c/o Brooklyn Bowl

61 Wythe Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.963.3369
(Bowling Alley with food by Blue Ribbon)

Cuisine: American/Southern
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: All Major
Price: $$$
Hours: Monday – Thursday 6pm-2am; Friday 6pm-4am; Saturday 12pm-4am; Sunday 12pm-2am
Family Days are Saturday and Sunday! Noon-6pm is ALL AGES!
Booze: Full Bar
Subway: L to Bedford
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: No
We say:

A stunning sprawling space, albeit pricey.

The New Yorker says:

We suggest that you eat with your non-bowling hand,” a note on the menu at Brooklyn Bowl states, in a nod, presumably, to both aim and hygiene, if not to the traditional carelessness of ten-frame dining. This converted warehouse at the northern edge of Williamsburg does triple duty as a bowling alley, a music hall, and a grub house. Its kingpin, Peter Shapiro, the former owner of the bygone jam-bandy club Wetlands, has dreamed up an emporium that combines hedonistic excess (deep-end leather couches, spiked milkshakes, brisket, live music) with eco-consciousness (reclaimed-cork floors, no bottled beer, live music). For the eats, he brought in the Bromberg brothers, the creators of Blue Ribbon, to draw up a rebuke to every limpid water dog and fossilized onion ring you’ve ever downed, then regretted, at Wherever Lanes. They tinkered with comfort-food classics, secure in the knowledge that no bowler will ever crave endive. It’s a menu that begs over-ordering, as well as this remark from your waiter, regarding the procedure for delivering the food: “You guys want it as it fits?” “Fits where?” is one reply; the table is bigger than the stomach.

Still, all you have to do, while stuffed, is take a few steps forward and drop a twelve-pound ball on the floor, so there’s no sin in downing the carefully considered greaseballs the Blue Ribbon boys sling your way. Their fried chicken, dipped in matzoh batter, seasoned with Cajun spices, and accompanied by white bread and honey, has Earl Anthony game. The calamari, commingled with fried jalapeño, is the Dick Weber of fried squid. The San Gennaro, loaded with finely ground Italian sausage, is the Johnny Petraglia of French-bread pizzas: crisp outside, fluffy inside, it has all of the virtue, and none of the vice, of Stouffer’s. There are a few gutter balls; some might find the mac and cheese too creamy and the “Really” Sloppy Joe really actually too sweet. But the score sheet shows more X’s than —’s.

On a recent evening, the lanes were busy but not loud; the pins hang on strings, which helps muffle the din. Giant video screens showed montages from raunchy old B-movies like “The Student Nurses” and “Caged Heat.” Around eleven, the Roots took the stage, the dance floor filled up, and a waiter came by with Nutella-bourbon shakes, a convergence that felt like nailing a spare on a four-ten split. (Open weekdays for dinner and weekends for lunch and dinner. Entrées $9-$19.)

c/o Gothamist

200 North 14th Street
Brooklyn NY 11211
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718.387.3585

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: All Major
Hours: Mon-Thurs 5pm-4am; Fri 2pm-4am; Sat-Sun Noon-4am
Subway: L to Bedford Ave., G to Nassau Ave.
Food/Menu: No food available
Booze: Full bar
Happy Hour: Mon-Fri before 8pm & Mon-Thurs after 1am $1 off drafts and well drinks & $3 pitchers
NY Mag says:

The owners of Barcade salvaged equipment from an Ohio O-Rama to turn a former factory into an eight-lane bowling alley with an adjacent lodge-styled bar. It’s the first alley to open in Brooklyn in 50 years, and yet the place looks like it’s been around for nearly that long— from the 1970s Brunswick scoring machines to the antique telephone booth to the Tiffany beer lamps lighting the (fake) mahogany tables. One expects “Let’s Go to the Hop” and pitchers of Bud to match the American flag over the lanes, but the indie-rock-leaning soundtrack ranges from Bruce Springsteen to deep tracks of Sonic Youth. In addition to a decent selection of whiskeys, the bar dispenses a dozen craft brews to those sitting on its vinyl club stools. Those who aren’t hungry for beef jerky must resort to a Zagnut or a Mr. Goodbar from the vending machine. Blame your gutter balls on sticky fingers.

Metromix says:

Brought to us by the boys behind game-crazy hang Barcade, you’re not going to find any disco bowling here: no flashing laser lights, no house music, definitely no modern flatscreens showing scores. No, if anything this looks more like disco-era bowling, meaning it appears to have risen straight out of 1973. The décor—strictly rec room—is pretty bare-bones: think old brick walls, mismatched lamps, a couple of vintage TV sets, and equipment brought back from some old alley in the Midwest. Don’t expect to be getting your game on in a cavernous complex: there are only eight lanes (and reserving is out of the question for now), but a full bar overlooks them so the actual bowling may very well become an afterthought.