Deborah N.
Yelp
Followed the buzz of this fun sport brought to Houston's Eastwood Park area on Navigation Blvd. Sadly, the buzz quickly dissipated shortly after arriving to play this exciting sport phenom called pickle ball.
My experience starts even before arriving to the pickleball court, with their online reservation system showing itself as NOT being user friendly. The website offers online reservation of their pickleball and sand volleyball courts, and has tabs (day, month, grid, list, and map). Since I couldn't figure out how to reserve, I had to call them, and the staff member suggested selecting "DAY," so I also recommend this as well, because it auto defaults to the map (which is super confusing). Then you select the date and time, and it will show you what courts are free/open to reserve for the day you want...
Excited to see what all the buzz was about, I planned a double date with some friends I hadn't seen in awhile, and we were eager to get started. Service was disappointing to say the least. Staff was super unhelpful, uninterested, and when I asked a staff member at the bar to see if there was anyone to help explain to us about how to play the game, she initially volunteered, but as she was explaining, she stopped midway and said it would probably be better if we looked up a video on how to play the game instead...then there was another staff member who was supposed to show us to our reserved court, but also very unhelpful. For first-timers to the court and to the game, it would be nice to ask if this is our first time, do we need any help with explaining the game, etc. but nothing. He handed us our paddles and walked away. Finally, after ordering some drinks and standing around "looking lost," a manager approached us and explained to us that if we didn't bring our own paddles, there is a rental option (we didn't know we were supposed to bring our own paddles and ball either...)
The actual court time was super fun! My friend suggested we reserve a court at 9PM to beat the heat, glad I listened.
Pro's:
-great workout (can become a fun competition if you wager something before playing)
-dog-friendly (we are not fur parents, but for those that are)
-A/C luxury porta-potty's
Con's:
-non-user friendly reservation system
-customer service
-need real restrooms
-advertises on website that there is corn hole, darts, mini golf, and ping pong, but even after two months of opening it is still not setup yet.
Limited parking space
-unorganized system (no actual process for checking-in patrons, so be sure to have your email handy to remember which court you reserved)
PSA:
-limited parking spaces, they offer a valet parking option
-BYO paddle(s) and pickleball
-paddles are available for rent ($5/paddle) (I assume it will be the same for sand volleyball - BYO volleyball??)