The Salvation Army Kroc Center Ice Arena

I’ve taken my kids and their friends here for open skate sessions over the years. Always a nice place for the kids to release their energy for a couple hours. Prices have always been reasonable. It’s the closest ice skating rink for me. I’ve been to a couple other rinks in town and don’t have a reason to drive farther to take kids to another rink.

Be prepared to send your kid to remedial skating class over and over again I swear all I want is your money go to Escondido the classes are free they care about the kids

My kiddo has been taking lessons here for several months. The teachers are all SUPER nice, very patient. The only thing I don’t like is it can be a bit chaotic for the kids to find where they meet their teacher on the ice. There isn’t a whole lot of organization. They try with signs & stuff, but that system seems to break down after the first lesson or so. My kid has gotten confused on more than one occasion.
Lots of parking. Nice restrooms. Could use a bit more seating. Small coffee shop outside the arena with pastries, coffee, fruit, etc.

This is a very nice ice rink! Well maintained, clean, not too cold where you have to step outside every 15 mins to thaw out. One reason is it was designed as an ice rink from the ground up and built for this purpose. It’s not a converted grocery store like all the ones you see in LA and Orange County. There’s seating along one side of the rink and good viewing angles to watch the SDSU Aztecs Men’s Division II Club team play during the season. The ice is well maintained and from my sons who both play there, they say it’s just right. The staff at the front desk are all very friendly. They also do a pretty good job at skate sharpening if you need those edges sharpened. Only downside is there’s no figure skating/​ice hockey pro shop on site like you expect when you go to the ice rink, and the snack bar could have a little more variety. On the plus side, just outside the rink is Mission Coffee, a very good Starbucks mom & pop-​like coffee shop that offers all the stuff Kroc’s snack bar can’t provide. (but that’s a whole other Unilocal review in itself). It’s the furthest south ice skating rink in San Diego County so it serves quite a bit of people.

DO NOT GO HERE FOR YOUTH HOCKEY!!! The figure skating program is good. The hockey program is a different story. Please do yourself a favor and before your start youth hockey look elsewhere. The program is a complete unorganized mess.

The ice is very well maintained and a pleasure to skate on. The windows provide a lot of natural light. The music is decent, and played at a level that is just loud enough to enjoy without being disruptive to private skating lessons. It sometimes gets very busy, but not too often. Monday afternoons are a great time to go.

The facility is nice. Super clean and well maintained. The staff on the other hand is rude, especially one particular lady cashier in front. She’ll charge you what she wants, throws the receipts at you and is just plain rude. Pretty shocking. You should reevaluate your staff. Customer service must be a priority especially since she gives the first impression. I like to support community business etc, but they don’t make it easy. Do yourselves a favor and give that job to somebody who cares and truly likes what they do. I never say anything because my children are there but it hard to stay quiet when time after time she is rude.

Three truly qualified figure skating coaches are in the employee of the Kroc Center. Most of the truly qualified coaches leave and move on to a real skating program. Questionable management, rude employees and the rental skates are the worst I have ever seen. I have never seen a can of Lysol out and spraying the inside of these skates. By far the most packed rink in San Diego. That I would assume comes from the lack of public times. On some public sessions they cut apart the rink with cones for lessons so you get 200 plus people skating on half a rink. I do not recommend lessons here or anything else. This is why my daughter skates at another rink now.

Clean, safe given the area, parking is a little difficult to find, but overall A-​OK.

This is a rather nice, relatively clean, well-​kept ice skating arena. I’ve played hockey here a few times and the ice surface felt rather good. I played in the afternoon drop in hockey game on Friday afternoons while in town, and the turnout has been surprisingly high.
Overall, a great facility.

If I could give zero stars I would, for me it’s not just about the ice, the seats, food, etc., it’s all about the customer service. And there’s is beyond horrible!!! The staff here are rude, arrogant, completely unhelpful and very unfriendly. This makes for a very uncomfortable and unpleasant experience when coming here.
Another thing is that a lot of the coaches here are beginners that still need lessons. I would never come here for skating, lessons or anything even though it’s extremely close to where I live, I’d rather go the extra distance and go to the ice rinks in UTC or Mira Mesa.

We were recently here for the isi figure skating competition. worst rink. I mean, they really should not hold competitions at this rink. The lack of seats is ridiculous. womp womp

Good facility for all who ice skate. This is one of only four ice rinks in San Diego county. We need more!
Build some in East Lake, Point Loma, and Santee.
This place is good, but people around San Diego sure could use a place close to their neighborhood!

Nice Ice Surface but terrible accommodations for the audience. Let’s not forget their entirely misguided policy that children over 5 use gender specific bathroom and locker rooms!!! So mom’s be ready to leave your 6 and 7 year old son alone, none of those sleazy old men next to the men’s bathroom could possibly be child predators. This is dangerously insane!

I’ve purchased the groupon deal a few times prior to coming and hands down the best deal ever. This Christmas instead of giving gifts to all my little cousins I decided to take them Ice skating. I bought a few of those 4 admissions including skate rentals for $ 20 and everyone got to skate fore merely $ 5 each. Whose the best gift giver? Me. It was not just a gift but a fun memory and a new tradition because everyone had so much fun they all want to go again. I like this arena better than the holiday ones at the mall because it’s inside and bigger. The ones at the mall are usually tiny and get crowded really fast. We got to skate from 6−8pm and enjoyed hot chocolate, pizza and Churros. Just a tip long thick socks help prevent getting blisters on your feet and if your a newbie I recommend wearing gloves because the ice is so cold to touch.

. This must be the only rink in southern California that DOES NOT require its basic skating skills and figure skating coaches to have any background or qualifications to teach classes and coach. Come to find out many are beginners themselves! I would recommend asking to see the instructors USFS (United States figure skating) qualifications before signing for classes. Another solution is go to the other rinks in the area that care about nurturing the growth of you or your child’s hockey or figure skating. I agree with other reviewers, the ice is great, the rink is beautiful and many sessions are empty. Why? It is poorly run, not open on many days, and closed on many holidays when many people would like to skate. 4^th of July, Memorial day, Labor Day, If they are open on a holiday it is for a hockey tournament. It is easy to keep nice ice and the rink clean when it is closed. As a community rink and center the Salvation Army and Kroc center management are doing a poor job. Joan Kroc is rolling over in her grave. Shame on you.

Goods: Ice Surface, lighting, and cleanliness.
Bads: My last 2 visits were for my daughter’s pre-​alpha skating lesson. Both my wife and I had bad experiences with customer service. Staff was rude and unfriendly though we kept smiles on our faces each time. My wife was chastised for not having our skate card from a session last spring in which we were never informed we would need for future classes our daughter would be enrolled. If we would have known we would have kept the card, but for the high prices I personally feel issuing a new card for each season shouldn’t be a problem. Now today we had a problem with a lost wallet so we were late and arrived as the class was getting over. Knowing the class is offered multiple days in the week I asked politely if we could do a make up class just this one time. I was flatly told no that would not be possible and that we would just lose the session. They already have our money, so what is the big deal? It’s not like I was asking for a refund.
The cost of all categories (skating lessons, public skating, hockey leagues, drop in, etc) are all over priced. Drop in hockey is at impossible times if you actually have a job. That is pretty much the story for all of San Diego. Either in the middle of the day, or super late at night. Definitely not a hockey friendly city.
The times I have been at drop in have been not the best. Though they limit the # of skaters, there is no organization provided. The regulars try to run the show and instead of just running a bench where you have the next guy in line go for the player coming off (regardless of position) they break it up into forwards and defense. This wouldn’t be that bad, but the regulars running the show play defense and insist only 4 defense to be rotated. This means they get twice the ice time and the forwards have to wait forever especially since many of the forwards never come off the ice. It would be nice if some ground rules were in place and someone was there to ensure they were followed.
Too sum it up, great facility for a non hockey state, but definitely not run like any similar facility in any hockey state or city I’ve been in. Recommendation to management: you have a huge military community with hockey backgrounds in San Diego, yet most don’t bother playing or getting their kids involved. You have a huge client base that could be tapped if you marketed and catered to that populous. Just a thought.

I am a BIG fan of this rink. I only wish that the seating for watchers/​guests was a tad more comfortable or spacious. As a parent watching your kiddos skate you spend a LOT of time on hard bench or cement seat.
The rink is very well maintained. The lessons are a great way to really get your kiddos into the flow of skating. Earlier the better. Kids have such confidence until they learn not to be confident by listening to «tough» grown ups. So get them on the ice — it’s fun!
Always wear gloves. Sign up for the lessons — you get to skate for free during any open session in the 6 – 7 week period for your session.
The one fallback from my point of view is that the skates don’t appear to be sprayed after each use and they really smell. Carole is a FABULOUS instructor and person.

This place is so versatile!
From skating lessons to broom ball and hockey games, this place totally has all your ice-​capades covered!
I typically only attend this venue when I want to see my alma mater, (SDSU) play hockey. But i’ve begun to look into other opportunities to utilize these facilities. There are a lot of opportunities and experiences to be had, here. The facility is clean, decently sized and very friendly when it comes to prices. Everything is well-​kept and the staff is always helpful.
My only complaint is seating. It gets pretty limited if you don’t come early. But, even that couldn’t keep me from coming back time and time again.
In fact, i’m going back TONIGHT!

This is a great ice rink and reasonably priced. Always have a great time here. The only thing is the parking can be tricky at times, they could use more parking that’s all.

Brought my BF daughter here for her 14^th birthday. For her first time Ice skating she really enjoyed herself. My BF and I watched her and her friends from the stands. It was of course extremely COLD! Since we live up the street, I was able to go back home and get a blanket and my boyfriend’s beenie! LOL Overall, it was a nice night. All ages were skating.

I’m taking skate lessons here, and I’m enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. The instructors are very helpful and friendly to a beginner like me, though I am by far the worst in the class and will probably end up retaking beginning skating.
Oh yeah, they don’t really teach you to just stay upright. Week 3, you are skating backwards (in my case, very slowly), you are doing one foot swizzles and crossovers. So you are learning some of the nifty beginning figure skating moves.
I don’t like that there are so many classes on the ice at a time. After class, during public skate, it is a madhouse of people. The hockey people tear up the ice with their skates and go around really fast though the rules explicitly say they’re not allowed to (shakes cane at durned hockey ruffians).
The best part is, with the purchase of the class, you get free unlimited public skate time and rentals. If you go skating once or twice a week, it’s cheaper to take the class.

This is the only place in San Diego that resurfaces its ice once a year. This is great, especially if you are a beginner skater, or a serious figure skater. Kroc has the best ice surface around, and their staff is generally around to help you up if you fall. UTC and Escondido seemed to have done away with skate monitors during public sessions.
Also, if you’re a serious figure skater and need ice time in the morning, Kroc isn’t as crowded as its sister rink, SDIA.

I have to start off this review by saying that I only have experience with the ice hockey rink… I have never ventured to the pool, soccer fields, basketball courts, or the pool.
The Kroc Center is one of the best facilities to play ice hockey in San Diego. The ice and board are very well maintained, and the locker rooms and showers are all clean and working. The adult league cost is not too bad…$ 320 for a 15 week season. Too bad they don’t give goalies a discount!
The only two complaints that I have about the ice facility is the lack of a pro shop and the lack of spectator seating. They only have 2 rows of bleachers along the side of the rink, so the viewing is not nearly as good as rinks that have seating above ice level. As for the pro shop, they have told me that since they are a non-​profit organization, they will not put one in there, so I need to go up to Hockey Giant in Anaheim every time I need some equipment.