Let the good times bowl (again): Beach Bowl reopens with new lanes, restaurant (2024)

JACKSONVILLE BEACH | A beloved but time-worn, outdated Jacksonville Beach landmark is ready to "let the good times roll" after being transformed into a stunning, state-of-the-art bowling center and entertainment destination designed to attract families throughout Northeast Florida.

Beach Bowl, at 818 Beach Blvd., opened Monday following a multi-million dollar restoration, renovation and revitalization project five years after the iconic bowling alley and arcade abruptly shut its doors.

Rebuilt and modernized from the ground up, the resurrected Beach Bowl features 24 bowling lanes and a new two-story restaurant with rooftop dining featuring a menu of freshly made-from-scratch fare. There also is an updated arcade and space for live music, conferences, private parties and other special events.

There's a 200-seat patio with a 40-foot bar and a stage for live entertainment on the second floor of the roughly 45,000-square-foot entertainment facility.

It's not your father's bowling alley.

"It's going to be a destination for the community. … Although it's called Beach Bowl, it's a social-based entertainment center. … It's iconic for the market," David Wallace, founder and president of Turfway Entertainment Management Group of Carmel Ind., which is managing Beach Bowl, told the Times-Union.

All "state-of-the-art," the advanced audio-video as well as the advanced digital equipment and features and lighting make Beach Bowl unique, added general manager Adam Burns.

VIP lanes offer a new bowling experience

Guests can choose between 20 bowling lanes on the main floor or they can upgrade to four VIP private lanes on the second floor.

Each of the main floor lanes costs $25 per hour per lanefor groups of up to six people Monday through Thursday, and $45 per hour for groups of up to six people Friday through Sunday, according to the Beach Bowl website.

The VIP private lanes, available for $45 or $55 per hour depending on the day, will feature SPARK bowling, which is "a realistic and interactive animation including special effects and virtual characters projected directly onto the bowling lane."

Bowling shoes and socks are available to rent for $4 each.

On the menu at Beach Bowl: Elevated scratch-made food and craft co*cktails

Beach Bowl offers "a high-quality food experience," said Wallace and Burns, noting there is a dedicated culinary and bar services department on staff to help maintain that elevated quality.

"It's a from-scratch kitchen, craft co*cktails. Not a normal bowling alley experience with food," Burns said. "A bowling center is what we do but the food and drink aspect is what's going to put us above any other thing around here. …Everything is made in-house."

Wallace also said they do "full-service dining on all the bowling lanes so there will be a server assigned to every single lane."

On the menu, guests will find:

• Buffalo Chicken Wontons ($13): Buffalo Chicken Dip and buttermilkranch dressing
• Pretzel Grazing Board ($20): A charcuterie board of smoked sausages, cubed Pepper Jack, Swiss and Cheddar cheeses, pickled onions, mustard sauce, sliced pickles, white queso and aBavarianpretzel
• Bison Burger ($23): A bison burger with blackening seasoning, Bleu cheese dressing, candied bacon, Bleu cheese crumbles, and fried Spanish onions on abriochebun
• Seared Mahi-Mahi Sandwich ($17): Mahi-Mahi with pickled onions, mustard dill remoulade, baby Arugula lettuce, and English cucumber on a briochebun
• Italian Stallion Flatbread Pizza ($13): Flatbread with marinara sauce, sliced pepperoni, crumbled sausage, Applewood smoked bacon, red onion andgreenpeppers
• Fish & Chips ($17): Beer-battered fish with tartarsauce and served with fries
• Pineapple Chicken Sandwich ($14): Grilled chicken, grilled pineapple, teriyaki sauce, swiss cheese, fresh guacamole and Applewoodsmokedbacon

The menu also features salads, tacos, wings and wraps. Desserts include Mason Jar Key Lime Pie ($5), Mason Jar Raspberry Cake ($7) and Creme Brulee ($5), the menu shows.

Beach Bowl has two large bars — one on the main floor and the other on the second-floor patio, which can seat about 220 people.

The bars will offer 48 beers on tap. Craft co*cktails include Bowlerama ($10), with 3 Olives Citrus Vodka, watermelon schnapps, sour mix and cranberry juice; Jala Up In Yo Lane Margarita ($12), with 1800 Tequila Silver, Grand Marnier, Coco Reál Cream, pineapple juice and sour mix; and Peach Blossom Smash ($12), with Jack Daniel's Honey, Peach Reál Purée,mint and lemon.

There also is a curated wine list.

More than just pins and balls: Beach Bowl features 35 arcade games

The arcade offers about 35 interactive games where players can earn tickets to exchange for prizes.

The games range from Hyper-Shoot Basketball to the newest virtual reality games such as King Kong Virtual Reality. In addition, bumper pool is available on the second floor in the adult game room, the website states.

It's debit card integration. So guests swipe the Play Pass cards ($20-$100) they buy at kiosks to activate the games they want to play. The passes can be reloaded with additional amounts.

In addition, Beach Bowl will host live music from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. There also will be a trivia night in the future, Wallace said.

5-year revitalization effort not without challenges

The original 19,677-square-foot building was built in 1958, Duval County property records show. Longtime residents say the bowling alley opened the following yearafter first serving as a warehouse.

Beach Bowl closedabruptly on Nov. 2, 2019, after about 60 years in business. The closure stemmed from a 2017 lawsuit involving a dispute between the landlord and tenant managing the bowling alley back then, Duval County court records show.

Fast forward to February 2021. The city of Jacksonville Beach approved a plan from H&H Enterprises Inc. — an affiliate of Ash Properties, a Jacksonville-based commercial real estate developer — calling for an estimated $7.5 million in repairs, renovations and expansion of Beach Bowl.

A series of separate challenges then slowed construction.

"It was a total revamp and rebuild of the building," Wallace said of the project.

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"They had gutted the whole inside and then the whole building fell down in a storm so they had to rebuild the whole building," said Wallace, adding that redoing all of the structural beams was necessary.

In addition, Wallace said the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath of supply chain disruptions also slowed the project.

"It's a very unique building in how it's designed so it takes longer because of supply chain issues to get items in," he said, citing, for example, the twinkle lights in the second-floor ceiling were imported and it took longer than normal.

Beach Bowl is open 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 12 a.m. Sunday, \its website shows.

Teresa Stepzinski is the dining reporter for the Times-Union. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @TeresaStepz or reach her via email at tstepzinski@jacksonville.com.

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