10pin Bowling Lounge Reviews

We just went up for some cocktails and watched some people bowl, looked like a good night out.

We stumbled upon 10pin on our way back from dinner... Full disclosure - we were already kind of drunk when we found this place! Nonetheless, we were up for some fun and hiked up the stairs to the second floor venue. We were told it was an hour wait for a lane, though there appeared to be about 50% of the lanes open. We didn't make a big deal about it because there was a bar calling our names. My companions ordered a bottle of wine which was a decent price considering the amount we paid at other Chicago places for a bottle of wine, though it wasn't all that good. I guess you get what you pay for. I got a cocktail which was quite good, however. They had told us they'd call our name over the intercom when a lane was ready but an hour had passed and we never got the call. I went over to the front desk to ask and they had "forgot." We were assigned a lane (that was right in front of where we were sitting at the bar and had been empty the whole time) and told that it was a fixed price for an hour of bowling and there was a minimal fee for shoe rental. I tried to pay at the desk but they said they couldn't accept payment there. I was confused but, eventually the waitress came over to our lane and asked for a credit card to hold for the lane. I am going to give them the benefit of a doubt and assume the confusion was my fault because I had been drinking, though I wasn't too drunk. Anyways, bowling was pretty fun. Each lane had a set number of balls that you could choose from, though our lane didn't have that great of a selection when it came to the finger size and weight. Oh well, we were there just to have fun, not play serious bowling. The atmosphere was pretty awesome - lots of black lights, great music, and decent drinks. We (3 of us) were able to almost bowl 2 games in the 60 minute time. There was an option to extend the time limit but we didn't really care. I tried to find our waitress to settle the tab for the lanes and shoes but couldn't find her for a good 10 minutes. Finally, she brought back my card and the check - the "minimal" shoe rental fee was $13 per person! Maybe that's a normal rate in Chicago, but I wasn't expecting that. No where was it published either. It was kind of a bummer to realize we had just dropped almost $100 on 1 hour of bowling (plus whatever we spent on drinks). Like I said, the atmosphere was fun but not $100 fun.

This place is great for gaming of all sorts, not just bowling. Personally, I wouldn't add it to a short trip to Chicago because there isn't anything specifically "Chicago" about it. But, they've got an arcade, a tournament worthy pool hall, good food and ample bar space, bowling(oh yeah, that too), and more. It is truly deceptively large.

Very cool place, but didn't bowl. It would be great for group gatherings especially. Food is very reasonably priced and pretty darn good. I had the 1/2 steak burger on a pretzel roll...yum! The service was adequate and the drinks pricey, but we'd definitely return.

The lanes are good but the staff mad us feel as if we weren't welcomed there! I called in earlier to reserve lanes and I guess the communication wasn't good between employees. Other than that it was a really good time

We stopped in to look and wow this place is nice. We sat at the bar wanting to have a drink but could not get service to wait on us. I will go back.

Looks like it could be a cool place, but we sat at the bar for 15 minutes without either bartender even acknowledging us. Didn't stick around.

I have wanted to bowl here since the 70's and finally did. I was neat to use this space as it was intended some 50 years ago. The lanes need some wax though. Still a great time.

My company had an outing at 10Pin last night and it was great. We rented out the Martini lounge and had food and bowling for 4 hours. It was great and I was really surprised how good the food was. I really didn't hold out high hopes on "bowling alley" food. Some of the best items were the buttermilk chicken strips and chicken quesadillas. The two items that were out of this world were the mashed potato bar and the S'mores for dessert. Great place and the manager, Chris Todd, was very helpful in making us feel like we were the only group in the place. Awesome experience, awesome people to work with, and I recommend it to anyone. In fact, I was eating one of the s'mores when our server came by and asked how it was. I stated that the only thing better would be a "dark chocolate" s'mores. She went back to her workstation, found a dark chocolate bar and took it to the kitchen and made me a "Special Dark" chocolate s'mores. She went above and beyond and it didn't go unnoticed. Thank you.

Had a really good time @ 10pin for our team dinner/event. Fun atmosphere, and the loud tunes helped reinforce the 'No Work Talk' ban! Food was great, we had the BBQ option and the Mac & Cheese was excellent. Very tasty mini burgers, mini Chicago dogs, and mini pulled pork sandwiches. Only thing I'd down score would be the choice of bowling balls, but none in our party were very serious bowlers.

If you aren't in a hurry this is your place. If you are, then count on slow service and almost an hour total time. Food was delicious, just not worth the wait for order to be taken, food to be served.

Fun place - great food, try the pretzels or the nachos they were excellent. Bowling is the fun, blacklight type - had a great soundtrack playing a mix of music types. A touch pricey though, two games of bowling, food and beers jumped to $85 pretty quick! Worth it though for the experience.

My company went to 10pin for a group outing last week and it was a success. We went during the afternoon and had 15 lanes set up for us. Everything went smoothly... we walked right in, everyone got their coat checked (free... just tips), grabbed a pair of shoes, and hit the lanes. The wait staff was friendly... there did tend to be some long gaps in service but they were working with a large group (over 100) and you did have the option to go to the bar to pick up your beverage if you didn't want to wait. 10pin had a table set up with our food... different varieties of sliders (pulled pork best among them) and mac/cheese. Food was interesting... not the best but certainly good enough for a large group to share. Above the lanes there were giant TV screens showing a combination of SportsCenter and random music videos from the 80s to today... very random music selection but it worked for our group. Overall I would recommend 10pin for groups... great idea considering it keeps competitive people happy (nothing like friendly competition), it keeps non-competitive people happy (there was plenty of space to sit away from the alleys and just talk/drink/eat), and it keeps everyone together so you can mingle/say hi to the entire group. 10pin took good care of us and I bet they would do the same for your group.

The place looks pretty nice and all clean, however the bowling experience was very poor. If you're looking for a place to rest, maybe get a drink or some food it's a nice place to stay at, but if you have some experience bowling and are looking for an alley where you can actually have a decent time bowling I would not pick this bowling alley again.

Located next to the Hotel Chicago where we were staying so you just have to step outside and walk left for 10 feet and you're there. Great if you don't want to go too far to have fun or it's too cold to be outside. Lanes and house balls were well taken care of and we had great fun

Had a company outing here. Bowling was fun, but I wasn't overly impressed with the place. It was ok; decent food; decent service. I won't come back here though. If you are coming set your expectations to typical bowling alley food and you might be more pleased. We had similar outings in other large cities and the food, service and bowling was better. This place could use some updating to be on par with similar competition.

We are used to got there quite often. Indeed food is nice, barmen really friendly and if you don't feel like playing bowl you can just enjoy the atmosphere grabbing some drinks at the bar. Their Mac and cheese are just amazing .. so cheesy!!!!

We took our 3 year old bowling here for the first time. She had a blast. Went in the afternoon so it was mostly families. They play good music and have the video screens up over the lanes. The prices were a little steep but it is downtown Chicago. I imagine an evening drinking and bowling here with friends would get expensive, but it was good family fun for us.

Never considered bowling downtown Chicago but business cohorts wanted to go and it was nearby. It is located right next to the House of Blues and Trump tower. Menu was limited but very reasonable prices. Only problem was it is very dark inside so hard to see what you are eating. Had a couple games of bowling and was fun and good stress reducer in the big city. Full Bar.

If may come as a surprise when you are in downtown Chicago that you can go bowling. It has bar service, good automated lanes and if you have a group they can host a party.

Has a great time on the lanes. Great atmosphere. Good nibbles and selection of fare. Assorted burger-like sandwiches - pulled pork, veggie, hamburger and chicken. Homemade mac and cheese. Good drink selection. Overall - had a good time.

Attached to the Hotel Chicago. Good food, drinks and environment. Bowled a few times there and always fun.

We stumbled on this place after being out at the clubs. I was surprised to find a bowling alley open after midnight. We had a great time bowling a couple of games. Had a couple of drinks and got an snack. The server comes to your lane and she was really great. The food and drinks were lower priced and the bowling was a bit high. But still totally worth it.

Super expensive but we knew that going in. We enjoyed the bowling. An hour was just enough but my partner and I both got sick. And we know it was 10 Pin because our friend with us didn’t eat the appetizers and we did. And everything else we had that day the 3 of us ate. 2 days later and I still don’t feel great. So go for the bowling but expect to leave with a lighter wallet and don’t eat the food unless you want to lose a few pounds.

This place is fun. It is a bit annoying that at the end of each game you need to contact your server to extend. This might be okay if your server is good, but our server was slow and incompetent.

We really enjoyed the Martini's and Bowling! We were staying at the Sax hotel and liked that this was so close.

We stayed at the Hyatt on E Wacker so this was within walking distance. It was clean, well maintained and very upscale (as bowling alleys go!). The shoes aren't "icky" and the food is good. It's bar food, but it's a bowling alley. The music was more geared towards my 15 year old but it wasn't anything we were embarrassed to listen to together and they had music videos as well as major league sports playing so there was something for everyone. There is a well stocked bar and lots of beer choices so everyone was happy. If you are in Chicago and looking for something to do with colleagues at night or with family on vacation this is a really great choice!

This is a great spot for dates (day or night) and groups. The food is decent, as are the drinks. The atmosphere is the really cool thing about it. It's not your typical bowling alley. The only thing I didn't like about it was the low number of lanes with such high demand, but they only have so much space so can't really complain about that too much. Typical Chicago pricing.

I was hosting a business meeting at the nearby Kinzie Hotel, and we went over for some bowling and bonding. Great cocktails and appetizers while we bowled. the modern scoring machines take over complex scoring.

I've been to many high class bowling alleys, but this experience did not come close to other locations. The staff was friendly the food was good and atmosphere great. However, when trying to order, they didn't have popular beers (Modelo or Dos Equis) or premium liquors (Tres Generations or Gentlemens Jack). Additionally, when a plate of appetizers arrived we received minimal napkins and no silverware or individual plates. This would never had occurred at another premium alley. The lane was very dry and our scoring machine and lane kept malfunctioning and I had to leave the fun to correct the situation. When the bill came, it was definitely not worth the experience.

I really like the new age bowling alleys with drinks, dinner, music etc.. 10 pin is bottom of the barrel though. It should be more in crappy suburb somewhere and serve hot dogs. then i would give it 4 stars. its dirty, service it terrible, and the lanes are bad. what else can i say

This was our 11 year old son's choice of what he wanted to do while in Chicago. I wish we hadn't humored him! We dumped over a hundred bucks and only had one round of sodas and a quick snack plate and we bowled 2 games. Save the bowling for when you're at home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was in town on business and wanted something to do my first night in town. I stopped in at 10pin and had a blast. I got there relatively late (around 9:30ish) and it was really quiet. But shortly afterwards it really picked up the crowds came in and the party started. I ordered some appetizers off the menu that were fab; specifically the wings, potato skins, and quesadilla. They were to die for. I had a ton of fun and would def go back with friends and co-workers for a fun night of food and bowling.

nice place to lounge food is great .. it takes long and expensive drinks are great good for a casual meal and you can also see a movie at the theater