when they have a bowling league. Anyways, I'm out! Goodbye everyone and thank you for reading this! P.S. I hope that this place does better so it doesn't get into legal trouble. read more

Came here on a Sunday evening with a group of 5. The Sunday evening special is $10.99 per person and it includes shoes and unlimited games from 7-11pm. It's a large clean place with a good selection of food and drinks. We ordered the appetizer sampler plate and loved it! The fishbowl was small and pricey (17$). I also loved the music videos that played at the end of the lanes and the arcade games! Not sure how this compares to other close by bowling centers but we were happy with our experience!! read more

Colonial Bowling & Entertainment - Bowling Near Me - Lawrenceville, New Jersey

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I personally hate bowling, I get carpal-tunnel syndrome just thinking about it. But with beautiful glow in the dark lanes, comfy couches,a large delicious bar and crunchy wings I can definitely deal with some gutter balls. At night the place turns out into cosmic bowling and gets even cooler. All they need is some waiters bringing me my vodka tonics to get the full 5 stars. If you have ever been to lucky strikes in the city, this is the more affordable version. P.s. don't even worry about forgetting your socks...they sell some for $2. read more

Nice lanes! Had party here recently and the party room was excellent. The food isn't anything special but the lanes were good and everyone had fun. The lanes are pretty pricey per hour but go on one of the nights they have specials after 9pm and the game prices should be better. read more

I love colonial but for a family of 4 it costs 60 dollars to rent shoes and play one game. The game section similar to chuck e cheese was fun but if it were more affordable we would go here more often. Maybe they need coupons or have specials to help offset the cost? read more

If you are an actual bowler and are looking to come here I wouldn't recommend it. There is little to no oil on the lanes, you will end up just messing ur ball up. I came here to bowl with some friends and it made so many scratches on my ball, I was even hooking the whole lane with my spare ball. Also, $43 a lane for 1 hour is insanely overpriced. The only decent thing was the service. read more

This is no longer a bowling alley.....it's an arcade, a kids place to come and play the arcade games, pool, lasers, etc......there are way tooooo many things around - you can see the kid's heads spinning........sorry to see one more bowling try to change and fail....too bad! read more

For a Wednesday evening, you will find it may not be too crowded which is nice because it allows for plenty of parking options and a good amount of space between the different lanes being used. Offering roughly 25 lanes, the seating and play area is very modern with large sofas and ottoman pieces to adjust yourself comfortably within your lane area. Large projector TV's can be found at the end of the lanes, showcasing either sporting events or music videos when I had attended, so they could probably change it to whatever you may be looking for if there's a special event going on when you attend. There's a large arcade area to keep you busy if you finished bowling or just want to change it up a bit, perfect for an active date night to keep things interesting plus you can win tickets and build up to a nice little prize by the end of the night! The staff at the arcade was very friendly and kept themselves busy on the slow night between the shoe rental desk and the arcade desk. Bathrooms where clean as well as the entire area being very tidy and organized. They also have a large dining and bar area, which was fairly active when I was there during MLB playoffs. Colonial Bowling offers full liquor, wine, and beer taps at the bar, with some specials offered different nights of the week like a standard restaurant. Menu items were a standard bar fare with average pricing to the items. The bar service was a bit slow the night I had attended, the bartender had some issue distinguishing which whiskey bottle I was ordering, stating that they "don't drink whiskey so they don't know anything about it." There was also some delay with the beers we had ordered earlier while we were bowling, that was blamed on the keg being tapped incorrectly. read more

Colonial Bowling & Entertainment - Good variety of liquor in the bar area - Bowling Near Me - Lawrenceville, New Jersey

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If you bowl for the sport do not come here. Lanes were bone dry and left marks and dried up oil all over my bowling balls. Asked when they oil their lanes and was told "Fridays, sometimes, if the guy who oils the lanes has time to do it". read more

Deceptive advertising - I looked online and saw they were offering kids bowl free in the summer if registered. We registered our four kids and showed up to find out that registration is required the week before you bowl. I spoke to a manager who said that they do not have the authority to accommodate what was clearly stated online. It seems like a bait and switch to me. It's hard to tell four kids who are excited to bowl that you have to come back next week. We took them to a trampoline park instead, not wanting to give this place our business. read more

The staff here is very rude. I have little kids who needed a lighter ball but they refused to help. When i asked to enable bumper she refused again. They dont seem to care about the customer service and experience at all. Front desk lady needs to lighten up!! read more

Group of 20 of us enjoyed an evening of bowling on 4 lanes reserved in advance at peak time, 7 pm None of us were very good...but didn't matter because we had fun for after-work team-building. Included shoe rental. Scoring is automatic. Entertaining video displays. Family Friendly. Full bar service was attentive and friendly. While many beers are offered on draught, tasty Goose Island IPA was only craft beer, and none from NJ. Odd at this time of more popular craft beers. Traditional selection of bourbons, but missing any interesting selections. Basic bar food was served to us at the bowling lanes, and included pizza, mini-burgers, chicken wings, and pitchers of soda. To start the game, you don't enter your own name. The service person assigned to us did that, and sometimes the names were humorously spelled :) There is also a large video arcade area which we didn't use. Overall, Colonial Bowling is a fun evening of bowling, comradery, and good drinks, but don't expect anything more than mediocre food. On final note, there is a private security presence, and Lawrence Township police stopped by several times. Have there been problems? Tip: Happy Hour, 4-6 pm weekdays, and specials change daily. Unsure if bar area only? read more

You would think with fancy place prices that they would take care of this place. The majority of the arcade games we played were broken. There was problems with the pinsetter on our lane. The call button for service brought no response. And they only had two racks of bowling balls to pick from, because nobody put the balls away at the end of the night. Do yourself a favor and go to Bristol Pike, it's much less expensive And everything is much better organized and taken care of. read more

Came here a few months ago to bowl. Very cool place. Ample parking, inside clean, modern decor. Have an area for basic drinks and fast food. I like the music, videos playing on screen above bowling lanes, the score board is digialized . One of our lanes had a computer glitch that the main desk had to fix but otherwise we had a great time read more

Colonial Bowling & Entertainment - Bowling Near Me - Lawrenceville, New Jersey

First of all, Andrea provided us with some amazing service. You can tell she's definitely the go-to person here for getting things done but that didn't faze her service at all. Ordered drinks and food, the drinks came out but not the food; she took the initiative and went to the kitchen to get our food. Love the service she provided. As for the lanes, the animations on the screens are a bit outdated and don't really match up with what you shoot, but besides that everything else was amazing. They have great covid measures which include barriers between each lane. They also have menu scan code at each booth and also bring your order to you. Great experience overall. Found a hidden gem read more

Came her on Saturday afternoon which is popular time for kid parties. We had a good time. The place is clean and the games are fun. Even the rental shoes are nice for bowling shoes. I've never been at night but curious how the crowd is. Overall a good updated place and they have a big bar if you want cocktails. read more

Colonial Bowling & Entertainment - Bowling lanes - Bowling Near Me - Lawrenceville, New Jersey

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One of the best outings this weekend with a few colleagues. We booked lane 15 for an hour . The service was prompt and courteous. Kudos to the colonial team . In addition , the score in the end just added to the fun and excitement after a rather tiring week . read more

Colonial Bowling & Entertainment - Bowling Near Me - Lawrenceville, New Jersey

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This bowling alley was LIT on a Saturday night. Tons of people in there having a good time. We paid for a couple of hours bowling, which was very fun. I particularly enjoyed the random graphics that popped up on the screen after every roll. It was delightful! HOWEVAH... We ordered nachos. Nachos! The go-to bowling alley food. These nachos were well below average. They weren't terrible, but I can confidently say they were very bad. Thin bland chips, not enough toppings, and cold grey chunks of chicken. All distributed across a random shoddy bed of wet shredded lettuce. It was a sad sight. So clean up the nachos and we're looking at a four star situation. read more

Sorely disappointed. I've been bowling at Colonial since I was a child in the 1970s - had my first date with my wife there in 1989. Went back for the first time since the renovation tonight. Granted it was a fundraiser for the local high school but the experience was lacking. The rules of the road were unlimited bowling from 7 to 9. Got there a little after 7 and had to wait for the front desk to enter our names and light up the alley. It's a fundraiser with lots of kids - I get it. Finally get the lane running and it cuts off after the first game. Back up to the counter to deal with the amazingly unfriendly counter staff. Almost 15 minutes later the lane is relit and we start game 2. Meanwhile, let's talk about the bar/grill. The lone bartender simply could not keep up with the volume. Don't get me wrong, the bar was far from busy but it seems she was tending bar and running food from the kitchen. A simple order of 3 beers took more than 10 minutes to fill. The kitchen was even slower! 3 orders of fries took more then 30 minutes to make. I could have run down the street to BK faster! So here is the best part. 8 frames into the second game, the machine simply turns off and the scoreboard reverts to advertising. 3rd visit to the counter and another 10 minutes and we're back in business trying to wrap the last 2 frames. We resume bowling (it's now quarter after 9 - 15 minutes after the fundraiser is supposed to end but don't forget the 15 minutes wasted when the machines quit after game 1). Fewer than 5 minutes after we resume, the counter attendant (Odayla) actually walks over to our lane to tell us that the fundraiser ended 15 minutes ago. I ask "Do you want us to leave" and she says yes! Amazing! 15 empty lanes at 9:15pm on a Sunday night, A group that has dropped nearly $100 in the bar and grill and Odayla says beat it. To quote a previous reviewer, "Colonial is dead to me". Thanks for the memories but we'll never be back. I'd much rather bowl at Slocums or Curtis. Far more authentic and the food is a lot better too. Good riddance and good luck Colonial. read more

Dear Management - Hire and schedule more people! Why have a big, nice new complex and no one to staff it? I organized a work happy hour which, thank goodness, only ended up being four people, which completely overwhelmed the staff. It took forever to get drinks, and then we made the mistake of ordering food. We asked for three orders of sliders. The first order took 15 minutes to come out of the kitchen. And they weren't "sliders" - it was one hamburger cut in three pieces and then placed on little buns. We asked about the other two orders, and were told that there was a "VIP party" going on, so they got priority in the kitchen. (I guess there was only one person back there.) As a former waitress, I try to always give the staff the benefit of the doubt, but this was ridiculous. Another 15 minutes goes by - still no food and no one even came by to see how we were doing, see if we wanted more drinks (which we did!). There weren't very many people in the bar, so I have no idea what was going on and why our server was so frazzled. Finally we get our "sliders." The irony is, if the service was better, we would have had at least one more round of drinks and more food - but we were afraid of dying of old age. We got the check and got out of there. I doubt I'll go back unless it's for a bowling party. read more

Lane got shut down because my Grandmom accidentally slipped and they won't give us a refund

Pretty awesome place to come to bowl and watch sports. They have huge tv screens on top of the lanes so you can watch your favorite game and bowl at the same time. The staff were also really accommodating and played a certain game for our group right above our lane. read more

So Colonial Lanes is basically dead to me now. They completely redid the concept ("a full-service entertainment center", their website claims), the interior, and drastically raised the prices. Rock & bowl is an hour shorter and $5 more. The cheapest you'll find games is now M-F from 9-5, and even then it's still $4. Good grief. What used to be a disgustingly charming bar with nary a beer on tap (too dirty) is now the Atmosphere bar & grill. Uh, check please. Somehow the menu has been designed to appeal to the three major groups of Americans: sports fans, friends, and families. My brain is basically reeling. Supposedly these changes stem from "listening to [their] customers", as their websites states. I suppose Colonial listened to some Jersey Shore bozos who went to Brooklyn Bowl and noted how trendy bowling can appear when it's ridiculously overpriced. Selah, selah. read more

Kids had a fun birthday party. The place is clean and arcade was a bonus. All paper goods were provided but had to bring own candles. Overall was a good experience. read more

Came here on a Friday night at around 8pm and were pleasantly surprised we only had to wait 5 minutes for a lane. We ended up choosing the timed option which allows for 1 hr of lane time. Fine, what we didn't count on was our lane. Rather unluckily, the lane we were using constantly had issues resetting the pins, bringing the ball back etc. So we call the help button the first time....5 minutes no one comes to help- just like the server button...no one showed...don't really understand why even have these options. So each time my fiancé goes to complain as the machine is stuck. Third time comes around, the person shows us the reset button. Great! We reset our own lane. Would have done this sooner if we knew how but they just seemed annoyed that they had to come show us even though it's your equipment thats faulty. In the end, it still didn't help the messing up of our scores and just had us feeling frustrated by the time we left. We were given extra time as we wasted a large amount waiting for help or having something stuck. In total, Id say we had to reset the lane about 10 times . The place was nice, had new arcade games, decent bar but I'd go regular bowling alley next time as their lanes generally work just fine at a cheaper price. Especially when it seems like this establishment had no intention of fixing the problem. read more

An entertainment center. A chuck e cheese with bowling. It's hectic here. It's quite pretty inside. Really nice establishment. But the bowling was terrible. No controls of the screen, the bowling pins were not set well (missing pins, not registering pins, resets were frequent). Place is a madhouse on the weekends/nights. I'd rather get my bowling fix at Curtis or Slocum's. read more