Royal Bowling Lanes

It's a bowling alley with your standard bowling alley things with no bells and whistles. Location is easy to get to at the apex of 41 and Dale Mabry right off State Road 54 in Lutz. However, it's next to a nudist resort, and rumor has it they host nude bowling nights, but I've never seen anything of the sort (thank goodness, because 80 year old booties are not my thing).  The place doesn't have the cleanest feel to it, but again, it's a bowling alley so don't expect anything more!

They have about 20 lanes, and plenty of shoes and balls to equip those lanes. They also offer bumpers that flip down for play, and they have a couple of the ball ramps for the little ones available at request. The lanes work okay, with some minor malfunctions here and there. I can imagine this being a real pain in the arse on a Friday or Saturday night when they are busier, but we usually take the kids here during the day and are able to just yell over to the attendants when we have a problem and they fix it pronto. We've also done the kids' birthday parties here, and they do a great job.

They have a food stand that serves breakfast and lunch/dinner items, such as egg sandwiches, pancakes, french toast sticks, hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled cheese, philly cheesesteaks, pizzas, pretzels, corndogs, etc. On the most recent visit I got sweet potato fries that were delicious, and in all honestly their burgers are pretty good. We scored a free one by mistake when the waitress messed up the ticket she put out for the cook. Woot! The pizza is nothing special, and the grilled cheese is kind of salty, but everything else was pretty good.

They have a lounge with pool tables and a full bar, as well. When you're done bowling, you can retreat to this separate area and watch some sports on TV while you grab a drink and shoot some pool. There's also a small arcade area with a handful of games. Don't let your kids try to play the candy claw game, they will walk away crying. I mean, for Pete's sake, the thing is impossible to win and the poor kids' mouths are watering waiting for the candy to drop and it never comes. Torture!

Good spot to go to get the kids out of the house on a summer day, but for grown up bowling we prefer to drive to Tampa.

Bumpers!

I always carry a pair of socks in my car. Never know when you're gonna crash the guys' night out. Well, they finally came in handy last Friday night.

This place is everything you think a bowling lane in Land O' Lakes would be. Country music, disco lights, buckets of beer, and the regulars. Unfortunately, our keyboard on the lane wasn't working. That's okay, but only meant we couldn't use our nicknames cause we were too embarrassed to have the attendant type them in for us (Poop Head, Scorpion, Tank Top - oh yeah, we're fun.).

Best part, the bumpers were automatic and only came up on my turn. Plus, they have

- Pool tables
- Darts
- Full bar
- Snacks
- Arcade with Dance Dance Revolution! - how white people learn to dance. Wish I could upload the video I took of us.

The bowling gods were definitely on my side, broke 100 on my first game!

We went Sunday afternoon with a group of 5 where three were young teenagers. We arrived around 3pm and the place was packed full of families with children. All the lighter balls (lighter than 10) were being used so we had to share with other people. Each lane didn't have its own seats that I'm used to but tables were randomly put behind the lanes so someone always had to keep an eye on personal belongings.

The person in charge was nice and told us it was cheaper for us to pay $46 for 2 hours of unlimited play than pay per game per person which would equal $47.

Overall it was an ok place for bowling but nothing spectacular. They did serve food but we didn't eat any.