Fern Bowl

Fern bowl is a smaller but very functional bowling alley located off Bardstown road in the fern creek neighborhood of Lousiville Kentucky. Traditional old school bowling alley which has a mixture of open bowl, league bowling and glow bowl on late night Fridays and and Saturday's. I've mainly spent time at fern bowlAs my oldest is on a high school bowling team and fern bowl hosts several high school matches and also is the homeFor small college team Sullivan university. Overall it's smaller but fun which is what bowling should be. Good place toRoll a game or two or take in a match from the local schools.

This is a fun bowling alley that my family and I have stopped into the bowl a few different times and everybody there was always super nice and the lanes know it's an older bowling alley but it's a fun filled family experience for sure everybody was nice they helped us out my daughters had fun I had five my wife had fun we had a good time and we will definitely be back

One day a couple years ago, a friend calls me up and asks me if I want to go bowling. He gives me the address, I look it up and see that it's located only about a mile from my house down Bardstown Road in Fern Creek. That was the day that started a tradition of going to Saturday night Glow Bowl. This location has its building and parking lower than street level which is why I had driven past it many times without really noticing it. Sure there is a large bowling pin sign on Bardstown Road but not being too big on bowling at the time, I guess I had not paid it much attention. People that I invite here sometimes drive past it because of how the building can't be seen from the street or because you wouldn't expect a bowling alley to be located there. Their words. There is a median lane on this part of Bardstown Road so that does help if you happen to see this place at the last second.Friday and Saturday nights offer Glow Bowl. Unlimited bowling between 10pm-1am and shoe rental for just $14- a lot cheaper than some of the other bowling places around town. Glow bowl always gets sold out in winter so getting there by 9pm to reserve a lane is a must. They usually start giving out their 20 lanes around 9:30pm. You can either leave and go back to claim your lane or just play a game of pool or grab a drink at the bar area. Not 21 or don't want to enter the bar area? That's ok, you can grab a bite to eat at the food counter they have or start picking out the songs you want to hear play during glow bowl on the 'Touch Tunes' Jukebox. This place is extremely simple when you compare it to some of the other bowling alleys around town. It could use new carpet perhaps, new paint, some better décor. But it has everything you need to have a good time. It has food, a bar, pool tables, and 20 lanes.Over the past couple of years, I have probably invited over 50 people to this place with about 4 of us going regularly. We have always had a good time and so have all the people I have invited. I have slacked on my Yelp Check-ins because they don't reflect nearly the amount of times I have been here. You would think I would be a better bowler by now by how often I have gone. Part of the reason of why I gave this place 4 stars and not 5 however is for two reasons. One is that it could improve dramatically on its bar drink options. If you're a beer drinker then great. But if you're like my girlfriend or some of her friends who want girly drinks, the options are very limited. As I mentioned above, the place could use a touch up on its looks and though I'm ok with it the way it is, 5 stars wouldn't be appropriate for a place that needs help in this area. The second reason is that there recently has been customer service issues now that the check in counter has had the owner present on a few glow bowl nights. Improving on those interpersonal skills not only towards me but towards other customers and the staff would have me recommend this location for a work party our company is having in the next couple of months. Check out this place sometime and if you ever want to go to Saturday night Glow Bowl, you probably will find me there. You're welcome to join in on whatever lane I'm playing on as well!

Clearly a remnant of the 80's. Not in disrepair, just old. Although you can't smell the decades of cigarette smoke, you can smell the deodorizer they use to cover up the smell. Not crowded on Sunday afternoon, just a kids birthday party and another family. For the age of the place, shoes and house balls, I would have guessed the price would be less than $24 for two pairs of shoes and 2 games though!

the only good thing about this place was the single nice worker who helped us fix our lane after it literally shut down multiple times. This place is bad. You can see the dirt one the floor and covering the walls. The bathrooms haven't been touched in what seemed like ages for the lack of essentials. The only worker wearing a mask properly was the one who helped us. Not even the lady working with the food as she coughed in my face while declining me a refill because she was busy in a bowling alley with 2 other groups. Apparently we got the worst lane of the few there as well because it would never return the proper number of pins and even skipped peoples turns. We asked for a new lane and they said that they couldn't do that. Remember that there was legit 2 other groups there. This is a dirty disgusting place matched with rude workers (minus 1). I won't personally be returning, but I would put this as a last choice bowling destination.

A nice little place hidden away, that is as long as you have minimal staff interaction. Here on a Saturday and it is as if our group of 6 was less than business and more of an inconvenience. They cashier Kay, as her jacket reads, yelled out names impatiently and asked names for the monitor before you could even get the prior name out meanwhile snatching your card from you. Paying separately seemed to be a high level of inconvenience. The young guy handing out shoes even seem to be displeased. I also would not go to the bar and expect to spilt a bucket of beers on two different cards because they don't do that either. However, the gals working concessions were very nice.

Great past experiences for cheap play! Used to really really enjoy coming every weekend for glow bowl. HOWEVER, got there today and was told they were closing 9 minutes after glow bowl was supposed to start because no one was coming in (people were already playing and there was about 10 people coming in behind us) they told us to go to king pin. In the past we've paid for glow bowl and they've kicked us out before glow bowl ended because there were only two lanes left playing. I get they weren't making money then and had already got my play time in, but TONIGHT they denied about 10+ people coming in to play glow bowl because there was not enough people? I've also witnessed the bartender almost fight another employee, cussing her out and more. The guy at the counter never EVER EVER asks how to spell your name, instead he acts so miserable everyday and is very rude. Fern bowl is cheap, but they don't give a f**k about staying open. I'm surprised they aren't closed down yet. OH AND TO ADD: the old bartender starting talking sh** about us in front of us because we were still bowling to the time glow bowl ends 1am btw, and said we needed to tip her big because we stayed to bowl until the CLOSING TIME. Do not say your hours are until 1am if you do NOT want people to bowl until then. All workers are miserable and rude. (btw we were going to tip her very nicely because until then our service as amazing, and I DID end up tipping her a lot because she guilt trip me)

The front desk lady was very very rude. My husband and I thought this would be a fun date night and her attitude was not appreciated. The website said there was a deal going on and when we asked about it she very rudely said it's not a thing anymore. Definitely planning to never go back.

absolutely horrible service and horrible lanes the lane broke every 5 minutes and all the worker told us to do was not throw a ball down the lane which if I'm not incorrect is the main function of bowling. would recommend going any place else

Wow I have tried to bowl here at least 3 times. Every time greeted by an extremely rude cashier. Not sure what her problem is, but it was bad enough to where all we could do is turn and walk away. Tonight was my last time trying. She's going to ruin your all but business if you don't get rid of her!