Stars Recreation Center

Hello there, my name is Edward Michael Brown and I am the official bowling critic of the Solano County area. Stars Recreation Center is a great place to bring your kids for some good old fashioned bowling. They have an updated environment and it is always well kept. However, do not let this scenery fool you. First off, this bowling alley does not use enough oil and it results in too much curve. Sometimes, they turn the lights off a little too early and this can be a huge distraction to serious bowlers. There usually are not any problems with the machines and that may be the best part about this alley. I give Stars Recreation Center 3 stars. Just remember, do not let the flashy look fool you. BNO.

I reserved, what I thought was a party for my daughter’s 10^th birthday. When I got there, I discovered that I wouldn’t be receiving anything that I was promised. The host had to leave early because his grandmother was deathly ill and «Bill» the manager was not apologetic nor accommodating being that I had already paid for the «party».He said, «you got your pizza and lanes, what else do you want?!». What’s a party with no decorations, a closed pizza kitchen and no host (he left early leaving us to serve, clean-​up, and stand in line for our own shoes). Brenda the party coordinator should be FIRED! She promises things that don’t exist, she was rude, and she disappeared after we set up what little decorations that I had, since none were provided).Leaving me to pay for extras that were not mentioned in the original contract.

Stars recreation center was so accommodating and the perfect location for us to have our company party for over 100 people! Kelly and her staff were so supportive and went above and beyond in assisting me with every detail to make the experience a memorable one for our company! Food was great and abundant, set up was decorative and accessible, upstairs was a great location to entertain and accommodate everyone! Pool tables, bowling, laser tag, video games, etc, you name it, this place has it! Our employees had a blast!
Thank You Kelly, you made my night so much easier with your friendly support and assistance. I would highly recommend this place for your next gathering!

Ok, for starters, some years ago when this place first opened, it was pretty nice; all the arcade games worked, it was clean, the indoor lighting was great.
Now, its’s close to a pigsty with mediocre games along with the fact that 50% don’t work. In the arcade area, the tables were sticky and some dried food caked on the surface, dirty carpet with more dried up food, and the people that worked there had an «i don’t care» attitude towards the guest.
I DO NOT recommend anyone coming here until that area is cleaned, all the games work, the tables don’t look like somebody «blew chunks’ on them and the workers there get a course in customer service.
The only bright spot for this place was the small eatery at the main entrance. The food was good as well as the immediate staff there. They were most helpful.

Stars bowling alley sucks! Instead of remodeling the video screens they should remodel the actual lanes that never work and you have to reset the pins every other turn. Waste of money!!! Go somewhere else everyone this place is not worth the money!!!

Here now and everything’s broken. Staff is lazy, they let people hold lanes when people are on the waiting list. Where is the manager? We bowled with 8 pins half the time. Arcade is okay. 2 stars is for the Jurassic Park game. Other than that, this place was awful.

We had my best friends birthday party there Saturday night. Kelly the Banquet Manager was Amazing! She made this special event beautiful! She arranged our party in an area where we could all be together, enjoy the band and with a cocktail server. It was decorated beautifully with linens, balloons and decorations. I would highly recommend calling Kelly for any event you need to be successful and beautiful! We will be using Kelly again for arranging our future party events!

This establishment has got to be the most demeaning and racist establishment ive ever come across with. They withheld our party from drinking because one of the individuals we were with spilled his drink on accident cleaning it up thereafter. Spilled drinks never bother anyone or any other party that was playing bowling in stars. These people had the nerve to call 911 for disorderly conduct when we were drinking peacefully, minding our own business. This place is a waste of money. They have also had wedding reservation for 6 lanes that were never even utilized but held up until 2 am in the morning? What wedding party bowls at that time?

This place was nice when it first opened. But that’s been a long time. The place is extremely dirty and original. The employees operate in an «I could care less manner.» I’ve come her on many different days after work to find out that ALL 40 lanes were not available because a league was starting in 30 minutes. What kind of poor scheduling is that? No open bowling whatsoever from 5pm-​9pm M-​Th. Nothing posted anywhere online, nor at the counter or front door about this. I find this ludicrous as any and all will be turned away unless you are a part of their leagues. The bowling alley is old and heavily oiled, they just recently added new TVs and scoring system. Which is appreciated but still lack luster. The bar and arcade are still original, arcade has about 60% of their machines out of order. The bar is ok, food is decent but service is terrible.
This place is only still in business because it’s the only one.

It was New Year’s Eve and my daughter and I were looking for something fun to do that was close. I didn’t want to drive far if I didn’t have to. Luckily for us, we have Stars right here in Vacaville!
Bowling, billiards, laser tag, video games, cover bands and food. Stars Recreation Center does birthday parties, bowling leagues and has conference rooms available.
Remember when there was just an open, empty field here? I do!
When Stars first opened years ago it was the new «go to» place in Vacaville. It’s a great place to bowl. They host parties and leagues, with plenty of «open bowling» available too. They continue to upgrade their amenities. Shoes were new the last time we went. For those of us who do not have our own personalized ball, they have plenty to choose from. The lanes are well maintained with electronic kiosks. There are «bumpers» available and ramps for either the young, elderly or disabled.
The arcade, however, is pretty small. There are often games that are out of order, making the selection even more narrow. Laser tag is often closed, again limiting your options.
There’s a small restaurant with menu choices to have delivered to your lane. However, you still need to go inside to place your order. Hopefully they’ll add the option of being able to order from your lane via the electric kiosk soon. We’ve enjoyed their loaded nachos several times. Never lasts long!
There’s «City Sports Bar & Grill» attached to the bowling alley. I’ve only been here a handful of times. The dance floor is tiny, upstairs there are tables & billiards.
Over the years all of my children have either had birthday parties here or a team party here. We’ve used their conference rooms for Little League sign ups. The staff has always been helpful.
The owners have a long history of donating gift certificates for either school or team fundraisers.
It’s s family friendly environment.
It’s nice to have these amenities right here in Vacaville. There’s a BofA ATM in the same parking lot, convenient if you need cash. It’s also right off the freeway for easy access!

I used my credit card to get some tokens from the machine in the arcade area and the machine froze. It said authorizing but no coins dispersed. I had to talk to four different people before I could talk to the right person. I got the impression that I was getting the run around. I finally got in touch with the manager who had no sense of urgency and it seemed like he didn’t seem concerned with my issue.
He told me to write down my credit card information and he would put it in a box for the bookkeeper to look at the following day. I didn’t feel comfortable leaving my credit card number for the world to see so I called my credit card who told me that I was charged but then refunded.
Basically no harm no foul except for the wild goose chance and the lack of concern/​urgency from the manager.
If it weren’t for these issues, I’d probably give this place three stars. This place is okay but lacks the wow factor. I may return but I don’t feel comfortable using my credit card.

Came here to take my nieces & nephews bowling on a Friday night, the wait for a lane was an hour to an hour & a half. So we put our names on the list & gave the kids money to kill time in the arcade. The arcade was pretty sad, a lot of games were out of order but to an 8 year I guess it didn’t matter much. While the kids were playing I decided I wanted a drink from the bar. I don’t remember the name of the drink but it was green & diabolical! Only 1 drink did the trick! We were there for about 2 hours & our name never got called so we left.

Starz has definitely stepped their game up, with all of the new technology they have been adding into the facility.
LOCATION:
It’s in a great location about 2.5 miles away from the popular Vacaville outlets where they have: Ralph Lauren, Nike, True Religion, Under Armor and many more stores. Also near a lot of restaurants and fast food joints.
SERVICE:
Starz don’t have the best service, but they never really did. Always slow, not knowing what they are doing when adding a party to a bowling lane, never really able to handle a big party. Have to deal with one person who can be in charge of the whole situation and they don’t make sure the floor is being taking over by teenagers just roaming.
STARZ ITSELF:
As mentioned earlier they have stepped their game up big time. I was surprised seeing everything that has been added. The lanes now have a «IPad» like tablet to add players name, chat with other lanes using emojis as well, creating a team, and even make a profile picture. They finally added some cool lights for the night life as well as a projector where they play great variety of music videos!
I definitely recommend this place for a night out with friend and/​or family. Just know you have to get past service first!

Who doesn’t love bowling?! its an all time favorite sport! Right?
Here I am at Stars, expecting the usual crowd on a Friday night. ugh. Older ppl, young ppl, families, teens, and kids running around with no sense. Quite chaotic and a bit messy. The usual.
This night I started off in the bar/​lounge/​entertainment/​pool and dart area. I was disappointed with the dart boards. They had a total of five boards: two electronic board and three wall boards. But the wall boards did not include metal darts… I had to use the plastic ones?! If you want to keep score, you would have to use your brain… b/​c there was no chalk provided to write. The pool tables stayed full like a woman’s restroom! You have to put your name on the waiting list until a table was available. But it’s a Friday night.
I made it back downstairs b/​c a lane was finally open to bowl on. Stars added a new feature when setting up your game. Instead of the old and dusty input stations, they have fancy tablets stations. They may look good and all but don’t use the «call for service» feature. It’s terrible! We used it once and the call became frozen for the entire time we bowled our first game! Should have just kept the old and dusty stations.
Bowling here is what it is. Not having extra shoe sizes. Knocking pins down and not having them reset down the lane properly. The usual.
Come here if you HAVE to bowl.
fin.

No one answers the phones when you call. The recording asks if you want to hear the entertainment line up then you get a recording saying «you can’t leave a message the box is full»
Nice establishment. Not

Cool place that’s open late, family friendly and has a bar. My husband and I like going to the bar here since they have live music featuring local bands every weekend. It’s not the coolest place, but they have pool tables and a dance floor.
Took my 4 year old son and 2 year old niece to bowl last night. My hubby and I also bowled with them. For $ 37, you can get a lane for one game and 4 pairs of shoes. After bowling, we headed to the arcade and spent $ 10 on tokens. Most games for little kids were 1 token each so we were able to make the tokens last a while. A lot of games were out of order so that sucked, but the kids had a lot of fun anyway. We also had 4 beers at $ 4.25 each so we spent about $ 21 (tip included).
We made sure to eat before so we didn’t have to order any food. I took a couple juice boxes for the kids which held them over til we got home.
The total trip was $ 68 for bowling, arcade and beer. This seems expensive at $ 7 a game. Maybe they charged more since it was a Saturday night? Get a groupon deal if you can.

On a very hot summer day in the area (side note: is there such a think as ‘mild’ summer day in the valley?), my 5 year old son decided he wants to go bowling. We had an old expired Groupon from 2012 that was still worth $ 19 and decided to put it to good use.
Since the school is out, the bowling alley was expected to be busy and it surely was. Luckily they have 40 lanes. so we were able to get a lane without waiting and paid only $ 11 for two hours of bowling, on top of the $ 19 credit for a total of $ 30. The lane was ready as promised and the only issue we had was finding which table is ours as they are not clearly marked. The chairs at those tables extend outwards, so the smaller kids might have a hard time moving them around.
As far as food/​snacks, there are standard options and the quality seems to be what you’d expect from a bowling alley. On top of bowling, there is a decent sized arcade with (most) games that are in working order which is always a plus. However, we didn’t hang around in there for too long, as the air conditioning seemed to be not operating in that part of the building and it was uncomfortably hot. Also in the same complex is City Sports Bar which probably deserves it’s own review so I will leave it for later.
As Stars is the only bowling alley in town and the surrounding areas, there is not much to hold a grudge over, however, small improvements might help to push the rating above average. Still, not much to complain about if you come with right expectations.

Came here over the weekend with some fam/​friends. Typical busy Saturday night. We were told that our wait was going to be 1 and ½ hours… luckily, it turned out to be about 45 minutes. While we were eating, some of us went to get some food… kind of pricey for a bowling alley but all stuff we ordered were pretty tasty but the guy who took my order at the register, Donovan, made a comment to me that I did not really care for… my nose was pretty runny from allergies all day and the restaurant was so stuffy that my nose continued to run and he said «you look sick.» …uhhh kind of inappropriate to say to a customer but I informed him that it was just allergies. Oh and you can’t bring pitchers of beers to your lane area… but you can still have beer, as long as it’s not a pint or a pitcher, just plastic cups… what’s up with that?
Overall, this place has dirty bathrooms (the stall I used was the cleanest and it had a full garbage can with dirty pads & wrappers all over the floor), not enough house bowling balls, ghetto patrons and underage drinking. The only good thing about this place is that you can bowl all night long and there’s an arcade for the kids.

The owner of Stars reached out to me via email and acknowledged my review and the shortcomings we experienced. This shows me that they care what their customers think and are making efforts to improve the problems.
Keep on reaching for the stars Stars!

I tagged along with my bf for his company bowling league on Tuesday. So don’t go on Tuesdays because all but TWO lanes are opened to the public between 6−9PM.
FOOD: This place has surprisingly really good food for a bowling alley! They don’t allow outside food or drinks. They have a diner that will bring your food out to your lane. I got chicken strips ($ 6.95 for 3 freshly fried REAL chicken strips– so good) and C got jalapeño poppers with string bean fries $ 7.95. Get the chicken strips with honey mustard or BBQ sauce. Our friend got calamari and that was really good too. The batter wasn’t thick, just lightly battered. I would definitely eat here again!
BAR: Customer service was not up to par. It was the only part I didn’t enjoy about this place. I would stay away.
Arcade is available for kids.
Although I didn’t bowl firsthand, I would come here again to bowl or just eat and enjoy the time with friends. Definitely recommend to eat here though!