Colonial Lanes Bowling – Lawrenceville, NJ

What I like about this place is that they have days with 99 cents bowling. What I don't like is just about everything else! It's too much frustration to play here.

I saw this place while driving by one day and decided to go in. It was kind of empty, but I figured it was mid-day on a weekend, so maybe it got busier at night. From what I've seen it never gets busy. It looks a little old inside, the ceiling tiles are stained, but they had a sign up that they were remodeling and the pictures looked fantastic. They were to put in couches, big screen televisions, a private party room, etc. I guess that included some new carpet, ceiling tiles, and paint also.

I know from experience that remodeling doesn't usually include any work on the actual bowling lanes themselves, but this place really needs it. We rented some lanes this past weekend, and the bumper wouldn't go down properly. My Girlfriend had a hurt arm, so she couldn't throw good and the ball ended up in the gutter a few times. It got stuck, because the bumper towards the end of the lane wasn't in all the way. So, after the second time of the ball getting stuck we both quit the game. We're probably never going back here again. I'd rather drive a little further and find a better place, like Brunswick Zone in North Brunswick.

This place is in desperate need of some new house balls as well. There's not many balls to fit larger fingers in the holes, and a bunch of the balls are chipped inside, which cut into my finger and left a mark. If I wasn't careful it could have actually cut it.

The soda machine wasn't working. There was a sign on it that says go to the snack bar, but that wasn't even open. Nobody was at the bar, so where was someone supposed to get a drink?

A lot of times the video games aren't turned on, and we've only seen the jukebox on once. Maybe it's because the time it was on some idiot played a whole block of Fleetwood Mac song.. wow was that torture! I wish it was on, though. I'd have played some songs everytime I went there. It was internet connected I think, so it had a lot of content in it.

I was going to sign up for a winter league, but going back this weekend seeing they didn't get the remodeling done, and the bad experience, I don't think I will. They say the reodeling didn't happen because the town isn't giving out any permits. Now, I don't know if that is truthful or they really don't have the money to remodel, but if it is the town's fault then that's sad. Bowling alley's are slowly disappearing. A little work and this place could be a really great place once again, but for the time being I'd steer clear.