SpareMe Bowl & Arcade Iowa City

Overall, ok place for the first time for our family of four; however, we saw many flaws! Every 5 star review that states the place is clean must be very old, since that was not the case on Sunday 2/5/2023. Many of the tables were dirty with visible drink rings, left over glasses, plates, dirt and crumbs all over on the first floor. They took our name and phone number to call/text us by 2 pm for a lane (we came in at 1:30), but that never happened until I finally went back to the desk and asked by 2:20. The young man apologized and told me that he totally forgot to enter our name into their software as it was frozen when we came in, but finally set us upstairs. Upstairs was very messy and unclean, not sure if there was a huge party upstairs the night before or earlier but almost every table was covered with dirty dishes, glasses, and leftover pizza crusts and bones from wings! This is witnessed by us while we watched almost every employee spend most of their time on their phone (FYI, looks really bad to customers) the whole time rather than clean and help each other out with upkeep. We spent almost $150 and it was worth seeing our 5 and 9 years old having fun, but as an adult who is a business owner I was very turned off with the lack of management and up keep. The place is not very old but there are visible damages on the walls, ceilings and furniture and I feel like if they don’t keep up with it, it can be really bad very soon! Food was ok, as our wings were cold and soggy and also came with 4 very old looking dried up carrots, but tenders, onion rings and pizza were ok (chicken tenders and onion rings were the best and only things finished all the way). I didn’t wish to deduct more stars for all of mentioned above for this review but many improvements can be made to make this place a Jem!

Updating my review and stars:
We are currently here and been here for more than 1 hour. Staff has been very responsive and kind. They have also remained off their phones! Place is pretty busy, but they are keeping up with cleaning of tables and dishes! Thank you for listening to your customers! Please have someone check the building bathrooms every hour as mens have been covered with paper towels and wet floors both times we have been here! Overall, we had a great experience!!!!

Changing my review because your entire team of staff is on their freaking phones and texting and I have to stand for minutes to be helped! Btw 2 these people are the same people from my first review! If this was my business, it would be unacceptable and they would be let go! There are at least 30 customers in this facility at this exact time. I wonder what they all think of this constant texting and phone usage????

It's wonderful to have a bowling alley/arcade in the downtown area. SpareMe is a wonderful addition to the atmosphere in the Chauncey building. Stop by for a quick bite, a few frames of bowling and maybe some Skee Ball before you catch a film over at Film Scene next door.

We randomly found this place and I'm so happy we did! Our kids wanted to play some arcade games for our little family day and instead of spending upwards of $40+ just to play games in usually overcrowded places, we spent less than half of that and had a way better time. My kids said it looked super fancy lol, I was happy because my 4 year old got to play as much sleep ball as she could handle and got to play ghosts and goblins. The place was really clean, the staff was great, we really had a great time.

Eight pinball machines (most in one location in Iowa City), retro video arcade games, Skee ball, bowling, and a bar. The second floor with more bowling alleys and more video arcade games are still under construction (updated: now open). Bowling balls are fun with a pool ball look. The bar/pinball area opens up to the outside in nice weather. Music overpowers the game sounds, I wish games had some volume. A diet coke will cost you $3, but they are free refills. Honestly, whoever designed this place and decorated it should win an award! It's the place to go in Iowa City for a fun night out! The food I’ve tried thus far has been quite good, but the alert system is a bit odd, but it’s brand new.