Big Als

I was there today for a catered event. The food tables were totally picked over even though I arrived at the official start time, and I couldn’t find a Big Al’s employee anywhere to bring out more stuff. (Even if the organizers hadn’t paid for more, an employee should have been on hand to answer questions.) There was also no vegetarian option — it baffles me how any caterer in this day and age can exclude that. It should always be assumed that 10% of the group will choose a non-​meat option.
We had a hard time hearing the speaker because of the noise of water and dishes coming from the kitchen. I wouldn’t recommend this venue for a speaker.

I had only walked through the business once before. I noticed an arcade upstairs, so I returned with my kids. The non-​ticket machines use pre-​paid cards rather than tokens. I bought a card and swiped the card for the first game…$ 1.75. Next game, $ 1.75. I then realized all the games were ridiculously expensive. Don’t get me wrong, the games are rather new and I’m sure they cost quite a bit, but are they trying to make all the money back immediately or something? I also noticed that about half the games were unplugged for some reason. I can’t speak as to their bowling or restaurant, but I won’t let the negative arcade experience stop me from trying those aspects of the business, but I will never take the kids to their arcade again, unless I win the Lotto or something. For arcades, you’re better off going to Pojos or Chuck E Cheese’s, where games are much more reasonably priced and the kids can actually enjoy a few hours of fun rather than 20 minutes.

We had a big group of adults wanting to hang out and a big group of kids wanting to play. It worked out perfect. Our waiter kept it all pretty straight even with the chaos and we had a safe place for our kids to enjoy each other. It wouldn’t be my first choice but it’s a great family environment.
The quinoa salad offered a healthy alternative to the pizza and burgers. And the restaurant gave us a quieter atmosphere than the rest of the place. I loved the $ 5 bonus on the kids cards on Saturday night. Plus the cards kept track of the kids money and tickets. I didn’t have to try to manage the silly tickets. Overall a great place for big groups and families.
PS– I rocked the arcade basketball.

I spent almost $ 60 on a game I continued to get jackpot on… then was told that they couldn’t pay out the tickets I had won. Then to make it better, I had my tickets revoked from winning so many times. Not a fan of how they deal with their arcade. I do not endorse Big Al’s.

Pros: The place is big and cool. Lots of things to do for all ages. They have 2 bowling alleys, arcades games on the top flore, and a restaurant.
Cons: Service is the WORST we where there last week and we had some young lady as a waitress, she came by our table and kind of didn’t pay attention to us when we order 2 iced teas. Needless to say we never got them on the 2 hours we were there. (We where also to entretained with bowling to bother and ask for them again)
What we DID see was that the couple beside of us was having a lot of troubles with this waitress, they even called the manager, and the waitress and the other woman were getting kind of verbal with each other, the manager was beside them and seemed to not care that much what the waitress was saying to this costumer. Anyways, we didn’t see much after that and when we left we saw the waitress talking bad about the couple not too far away from them with her coworkers and you could see that the couple was pretty tense because they were super obvious. Anyways, as a lot of people say in here the place is great for games but BAD at cosumer service.

Continuously clean unfinished items off if tables. Waited 20 minutes for some French fries for my son, after eating two my son ran across the building, in less than 1 minute to get him and come back they had remove the food I had waited all that time for, only to be told that it is thier policy to clean the tables off that quickly.

Amazing! Came for a Daddy &Daughter Date! The restaurant was booked for a party. My little girl was devastated! Not only did they make her a personal pan pizza but delivered it to her upstairs! A+ Thank you! Made her whole night!

Decent food. Good place to watch a few games and keep the kids busy at the same time. Service has been good everytime.

This place was a lot of fun! We bowled on the side with the big screens and music which made it 10x more fun b/​c bowling is not our forte. It was like stepping back in time to MTV at times and then there would be a country song, I think it was $ 32 an hour

Absolute worst customer service experience I’ve had in years. we have a party of 7. Server introduced himself after 10 minutes and said he was leaving due to a shift change and some else would be over to serve us. Drinks were late, no refills. Customer service was so bad, it actually became funny to watch.
would never recommend nor return. Beautiful facility, great location, poor customer experience.

Extremely bad service at the restaurant. We placed our drink order and it took twenty minutes to get water. After 30 minutes we spoke with the manager who blamed his people. Ironically it took twenty minutes to get water but within two minutes of getting our food were presented with the bill.
The manager offered us a free dessert for us to split (really?) which was never communicated to the other staff. Fun arcade but for the love of all that’s good don’t eat here.

Bowling was fun– the food was a disappointment! We ordered a a pound of wings which was listed in the menu to come with 14– it came with 8 very small wings. The waitress told us they changed the menu. The lettuce wraps came with wilted lettuce and not enough for 5 people.
The waitress said she spoke to the manager about our disappointment and reported back «I’m sorry the manager doesn’t want to do anything about it!»
Terrible management for a manager to not even show his face to unhappy customers! Won’t be returning! I’d suggest not eating here!

Went there for a company Christmas party. Don’t even know where to start. The food was possibly the worst I have ever experienced. Salad — dry, brown, wilted and warm. Rolls — hard as a rock. Vegetables mix of Broccoli, carrots — dry, uncooked, too tough to chew and no butter or seasonings, terrible. Potatos mashed — no doubt from a box, no flavor. Roast beef — aha they can cook something after all. Drinks — Vodka Cranberry was all ice, no booze and very little Cranberry $ 6, Beer $ 5 for a 16 oz and it was warm. Nowhere in Boise, Nampa or Meridian is a 16 oz domestic beer $ 5, hell not even in Chicago Denver etc. It was a bad experience all the way around

Gee Wiz! There was a 60 minutes wait on Sat night (9 o’clock). The kids didn’t mind the wait, since they can wander around upstairs checking out the video games. We had a Cheese Pizza, The Grand Slam Platter, Crazy Al*, Crimson Lemonade (4 me), Belgian White~Blue Moon (4 my husband) & a jug of Pepsi for the kids. Everything was good. Everybody is having a good time!

Big Al’s is serious fun for the whole family. The environment and vastness of the offerings they boast is something to boast about! Prices may be high but it’s so worth it. My husband and I love going to Big Al’s for date night, football watching, bowling, or just a dinner out with the whole family. They’ve always got specials (sometimes at odd hours/​days like for bowling) but it’s a fun, upbeat, lively place!
Food: the nachos and burgers! Try them! The burgers are fatty patties on big, soft buns. The nachos are extremely huge and very good. We have tried many things on their menu, including the desserts (mud pie!!) and it is all very good. Try the happy hour food specials. They’re smaller than the regular portion, which makes them a lot more reasonable for one person.
Drinks: tons of beer on tap!
Atmosphere: I don’t feel like you can beat it! Bowling, bars, arcade, food at the lanes, a huge sports restaurant, an adult VIP lounge, a private bowling area… It’s so upscale and nice! It’s a huge facility, offering a lot of versatility for the whole family.
Service: average (seems like they always have new servers), but the atmosphere trumps it every time!
Happy Hour Offerings: daily happy hour EXCEPT during big games.
Healthy Hack: this is one of the only places I’ve seen with a good salad selection on the happy hour menu. The salad with fruit (apples/​pears and nuts) is so good!
Tips: Portions are very big, especially the nachos! Bring a hearty appetite!

Good place for games, bowling and watching sports. That’s about it.
Food was disappointing, service was disappointing. Our waitress told us they had about 40 beers on tap, but could only name the beers that every bar has on tap (Bud, Coors, Blue Moon, etc). There was only a list of the breweries they had on tap, but not the specific beers. When we’d ask what beer they had for a specific brewery our waitress had no idea, and then tried to justify her lack of knowledge by then saying they’d had a big event the previous day and were actually out of a lot of beers. And then it was her manager’s fault for not getting her updated beer lists.
We ordered appetizers — chicken skewers, spinach artichoke dip and onion rings. The waitress recommended the chicken skewers, but then said she’d never tried them, but hear they were good. They were okay. Teriyaki flavored, but only 2 small skewers for $ 5 (happy hour price). The spinach artichoke dip was actually pretty tasty but the tortilla chips they served with it were beyond stale and obviously dumped on a plate from a plastic bag. And after the food was dropped off our waitress (and all the other staff in the restaurant area) seemed to disappear.
The one great thing about the restaurant was the wall of BIG screens. The night we went Monday Night Football and baseball playoffs were on. I’d go back to watch sports there and enjoy beers, but I’d probably pass on food.
We did do some bowling with friends. If you like loud tween-​type music that you can’t talk over you’ll enjoy this place. That being said we did have a pretty good time. At 9pm they started cosmic bowling. We weren’t expecting it, but it was fun. We didn’t play any other games, but might check it out again for that.
It’s in a nice central location and luckily there are a lot of other places around to eat. I think when or if we go back it will be for beers and games or sports watching, but we’ll be sure to eat first. And go in expecting just okay service.
I will say that the one waitress serving the bowling lanes did a good job of keeping our beer pitchers full. And the bartender at the bar by the bowling alley was great.

Come for the kids, stay for the adults! I cannot begin to appreciate this place enough! Reasonably priced food and drinks, happy hour, kid meal specials, huge TVs, the list goes on! Sign to kids up for Kids Bowl Free, hang outside on comfy furniture, or grab a table in the restaurant that actually shows WORLD CUP SOCCER! Even the women’s! Matt in the bar area is incredibly accommodating and personable!

This a a great place to come with the Family. Sunday before noon is the best as they have games for $ 2. Plenty of beer choices as well.

I LOVE watching football games here. Huge screens and good seating options. Staff have always been friendly and decently attentive. Food is OK at best.
Thee arcade upstairs proves fun and good entertainment. Also the vip bowling alley is fun for bowling and watching the games as well.
Overall, good food and friendly service. There’s many different options for fun here!

I love (d) big als when they first opened. The hype for the Meridian Village was becoming real. I would using visit on Fridays after work with a bunch of buddies. The fact that they are open late is a huge plus to people who are looking for a dinning experience at midnight (the rare few of us out there).
So let’s talk about the pros and cons
Pro: large new facility offers plenty of amenities. Clean up kept facilities. Large televisions for sports. Arcade and bowling for family or wholesome fun.
Cons: food is WAY over priced for what you are getting. If the food tasted better I would understand a hefty price. I’ve had several burgers on more than one occasion have melted plastic in the cheese. The staff is always willing to re make food, but it’s disheartening to have it happen 3+ times.
Would I take friends to Big Als? Probably for the excitement during game day, but their are other options around that compete in this market. I recommend they adjust the food prices.