Mardi Gras Bowling Center

I’ve bowled at about a half-​dozen alleys in or around the Triangle and this is my least favorite. This alley charges AMF prices (or more), but for crappy lanes that are outdated and inferior to any other alley in the area. Early Sunday = $ 5 a game. Call them? They won’t pick up… click for specials? You get some weird voicemail message from the ‘70s repeating in your ear over and over again, but you’ll be unable to back out of it without hanging up and dialing again. There’s no point in dialing again, though, since literally NO useful information is given (like we overcharge like crazy here) and no one picks up. Ever.
Even though the 20 or so lanes they had were half-​empty, I was placed right next to screaming children. To the man’s credit, I seemed to be the only non-​screaming child (save for a few unfriendly adults) in the entire establishment. Great place if you want a headache and $ 5 games on crappy lanes that don’t even hold true to your roll. I left and went to Village Lanes and doubled my average score. This place sucks. I literally hated every moment I was there and bowling is one of my favorite pastimes (I was counting down my frames until I was done, but couldn’t stomach walking out when I’d paid the guy more than $ 15 for just three games). Save yourself the hassle, unless you have screaming children and just don’t care.

NO BEER. I REPEAT: NO BEER!
If you need beer when you bowl, I would not recommend this place. Why? Because there is none.
Now that we’ve settled that — why would I still rate Mardi Gras 4 stars? Well it’s always clean. The people I’ve encountered working there have always been super nice. And THE BEST PART: the prices :) Monday from 5−10PM, they call it «Quartermania.» You pay a $ 5 cover charge and all the games are only $ 0.25 each! Since we have our own shoes, it’s a pretty sweet deal.
A clean, cheap, nearby place to bowl. That’s all I need to love it!

I wanted to have a good time here. I really did but the 2 chicks behind the counter totally ruined our experience. Friendly as rattle snakes, they were obviously annoyed that my group was there today. The ladies seemed utterly unamused that we inconvenienced them to help us set up for our small group of about 10 children. Not only were they rude to everyone, they were rude to the children which I think is pretty unacceptable. The kids were not causing trouble, but when a ball got stuck in the gutter, it was a «big deal» with many sighs and eye rolls for one of the ladies to come over and un-​stick it.
Furthermore we were harassed/​hassled when we asked them for the smaller 6lb balls for the 3 – 5 yr old children. The lady practically scolded me for asking, demanded to know my childs age and warned me that I better return the 6 lb ball back up front. (What was I going to do? Stick it in my purse?) Completely uncalled for.
I cannot recommend this place and my family won’t be going back. Sorry.

Totally fine bowling experience. Only one issue– THEY DONT SERVE BEER.
Went on a Monday night and it was sparsely populated but well-​lit. Not the most intense atmosphere for bowling night. i can see why a family with kids would love it, but as a set of 4 guys we were a bit underwhelmed, especially since there was no beer. Beer is an important part of tolerating the soul-​crushing boredom of 4 games of bowling. Beer keeps you from realizing that bowling is boring. Which is why Mardi Gras only gets three stars from me.

Bad experience here, actually felt hustled out of money. Here’s the story:
So 4 of us walk in, have about an hour to bowl and ask about pricing, the guy suggests we rent a lane for an hour, it ends up being about $ 44 after shoe rental. But, the hour starts as soon as we pay, so getting our shoes on, balls ready, we’ve already lost 5 to 10 minutes. Then the bumpers are up, we have to have the guy come take them down, eats another 5 minutes. Then 20 minutes in the pin clearer stops working, we have to get the guy to come fix the lane, eats another 5+ minutes. The hour comes to a close and we have less than 3 frames left in our second game. I ask if we can finish (my friend was bowling the best game of her life and really wanted to close out). The guy says if we want to finish we have to rent another 15 minutes, even though we only really ever got about 40 minutes of our original hour in the first place. But, he insists and I pay him the $ 7 he is asking for. Anyway, $ 7 really isn’t anything, but it made me really mad still. It was a blatant hustle. Not only will I never go back, but I HIGHLY recommend heading ten minutes down the road to the AMF, nicer lanes, way nicer and better ball selection, cheaper, and most importantly WAY WAY WAY better customer service.
I would describe this place as dingy, old, badly kept and unfriendly to boot.

I am anything but an avid bowler. I can’t even think of the last time I went but this place makes me kinda want to go back and see if I can improve my score of 67. I was so showed up by my kids.
The people who work here were very nice and though we didn’t really need any help they were good about setting up one of those ball roll-​offs (don’t know the name) for the kids who were younger and were available to ask questions.
I found this to be an very inexpensive way to kill a few hours. They have a game room and a snack bar (very small and limited) and I didn’t see anyone getting anything to eat there. The bathrooms are spotless and I noticed they will be doing summer camps for kids.
The Mardi gras motif is a little funky but not overdone. And they play some cool 80s music so that is a plus. They are looking for a dj so if that’s you-​go apply at the front desk!

A bit gloomy, run down, and poorly maintained. Also had an odd burning smell the last time we went. And on top of that, it’s pretty expensive for a family outing… Just not a good experience.

Came for a kids birthday party. Well organized and the kids stayed busy the entire time

When my friends and I planned to go bowling, I couldn’t wait! All I could think of times in college, bringing frothy pitchers to the table and quaffing them from solo cups. Laughing, talking, maybe a little bowling, helluva lotta trash talk. Good times.
Well, sober on up and read the Unilocal reviews before you just hit up a place because you won’t find any suds here. It’s a family place, for heaven’s sake. Wanna know where the Chapel Hill teens hang out (because yes, there are local people)? It’s here. And they don’t stay past 11pm.
But at TEN pm on Saturdays it’s time for GLOW BOWL. You might notice that man walking into each and every lane. He’s switching on the BLACK LIGHTS YES, because evidently they don’t have one switch for the entire alley. It’s more of a let’s-buy-some-portable-college-dorm-room-black-lights-that-were-popular-in-the-late-90s-slash-early-00s-and-flick-em-on-and-start-charging-double-what-we-normally-charge type of thing.
Plus side to Glow Bowl: everyone is giddy for about five minutes. Omg, look at my socks!
Downsides to Glow Bowl: if you use the markers in the lanes to aim your bowling, forget it. Obi Wan sez use the force, Luke. Also, you have to put up with horrendous music videos. I mean, you might go see the videos just to mock them, but who wants to listen and watch Justin Bieber ironically? No one.
Other things that are not the best: they have one guy behind the counter taking all charges, and you KNOW everyone is splitting up the bill. That means the lines get ridiculously long. Hire another cashier! Or get the black-​light switch guy on it.
Also, they took away our lane when we lined up for 15 minutes to pay for our SECOND game!
I’m first going to look for a bowling alley that serves pitchers before knocking this place down to 2 stars because I may be here more often than I imagine.

Bowling!
Bowling is fun. And it’s cheap at Mardi Gras. For $ 5 a game (plus shoe rental), you can play a full game of bowling, hanging out with friends and rolling that ball down to hit the pins. Sure, you may not be very good at this, but hey, it’s good fun. I’m not good at bowling, as I managed no better than 3^rd in my group in either game I played.
One important thing to note is that Mardi Gras is geared toward kids. This is apparent from the lack of beer, appearance of an early 90s game center thing (Skee-​ball and arcade games and prizes, check), and the constant playing of the same party songs over and over again on the screens. The music was quite fascinating. It ranged from the saucy (which probably wasn’t appropriate for the 4-year-old’s birthday party near my group’s lane) to the usual fare (chicken dance) to the definite kid’s level (you’ve never experienced fear until you’ve heard the Kids Bop version of Footloose).
Beyond that, it’s not too bad. It’s not perfect, but it’s a nice fun diversion from work and other tomfoolery.

They named this place Mardi Gras. And then they said to themselves, «let’s not serve any drinks there.» And then they said, «let’s close it at ten.»
I’m not saying bowling isn’t enough fun on its own, but why, why oh why, would you ever name this place the Mardi Gras? I think a better name would be «the Family Bowling Center,» or maybe «Brigham Young Memorial Lanes,» or perhaps «Work Night Rock & Bowl.»
I don’t know, maybe I just have a different idea of what a bowling alley should be. When a place is called an alley, should you try to turn it into a fancy boulevard?

The Mardi Gras is an interesting little spot. On a weekend night, you’ll want to keep driving due to the «glow bowling» that brings so many of the set that’s a little too old for TGIF and too young to drive. On an ordinary night, you’ll be able to get a lane pretty quickly and get your bowling on.
The good news is that the staff there isn’t actively opposed to fun. On one recent trip, they allowed us to put the bumpers up over the gutters for my friend’s fiancé. When we decided that trying to play off of the bumpers rather than actually bowl seemed like more fun, no one batted an eye.
The bad news has already been pretty well-​documented here for the most part. No booze and more cash. So for the same price, you could go elsewhere and down a pitcher of beer while you bowl, if you don’t happen into their league night or whatever.
Just one more note, and that’s that the person who runs Mardi Gras was pretty actively opposed to people meeting in front of the store to disperse and register voters for this past election. That left a definite sour taste in my mouth and pretty much killed any likelihood of my ever going back there.

I really have to say that I’ve never particularly liked Mardi Gras, but that’s probably for one main reason: they don’t serve alcohol. And believe me, as badly as I bowl, everyone around me needs to drink…
The place usually does have quite a few open lanes, which is a plus. An open lane can be hard to come by at other local alleys, but at least at those places you can have a few drinks and loosen up while you’re waiting.
Mardi Gras has always been very clean when I have been, and the service was friendly but unremarkable. As others have said, Mardi Gras is not for those on a budget — you’ll spend much more here than at the average bowling alley.
To me, Mardi Gras seems like a good place to go bowling with kids… if you can afford it, that is. For a good adult night out, though, I’ll stick to one of the other local alleys.

I prefer Mardi Gras bowling to the other bowling alleys in the area. The staff is friendly, the shoes are clean, and there is always a lane available. My only complaint is that Mardi Gras is on the expensive side for bowling (and no student discount!), so go ready to spend a little more money than you’re used to at other bowling alleys; I’d say $ 20 is enough for 2 – 3 games of bowling. Other than that, Mardi Gras bowling is a great place for groups, families or just a few friends bowling.

As bowling alleys go, Mardi Gras is fully serviceable if not exceptional. It has the distinction of almost always having open lanes to work with, which is nice since so many bowling alleys seem taken up ²⁴⁄₇ by various leagues (does your senior-​citizen-​WWII-​veteran-​sex-​addict-​Mario-​Bros-​world-​champion league really take up all 20 lanes?).
Expect to throw down a little bit of cash here, especially since their special bowling events and prices, while plentiful, never seem to be happening on the days that you go there. Every cool possibility is a kind of unicorn, alluring and ever-​present, but uncatchable.
If you like bowling, you will like Mardi Gras. On the other hand, I love bowling and yet I haven’t been there in months. That should probably tell us something.

This spot is pretty cool– it’s in Chapel Hill, but in Durham county. I don’t know how they did their zoning and all of that jazz, but I consider it Chapel Hill, case closed.
Seriously though, I took my brother here once to play video games and such. Video games are a lot of fun and can definitely inspire a competitive spirit– a little friendly competition that is. He had fun and I just kept giving him money drop into somebody elses pocket– I mean into the machine. Really I didn’t care– I just wanted him to have a memorable time. I do like this bowling alley because it’s clean– I do love clean– if you haven’t noticed. The other kids around seemed to be having a great time with their friends and family as well.
We didn’t actually get to do any bowling– oh my gosh, if you saw me bowl you’d cry laughing. I cry laughing sometimes, for real. Bowling isn’t my sport, but I have fun doing it because I know I’ve been ridiculous at it. Give me a tennis racquet or let’s race down the block and then we’ll see who’s doing some laughin’.