Lucky Strike Lanes
WHAT: Lucky Strike Lanes (Bowling)
WHERE: River East Center (322 E. Illinois St.)
OUR RATING: Skip It!
(bowlluckystrike.com)
This is a super interesting location that seems to take bowling and make it a high class affair. On the second floor of the AMC River East movie complex, Lucky Strike Lanes boasts 18 lanes, 11 pool tables, a restaurant, bar and wine lounge. It’s darn swanky, and seems to get away with it. So, if you feel like bowling and being in a club at the same time, this place is perfect for you. If you’d prefer a more casual experience, stay away (there is even a dress code).
(bowlluckystrike.com)
Adam: There are a lot of things I quite like about Lucky Strike – beautiful ambience, glittering lanes, waiters bringing food and drink direct to your group and the feeling that you are privileged to be there. Then again, there is a lot I find less than acceptable – front desk staff tend to be snippy and rude, the drinks are regular and uninteresting, and the food is fare food with no extra frills.
(bowlluckystrike.com)
The major problem with Lucky Strike is its branding and message. It wants to be a celebrity filled almost L.A.-type experience, going so far as to mention on their website the numerous White Sox and Bears players who come to hang out there.
But, then again, it’s bowling, which I don’t really associate with celebrity or glamour. I was under the impression that bowling was a fun sport, much in the same way that soccer or croquet are quite fun. But, if someone told me that there was an exclusive croquet club, filled with celebrities dying to play and sipping on martinis, would I go? Probably not, because whatever the hell is being recommended is most likely a less than stellar experience (although I might go if it were some type of lawn party and only if Pimms was available).
(bowlluckystrike.com)
The earliest evidence for bowling is from ancient Egypt, were the game was played as a child’s diversion. And that’s what it is, a diversion. Not a fancy, expensive diversion, just a fun, wholesome and good-old game. That’s what Lucky Strike doesn’t understand and what makes the entire experience so damnably insufferable.
Alicia: I grew up in one of the most bowling-friendly families you can have, with both of my parents in leagues and my mom bowling right up to the day she gave birth to me. My dad even used to work on the lanes at various bowling alleys and I would go right down the lanes with him checking the mechanics and using a level on the lanes….back then, I was his master assistant with a clipboard and carbon-copy paper.
(bowlluckystrike.com)
Sure, this place is beautiful and swanky and a perfectly ‘fine’ institution with some okay weekly specials, but it just completely muddles what bowling is. It attempts to make it an upscale activity. Sorry, but it’s not, and I’d prefer to wear jeans over a pencil skirt as I stride with my bowling ball, thank you very much. And the food? Very, very poor.
I mean, we didn’t pay for any of it (we won some free games and food and took a few friends), and trust me – unless we win something free here again I probably won’t be coming back. There’s nothing terrible here, but it just completely muddies the sport and pastime of bowling, and is way too overpriced for what it really is. I’ll take some bar food and cheap beer at your average neighborhood bowling alley over this any day. Or those places that offer cosmic bowling with 90’s techno beats. That’s pretty sweet too.
Final Thoughts: Our feeling is: why bother. Go to your local alley, enjoy good food at cheap prices and have a relaxed night with friends. Bowling is supposed to be casual. Why screw up a good thing?
Warning: You must be 21+ to bowl after 8pm daily.