Seven Ten Lounge

This place was hands down the coolest bowling alley I had ever been to. The bar is a one stop shop for drinks and shoes. They had a decent selection of beers. The alley itself had a vintage feel to it, and there were no electronic score boards so you had to keep score yourself, which was somewhat fun for a change. And their fried pickles and pretzel appetizers were by far the best I’ve ever had. The pizza was pretty great too. Awesome place, nice staff. Can’t wait to go back!

A fun place to gather for some drinks and bowling. Didn’t have a great tap list outside of the house brews so selection of beers is limited but bowling is more of a simple beer sport anyway, right?

Came in here on Friday (3÷13÷15) with a buddy from Springfield for a couple drinks on our way up Lincoln Ave on St. Pats weekend. I had just finished up a bowling league here and it was a great time. The Atlas Brewery beers are quite good, and I love that they serve the beers in real glass pitchers. We didn’t bowl that night, but the bowling (except for lane one, which is particularly temperamental if it’s cold outside) was always solid. Their pizzas are just ok, and for thin crust could probably be a little more crispy. Would definitely do another league here or just pop in for their milk stout.

Fun, casual neighborhood bowling and bar. Lots of little tables where you can have drinks and order food from atlas next door before or after you bowl. Make sure to reserve a lane ahead of time on the weekend. When we came, nobody was ahead of us so they let us start as early as we wanted to before our reserved slot. The bar tenders were friendly and the music was good. We will definitely be going again!

It was okay. The bowling and lanes were cool. My group had our lane from 6 – 7. There was a group that was there until 6:20 because there was none around to say anything. They finally left at 6:20. The tables were still filthy and stayed that way until we finished at 7:10.
Due to us having a late start we stay just 10 minutes over and the manager came over to tell us that… REALLY. We waited patiently and waited for the other group because not staff was around. The manager came over before we even finished our first game. He said their was another group waiting on us to finish… lies. There were 3 lanes next to us open and was not anywhere found. We then stayed about until 7:40 and… NO ONE was bowling at our lanes. Why lie and why be rude. We told him we only bowled for 35 minutes and paid for an hour. He said nothing. I would not go back. Good thing it is Chicago and there are PLENTY of other options.

This is my first Unilocal review, and the only reason I signed up is to explain the absolutely HORRIBLE experience I had here. We signed up for lanes online at their sister alley, Southport Lanes, for a birthday party. Apparently their site malfunctioned, and they called us to say another person got the lane that we had paid for. To make up for the mistake, they would reserve a lane for us at Seven Ten, which we accepted with no complaints.
The day of our reservation, we get a call in the afternoon explaining that they hadn’t correctly reserved the lane for us in our system, and another party had booked later than us, taking our lane. Rather than give us precedence, they were going to let the other party keep the lanes (the party was 25 people compared to our 9, so the only motivation could be to make a bigger profit). They did this, even though their system had screwed up our initial reservation, and even though we reserved the lane first.
To make this awful experience even worse (it was a birthday party, we had already invited everyone and had no back-​up), when we asked to speak to the manager to get it sorted out we received no call back. When we called the person who originally told us of the news, wondering when we’d be receiving a call from the manager, she angrily asked us if we were going to take their offer of two hours of free bowling (worthless to us — why would we want to give this place another shot after such a bad experience?), because their manager wasn’t going to say anything different — we were bumped, and we weren’t going to get the lanes we had originally reserved (and paid in advance for!).
Overall: AWFUL CUSTOMER SERVICE. And blatant priority given to profit over being decent to your customers. STAY FAR AWAY.

I’m devinitely writing this after a very BAD expreienct there. I’m in a bowling league there on Thursday nights. This is my second year. Last year, aside from a rude bartender once or twice (everyone has an off night), I had no complaints. This year though, another story. First off, while the league packs the place, the staff acts like we are bothering them when we want to order something. Another problem (although its more design than anything) is that the shoe rental guy stands behind the bar. When the bartenders leave the bar, which is fairly often, you go up there to see someone standing there who cant take your drink order. Aside from that though, my big issue probably comes down to management decisions. The league I’m in has 2 rounds of matches, each with 3 games. A 7pm round and a 9:30 round. CLEARLY the place approved that. However tonight, we had our 9:30 round. Not even halfway into our second game, they called last call, and they stopped serving at 11. Mind you, there were probably at least 50 people still in the bar. But we dealt with it, since we were still playing. After a while it started to clear out. There happened to be a Bulls game on. It went to double overtime. There were maybe 10 people hanging out just to see the end of the game, and a woman (I assume she was a manager) decided to just tell us she was cutting the game off because they were closed. I really am sympathetic to people wanting to leave at a certain time, but when you work in hospitality, sometimes you have to roll with the punches. They clearly care nothing about us league members who are there every week, so I will be sure to NOT go here ever again when this league is over.
Edit: I also find it funny that I’m posting this at 12:47, after being kicked out almost an hour ago, but their hours are listed until 2am today. So apparently, they just close when they please, no matter how many people are still there

These place is the greatest, and the staff is just incredible. They helped us pull together a last minute wedding that took place out on lane 2 of the bowling alley. Everyone working there was incredibly supportive, helpful and friendly. Awesome food, beer selection was on point, and the old school bowling was just the best. Not sure if you should check it out? Do it. You won’t regret it.

Part of me wants to wait until tomorrow to write this review and 51% of me wants to write this now… the people have spoken. I’m writing this now… 25 minutes after the cab picked me up from outside this place…
The girls and I started out tasting the amazing brews created by Atlas Brewery — seriously. The brews are good. I got stuck on a porter that tasted like being curled up naked with a hard c*ck between your legs in your grandma’s afghan. Delicious. Kate and Victoria were also amazing as our esteemed beer– and food-​getters. They were also gorgeous, knowledgeable, and easy to talk to.
Anyway… After two of those, the ladies and I worked our way over to Seven Ten lounge — I brought my own ball, because I have one. Asked if we could get a lane… Ishmael (not his real name) said that I needed to track down the gentlemen that left their tab open on that particular lane… those guys didn’t exist. Not to mention, there were three other lanes that appeared to be open but, somehow, were not available to us.
Being the «women-that-didn’t-see-each-other-often-enough» that we were, we continued yenta-​ing it up for a good 15 – 20 minutes (the bartenders disappeared anyway so what were our options?). We were fine with carrying on our conversation until they returned and, when Ishmael did return, I asked him, again, if we could get some drinks and a lane… He said to me, «I think you’ve had too much» and walked away.
This is why it’s important that I write this 25 minutes after leaving the bar — after the two beers that I consumed (starting at 9:00pm) this evening. Granted, nobody likes being told they’ve «had too much», especially belligerent, drunken assholes. I wouldn’t be able to write this if I was one of those… I was none of those.
I brought my own bowling ball. I take this sh*t seriously. Seven Ten lost money tonight. On the lanes. On the drinks. And they lost money on future adventures — I will never take my patronage there again after tonight. «Ishmael» needs a good talking to on his job description; and, hopefully, the owners recognize poor customer service when it’s pointed out to them on Unilocal*and do something to remedy the situation for future patrons.
It’s a shame that Atlas Brewery is connected to this travesty. They’ve got their sh*t together but Seven Ten needs to rethink their employees and how those employees represent Seven Ten as a brand.

The bowling alley is so much fun but they close early if no one is there so make sure you check before before you go. The bill was 32.00 and we left 50 total. Despite the 18 dollar tip the bartender ran us out of there 30 minutes before posted closing time.

Thankfully after our 5^th stop, we finally found a spot with open bowling. There are 8 lanes, plenty of ball choices, and couches to sit on while waiting to bowl. It was $ 35/​hour for the lane which included shoes for four. They don’t have a digital scorer, it’s all manual which gets tough when you’ve had a few beers. I suggest downloading an app to keep the score more accurately. They do have food but it looked like all typical bar food. Friendly bartenders!

Came in with around half a dozen people on a Thursday night. The place is set-​up nicely. We were the only ones in the building. Greeted by the bartender who set us up with a lane and beers.
Good selection on tap for what I’d call reasonable prices. The lanes are older, not the best selection of balls, no complaints about the shoes. You have to keep your own score, which we didn’t mind.
Our lane got «stuck» frequently throughout the hour. The staff was receptive enough when we asked them to fix it, but took no initiative to remedy the problem without being asked. Eventually we switched lanes but experienced the same issues.
One person in our party needed to eat, but the kitchen was closed, at 10PM, on a Thursday. I asked a couple of employees if they could just toss in a pizza for us, but was told defensively that the GM doesn’t want food served after ten because «you’ll all leave without paying.» Being the only group in the place, it didn’t seem like a reasonable concern.
The bartender, although a nice dude, wandered in and out and spent a considerable amount of time surfing the web. Always had to ask him for a drink. Not a huge deal, but if you’re expecting to get a high level of service, this isn’t the place.
Final straw came when a ball got stuck in the gutter and a girl with us went to go retrieve it down the lane. Against the rules, I know, but immediately a staff member ran out of the woodwork to berate this poor girl. «CAN YOU READ THE SIGN?!? NO CROSSING THE LINE!!! GET BACK! GET OUT!!» Take it easy, man. The girl was almost in tears.
All in all, pretty sub-​par. Seems like there are better bowling options close-​by. Won’t be back to this place anytime soon.

We came for a birthday party on a packaged deal: $ 50 for 2 hours of all you can drink, and 3 hours of all you can bowl. All you can drink was a great deal because every topshelf liquor was fair game. My boyfriend took liberties to fill up on Macallan every 15 minutes, attracting the side eye from our bartender. This place would get a better rating if their bowling was more 21^st century. Given this place is 50% a bowling alley, they had neither the room or technology to host a a top-​notch bowling experience. You take your own score, and the balls are returned on a tram track that could be dangerous if you stick your hand to get a ball and another ball is rolling towards you.

Went here for a holiday party this weekend and had four lanes reserved for the group.
We had a great time bowling. Would skip on the food next time. It was fine, but pretty bland without any special flavors. Service was ok, though they started clearing out our area while there were still people around enjoying drinks.
Overall…
Bowling: A+
Food: C–
Service: C

«Bish killed my vibe.»
We were excited to come on a Saturday night to a local bowling alley, instead when we arrived (around 7pm) that all lanes were reserved and it’s suggested you make reservations to get access. We waited at the bar, and received decent service but upon waiting I perused the menu and came to the conclusion you are not getting what you pay for at all. The lanes are old, you keep your own score, limited liquor list, limited ball selection, bowling shoes old and there are a total of maybe 10 lanes. this is all for $ 35 an hour for lane rental, over $ 6 per beer, and extra for shoe rental.
It’s basically a old bowling alley with expensive prices. Not worth it. If you want to overpay for your «adult» bowling experience you are better off attending Lucky Strike or 10 Pin downtown. We ended up attending Southport Lanes and had the most fantastic evening!

I pretty jumped on the Big Lebowski train five years too late and am obsessed with bowling and White Russians. It seems like it takes so much effort to get a big group together to go that bowling never happens. Well, I decided to take organizing into my own hands and effortlessly made reservations on Seven Ten’s website. I reserved two lanes on Saturday for that evening. It was really nice to be able to make reservations online and not get charged more, like some other places, for making reservations. We arrived a little bit late, but they didn’t give us any trouble because we had been at Atlas next door eating dinner, and it technically was their fault we were late. Shoe rental is $ 4…don’t forget your socks! The only drawback is that bowling is expensive, but no more or less expensive at Seven Ten. STRIKE!!!

I was here with 4 other girls to rent two lanes for two hours and we were able to use 4 groupons, which was great, considering all the multiple use restrictions they have on these. It came out to like 4 bucks each!
But you also get what you pay for and sometimes, that’s ok. When it comes to places like these, the experience is what you make of it and we are fun girls, so we still had fun. But as a bowling alley, I will probably not be back.
We got there early to grab some dinner and the food was pretty bad– overfried skimpy chicken tenders on a bun and mediocre fries. But it’s a bowling alley, so I wasn’t expecting gourmet. The alley is old school, so we fortunately had someone who knew how to score and was willing to do it. The pin machine things are pretty creaky as well, so we often had to reset the pins because they wouldn’t pick up or lay down or whatever. Maybe I’m spoiled with modern technology and all that, but even a vintage scene can have good maintenance to retain that ambience without losing on service.
Like I said, your experience is what you make of it, and we still had a great time, but it came with little help from the actual venue.

What a dump. Unfriendly staff. Terrible customer service. Mediocre drinks and food.
Hey Unilocal,I’m still waiting for a «no stars» option. Because this place doesn’t deserve even one.

$ 35 per hour! DAMN CRAZY EXPENSIVE for a place that was empty and not even that nice. And the scoring is not electronic. Even the venues in River North are less expensive. This is a «second hand» bowl-​a-​rama. Some of the balls are from Lucky Strike!
The staff didn’t want to be there so it reflected in the service. Doubt I’ll be back.

Friendly staff, good beers, and bowling… great spot to visit when you’re looking for something to do other than bellying up to the bar. The music was a bit on the loud side when we visited so carrying on a conversation was a bit difficult, but this would still be a good choice for a large group outing or a fun date night!