Incredible establishment with so many amenities! My family has loved Great Escape for bowling parties, social outings and just fun for the kids in the arcade. Recently we enrolled in the learn to bowl class with Darla, who is an amazing teacher. Where else in the Central Iowa can you get professional help from a hall of fame bowler. The food is hands down the best I have had in a very long time. It was a perfect array of foods. From delicious wings, to incredible pizza, to the gourmet burgers. There is something for everyone on Great Escapes food menu. My personal favorite is the jalapeño popper burger. WOW! 5 stars is not enough for a diamond in the rough!! You can truly tell the owners take pride in their establishment. Always re-investing in their business. Run! Don't walk, to the best family entertainment center in Iowa!! read more

A Remarkable Birthday Experience - Truly Unforgettable! We celebrated our twins' 6th birthday party at this bowling alley back in October 2024, and even months later, the experience still stands out as one of the most memorable events we've had as a family. Life got in the way of writing this sooner, but the level of care and professionalism we received from the staff deserves to be recognized, no matter how much time has passed. From the moment we started planning, the staff was beyond accommodating and attentive. Communication was seamless leading up to the big day, and they made every effort to ensure things ran smoothly from start to finish. On the day of the party, they assigned our group a dedicated support person who went above and beyond--keeping drinks filled, food warm, and everyone smiling. It felt like every detail, big or small, mattered to them. What really touched us most was the way they made our twins and their friends feel special, especially in the arcade area. Their kindness, patience, and energy created an unforgettable atmosphere for the kids, and left a lasting impression on every adult in the room. It's rare these days to find a team that takes pride in genuine customer service the way this crew did. They didn't just host a party--they created an experience, and it's why we will continue to celebrate our family birthdays here. Customer service is free, but this team gave it with heart, effort, and professionalism that went above and beyond expectations. Thank you for making our twins' birthday so special--we can't wait to come back! read more

I bowl league here and idk why but it's some of the driest lanes I've ever bowled on I might be switching centers next year unless this changes the oil at bowlerama is 10 times better the lanes are fresh all night read more

Very friendly staff, very well maintained and they have awesome bowling specials. Not to mention their arcade gives Dave and Busters a run for their money. Only one issue, they start their unlimited late night bowling specials early but it's also a very popular place for leagues. I know they don't have much control over that but when I get there when the special takes place and I have to wait for the league to finish which sometimes takes hours I just wish that's something I knew sooner. Again I understand that there is little they can do about it but just thought I would say something. read more

Bowling, food, and arcade is great. Fall pass is great offer bowling 2 games from Oct 20-Nov 26 for only $50

Great place with lots of options. Friendly staff and greatful they offer gluten friendly food options. Great Moscow mules too. read more

Great Escape Pleasant Hill - Really great place to bowl! - Bowling Near Me - Pleasant Hill, Iowa

My son loves this arcade. The staff is friendly and he has fun. Bowling may be a bit more pricey, but the lanes are nice. Since they have a full restaurant inside, there are a lot of options to choose from. read more

Great place big arcade and they have a summer seasonal pass for the summer 2 free games every single starting on May 24th. Will be back for this! read more

this has been the greatest experience I've ever had in my life. If I had to choose between seeing my son be born or a night out at this bowling, I would be knocking them pins down for sure.... truly the best! read more

One star is too many. We were told by 3 different people 3 different things about the availability of a lane for our kids. The first person was very professional and courteous. The second and third were horrifically discourteous, unprofessional, uncaring and basically rude about no available lanes. All of this while there were empty lanes the kids could've used before the other groups scheduled for this evening arrived. We would have stayed while the kids bowled, had some more drinks and maybe dinner. But there are much better, more friendly establishments. read more

Came for bowling on a Saturday evening. Short staffed so tables were piled up with dirty dishes and counter full of shoes that needed put away. Floor wasn't real clean either. Service for beer was slow. Selection was good. We found the cleanest table and played cards while we waited for a lane to open up. There were several empty lanes not being used. Perhaps they needed repairs? Bowling was fine. Shoes are clean and fairly new. We had to sit by a dirty table for out lane. You could pay more and have an actual bowling booth. read more

Had an amazing time! Girls night out, 7 mom's of wrestlers. It was simple to pay for individually, we had 2 hours and rental shoes. On a Friday night. $16.95/person. The staff was helpful with our shoes and balls. Beer on tap was nice and cold, I don't know the average going rate for a pitcher, we paid $10.25 here. Lights were dim, music videos playing on the screens, lots of fun to be had! We all had a great time! Definitely will go back! My kids have attended birthday parties here too, they offer an arcade, party room and laser tag as well as bowling. read more

This establishment has something for everyone! 24 bowling lanes. Staff is very attentive and welcoming , service is excellent. There is an arcade and laser tag, which makes it an awesome place to host children's birthday parties. Awesome food and drink selection. Great for a family outing, birthday party, corporate event or just a fun night out. read more

Great Escape Pleasant Hill - Bowling Near Me - Pleasant Hill, Iowa

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Poor customer service, I honestly don't know why I return to this place. I have been 2 times with an estimated wait time and been forgotten about both times to which we were sitting patiently for about an hour. Tonight we were put on the wait list and I was assured we were second on the list with about a 40 min wait- needless to say thank god we went to another bar near by while we waited because two and a half hours later with no call we called back to check in and with no apology every time- they let us know that there are now many lanes open at that point. This place is a giant waist of your own time unless thats your thing. Don't plan to return and happy to take our business elsewhere. read more

I honestly didn't know what to expect when I showed up. Is definitely a lot bigger than I thought, it's a fun environment for big groups, they've got bowling, Lazer tag, and an arcade area. The service was great though I felt bad for our server or seemed like she was the only one serving a bunch of people. If you bring anything from the outside in, they will call you out, so be sure to finish whatever you're eating or drinking before entering! read more

Wouldn't recommend for bowling or arcade area at all. Bowling was overpriced and lanes not waxed. Balls with many chips and lanes/tvs outdated. The arcade was one of the worst I've seen. MAJORITY of the games, over half, we're broken or inoperable to some degree and they kept all of them open. Too many games to count that I swiped and just lost my credits. Poor selection of prizes as well. At the arcade I loaded a card for $60 worth of gameplay, tried to play the broken games, had $40 worth left in the cars and they wouldn't issue any sort of partial compensation. . Waste of time and money. Find a different option. read more

21 of our friends/family came here on Saturday. This was our first time here. We had a 4 o'clock reservation for the VIP area lanes. I recommend the VIP lanes, you do pay just a little bit more but it's well worth it giving the more private enclosed area. We all had a fantastic time, and the kids even more so. The lanes were very nice, no annoying hiccups with delay of games for any reason. Kids ordered food which came out very prompt. The typical fries, nachos, mozzarella sticks type bowling alley food but also yummy. Any drink you basically want for the adults with a nice bar and accommodating service. Later on we left to go to dinner however came back so the kids could do laser tag, they had a blast. Thank you Great Escape we will be back! read more

Great Escape Pleasant Hill - Part of our group. Loved the seating area just for us. - Bowling Near Me - Pleasant Hill, Iowa

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I've tried this place a couple times, hoping that the food will get better. The atmosphere is great. It has a sports bar theme. They do have a hummus trio made from scratch which is delicious! Served with pita chips. Tuesday's kids eat free and they have a man singing kids songs. I've had the pizza and Italian sausage sandwich. Both seem blah. They have a lot of IPA beers. So far I think this is a place I'd rather have drinks and appetizers. read more

Way over priced I felt like I was robbed paying $25 for 1 hour plus gratuity for the driest worst lane I have ever bowled on I bowled 2 frames and walked out disgusted never again read more

Worst experience I've EVER had at an establishment!! our first and last time my family will ever go there.... there are no signs directing you, my family (9 of us) came in for lunch because we figured we could eat, play games and laser tag was a must! bowling we weren't sure on ... wrong choice if you're not bowling and if you have more than 4-6 ppl... no staff coordination which led to a misunderstanding/argument between my family and another family... caused my pregnant sister to have an anxiety attack and their only offer was to give me $20 off our food (which by this time, everyone was sick over the situation and no longer hungry) you're better off making the trip to ames perfect games read more

We paid over 50 dollars for ONE hour of bowling in the VIP section just for our lane to stop working 6-7 times. We continually went up and had to ask for our lane to be reset causing time to be lost when you have to pay by the hour to bowl here. The customer service is awful, they did barely anything to compensate. Added twenty minutes to our time and the issues continued with with the staff acting like it wasn't an issue. This place is over priced with the worst customer service. The manager working was nothing but rude. I can name multiple other bowling allies in the greater Des Moines area that would have been more helpful with better customer service. 10/10 terrible experience, I would never recommend this place to anyone. My family and I will NOT be returning EVER. read more

It's a great place to have fun and spend some money, because it's not cheap, but I get it, the place is nice and has lots of attractions. Now the customer service in the bowling area is terrible. The gentleman pretty much said it's pointless to reserve because we can't promise you a spot! I understand it's busy, but there's other ways to say that. He was not welcoming at all, nor friendly. We took our business somewhere else and it's to bad, that one single bad attitude ruined the experience. read more

I'm only giving one star because I can't give anything less. I have been here one time before the remodel and wasn't impressed. I saw that they had finish the remodel and my boyfriend and I decided to stop in to check it out....thinking things would be better. Boy...were we wrong! We sat for 15 mins before having to grab a waitress to order. Then 10 mins to get said beer. We wanted to order some food to snack on and had to ask for a menu. Normally customers shouldn't have ASK for a menus. Got our food we FINALLY were able to order and while she was delivering I ordered another pitcher as well as two shots. I had to remind her of said pitcher and never got the shots. You know it's bad when two couples come and go at the table next to us because they didn't have any service. All around a horrible place to spend your time and money. read more

Came here with friends during a "happy hour" price of $1.95 per game. This place is currently undergoing a remodel, but my impression was.... wow, what a place! The bowling balls are all kinds of crazy neon colors, plus they have a "minion" ball and a "superman" ball. They even had a display where you could measure finger size and figure out what size ball you should have. And thanks to modern technology, the score is kept for you (dang, ruined my fun, I love to calculate scores in bowling!), along with a plethora of statistics you never cared to know, such as how fast (in miles per hour) you are throwing the ball, how many frames you left "open," the number of strikes and spares, and all kinds of stats no one ever cared about before. PLUS! If you didn't hit all the pins down, thanks to modern technology, the screen provides you a quick suggestion at how to hit the pins down to "spare." As one of my friends said (albeit, sarcastically...), "We would have been clueless without this." And thanks to modern technology, the people behind the counter fill in the names on the screen for you. Although you could do it yourself, there is a control panel on your lane.......DANG! I wanted to put the names in myself! Can't I be allowed to do ANYTHING? I have to mention the shoes. Even though they were, technically, "bowling shoes" (and we know how ugly those are!), they had really attractive shoes! I would have been ok to wear those as "street shoes." I had a coupon that allowed one free game, even during the "happy hour" pricing. However, the coupon wanted your name, phone number, email address, and some "marketing" stuff. I asked if the phone number and email were "required." I was told the information was required to use the coupon. So I refused to use the coupon, and the person behind the counter finally consented to allowing only my name. THANK YOU! Because of the remodeling, the "bar" wasn't the greatest, they didn't have all the ingredients for my favorite drink, but made do with "substitutions." When the remodel is done, this should be a fantastic place! There was a sign mentioning that there was karaoke bowling. I rode here with friends, so I didn't really pay much attention as to whether you could park an RV in the parking lot. ********************************** UPDATE: Went here again when they had a "special" of 2 hours of free bowling (to include shoe rental and free pizza). This was a really good deal! Eleven of us went and used two lanes. Ok, the free pizza, well, for eleven of us, they gave us two 12 inch pizzas (one per lane), and both were "one topping" pizza. They were ok, but not enough for eleven of us, so we ordered two more pizzas. We ordered their "supreme" pizza, which, at $17 for a 12 inch was a bit pricey. But the Supreme Pizza wasn't bad. And, the way they did the free bowling was at exactly two hours after we started, the game was "stopped." Well, we were in the middle of the 9th frame (again, there were eleven of us), so they turned it back on and let us finish. We promised we would pack up after the 10th frame. This "free bowling" deal of two hours was a wonderful thing! The only downer was there was a sign on the door advertising that they needed a bartender, and that was true as the employee working the bar at the time kind of confessed in so many words that she was just "filling in." Another WOO HOO! to this place. (and hoping they hire a good bar tender....) read more

Had my step-daughters birthday here and the staff was amazing. They went the extra mile to make sure we had everything. One critique; the kitchen had a problem with the cake so they may want to let people bring one in, but othe than that it was too notch. I would definitely do a birthday there again. read more

First, we tried to get cards to play laser tag/games using their machine. It didn't work. So, we tried to use their ATM to get cash to get cards. Didn't work. It was suggested by the workers that we go across the street and pay a fee at the ATM at the gas station because their machine wasn't working. We did. Because we're foolish. Ordered the bacon and chicken mac and cheese. Worst mac and cheese I've ever had. I not only will not recommend this to anybody but will straight up tell folks to never come here. Example: "I'm thinking about going to chilis"-my friend "that's cool. For sure don't go to Great Escape though"-me read more