Have been here about a half dozen times now, mostly on Groupon or Living Social deals, etc. Food, bowling and overall experience has been pleasant until last Saturday when we were waiting for family pictures to be developed in the mall. Our son got the chicken tenders while my wife and I split the chicken quesadilla. Neither of us were hungry for dinner that night and the next day we realized why... We both came down with the worst case of food poisoning either of us had ever experienced. Not sure what kind of food practices are going on to spread salmonella or E. coli but the health inspector should pay them a visit.
Review Source:Large group here the other night (15+) for dinner, drinks, bowling. Â I'll start off by saying we mostly enjoyed ourselves and the food was good. Â There were a couple things, however, that really got on my nerves and downgrade my review.
AMBIANCE: Spacious place, is very clean & well-kept. Â One of the toilets was out of order, no big deal. Â The music videos playing around the place were a nice touch, EXCEPT they had the same soundtrack on a 30-minute repeat. Â We heard the exact same songs over and over (3-4 times while we were there)... really? Â I've heard that trivia night can get extremely loud.
FOOD: The waitress was moderately attentive, and I think all of the food orders were correct. There is a weird time period where HH ends at 7 and the nightly specials start at 8pm. Â We all had a mix of the different entrees and no one complained. Â Meatloaf, chicken sliders, chicken salad, french dip, chicken parm were all good. Â Food was all very reasonably priced and adequately filling :)
DRINKS: Nice Selection of local craft brews and imports on tap & in bottles, including cider for all the lady friends.  The bar counter is spacious and great for those HH drink times.  Big downside: When I went to pay the bill, the pitchers of Local craft beers aren't considered "Domestic" under evening specials, so I ended up paying almost twice what I was expecting.  I brought it to the waitress's attention, and she informed me "that's just the way it is here".  Not impressed that  there was no notice of this anywhere, and it ended up being pricey.
BOWLING: Fun fact: These lanes are short. Â I had heard this, but I didn't really understand the implications until I started hitting only 1 pin at every frame. Â If you've developed a form/technique, it's really going to throw you off. Â (I'm really no pro, but I've never done this bad). Â Every one of us had a faulty pin setup at least once... some of us multiple (3+) times across multiple lanes (meaning 1 or 2 pins would fall over before we bowled). Â Not sure what the problem is... but the setting system must not be that great. Â There are also only 8 lanes. Â They weren't busy at all when we were there (off-night), but I imagine these could get super packed and backed up. Â I did like the spacious seating areas at the lanes though. Â The score screens were also distorted and had ghosted/fuzzy images which were more challenging to read.
REVIEW: The food was good, but not impressed by many other factors which would make me less likely to come back. Â I really want to like this place, and I wish we had more cool bars on this side of town, but I don't know if I can bring myself to come back with OTB and BJs nearby. Â I really didn't feel as if the business wanted me to enjoy myself.
so met Moms for HH... been a while since we visited. Â Food was good as was the service. The bartender was uber nice. Â Very personal and when I told her I wanted to order noshes, she understood what I meant and didn't order me nachos...
Everything was going great... feeling good, relaxed, and full. That is until I needed to settle the bill. Â I had a gift card and skully bucks. Â I wanted to apply my skully bucks toward my bill but couldn't because I received discounted prices (happy hour) so they couldn't apply the bucks to my bill. Â hhmmm strange.. was never told that when I received the bucks. Â So I looked over the bucks looking for some sort of exclusion, disclosure, anything stating that no I couldn't use them. Â Didn't see a damn thing. Â Great... now I'm cranky. Â So eager to give me the damn bucks to return but can't use them. Â Major suckage. Â Really? refuse the skully bucks that you gave me. Â ugh... 2 hours later and I'm still cranky. Â Wasn't the purpose of the bucks to make me happy and want to come back? Hey I'm all for 'rules'... but you've gotta tell people ahead of time. Â You just can't make things up as you see fit. Â
Sometimes life is just too hard and always a fight. Â
Not sure that I'll be back. Â Was looking for a nice experience and received the opposite. Â
bummer...
Pricey, for bowling. For two people to bowl one hour with two shoe rentals, is was $26. That said, it's kind of a trendy bowling alley but it's fun. I like that they have separate rooms for pool and shuffle boards. There are only about 8 lanes, but it's in a mall so what do you expect.
Review Source:I've been here 3 times now and it continues to get better. It's a little odd that it's located in a mall, but the beer selection, plentiful sports TV's, and bartenders make up for this. I've seen people on here complain about the food but it's your typical run of the mill bar food, it's not Donovans so I don't see why everyone is so disappointed.
I have not bowled here, but if your looking for a spot to have a quick beer or two and catch last nights sports highlights I deffinately recommend this place.
I've been here quite a few times. Since I tend to go on the same day of the week, I usually get the same server (Bryce is awesome). There was one time a few months ago that my son and I went in for dinner. Our favorite waiter working that night, and after waiting 20 minutes for service, we ended going somewhere else. After months of not going, last week we decided to give them another try. So glad we did.. our favorite waiter was working that night, and after months of not seeing him, he still remembered us (and what we usually had to drink). In summation, the food is pretty good, bowling is reasonably priced (which we rarely do), and the service from Bryce is what makes it worth coming back.
Review Source:Maybe it's because it's so recent, or maybe because it was so bad. Either way, I cannot remember a time I had worse service. It took 20 minutes for the bartender to ask what we would like to drink, and then she asked for payment. After another 30 minutes without her taking our payment, we just left. Seriously the worst experience I have had. I will not come back here.
Review Source:I used to come here a lot for happy hour. I haven't been in a couple months and decided to drop by recently. A group of us came in, 10 people to be exact, and we were greeted by the worst customer service. Paying customers are more willing to stay longer/spend more money if the service is excellent. If you give them a cold shoulder & make them feel like they are an inconvenience, then you've lost them. Most of us ended up leaving within the first 15 minutes.
I'm not sure what's going on now, but you're better off heading to BJ's even with BJ's usual wait.
Cool place but holy cow some of the food is really bad. First off, I'm generally a fan of this place and I realize they are fairly new and trying different things out. To be fair, I have had good meals there before. I like the atmosphere, and I like the special events like trivia and karaoke but last night I have to say they lost a couple of stars.
I'm not sure why, but for whatever reason they don't serve tarter sauce with fish and chips. They had none, what they serve is a bizarre substance that is their own proprietary whatever. I can honestly say it tasted like I had spread battery acid on the food. It is the most disgusting substance that left a horrible aftertaste and has made me vow never again at that place. The staff of course was super nice and brought out some chicken strips and though it was a nice gesture, holy cow strike 2. This plate of chicken strips was dried out with a powdery dry bread coating. So needless to say, I had a nice night for the atmosphere only and ended up fasting for a meal, which every now and then is good for you.
I'm not in Escondido very often, but I recently found myself out there with my boss. Â We elected (read as he elected, I agreed, because who turns down drinks with your boss?) to stop in for a spell after a meeting and tie a couple on.
Once you set foot inside, it's difficult to feel like it's actually a part of the mall. Â If you don't pay any attention to the exposed entranceway and windows leading to the shopping, you'll never know. Â Personally, I think it's kind of a shame that it is a mall appendage as I feel like the "cool" aspect of the joint is lost, but that's just me.
The drink selection is superb and the waitstaff/bartenders are friendly. Â I tried their hot wings which were spiced in an Asian direction--solid taste but messy as all get out. Â Wet naps would be a wise addition to the plating.
I would return, if it was closer to my house. Â I can't really justify driving 25 minutes just for a bar, especially when I have so many closer to my casa. Â However, if a group outing for bowling was suggested, that would be different.
So, gents, if your girl is in the mood for shopping at this particular spot, agree to go. Â That way, you can wait for her at the bar.
I hate writing negative reviews but I don't like bad estimate and lies. Â Bowling wait time quoted2hours. No problem, my kid really wanted to bowl. Â We even ate there. Host was not very tentative. Best service was the bar tenders giving me immediate service for napkins. Went shopping waiting for the 2hrs. Then check in and the guy at the counter said "oh you didn't get our message ? It another 30 min. 45 min pass and check in again. Sorry it's another 3o min. Â 3.5 hr wait?! Â No thanks. Little one is disappointed, waste of time.
Review Source:Typically I'm not a fan of any sort of bar that is attached to a mall, but I think North County Tavern and Bowl has won me over. 1/2 Bar 1/2 Bowling Alley what's not to like?
We came on a Saturday night to celebrate a birthday and reserved two lanes for one hour. We were having so much fun we added on an additional hour. I thought the bowling was a little pricey, but the drinks were very reasonably priced.
The service was great! Since we were celebrating a birthday I made cupcakes and at first I was a little unsure if they would let me bring them in since I know they serve food. It was not a problem at all and they even offered to put them in the fridge for me until we were ready to eat them. I thought this was really considerate and our waitress was awesome.
We didn't try any of the food so I can't speak to that, but for drinks and bowling this place is great.
I'm undecided about this place. We came here as a family of four and the food was pretty tasting, which was a surprise. A huge full bar and great beer selection, and I wouldn't mind coming back to taste other menu items, but...it's in a mall. I guess if I'm in the area I would either choose this or BJs. The bowling was fun, but expect it to be loud with only eight or ten lanes in the bowling area, especially during the day or early evenings when all the kids have birthday parties here. As I said, I'm on the fence, but wouldn't mind eating here if in the area. Would not go here out of the way, though.
Review Source:Went here for a girls night for bowling and snacks.
The place is much smaller than it looks from the outside. Â I think they have about 10-12 lanes. Â The cost of the bowling is outrageous. Â 2 hours of bowling and 5 pairs of shoes- 94.25.
As for the food, we shared some nachos and they were decent. Â Service was hard to find though. Â We ordered a second round of drinks and it took forever to come. Â
If you aren't able to drink for whatever reason, the only 'fun' virgin  drink they can make is a shirley temple.  Our server said the bartender gave her the 'we don't have a blender' reason...which doesn't make sense to me.  I think they just don't want to lose money on non-alcoholic beverages.
Service was good. Atmosphere was good. But the food just didn't meet up.
I came with a big party for lunch in the middle of the week. It wasn't full by any means, so it was easy to fit us. Our waitress did a fine job tending such a big group and all our short attention spans. The atmosphere of the place seemed pretty chill. It'd be a place I'd like to hang out (if the food were better). The only weird thing is that the mall is right there.
The food, however, wasn't grrreat. Funny thing was that there were three of us who got the lunch special, but we were the last ones to get our food. Everyone else's came out first. We had to wait about 5 min extra for ours. You'd think the lunch special would be something that they'd have ready real quick, and it'd be one of the first to come out.
I got something like the shrimp wrap. A bit plain. The salsa wasn't spectacular. My other coworker and I read each other's mind and grabbed for the sriracha bottle at the same time. haha (But guys! They had sriracha there! Random.)
It's a nice-looking place, but the food just didn't cut it.
I docked stars off my North County Tavern & Bowl review for poor event customer service on the phone, but overall their on-site service for shoes, lane maintenance, and drinks was excellent!
I held a party for a friend here after reading the yelp reviews. Since it was Saturday night, I decided to go ahead a reserve the lanes for extra 10 bucks an hour. When our dinner ran late, I gave North County a call to give them a heads up that we were running 25-30 minutes late.
The girl on the phone said that they were giving our lanes to some people who were waiting, and we would have to wait for new lanes to open up. Â What exactly was my reservation fee paying for if not to keep the lanes reserved for us? I obviously was going to attend, since I was giving them a call, and I wasn't a no-show or cancellation. When I got aggressive about keeping our lanes open, she went to speak to someone else. Â When she got back on the line, I promised to be there in 15 minutes, so she changed her tune and said she would hold it.
We raced to the alley and got there in exactly 15 minutes, and I literally jumped out of the car when we pulled up. The guy at the shoe rental was super nice, and confirmed our lanes were still reserved. He also someone managed to correctly id all the guests who arrived in a later car and whose shoes I had already paid for (so no one paid twice).
The lanes are a bit small, but the vibe is great. I didn't order a drink, but my friends enjoyed theirs. A server came by when we arrived and checked on us throughout the night, and someone came by to get the check and clear our empty glasses.
I might go back to bowl with friends, but I would probably never have a party here or pay their ridiculous reservation fee just so that they can give away our lanes.
Awesome wings!
I've been to East Village Tavern several times, but now that I live in North County I thought I would check this place out. Its located inside of the mall - so the vibe is very different than the location downtown. It is larger and more family oriented, but still a great place to hang out and bowl. The bar/restaurant area is pretty big, and there are lots of TV screens so it would be a great place to watch a game.
We went there to bowl, have some drinks and food. We ordered the wings - tavern style - and they were delicious! Some of the best I've ever had. I swear I've had them at the downtown location before but they weren't as good as these!
Played a few games, had a few beers - great way to spend an afternoon.
I came here on a Thursday night, but, I believe, before their "college night" began.
Their staff is very hard to get a hold of. They rarely visit you while you are eating to check in if you need anything. They provide utensils after giving you the food. And, their prices for food are ridiculously high.
The area of eating and the alleys are particularly small so they get crowded very easily. Not worth the price you are paying for bowling.
The only thing that made my night there memorable or special was the company I was with.
What a great place to take your teenagers and have a great time! The food is pretty delish and their beer selection isn't too shabby. Â Shock top...mmm mmm! You can't make reservations for bowling, so weekends you have to get there pretty early since it's first come, first serve but worth it. Â They have really good weekday specials too :)
Of course if you don't have your kiddos w/you and want to hang out out w/your friends...pretty awesome also. Â Do some shopping at the mall, then go hang out, watch some games, eat some fab food and drink....hells yeah! I'm def a fan...
Its expensive. $60 for 3 hours of bowling. I think because there are only 8 lanes, the bowling side seems really small.
The bar area is big though. The food was just okay. I ordered a margarita that was gross, but the server was nice enough to replace it with something else....she probably knows the margaritas are not good.
This on both the bowling alley and the food. Â Though the food is well portioned/delish and the alley itself is clean, their prices are just over the top. Â $14 for fish & chips? Â $34/hour on a Friday night just for saying, "Add me to the wait list" and getting a single game in...? Â Note: this is not including shoes... Â I brought my own in, so I'm not sure what the cost is. Â Service is chill, but I can't get over the price.
The booths are luxurious by standard (they ditched swivel chairs for couches and ottomans), but from my experience, there's no way that those lanes are standard regulation; it also looked like the lane floors weren't oiled well.
Their surf wax and gummy bear specialty alcoholic beverages are good, but they don't have a blender, so don't bother asking for a pina colada or a mudslide.
It's a great idea and cool setup, but whether you're eating out of a bowl or bowling, the prices are really grand larceny. Â The deal nights are also hardly a deal - $4-$5/game is the price you'd get a Vista Entertainment Center or another bowling alleys on a regular night :(
I'll go here for the food, but I'll skip the bowling.
Very impressed with NC Tavern & Bowl.
The food is excellent, bowling there is affordable for the casual bowler and it's not crazy with leagues where you have to wait forever for lanes.
One word of warning however is that when placing a reservation for a lane they will charge you $10/hr additional for reserving the lane for some odd reason.
Ate a couple of the $2 tacos, order of onion rings, fries, the bbq wings, a couple of margaritas and each was delicious in their own way. Very attentive service and TV's everywhere.
Also, if you looking for this place and driving on the I-15N, you exit Via Rancho Pkwy and come to a light where you are looking directly at the mall. The Tavern & Bowl is on the far right side of the mall past the On The Border Restaurant.
Went here last night to watch SNF. Lots of TV's all over the place. They have bowling & shuffleboard there too. Seems like a pretty cool place to hang out if more people went there.
The service was really good. Our servers were constantly checking up on us. The food was pretty good. I got the Cobb Salad & Chicken Strips (Tavern Style - BBQ & HOT). Cobb Salad was delish... had lots of Turkey, Avocado, Bleu cheese, & bacon! Chicken strips were yummy too. I like BBQ & Buffalo HOT mixed together.
They have daily specials along with lunch specials. Really good for groups and a great place to watch a game!
Think BJs Restaurant with a Bowling Alley....inside a mall.
That's the best way to describe it. But you know, I came away quite impressed. Food and presentation was top shelf, service and staff were outstanding (our server Cassidy was a cool babe and her boss, Carlos was very cool and helpful), indoor ambience was a little dark but the HD widescreens kept the place illuminated enough so you can watch where you're going. If you have newbie "gutter ball" bowlers in your group, you can have the lane bumpers come up when it's their turn to bowl. There's food and drink service while you bowl also.
A one star penalty for the 2 hour wait for a lane and the $20+ for one game (pricey). Kids eat free on Wednesdays, we may check this out, and there are lots of Happy Hour deals. If you wear your Charlie Sheen bowling shirts, you'll look like a 300 Spot Bowler. Winning!
This spot has become a new favorite destination of ours.
Give it a chance, I think it can be yours too.
Very Cool Place
We purchased a Groupon for this place and glad we did. I went with the steak sandwich and was pleasantly surprised. For bar/bowling food, my food was good. The drinks are a little on the weak side, and the bartender was stumped on a few simple drinks I ordered. I cant diss a place just on that but as they get more established I hope the bar gets better. We went on a Saturday night and it was pretty busy. The waiters and bartenders were all very nice and the service was great. I plan to return to this place. Â
They have 2 pool tables and a shuffle board.
You can get a drink pretty fast here because it isn't that packed all the time. Can't really say if that's a good or bad thing. I think the best time to be here would be at any happy hour because it could seem a bit pricey; but what do you expect from a bar/bowling alley inside a mall location.
The pizza was pizza, the beer was beer. Drunk bowling is always fun drunk bowling. Signing for a big check.....never fun.
North county tavern opened not too long ago and i was pretty excited to have a new place to visit in North County. We always do our office Christmas party at East Village Tavern so i was fairly familiar with the concept and the set up.
It reminds me of a sports bar with bowling lanes that are shorter than normal. There are lots of of Televisions in the bar and they are all really nice and big. This place is great for Big groups and i usually end up coming here with 10+ people for a football game or a group meet up after a sporting event.
The food is pretty normal and plain. Nothing here blows me away. The steak nachos are pretty good and they load up a lot of jalapenos which is a good thing. The beer selection is pretty standard i usually go with a Stella or a Newcastle.
Highlights: big open dining area, lots of seating, big TV's, friendly service, free bowling on thursday nights from 9-10pm? not sure if they still do this.
lowlights: food is just ok, beer selection isnt too unique
One of my coworkers and I ended up here on a random Thursday night. Â We signed up for a lane and had to wait about an hour. Â We sat at the bar, had a couple of beers and before we knew it, we were called to our lane.
One of the fun things is that you can choose your alley's theme. Â We went with "Ocean" and were greeted with fishies and seahorses!!! Â One of the other family friendly features here is that you can select bumpers for any players (so not everyone has to do bumper bowling) and there is a ball assistant to help it gain some rolling momentum.
If you are into adult beverages, but do not want to leave your epic game, a waiter/waitress comes around often and gives you tasty beverages when you order them.
Other than that, it is a pretty typical bowling alley. Â But when bowling alleys are a dying breed, it is nice to see them popping up in some places again. Â Hooray NCTB!!!
Mixed feelings about this place... Went there on a Saturday at noon, told it was a 2 hour wait to bowl. thats ok, we get one of those "pager" things, (you have to leave a credit card to get one...weird!) and we go sit and eat, to kill some time. Food arriving was s l o w. But fairly tasty. Calamari appetizer, two beers, two glasses of wine, two cokes, a salad, chili cheese fries, and a phili cheesesteak sandwich, with 15% tip = $80.
So its been about 2 hours, and we are told we are next. We settle up and go pay for two hours a lane.
About 10 mins into bowling the manager comes over and is sorry to tell us there has been a mistake and he asks us to only bowl an hour. That there was a reservation overlooked. We're bummed, but he comps us two glasses of wine and a pitcher of beer.
Sucks to wait two hours for one hour of bowling.
Sucks more that while we were trying to enjoy what time we had left, the staff was setting up the birthday party supplies. (drinks, napkins, birthday sign, etc)
Sucks even more that the family of the 11 year old birthday girl starting arriving a half hour before our time was up and stood behind us with packages and balloons. Made us feel quite uncomfortable. By the time we were changing our shoes, there were about 12 people waiting.
That was my first experience there.
Side notes: the back wall of the restaurant where the rental counter is and the bathrooms are all untinted windows and at noon the sun was glaring in. So when you take a break from bowling (where its dimly lit) to the bathroom, you get a retnal burn.
I think I'll come here after 6pm when its adults only. I saw several other lanes where practically unsupervised kids were playing around. Lane right next to us had a toddler that was quite interested in the ball return and I was certain he was going to pinch his fingers. I watched him more than his parents did.
Meh.
Went here on a Sunday night. Â This review is for the bar only.
First of all the bar are is huge! Â They have a wide selection of draft beers, many of which are local breweries. Â I also had a margarita that was okay(3 out of 5 stars)
My friend and I shared the "Strike Zone Sampler", we chose Nachos, Quesadilla, and Chicken Strips. Â It was huge, the nachos were delish and the corn flake battered chicken strips were awesome. Â The quesadilla was average, but the dish itself was huge and we were unable to finish it.
3 large premium beers, 1 margarita and the sampler came to be about $55 after tip. Â
There is limited bowling with only eight lanes, so for now i'll stick to Poway Fun Bowl for my bowling needs. Â But....
I will be back for drinks and snacks!
I thought I would have a better time after a very positive dining and bowling experience at East Village Tavern + Bowl. I'm willing to give it another shot, but attempt number one was not good.
We were put at a high table and the barstools unfortunately did not have backs. I wish they would have had backs. I did feel like the layout of booths and tables was good though; there wasn't a sense of them trying to cram as many as they could into the dining area.
Our problem began after we ordered our food. We waited forever to get it. We watched tables arrive after us and get their food before us. Our waitress was great though, and did her best to check on us and update us on the kitchen. We weren't thrilled with the manager though, as she walked by our empty table multiple times and only stopped once to say, "Your food is coming right up," which is not something you should say when it still takes another 25 minutes to arrive.
We liked our meals, but the long wait really prevented us from enjoying the food. When someone in our party told the manager about our experience, including our delight over the waitress' efforts, she apologized and issued us $10 store credit.
Maybe they'll have it straightened out next time we decide to give it a try.
Strike!
Well that's what I would've been yelling if I didn't suck so bad at bowling
My average is about a 60 yes really 60
Saw this place was opening soon for the past year I think
Just happened to come to the mall to shop & saw that it was finally open
Went on a Saturday around 12 pm no line to eat & no wait to bowl perfect
You can bowl by the game or by the hour but pretty cheap either way
Plenty of places to sit & eat including a patio outside in the back & a area to sit in front in case you want to see shoppers blow cash
Plenty of big screen tv's & plenty of alcohol!
We bowled two games w/2 shoes & a pair of socks(my gf had on uggs & as you know you don't wear socks with those) the total was $22
We ended up bowling another game for a extra $6
Drinks were strong & the waitress was cool although she was a little slow but she was the only one I saw working
2 margaritas/2 sex on the beaches $40(wow)
The staff where I payed to bowl was really cool & while I waited to pay at the bar  everyone there made sure i'd been helped literally 5 dffrnt ppl asked me if I'd been helped already
It's cool that each section has their own little staff so your not waiting forever to get a drink/bowl etc
Bathrooms were really clean & that's always a plus for us ladies
Overall really cool place
I totally did not feel like I was at a mall
Drink/bowl/food
Getting served while bowling
I'll be a regular customer there for years
The spousal unit and I spent an hour displaying our bowling skillz at NCT&B this weekend. Â After the other bowlers recovered from rolling on the ground and laughing at the pitiful showing, we assessed the experience.
Wait- too long, needs more lanes people!
Food-tasty, and fast delivery!
Brew-yummy
Service- excellent!
Love this place and can't wait to come back!
3 visits in 2 days...I guess I'm a regular almost? Great food, cold beer, friendly staff, I'm sold.
I went to lunch here to get a feel for the place, and the cheese steak is awesome. I then brought some buddies back that night after our hockey game for ice cold beer. We ended up going back again the following night as well. It's about time there is a nice sports bar to watch the games and have a good meal in Escondido.
Here's to the Tavern + Bowl! Â Bowling, Karaoke, a big'ol bar *and* part of the North County Fair mall? Â Excellent! Â
I attended the soft opening and was very impressed with my steak, that there was Arrogant Bastard in big 'ol bottles, the uber-friendly staff, and the overall vibe of the place. Â This place is going to take my Xmas shopping up to a whole new level.