Tipped

Great time!

December 21, 2011

I simply love this place! We enjoyed really much the great atmosphere as well as the game!

Keywords: fun bar

giggles, cocktails and bowling

January 13, 2010

Had a great time here the other night. We were stuck for something to do and ended up in here... and im super glad we did. Id been before on halloween for a party they threw and had been meaning to go back and now i remember why. The cocktails are tasty, the atmosphere buzzing with the low lighting and UV. Just add a few mates who are as bad at bowling as you and you're set!

Just a tip too, keep an eye out for their parties as they rock and there are drinks promos and free stuff too.

fun fun fun

January 11, 2010

Had abs brilliant night out with friends for Halloween. nice crowd&great atmosphere. it has super cool bar with leather sofas at the back next to bowling lanes - perfectly handy for 2am match. don't forget your dancing shoes coz they play great music all night long! and variety of cocktails are served at reasonable prices. it was great fun!

Independence Day

January 07, 2010

Had an awesome night on American Independence Day, fancy dress was a scream with the winning costume being a life sized Pinocchio. Bowling is great and food is yum!!

Great place for a birthday party!!

August 25, 2009

I'm so glad that a friend recommended throwing my birthday bash here. Much more fun than a regular stale beer-soaked bar or stuffy lounge or restaurant. A lady named Sally was fantastic at helping me organise my evening in their stylish Private Room. From the canapes to the cocktails, everything was perfect and perfectly tasty. All my guests and I had to do was show up, bring our appetites and get ready to boogie.

Best birthday I've had in years!

Keywords: birthday, American, retro, fun, bowling, cocktails

Wow!

July 24, 2009

Brilliant night out with the girls!

Keywords: bowling, American, fun, night out, Brick Lane

U.S. in E1

March 01, 2009

I ATE SO much meat that I think I harmed myself. The venue for this chicken, pork, beef and lamb feast: All-Star Lanes’ ‘Luncheonette’, which ironically only serves midday meals at weekends. Their latest boutique bowling alley occupies part of the increasingly interesting Old Truman Brewery off Brick lane. Whilst bouncers prowl the entrance, inside it feels fun and filmic. A wedge of 1950’s America inserted in the East End. My French friend and I sat on scarlet leather (which sounds unintentionally pornographic) watching overflowing pitchers and decadent Sundaes fly by…

Despite the building’s background, we resisted revolting-sounding ‘Largeritas’ in favour of Bison Juleps, sipped straight from shakers. From A3 menus (everything’s bigger here) I chose a cold salad of pulled pork, purely because pulling a pig seemed a tempting frolic. I used fried bread discs to spatula the richly sauced, torn meat. My friend’s hot smoked BBQ chicken wings were cool in spice and offered with an irrelevant blue cheese dip. Flesh fell from the spongy bones - a sign of a bird rushed to maturity. Being hands-on food, in addition to tablecloth-sized napkins we were given finger bowls. I convinced my friend that these were soups.

A birthday chorus erupted from the back of the diner followed by our neighbours, who also had cause for celebration. Almost contagiously, yet another more masculine party outsung the others.

From a list long in Californian bottles, we chose Loredana, a cherry bright Pinot Noir mingled with a menagerie of unconventional varieties. Not the obvious choice, although it had enough kick to cut through man-sized mains.

Whilst it is a cliché to call a cut ‘Flintstones’-sized, the whopping chop cast on Fred’s car in closing credits was dauntingly similar to the dry aged lamb which landed by my friend. Despite being amongst the cheapest mains, I needed a wide-angle lens to accommodate this gristly beast, fresh ‘from the smoker’. A thrifty chef could have excavated a dozen portions. Regardless of attention from fellow diners’ camera-phones, he did well, although typical of his nationality, he discarded the mint sauce.

By comparison, my 28-day dry aged New York Strip loin (a.k.a. Porterhouse) looked like a tug to the QE2. Swimming in lime-spiked Beurre Maître’d and scattered with salt, the moist, serviceable steak was helped by a twist of pepper from a grinder shaped like Marilyn Monroe.

I had pudding out of research rather than desire. Again enormous, the banana praline split with hazelnut ice cream looked wildly hedonistic but tasted thick - an exhausting challenge. A macchiato dot was the meals’ only concession to European scale.

I could hardly move afterwards, let alone bowl, although somehow we managed. We teased a Polish friend who joined us later by naming her ‘Eastern Bloc’ on the scoreboard. After a chat with management, she got us back. Inflatable sausages automatically flooded the troughs every time it was her turn. And she was triumphant.

By the end of the evening, I knew what Elvis felt like nearing death. I put my hands together and prayed for a smooth Cadillac to take me home…

[Cross-posted at The London Word]

Keywords: americana