Skate-A-Way

We brought my son and his friends there for his birthday. This was the first time roller skating and as soon as we told him it was time to go home he and his friends asked "When can we come back to do this again?"

The place was like a time warp and it was just like the skating rink that I used to go to as a kid. I love that they had Ms. Packman and a pinball game for only $.25 cents! The roller skates were exactly like the ones we had in the eighties.

It was so nice seeing so many kids having old school fun without a game controlker in their hand or cell phone. It's great excersize, fun music, laughs and a great time.

I told the owner that we had so much fun and as a business owner myself, appreciated all the hard work that goes into running a business.

Thank you and we will be back again.

My daughter was invited to attend a birthday party here this morning. I would never willingly take another member of my family back to this place again. I grew up in the area and remember coming here in middle school for skate nights in the early 90’s. It appears that the place hasn’t been cleaned, let alone updated since then. The staff was very rude and not at all helpful to the parents of the birthday child. At one point several of the guests were made to feel as if they were inconveniencing the staff by even being there and I am pretty certain the one adult who should have been in charge of the staff was under the influence of something. Keep in mind this party started before 11 am. I would recommend staying away from this place at all costs. If I could give zero stars I would.

Worst experience ever. Management said it was «typical» of me to complain in regard to poor service making reference to the fact that my party was black. When I advised them that the service was poor she stated «I don’t care.» Insisted I moved my party from a table when we were told ahead of time that the children could continue to skate all day. I did notice that another party who were not of color were given a second room to accommodate their guest after their birthday part was officially over. I am greatly disappointed that my children and my guest were subjected to rude, racist and indifferent people after we paid full price for what should have been an enjoyable event. Please spend your money where people care about customer service. This is obviously not the case here. Felt unwelcomed after they received payment in full.

I don’t know why all the bad reviews. I read the reviews and didn’t want to go but went anyway because Tuesday’s it’s like 3 dollars! People keep complaining about the pre teens there but what do you expect? Whatever the food was good and I’ll be back. I like the beginners rink so I can test the waters before falling in front of everyone!

Have been going for a year or so. Teen daughter loves it. Reason for low review is i felt unwelcomed after several bad encounters. For a big family attending a place like this, there may be people who dont skate. That is my case. I have a special needs child and also a tot that doesnt skate. Having been told i need to pay for all that enters just doesnt sit right with me. The prices are affordable for those who skate but having to possibly spend a additional $ 15 to just walk in just isnt right. This place needs to be more accomodating for «special» situations. Btw they did allow me to bring in my special needs child and tot but they had to sit by me the entire time. I had to get my husband to pick up the children when he got off work because the children were not capable of sitting still for 2 hours. Not sure if my girls want to skate and i have no one home to watch my boys that i would come. Really didnt like that feeling that i got when i was spoken to about the situation. Dont want to go thru that again!

This place was the absolute worst. My daughter had a couple of BOGO entry and skate rental coupons she received from school. Me, my fiancé, and my two children went and presented the coupons and the lady would only allow us to use one coupon. We asked if we paid separately if she would allow us to use them and she said no. We’ll stick to our normal skating rink going forward.

I’m updating my review on account of simple economics. Supply and demand, if you will. The current supply of roller skating rinks is extremely limited in this area, even after driving long distances. After visiting almost all of the rinks within a 50 mile radius, Skate-​a-​way is the best option. Yes, things could be better all over, especially in terms of the facility. But they could also be worse, as I recently and regrettably witnessed. Until another option exists, Skate-​a-​way is the best value for your money in the Swift Creek/​Manchester/​Midlothian/​Richmond area. The beginner’s rink is a huge plus too.

I love roller skating and went in really excited for the night. Everything was fine at first, the rink was smooth, and the skates weren’t bad, but as the night got on it got worse. They had races at one point during the night. The races were done by gender and age group. The lady over the speaker told specific kids, that she knew, to start behind, so the other kids could have a chance at winning. This didn’t bother me too much, until I walked up to race, and as soon as the buzzer went, I got yelled at by someone to not try, so the daughter of the employee could win.
Throughout the night after that, I noticed the biased opinions from all of the employees. If they didn’t specifically know us, the rules were stricter, and they were very rude. One of the employees skidded in front of one of my group and glared at us because we were going to slow at one point.
I was really excited, but after staying there for about an hour, I felt very uncomfortable and unwelcome. I love rollerblading, but I will never be returning.

This place is exactly what you’d expect; an old-​school skating facility which has not been updated since 1970. I took my nephews here, ages 7 and 9, and they loved it. This place has weird hours, and online it’s not always easy to see if they’re open or not — holidays, etc. But when we arrived, there was a line outside waiting to get in. This was on a Friday evening, so it was mainly obnoxious pre-​teens. I understand they have «family times» during the daytime which is better suited for kids. But in the evening, they have the loud music, colorful lights flashing. The kids got a kick out of it. They offer roller skates or roller blades to rent. It’s kind of expensive for what you get — like $ 10 a person. But like I said, the kids liked it. It’s an old facility — I got a kick out of the old school sign at one end of the rink showing «all skate» or «men only». They didn’t use that, and they never changed the direction for the hour that we were there. Mainly it’s annoying teens showing off skating super fast, or backwards while texting, trying to skate as close to you as possible as they zoom by. I kept an eye out for my little one who would occasionally fall. One dumb kid clipped my skate from behind and fell over — I was totally fine — I laughed cause it was his fault for trying to clip me, again. They have some old arcade games and a pinball machine. Old quarter lockers. Teenagers with attitude running the place. Lady working the counter — her son was out wreaking havoc skating alone — for free I’m sure. Well, it’s an old skating rink so — it is what it is!

Would not recommend this rink for birthday parties. Totally unorganized, rooms are way to small for moderately sized parties (10 – 15 kids & parents), party hosts are not friendly nor attentive, parties ran back to back so we could not enter the room when we arrived & had to carry around all of the children’s belongings plus balloons and presents. To put the icing on the cakes, the next day all of the kids who attended (and at least 2 parents) came down with a stomach bug. We are pretty sure it came from either the pizza (which tasted cheap & the crust was too hard to bite) or the light up mouth pieces from the gift shop (which we washed off before using). The rink itself could use some work. It’s dated as are the arcade games in the game section. There is a main floor & smaller beginners floor which should be patrolled better as there were experienced skaters racing where little children & adults without any skate experience are scooting along.
There were no paper towels in the hand washing area & the hand dryer did not work.
Snack bar teens don’t even greet customers.
I didn’t like that the staff kept referring to the skating floor as «my floor». There should be no drinks on my floor, nobody should be on my floor, please exit my floor.
Will not return especially after the stomach bug issue. Customer Service score 0.
The only pleasant encounter I had was with the DJ who also worked the gift shop counter. She was friendly.

Pretty good rink. Clean, the skate floor is a little small but very smooth. Sometimes there is debris on the floor though, and you see patrons stopping to pick it up and throw it away. Music is OK, speaker system is average. If you like a pretty open floor, they are seldom busy.

I was never much of a roller skater. I grew up in the country and we didn’t have any paved roads or driveways so there wasn’t really anywhere to roll, and the nearest rink was about 20 miles away. We did have ponds and a river nearby, so our neighborhood was full of ice skaters.
My niece, Kira, loves to roller skate. She’s really athletic and good at most everything she tries. She goes to skate-​a-​way with friends and family and blasts around the turns.