AMF Scottsdale Lanes makes bowling posh

AMF Scottsdale Lanes (Credit: Courtesy Scottsdale Lanes)

Megan Finnerty
Metromix

The bowling alley nearest Old Town Scottsdale used to be called Frontier Lanes and was as divey and no-frills as one might expect.

Regardless of its proximity to so many of the Valley's bougie-est clubs, the lanes remained a bastion of blue-collar-style fun and the joys of communal shoes and pitchers of $7 beer.

But in a city where even the cupcakes have their own cult of cool, it was inevitable that even that bowling alley would eventually succumb to Scottsdale's ever-expanding patina of gloss and glamour.

Now, you can bowl at the AMF Scottsdale Lanes, where a ball-and-shoe concierge will fit you and escort you to your lane, where each lane has its own dedicated, black-and-white-clad server and where the new scorekeeping system looks ripped from the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.

While AMF recently remodeled five of its other 15 bowling alleys in the Valley, the Scottsdale location was the only one to receive a full $1.6 million renovation that included expanding the bar, revamping the kitchen to serve more upscale fare and replacing dated furnishings with sleek new ones.

“When people walk in, they can't believe they're in the right place; it just looks so different,” said general manager Mike Nowell.

Starting next month, new bistro-style meals such as salads and gourmet pizzas will be added to the menu, and everything will be served on real plates, with real silverware. Even the fries. Now the bar now holds up to 150 people and drinks are served in real glasses. Even the pitchers of Bud Light, the bar's most popular drink, now have ice cylinders in the center so the beer stays cold. (Other best-selling drinks include shots of Patrón and Jägermeister.)

Fancy blue pendant lights hang over the shoe-rental counter, and other upgrades include the flat-panel computer-style monitors on which guests touch the screen to enter in team names, the nightclub-like lighting system and the flat-screen TVs added throughout the bar and pool-table areas.

The changes were inspired by the success AMF has had with a top-tier bowling alley concept called AMF 300 that has won over crowds in cities including Dallas and New York with classy touches such as white-linen tablecloths, private VIP lanes and menu items such as lamb chops. The Scottsdale location was considered for such an upgrade, but with only 24 lanes, the space was too small to dedicate any lanes as private.

Morris Manuel, 44, has been coming to the bowling alley since the late '90s and on a recent Thursday night, he said he likes the new look.

Except for one thing.

“They made it look a whole lot nicer, but now everything is more expensive,” said the resident of the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community.

As he sat in the bar sharing a pitcher of beer, men and women in suits filed into the alley, a post-work corporate crowd in to do team-building exercises. Newell said the majority of his business during the week is walk-in players and corporate groups like this one.

On weekend days, it's families. On Sundays through Thursdays after 9 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays after 10 p.m., the crowd shifts to teens and 20- and 30-somethings in for Xtreme Bowling, which involves deafening hip-hop, black lights and videos playing on the three drop-down screens over the lanes

One Scottsdale Lanes regular, who competes in a Wednesday-night league, Scottsdale's Benjamin Dover, 27, bowls regularly at Scottsdale Lanes as part of a Wednesday-night league. But he was hanging out with about 40 co-workers, getting ready to take off his gray silk tie and roll up his white dress-shirt sleeves to bowl.

“It's still just a bowling alley, but they tried to make it more like a nightclub,” he said. “It's Scottsdale, so it has to be classier.”