Bowl-A-Vard Lanes

Fun atmosphere, reasonably priced drinks, lots to do, and awesome service.
But — food is not great, and I would never go back for a fish fry again. Very blah. Commercialized. And cold. It’s a Wisconsin staple — you have to get it right!

They have very friendly staff! The lanes are nice and all is well maintained. But I must confess that what I love the most about B-​A-​V is their Cuban sandwich! I’ve made it a point to try a Cuban sandwich, when it’s on the menu, everywhere I go in the world in search of the best and most authentic one. Being that B-​A-​V is in Madison, WI its not something I’d expect to see… but let let me tell ya… it’s a true Cuban with great quality ingredients and incredible bread! Give it a try… you won’t be sorry!

I’ll admit we have also had some of the same complaints here about service as the other reviews but decided to try again. The Friday fish is very good and our latest visit was a huge improvement. As soon as we found a table the server Allie was right there to get drink orders. The place was somewhat busy but drinks came right out. Our orders were delivered within 10 or 15 minutes, not bad for a table of 5 with a variety or menu items. Fish and chips were perfect, the amount of food was more than enough. The burgers were done as ordered. I’m glad to see the service has improved, I saw at least 4 waitstaff so hopefully they will keep it up.

My boyfriend and I came tonight ¹²⁄₁₉ for fish fry, it was our first time… The service we got was the worst we both have ever experienced. It took us 30 mins to even get a menu or drink! We finally got a menu and ordered water, 5 min later a different waiter brought us water and took our order. I got salad from the salad bar it was fine, but my boyfriend got the soup which we were guessing it was clamchowder. After 15 – 20 min our fish arrived it took us probably 5 – 10 min to eat the fish we were given, we ordered all you can eat, 15 min after we finished our food a different waitress came with our bill… We were never asked if we wanted more. We told them we were not going to pay for all you can eat when we got the same amount as a regular order. After the whole experience taking over an hour and a half my boyfriend is now sick from the food, I don’t think we will ever be coming back for food here again. Which is unfortunate because the fish was actually decent.

My husband, a friend, and myself went there for fish on black Friday. We were surprised that it was not very busy so we thought we would get service pretty quickly. We sat at a table near the salad bar and waited… and waited… and waited. We saw one server and also saw another table waiting for service as well. The waitress never once acknowledged that we were sitting there and she had to pass our table to to wait on another table. All the waitress had to do was say she would be right with us… or SOMETHING. After waiting a half hour with no word from the waitress, we got up and left. Murphy’s Bar was way more accommodating.

If you bowl this place is for you! Bowl-​A-​Vard Lanes was the last place my Dad and I spent quality time together (mid Jul-​13). He enjoyed bowling and pool in his younger days so it was the perfect place to take him. He was amazed and impressed with their 40 bowling lanes. I’d have a beer and bowl a round there any day.

This place is BIG and doesn’t feel run-​down like most bowling alleys I’ve been to. There’s 30+ lanes and plenty of worn down house balls to choose from.
There’s a bar attached to the bowling alley, but I haven’t been in it. I can tell you that later at night, even during the weekdays, folks from the bar will spill out into the bowling alley and they get quite noisy. The distraction isn’t the best thing if you’re still learning.
I didn’t have any issues with programming our names in. There has been some issues with getting the right sized shoes. There’s nothing more exciting to do on a weekend night than standing around and trying to get the attention of an employee who gave you shoes two sizes bigger than you asked for. They might be understaffed, but we always have to wait around for someone to put us down for a lane.
The prices fluctuate a lot depending on the day you go and what kind of deals they have going on. We always call ahead to see what the prices are that night. There was a deal listed on their website on the second to last time we were there but they told us it had ended and that they wouldn’t honor it anymore.

This place is huge, and has good food. Lots of different tap beers, pool tables, darts, golden tee, etc. This place can be busy if a Packers or Badgers game is on. Lots of big T.V.‘s as well. I like this place during the week when its not too busy.

One liner: If you have another option, go with that first.
We went for a Friday Night fish fry. Service… not so good. Food… not so good. Best part? Many options for the one non-​fish eater in our party.
They also had a salad bar that accompanied the fish fry. Sad thing about that was that most of the options were empty or VERY messy. The manager was even looking at the salad bar and did nothing to address it the entire time we were there. Very odd.

This place is huge, and that is good because it can get packed pretty quickly on the weekends. This is especially true when the weather outside forces us to look for indoor activities.
Unlike the previous poster, I initially had a hard time figuring out the computer seated at the table. I kept jamming my fat little fingers onto the screen expecting a touch screen response. Fortunately the other bowlers in my party realized that my genius was showing and helped me figure it out. Durrrrrr.
The bowling was fun, even though I probably should have had the bumpers on like the minors in our group did. At least then I would have not looked liked the biggest dork in three counties, just a weeny.
We ordered deep fried cheese curds, and deep fried macaroni for snacking. No healthy eating here!!! They were yummy, and just as good as Culver’s. But since I’ve said that, now I’ll have to hide from rabid Culver’s fans. Yikes!
We’ll go here again, and I can once again provide comic relief with my mad bowling skillz.
Werd.

What struck me about this place is that is it HUGE. 30+ Lanes, and also an expansive bar (21+ to enter) area with two bars, tons of dart boards and at least 8 pool tables.
It was bumping on a Saturday night. We got our name down for a lane, and waited in the bar, where they have at least 10 beers on tap, a couple of them local brews. The pitchers are cheap ($ 7 – 11). Regular drink specials are advertised. We were bowling within 20 minutes of arriving.
It was a Saturday night, so shoe rental was $ 2.50 and games were $ 3.75 each. If you were to go in the middle of a weekday, you’ll pay $ 1 for shoes and $ 2.50 for a game. I’ll admit, my star rating is a little arbitrary in this case, as I am no bowling aficionado. The lanes seemed dandy to me. We had no problems, and the computer interface was easy to use.
We did not have anything to eat at Bowl-​A-​Vard. It looks like they offer more than the standard bowling alley pizza and fried food. Someone else will have to tell us how the snacks are.