Good place for corporate events. Decent food and drinks with several bowling lanes.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Cesar
I really wanted to like this place. Our first visit to Bowl & Barrel was actually decent, which made us confident enough to book a second event here — big mistake.
Trying to make the reservation was already frustrating. I was left on hold for 15 minutes, then hung up on. When I called back, the person who answered said they weren’t a host but would “pass on the info” to the right person and that I’d get a callback within 10–15 minutes. I waited over an hour — nothing. I called again, and a different employee told me they had “tried” calling me (they hadn’t) but confirmed our reservation.
Once we arrived, the experience completely fell apart. The host gave us our lane and tossed the shoes on the floor, then walked off quickly before anyone could even thank her. Her attitude was cold and unprofessional.
We waited 20–30 minutes for a server — no water, no greeting, no one checking in. The place was nearly empty, just us and a small family, yet all the staff were gathered at the bar chatting, giving us the occasional stare, and continuing to ignore us.
Eventually, I had to get up and place our order at the bar myself — just waters and one draft beer. I returned to bowl and we waited another 20+ minutes… still nothing. The drinks were just sitting on the counter the entire time while the staff kept socializing. My sister finally started walking toward them to ask what was going on — only then did they suddenly rush to bring the already-warm beer and waters that had been left sitting out.
This place is nice in theory — the bowling setup is modern and clean — but the service and attitude from the staff are unacceptable. No professionalism, no sense of urgency, no visible management. It felt like being served by a disinterested group of teenagers at a fast food joint. If this is the standard now, I don’t see this business lasting much longer.
I wouldn’t recommend Bowl & Barrel to anyone looking for a smooth or enjoyable group experience. There are much better spots in Houston where customer service still matters.
Update(8/18/25): I emailed the email they commented below saying sorry for the bad experience and to please email them so they can make it right I sent the email on Aug 14,2024 they still haven’t responded to my email just so everyone is aware they don’t care to make it right or care if you email them. Them saying that is just for looks to act like they care about the customer when they don’t.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 4
Service: 1
Kevin Bautista
I came in with my family to celebrate my younger sister’s birthday. Was briefly greeted by Danielle with a not so great attitude. I’ve worked in the service industry for a long time so I thought perhaps she had had a horrible day. Bowling usually lasts about two hours. Out of those 2 hours she probably checked in a total of about 2-3 times, and each time very briefly. I’m glad most of my family was more focused on the actual bowling part and not having to deal with finding the server or getting her to speak to us. I usually tip VERY well having worked in the service industry but I still decided to leave 15% despite the terrible attitude of the service. Bartender’s drink was fabulous; if not for that I would’ve left a 1 star review.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 1
Amy B
The food was good and so was the atmosphere. Our servers were great and recommended a really good drink!!! All in all, it was a good time:)
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Ashley H.
Amazing for date night or girls night. Service was great and drinks were delicious. Highly recommend for lowkey bowling night.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Nathan Luebke
Nice place. Our company rented 8 lanes for a company team building. The service is good, food is pretty good. Would be nice if someone helped guide the experience a bit more for team interaction but overall a good experience.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Luis Lopez
Let me be clear…the service here is absolutely terrible.
We booked a lane for 2 hours and not once did a server come to greet us, check in, or offer help. The front desk girl had a horrible attitude right from the start, and it only got worse from there. The servers? Too busy standing around at the bar gossiping and laughing amongst themselves, then scatter like roaches the second you walk toward them. It’s unbelievable.
There was zero customer care, zero effort, and clearly zero management presence. I honestly don’t know how most of the staff got hired it looks like they just throw anyone in a shirt and call it a day.
As someone who manages a large team for a major corporation, here’s my professional recommendation: clean house. Start with management and every single server. What I witnessed was a crew of people stealing company time with no intention of actually working. It’s not just bad service it’s a lack of any work ethic or basic standards.
Until serious changes are made, I would strongly advise anyone to take their business elsewhere.
Atmosphere: 1
Service: 1
Tiffany Dobbins
Nice place to have a chill bowling date but total lack of service. We reserved a 2-hour time slot & when we were assigned our lane, there were plates, glasses & mess from the people that were there before us so it wasn't clean at all. About 20 minutes go by, no one comes by so we ask the front desk how do we order food & she said she'd have a server come by. No one did. Another 10-15 minutes go by, there were a few staff members that walked by setting up barstools & we went up to ask one of them if we can order something & he took out order. He brought out the food & we literally never saw him or another server for the remainder of the 2 hours we were there. No one came to ask if we needed a refill or if we needed anything really. There was so much lack of attention from the servers/staff that we definitely could've just walked out without paying for our food but we are not those type of people. My husband went up to the bar to see if someone could get us our tab & a lady finally came over & helped us out but sheesh to be there for 2 hours & for us to have to literally search for someone to take our order & then never be checked on is wild.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 4
Service: 1
Darrin Stringfield
This place would be awesome if there was a sign of life from the staff
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 1
LT
Awesome experience. Great date night, food was amazing. All appetizers were amazing but the best one was the hummus, and the pretzel.
Everything was great, but you do have to pay for parking at this location, it’s not expensive though, like $15 for 3hrs I think.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Brendain F
The shoes I received were busted and worn out, I thought they were gonna fall apart a few times, the first lane they put us in had some kinda malfunction so we had to move to another lane. Other than that we had a nice bowling experience.
Atmosphere: 3
Service: 3
jonathan tran
Edit: Asked me to email them more details, did so, never got a response
Way too pricey for 2 lanes for 2 hours. Nice beer selection but wouldn't go back. We paid almost 400 for just 2 lanes and 2 hours and shoes for 7 people not including food and drinks. Didn't love we were asked to tip just to rent a lane too, before we even sat down
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 2
Cristina Morales
Nice place to de-stress and forget about work.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
anthony jennings
It was a relaxing place. Different from your normal bowling alley. Food was not that good.
Good place for corporate events. Decent food and drinks with several bowling lanes.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
I really wanted to like this place. Our first visit to Bowl & Barrel was actually decent, which made us confident enough to book a second event here — big mistake.
Trying to make the reservation was already frustrating. I was left on hold for 15 minutes, then hung up on. When I called back, the person who answered said they weren’t a host but would “pass on the info” to the right person and that I’d get a callback within 10–15 minutes. I waited over an hour — nothing. I called again, and a different employee told me they had “tried” calling me (they hadn’t) but confirmed our reservation.
Once we arrived, the experience completely fell apart. The host gave us our lane and tossed the shoes on the floor, then walked off quickly before anyone could even thank her. Her attitude was cold and unprofessional.
We waited 20–30 minutes for a server — no water, no greeting, no one checking in. The place was nearly empty, just us and a small family, yet all the staff were gathered at the bar chatting, giving us the occasional stare, and continuing to ignore us.
Eventually, I had to get up and place our order at the bar myself — just waters and one draft beer. I returned to bowl and we waited another 20+ minutes… still nothing. The drinks were just sitting on the counter the entire time while the staff kept socializing. My sister finally started walking toward them to ask what was going on — only then did they suddenly rush to bring the already-warm beer and waters that had been left sitting out.
This place is nice in theory — the bowling setup is modern and clean — but the service and attitude from the staff are unacceptable. No professionalism, no sense of urgency, no visible management. It felt like being served by a disinterested group of teenagers at a fast food joint. If this is the standard now, I don’t see this business lasting much longer.
I wouldn’t recommend Bowl & Barrel to anyone looking for a smooth or enjoyable group experience. There are much better spots in Houston where customer service still matters.
Update(8/18/25): I emailed the email they commented below saying sorry for the bad experience and to please email them so they can make it right I sent the email on Aug 14,2024 they still haven’t responded to my email just so everyone is aware they don’t care to make it right or care if you email them. Them saying that is just for looks to act like they care about the customer when they don’t.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 4
Service: 1
I came in with my family to celebrate my younger sister’s birthday. Was briefly greeted by Danielle with a not so great attitude. I’ve worked in the service industry for a long time so I thought perhaps she had had a horrible day. Bowling usually lasts about two hours. Out of those 2 hours she probably checked in a total of about 2-3 times, and each time very briefly. I’m glad most of my family was more focused on the actual bowling part and not having to deal with finding the server or getting her to speak to us. I usually tip VERY well having worked in the service industry but I still decided to leave 15% despite the terrible attitude of the service.
Bartender’s drink was fabulous; if not for that I would’ve left a 1 star review.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 1
The food was good and so was the atmosphere. Our servers were great and recommended a really good drink!!! All in all, it was a good time:)
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Amazing for date night or girls night. Service was great and drinks were delicious. Highly recommend for lowkey bowling night.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Nice place. Our company rented 8 lanes for a company team building. The service is good, food is pretty good. Would be nice if someone helped guide the experience a bit more for team interaction but overall a good experience.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Let me be clear…the service here is absolutely terrible.
We booked a lane for 2 hours and not once did a server come to greet us, check in, or offer help. The front desk girl had a horrible attitude right from the start, and it only got worse from there. The servers? Too busy standing around at the bar gossiping and laughing amongst themselves, then scatter like roaches the second you walk toward them. It’s unbelievable.
There was zero customer care, zero effort, and clearly zero management presence. I honestly don’t know how most of the staff got hired it looks like they just throw anyone in a shirt and call it a day.
As someone who manages a large team for a major corporation, here’s my professional recommendation: clean house. Start with management and every single server. What I witnessed was a crew of people stealing company time with no intention of actually working. It’s not just bad service it’s a lack of any work ethic or basic standards.
Until serious changes are made, I would strongly advise anyone to take their business elsewhere.
Atmosphere: 1
Service: 1
Nice place to have a chill bowling date but total lack of service. We reserved a 2-hour time slot & when we were assigned our lane, there were plates, glasses & mess from the people that were there before us so it wasn't clean at all. About 20 minutes go by, no one comes by so we ask the front desk how do we order food & she said she'd have a server come by. No one did. Another 10-15 minutes go by, there were a few staff members that walked by setting up barstools & we went up to ask one of them if we can order something & he took out order. He brought out the food & we literally never saw him or another server for the remainder of the 2 hours we were there. No one came to ask if we needed a refill or if we needed anything really. There was so much lack of attention from the servers/staff that we definitely could've just walked out without paying for our food but we are not those type of people. My husband went up to the bar to see if someone could get us our tab & a lady finally came over & helped us out but sheesh to be there for 2 hours & for us to have to literally search for someone to take our order & then never be checked on is wild.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 4
Service: 1
This place would be awesome if there was a sign of life from the staff
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 1
Awesome experience. Great date night, food was amazing. All appetizers were amazing but the best one was the hummus, and the pretzel.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Everything was great, but you do have to pay for parking at this location, it’s not expensive though, like $15 for 3hrs I think.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The shoes I received were busted and worn out, I thought they were gonna fall apart a few times, the first lane they put us in had some kinda malfunction so we had to move to another lane. Other than that we had a nice bowling experience.
Atmosphere: 3
Service: 3
Edit: Asked me to email them more details, did so, never got a response
Way too pricey for 2 lanes for 2 hours. Nice beer selection but wouldn't go back. We paid almost 400 for just 2 lanes and 2 hours and shoes for 7 people not including food and drinks. Didn't love we were asked to tip just to rent a lane too, before we even sat down
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 2
Nice place to de-stress and forget about work.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
It was a relaxing place. Different from your normal bowling alley. Food was not that good.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
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