Let's make something very clear here. It's SUPPOSED to be a dive. That's the charm, people.
This is, by far, the most fun activity I've done in Milwaukee. I left wanting to immediately return. I've already told all of my friends that we're going back there. I hate bowling. I'm terrible at it and it's awkward for me. But mini bowling? Amazing. As other Yelpers have said before me, call ahead for a reservation. We went on a Tuesday and the lanes filled up fast. Also, tip the pin boys. Also also, call me because I will totally come with.
Forget the weenies saying this area is sketchy! Lighten up Yelpers. Yep. I said that. I poured in here after a few drinks at local cocktail joint Bryant's for some real Milwaukee fun. We found a fun crowd who were willing to make space at the bar and tease my friends from Chicago about various teams. We were in after 10 and had the full opportunity to play the mini bowl lane. No shoes needed. Little hand held balls are the name of the game here and the pins are set by a couple of kids who work for tips (SO YOU BETTER TIP A LOT!)
Fun. Bowling. Pitchers of PBR for $8 or something like that.
Went back the next afternoon and some bridal party had booked all the lanes, so we shot pool and watched the Brewers game and the Stanley Cup. This place is now second generation Koz owned and it is about as real as you get for a Milwaukee original that is not a copy of the latest thing in Chicago, NYC, or LA.
Yep. I also loved the old checks on the A/C unit. If you bounced a check (remember when people paid with checks?) Koz would paste your bounced check on the wall! Now, that is pretty funny - unless your grampus was bouncing checks in 1981. The shame. If your gram pa owes Koz's $60 then you should pay up.
A few Lakefront or MKE beers on tap would make this place 5 stars in my book.
What a lucky find! This place is unique and fun. From the duck pins to the human pin setters to the aura this place just ROCKS! Heard about it from a friend so I brought my daughters and wife up for an afternoon excursion and it was well worth the trip from Chicago. With that being said, it is not settled in the best of neighborhoods so if you are coming for an adult evening, be sure to pack the car with as few purses, tablets, valuables as possible...and make reservation because walk up open lanes are rare.
Review Source:Koz's Mini Bowl is indeed a unique place that I would be surprised if someone from out of town came to without a local. When I stepped into Koz's I was hoping that I would run into a bunch of older to middle aged folks who gave me funny looks, instead I encountered what is now becoming the norm in this part of the Old Milwaukee. A thuggish but friendly enough bunch, I have to admit I was waiting for a gun battle to break out.
And for the record, Duck Pin bowling lanes are indeed rare but they can be found in many other rust belt towns such as my current home base of Pittsburgh. This was not a regulation duck pin bowling lane, it is too short. It was way too easy to bowl games close to 300 which should definitely not be the case in this type of bowling.
The pin setters were very good and I enjoyed some of the flare one of them put on the job, even after his side kick returned a ball so hard that it flew off the ball rack and landed on the lane. This was after he was hit in the shin after a member of our group rolled a ball down range after he stepped into the lane to grab a pin that fell. It's a dangerous job A-hole, we understand, but your temper was uncalled for!
I didn't interact with the bartender except one time to ask for  glass of water and he was pretty cool so I can appreciate that. I left fairly early cause I had a flight to catch the next morning but the two games I played were a very good Milwaukee kind of time.
So happy I can check this off my Milwaukee Bucket List!
- Call ahead and make reservations.
- They are totally OK with food carry-ins if you want to get some pizza delivered or what not.
- Drinks are CHEAP! Double mixed drinks put me back $5 a pop.
- Yes, please tip pin setters and put some quarters in the jukebox.
The area is a tad sketch as is some of the clientele, but it wouldn't stop me from going there with a group for some bowling. We had 2 lanes for 9 people, and it was a blast.
This is such an awesome place!
A place with 4 lanes of little bowling - sweet!
I usually don't do so well in regular bowling but with tiny balls and tiny pins, I'm golden! I like this place too because you have to manual keep score - it's not all electronic. There is even a guy who sets the pins back up for you!!
It's attached to a bar and you can get pitchers of beer - which made my husband and his friends happen.
The jukebox is great, you can keep the music playing!
Wow, review of the day! Â Awesome!
I came back here on 11/2/12 for my husband's surprise birthday party. Â We got some apple pie shots at the bar and the bartender told us the story of the lion hide - seriously ask him about that sometime, it's pretty interesting! Â We had a great time, as usual. Â One of my favorite places!
If you got some friends in from out of town, cap off your night with a little Koz's mini bowl. Â This place gets national reviews, and I originally saw it written up in Esquire. Â Yes, I just put on the internet that I occasionally read Esquire. Â
My only critique is that I've been here on a slow night, and the place lacks the energy that it usually does on the weekend. Â If you bring some folks through here and it is dead, some creepy dudes can be hanging out inside. Â Other than that, hit it up on the weekend and you are GUARANTEED to have fun. Â Call ahead and RESERVE your lane.
The beer is cheap and the mini bowling is easy and fun for anyone to do. Â Make sure to TIP the people setting up the pins when you are done. Â It looks like hard work. Â
One of the best places I've ever had a beer. Â May this place never leave Milwaukee. Â Few things scream Milwaukee like Koz's. Â Come one and come all......
Right when I walked in the owner, an older women that is soooo sweet, greeting me and my girlfriend. Â It was the first time being there and it looked like we got there before the crowds and right when they opened. Â
She suggested we get a pitcher since it would save us money and said one of the neighborhood boys would collect the pins for us and don't feel bad that they weren't all set up. Â
I have never experienced anything like this before. Â The lanes are 3 feet wide and only 20 feet deep and the ball is the size of a Bocce ball. Â Behind the tiny pins is a teenage neighborhood kid who puts the pins back in place. Â It is a hoot! Â
The atmosphere is a mix of up north bar mixed with your german/polish grandparents house. Â The owner after we finished our game and settled up, gave us a few free game passes so we could come back when it is busier to see it then. Â
Great owner, great establishment, and a very unique place to go to.
How to pad your bowling score? Try out the mini bowl! The lanes are much shorter, so your accuracy and power goes up. Don't hit the guy behind the pins now. That just wouldn't be kosher. Yes boys and girls, this is so old school (like my great grandfather's alley in his basement) that the pins are cleared by hand. Please tip him handily. He puts his personal equipment on the line every-time you swing that ball.
Lots of fun for a dive bar! So why the three stars? The bloody Mary was way too salty and wasn't good at all. For Milwaukee home of the best Bloody Mary, that is a bad sign. The drinks are a bit expensive for a dive bar, but the alley was well priced. No shoe charge as you can wear your own.
We felt a bit uncomfortable in the bar after some comments were made to us. I guess we weren't divey/shady enough? Despite that, I gave a good tip.
Super great place just as others have described. Â Â PBR on tap, which I had not had in a while. Â We stopped on a Saturday around 7:00 and were able to bowl a bit before reservations started showing up. Â Â Small unassuming bar with a small selection of beers and the little bowling.
would be a fine place to visit with kids earlier in the evening. Â Great place to take a group of people to experience some classic Milwaukee vibes.
Mini bowling is WAY better than regular bowling. Never in this universe would I get 5 strikes in a row and a final score of 209 in regular bowling! What a kickass ego boost!
Koz's is divey, kitschy and super fun. The staff were friendly and the pin-setters were super fast and had finesse. I would recommend reserving a lane for a bit if you're going on a weekend.
Koz's = classic Milwaukee.
The truth is Koz's appearance is pretty sketch. It's not the type of place I would typically visit. But there are things about it that I love. The cheap beer, the fabulous jukebox selections, the stuffed lion (ask the bartender to tell you the story behind it), and of course, the mini bowling.
Why is the mini bowling so awesome? It's old school, it's different, it's amusing, it's fun. You can totally kick bowling's butt. In regular bowling I'm happy to bowl a 100. Last time I was here my high score was a 212. Yeah!
Nothing's electronic here. Another fabulous part of the experience are the human pin-setters. Also, you'll have to know how to do some hand-scoring, but if you make a few mistakes, oh well, it's all in good fun. Definitely make a reservation so you make sure you get to bowl.
Great place. Come with an open mind. Drink lots of beer and kick some mini bowling butt.
Mini bowl mega fun! Â If you don't like Koz's Mini Bowl it's probably because you're a communist and/or the worst person who ever lived. Â Ever. Â
I imagine this place looked exactly the same when it was first opened in 1912. Â Back then, everything was smaller because there was much less obesity in the world and folks didn't need huge chairs for their asses or huge bowling balls for their meaty hands. Â Oh how a century has changed us. Â Little known fact, the average human is now a whopping 1.7 feet taller and 2.4 feet wider than in 1912, rendering the bowling alley at Koz's comically small.
I think pin-restter is the worst job in the entire city - potentially the entire universe. Â I can't believe how nice those guys were because if I was doing that job, I would be throwing the balls back at you and spitting in your drinks when you weren't looking. Â Kudos to those fine gentlemen for being, well, gentleman. Â Make sure you tip them if you go!
Beer is insanely cheap and teeny bowling is insanely fun. Â Fantastic all around!
Tiny bowling & cheap beer. Seriously, what's not to love? Even if you're terrible at regular bowling (as I am), surely you can do better with duck pin bowling; the pressure to hold the ball a certain way or roll it the "right" way is non-existent. No shoe rental necessary, no weird bowling "athletes" with their fancy gloves & engraved balls (*snicker*) to make you look bad. It's a blast! Bring your friends here, get a pitcher of beer, & get your roll on. Just don't hit the pinsetters at the end of the lane, and don't forget to tip them. They're working hard!
Review Source:Koz's is a place I probably would have never gone in if it weren't for the Yelp community. Â
Looking up Dive Bar in the Dictionary, Koz's would be the headliner. Â Cheap beer, random stuff all over the walls and sketchy clientele.
Went in last night for a few games of duck pin bowling with fellow Yelpers and had a great time. Â No need to go into too much depth, since all of the other reviews have taken care of explaining duck pin bowling.
Can't say I would chose Koz's on a regular basis as a hang out, but would definitely go back for a special occasion.
Giving Koz's 4 starts, because they are a One of a Kind! Â You won't find another bar with the city like it!
Mini bowling... Say wha... WHAT?! Call for a reservation, the pins resetters are only there is you want to play. They also have leagues if you wanna get that into it! The bar is divey and casual. Ask the bartender about how the lion got there.
Here's a tip though... remember to bring cash to tip out your pin resetter, They deserve it!
Places are Koz's are the kind that I know I could never replace if I moved away from Milwaukee.
It's duck pin bowling, which in my opinion is the child of regular bowling and skee ball. The balls are smaller, the lanes are shorter, the pins are smaller and everything gets reset manually by pinsetters that sit behind the lanes. (Don't forget to tip them!) You also need to do manual scoring, but if you grew up in the Milwaukee area there's a good chance you learned how to do that long before you learned long division.
The bar itself is classic Milwaukee corner bar. A mini-pitcher of PBR is going to cost you about $3 and mixers are pretty cheap.
The only thing that keeps me from going to Koz's more often is that I suck at planning ahead. You need to call them to reserve a lane or two so that they can be sure they have a spot for you and have pinsetters scheduled.
While I haven't been into Koz's in about a decade, I am fairly certain it has not changed.
The entire mini-bowling thing is really quite entertaining, and it's rather simple to perform like Earl Anthony or Dick Weber. In fact I once tossed a 279 game, missing that illustrious 300 game by one mark in the tenth.
It's good south side fun and while this place is a true dump, I always found the locals to be quite charming and engaging if you don't act like a totally knob with your snoot up in the air. Â
Beer is cheap but it is cold.
I once crawled up into one of those pinsetter's stands in back. I tried to actually set pins for a couple frames and I found it incredibly taxing to even hop up and down to set the damn things. Gotta give it up for the neighborhood lads, it takes a lot to set those pins. So...make sure to tip well.
1. Â Call ahead and reserve a lane or two (sometimes several days to weeks in advance
2. Â Gather a fun group of your friends
3. Â Meet somewhere first to have a few drinks (its best to arrive having strapped on a little buzz)
4. Â Arrive at Koz's and just have a blast!
5. Â Tip the pin-boys (George likes a Miller High Life too)
This place is such a blast. Â All the other reviews are right on. Â Yes...its a dive. Â Yes...they have cold PBR on tap. Â Yes...it small. Â Yes...if you don't have a reservation, you may not be able to bowl. Â Yes...it is probably the BEST jukebox in the city of Milwaukee!
Just go.
This. Place. Is. Amazing.
Seriously. Do you have concert tickets this weekend? Going to a basketball game? Amazing theater seats? Sell them. You want to do this instead.
This place is the definition of a dive bar. This is what dive bars aspire to. The front door to the place looks like it was attached with a staple gun and kind of feels like it's going to fall on you when you enter.
The jukebox unapologetically blares everything from Nine Inch Nails to hip hop to Top 40 lists, the beer is cheap and cold, and the decorations are tacky and fantastic. Like...why is there a lion mounting one of the liquor cabinets? I don't know and I don't care. I just know that it's awesome.
The bowling balls are approximately the size of ski balls, and the alley and pins are shrunken accordingly. Pin boys hang out behind a curtain, somehow managing to text their girlfriends and set up your pins in record time.
For three bucks a game and two bucks a beer...if you can't have fun here, you are way too high maintenence.
Wow, I am not feeling the 5 stars. Anyone who is on the "in" crowd want to take me sometime?
This place is a dive and super dirty. We were not allowed to minibowl because a party had reserved all the lanes. I can see how it is a cool concept, but all I experienced at Koz's was a dirty, stinky bar. The bartender was nice, and helpful, though.
What's that you say? Â Mini Bowling? Â Yes, and it's exactly what it sounds like.
Mini pins, palm-sized balls, and no auto return (it's a real person!). Â Why is it so fun? Â Because it's mini. Â And it's in a dive that is straight out of Happy Days. Â And folks running the show know what's up. Â And the beer is cold.
The biggest problem is finding a cab to take you home, so maybe just stay for another?
This is a place that makes Milwaukee Milwaukee. Can't touch this, y'all.
Duck pin bowling. Do you know what that is? It's tiny bowling. Now you know. You're welcome. Seriously.
It's because this place = pure divetastic awesomeness, in the best way possible. Cheap, crappy beer. Wood-paneled walls. High Life mirrors with trout on 'em line the walls. Pool table. AND MINI BOWLING!
The lanes are tiny, the balls are tiny (har har), and the pins are tiny. They hire neighborhood kids to re-set the pins, and chances are you can bribe 'em with a ten spot to "help you out" if you aren't the best duck pin bowler in the four-one-four.
Call ahead, both to make sure they're open, as well as to reserve the lanes.
suggested reading: Matthew M's review. (FTW)
This place looks like it should be in the great north woods. Â With that said, its a blast. Â Call to reserve a lane, tip your pin setters, and make sure not to burn the locals. Â If you go here more than once, you will see that most of the regulars are ALWAYS there. Â The drinks are cheap and mini bolwing is a blast!
Review Source:The perfect place for a birthday party! Kitsch at its best - as well as one of the oldest taverns in the area. Mini bowling is fun for EVERYONE (adults) and they even have leagues. The neighborhood has gone down hill a bit (park close) and you should go early (pinsetters like to leave early).
Review Source:Pure awesomeness. Â How else to some this place up. Â In fact, I'd rather give it 1 star just so I can get a lane reservation...which you'll need since they only have 4 lanes so call ahead.
I had wanted to go to Koz's since the first time I heard about it when I moved to MKE 10 years ago...well, I finally got a chance to head there on date night with the PIC and we left knowing we'd be back again.
Once you're inside the bar it feels like you're in the deep northwoods. Â I can't even properly describe the ambiance but there is a stuffed mountain lion overlooking the bar!
We came for the mini-bowling...what is that you ask? Â Well, you use a bowling ball about the size of a shot-put and heave it down a 10 foot lane toward pins that might be the size of coke bottles. Â In between your shots (not that type but you can down those as well) an employee manually clears the pin area and sets your pins. Â It is so much fun! Â Make sure you dust off the corner of your brain from gym class that taught you how to keep your bowling score by hand--you'll definitely need that!
BTW, I was back a week later with the boys...it's that much fun!
Going to Koz's is like hanging out in an extremely awesome finished basement last renovated in the 70s. Lots of wood paneling, animals that have been immortalized by the local taxidermist, and a bar stocked with Milwaukee favorites.
Even the most uncoordinated can dominate at mini bowling after chucking the balls down the lane a few times, and the $3 mini pitchers of beer help level the playing field.
Be sure to bring cash to tip the pin-setters: they risk their limbs jumping between lanes and among careening balls to ensure you have a fun time. Also, make sure at least one person is capable of performing drunk math - you're responsible for scoring your own game.
The only drawbacks are that it gets extremely crowded around the lanes and you feel like you're constantly in someone's way, and that the bathrooms might qualify for cesspool status. The pros far outweigh the cons, though, and any good Wisconsinite knows how to survive in even the grossest of bar bathrooms.
I certainly haven't been everywhere in the world. But I have been to a lot of places. And none of them are anything like Koz's Mini Bowl in Milwaukee.
From the exterior it has all the charm of a bomb shelter or a closed barber shop. There isn't a big bright sign, and barely any neon. But once you head inside, you start to realize why it is a Brew City staple.
The back room features their world-famous "Mini Bowling." It is just like regular bowling, except at 1/4 or 1/3 the scale. The balls are about the size of shot puts, and the lanes are about 15 or 20 feet long. A real, live, breathing human pin-setter sits on a ledge in a booth behind the pins and racks them up for you, always displaying a deftness and awareness that surpasses his job title. How they avoid having their shins smashed dozens of times a day I'll never know.
The game is impossible to replicate outside of Koz's confines, but is vintage Milwaukee. It's $3 per game per person, no special shoes required. Make sure to bring cash to tip the pin-setters. A buck or two per person per game usually seems appropriate.
The bar is like a wood-paneled VFW lodge, and it looks like nothing has been altered for decades. For example, a newspaper clipping of Robin Yount's 3000th hit is taped to the wall, yellowing since September 10th, 1992.
I've loved Koz's since my first visit, and it is stop #1 for any out-of-town visitor I am entertaining. I'll summarize the rest in pro/con fashion.
Pros
1) Beer prices. $3 mini pitchers of PBR or High Life. Drafts are even less and regular pitcher prices aren't much higher. It is an incredible value to go from "sober" to "put on your crunk shoes." And for the ladies, mixed drinks are very reasonable.
2) All the standard neighborhood bar accessories. Great juke box. Pool table. Darts. Punching machine. Buck Hunter. Local sports on the tube.
3) There are just a handful of mini bowling lanes, but they take lane reservations over the phone, and in all my times there I have never had a lane unavailable at the time I reserved it, sometimes with as little as 30 min notice for them to call a local pin-setter.
4) Bar tenders are blue collar local guys, and are always friendly and quick to serve a customer. The place is never vacant, but I never find myself waiting for anything, which I love.
Cons
1) This ain't the Ritz, folks. It isn't in the best part of town. The regulars don't look like they've seen the sun in a few months. Parking is on the street. And there is barely any food to speak of. If your friends are snobs, you can leave them at home or head to Kil@Wat downtown.
2) The recent smoking ban in Milwaukee went in to effect July 5th, and though I've rarely seen patrons smoking since then, the odor of eons of Winstons just kind of inhabits the place most of the time.
3) Credit cards are accepted but subtly discouraged. Make sure to carry cash to tip your pin setters. AmEx not accepted.
4) The bathrooms leave something to be desired.
5) If you're terrible at math, you'll have trouble scoring the bowling yourself. Though the bartenders are usually happy to do it for you, especially if you're lucky enough to be a lady.
In conclusion, if you and your buddies are looking for fun practically any time drinking feels appropriate, Koz's is one of my favorite spots in Milwaukee. And Wisconsin. Hell, in America.
If you live in Milwaukee and you've never been, shame on you. If you've called to reserve a lane, I'm proud of you. And if you're bowling there right now, add Uncle Mitch to your score sheet and let's roll a new frame. Be there in ten.
This place is not to be missed on a trip to MKE. Â Old school fun and cheap drinks!!
Be sure to call ahead and make sure you get a pin setter lined up - and make sure he/she is out of the way before you go all lebowski on their ass. Â I think it's $3/person per game. Â
Be sure to bring your math skills because you'll be scoring the old fashioned way on paper.
I was seriously *thisclose* to a perfect game before my double vodka drink started kicking in. Â Mini bowling will make you feel like a star!
One star off for absolutely terrible jukebox. So terrible in fact that many of lesser offensive crap was blocked (White Stripes, even Fleetwood Mac!). You'll feel like you're at your senior dance with all the early 90s music goin' on, but the bowling is great, and you'll feel like a fuckin' king. I bowled 6 strikes in a row! Does tend to get a little tedious after an hour.
Bonus: Old signs for Jacob's Best beer and Andecker abound. As well as lots of stuffed things.
This place is a little slice of heaven tucked away on a forgotten corner deep in the heart of Milwaukee's South Side. The neighborhood has seen better days, and one could pass this tavern every day and never pay it any mind. But take a step into this holy shrine of Our Lady Milwaukee and behold the majesty and glory that is duckpin bowling!
Basically you walk in the place, grab a Pabst Blue Ribbon and a wooden bowling ball a little bigger than a grapefruit. You then proceed to bowl on lanes about 12 feet long, aiming to knock over pins that are about 8 inches tall. When you knock the pins over there are actual pin monkeys (teenage boys from the neighborhood) that sit behind the lanes to reset the pins.
It was at Koz's that I bowled my first and only 300 game! Of course, it's next to impossible to not at least get a spare every time on these tiny lanes. I went there once for my friend's birthday party and it was one of the funnest parties I've ever been to. This place is a riot. Highly, highly recommended.
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