Fireside Bowl

Stopped in here on a Friday evening and had a lane for a few games, it’s a fun and vintage place with nice workers and clean lanes and facilities. Decent prices and some nice beer. A historic building too. Fun to go to.

I was very excited upon entering. It’s a lovely vintage bowling alley. It doesn’t have the TVs with the silly graphics when you get a Split, Strike, or Spare. The bar is also great, amazing soundproofing, you do not hear the bowling taking place on the other side of the wall. The bowling experience itself was sadly disappointing. I did not mind having to wait 30 mins for an open lane, that’s understandable for a Saturday Night. But we had technical issues nearly every frame. A pin was almost constantly already knocked over. The computer would also frequently skip a players 2nd ball, and move on to the next player without giving them a chance to finish the frame. And finally, our computer shut off on the 10th frame. We found out this was because our time was up. So we didn’t even get to finish a full game of bowling. Incredibly asinine design to not even let you close out your game. Left incredibly disappointed, and unfortunately cannot recommend this place due to this :/

Very racist I could tell. Vibes were off. Old fashioned and broke down system malfunctioning . We spent 20 minutes dealing with a rigged lane. The man ran over to check our times & ran back to his computer to write something down. -0/10

JULIO IS EVERYTHING Truly, this is a classic bowling alley, and the staff are incredible. They are so kind and helpful. Our team came here for our annual party and Julio made the night so fun for us. Such a phenomenal place and anyone who says otherwise is out of touch and complaining unnecessarily. Nostalgia people! Yearn for the classic things in life. This is it.

Wait was an hour on a Friday night, which, for me, is reasonable. Place has a nice, old-school aesthetic with a young crowd. Only couple down sides was that the old-school scorer machines had some worn buttons which were difficult to distinguish. And the lane we played at would sometimes not bring down the pins, always on the same player. For a few times we couldn't figure out how to reset the pins without giving up a round for that player. Otherwise, I throughly enjoyed my time here and would have wanted to stay longer. I will gladly come again!

Everything a bowling alley should be. The Big Lebowski would approve. Bar is 10/10 as well; you'll probably run into the Tamale Guy there.

Was very disappointed by our experience here. We actually really enjoyed our time here at first, good vibes from the fellow bowlers and we appreciated the retro look of the place. But the owner, or the person that we dealt with at the cash register, was beyond rude and there’s no way a place can stay in business with that kind of customer service. It was expensive; and we would’ve gladly paid for an additional hour of time had our lane been actually working, but we spent half of our game getting our lane fixed, our balls retrieved, and going up to the front counter to complain about the lane not working 3 separate times. The man at the cash register started a fight with me when I was trying to politely ask for the time back that we lost. Be careful with what businesses you choose to support. This one clearly doesn’t care about their customers.

A staple of Chicago history!!!!! A must do!!! Incredible location and hope they stay around forever!!

This place is wonderful. Always a great time. I wish it was open later. Still love you guys.

This is my favorite spot in Chicago. Maybe in the whole world. I hope to get married here and bring my kids here. My temple, the place that I'm supposed to be at, the place where I feel most at home. Wish they would bring back the concerts. Hope I'm still in a league here 50 years from now Danny and Julio run the show pretty much, good dudes. Bar lounge has some amazing nostalgic Knick knacks on the walls and behind the bar. Expect to wait 1-2 hours minimum for a lane on weekends after 6. No frills, can order food to be delivered they don't need it. Lanes break sometimes.

Best bowling alley in the city! We always have a great time, vibes are unmatched and prices are great!

$50 an hour before 6:00 on a weekday is above market price for the area. The vintage style is cool, although the lane quality is very poor. My main gripe would be that there aren't a variety of ball sizes, there's only one worker and most of the time he's not present. Also the hour starts right when the card swipes, so as you're getting shoes and balls the clock is going, and nobody tells you that. When the hour does run out it immediately cuts you off, no matter how far into the game you are, and there's no timer telling you how much time is left.

You folks have one of the absolute coolest places to bowl in all of Greater Chicagoland. But, your bar is insanely expensive and your lanes are literally the worst lanes in the entire city. Uneven boards, almost zero oil, setters that reset mid-bowl, computers from 1984 that frequently give completely different scores than what the player just rolled. Seriously, if the owners put actual effort into making this place an amazing bowling alley they would make money hand over fist. Who wouldn't want to bowl here? I used to come to punk and hardcore shows here back in the day. I'd do that again, I'd also love to bowl a REAL game on these lanes. I'm sure the owner has their reasons for why this place is the way it is; I just don't get it. I hate coming here, I'll never do it again unless something changes. Anybody giving five stars on this joint isn't an actual bowler.

I went to Fireside Bowl 2 weeks ago for private party. It is old school and great! Maybe 16 lanes, old fashioned bowling shoes, lots of balls and cold Miller High Life. A great time was had by all.

We were refused service at a nearby whirlyball spot, so my party of ten ended up at fireside. It ended up working out just fine. It's not the newest, hippest bowling alley around, but the staff are extremely helpful and accommodating, prices were fair, and the music was on it! It was a mix of old school American (e.g. temptations and Marvin Gaye), current American (Bruno Mars), and salsa/merengue/bachata. There was definitely a party atmosphere, and we had so much fun. I recommend it, and would make a return trip when in the area again.

I don't think this place has been updated in 4 decades and thats fine with Jimi Yeah Jimi has done some leagues here NBD You can always count on the occasional ghostly knock down of pins on a rerack but thats just part of the charm If you haven't rolled in a league with the "Heavy Hooker" then have you really lived? Julio for President 5 stars

Cute old school bowling alley. Had a blast. The shoes are a bit beat up but frankly that adds to the charm. The bar is well stocked and the liquor is priced fantastically. The jukebox is fun to use and the staff is super nice (and funny).

Saw the best concerts of my youth here in the early 2000's. I'm talkin', Blood Brothers, The Locust, Minus The Bear, The Unicorns, Rocky Votolato, and many, many, more. I would literally just come to this venue on random weekends to see bands I've never heard of. Unbelievably grateful. But, apparently now it's just a bowling alley. I moved out of the state in 2004, but, maybe I'll come bowling next time I visit this area of Chicago.

This place holds a special place in history for live music in Chicago. However, these days it tends to stick with the whole being primarily a bowling alley verse hosting shows. Go here and bowl!

This place is awesome!! It's kept it's old timey feel and has the best customer service. The prices are good and they have a full bar inside. It's a hidden gem in Logan Square and has added much character to the street. I love this place and would recommend it for someone looking for something with history and character.

When I first moved to the City in the mid-90's I remember seeing an ad for a Fugazi show at the Fireside Bowl. I never did make it to that legendary show, but I made it to many others back then. I even remember bowling a few games back when the lanes weren't really fully functional and the punx would be bowling between their legs or doing their best bowling imitations of Fred Flinstone, just having a ball. It's good to see some things haven't changed, but others could use an upgrade into the 21st Century. Although there are only 16 lanes, they are now fully operational. Scoring is computerized but there are no overhead screens, only a small screen that reminded me of those Airport TV's you could plug with a few quarters, before everyone had On Demand on their iPhones and shit. It was virtually impossible to find a bowling ball that was less than 16 lbs. I finally found one named "Cookie" that most of us had to share! It was mentioned by a few in our group that the punk aestethic seems to have also gone away with the price of $20/hour per lane. I wouldn't have minded the lack of pre-1970 bowling amenities, but when they're socking it to me, they better have the 'balls' to justify it! One holdover from the old days is the old man bar, which looks just like I remembered. Adorned with old Budweiser globes, a pool table, and a jukebox; there's plenty of seating and space to enjoy $10 pitchers of PBR, little tiny bottles of the High Life, or your fave mixed drink. An extra star for the history of the Fireside, and the old man bar; but dollar for dollar there's better bowling experiences very close by.

I've come here several times during posted hours and found Fireside closed. They don't answer the phone and the door is locked. I guess these guys don't like making money. Not bothering again.

We really enjoyed ourselves here. Like everyone else says, it's "divey" but that's what gives it its charm. Prefer it over the loud, cosmic style of Diversey

Maintain (oil) the lanes. That's how people develop bad habits. I didn't all of a sudden lose my ability to hit a pin overnight after bowling at another alley last night.

Favorite alley and customer service has always been great. It's an old school classic Chicago alley. This isn't some Rivernorth pretentious overpriced neon alley. So be prepared to have fun, play music off the jukebox, and NEVER forget your socks. If you're looking for a good spot to Tinder some Lakeview idiots, stay at 10pin. Sorry but Fireside isn't for you.

If you are looking for glow in the dark bowling, or a DJ bumping hits after 10pm on weekends, then my friends this is the wrong place. This an honest to goodness throwback bowling alley, with all the ambiance of a dive bar. We picked this place as our unofficial bowling spot, because it is the closest to work by default. It has a charm, that I can honestly say has grown on me. This place is not for everybody, since the newest bowling ball they have is probably from 1998. The automatic scoring is, how can I say it...outdated? I threw in the question mark because that is the nicest thing I can think of without sounding like a d-bag. I mean the screen looks like it was meant for a nice round of tennis on your Atari 5200. Kids, ask your parents what that is, I don't have time to explain. Despite the place being old, and the equipment being outdated, and the TV in the bar still being an old fashioned picture tube, this place is a lot of fun. Not everything needs to be shiny, and new, and state of the art. I mean to get back to the core, bowling is a well oiled alley, a bowling ball, friends, a pitcher (or four) of beer, and a whole bunch of pins that don't want to fall. This place has a soft spot in my heart, and we will be here playing a couple of games, then playing pool in the bar, trying to pick out the most obnoxious songs in the juke box. See you guys there!

This is your run-of-the-mill divey bowling alley and it's awesome. Don't expect to have innovative cocktails or a fancy bowling experience, but if you want to bowl with friends and leave the pretension for 10Pin and Lucky Strike. This place is great and we love coming here for masterful family bowling tournaments (read: bowling catastrophes). Order a beer, pick up and lane ball, and relax--but try to avoid the gutter.

Overpriced dive that needs major overhaul. Looks like they have tarps on ceiling to prevent leakage/garbage from falling onto the lanes. Shoes are ratty (had holes and were super worn out), bowling balls aren't marked well, and the lane kept having issues while we were bowling (not counting a throw, moving onto next player after one throw, etc). You can keep the old school dive feeling while still maintaining your property - see Timber Lanes which is x100 better than this place. Owners must be making pretty good money with how much they charge for bowling and drinks, wish they invested it back into the place.

As far as bowling goes this is the best alley to go to if you don't want the distractions of the silly cosmic bowling. During the open bowling times it's really quiet as far as foot traffic goes, which is a nice thing (for me anyways). I highly recommend this place.

I walk in, and a guy at the front desk says loudly, "Hey! What's the white girl doing here?" This was not my choice to come to this place, but My cousin wanted to go bowling for her birthday. The first half of our bowling session I felt really out of place and like I was in a Mexican club of some sort. There were girls fighting each other in Spanish, and techno-Latin music playing loudly over the speakers. Later in the evening, the crown started to change from Mexican to hipster. The guys with the thick black rimmed glasses and skinny jeans... Typical parties for Logan Square. The bowling alley itself is smaller and seems like it was a family-friendly place at one point. Ball selection is okay- a lot are unmarked and most of the balls are really beat up. Oh well. Prices are reasonable. It was $16 per person for our group to bowl for two ours with shoe rental. Two stars though- I would not return.

Best bowling alley in Chicago! I've come here many times with friends and bowled leagues, great time either way. Old school bar with friendly staff. Julio is the best. Great all around bowling alley experience without all the bs.

What is that smell?! Walked through the door... "oh, holy TURKEY this place is old!" I know it's been around since the 1940's but does it have to smell like it?! There was some confusion in the beginning with the one (and only) attendant. I'll cut him a little slack, he was in fact the pin guy, cashier guy, bartender. He didn't STRIKE me as the most happy man and overall he was pretty indifferent to everyone there. Though his Emo or "I miss the Punk days" attitude was a bit trying at times, especially when you needed his help. Still, dawning a cool bowling shirt and two hot PIN pals of mine Mandy G. & Lisa D. we set off to do it. Get your mind out of the GUTTER, I meant bowling. I can't even begin to explain how tore up this place is, the lanes seemed fine but the pins (even from far away) looked beat up and the balls* were chewed. Regardless, the three of us had fun being silly. Just when it looked like I was going to get a big fat 0 my ball popped out and got a pin or two. In my best Fabio voice I said "I Can't Believe It's Not Gutter" but I don't think anyone heard me. I had some fun but felt dirty when we left. Not even a good Lebowski kind of dirty, more like lower Wacker dirty. For those who want to talk about Fireside's good ol' days, I say SPARE me. *FYI -Be careful not to cut yourself, the finger holes had chunks missing so it created sharp edges.

OK, despite the fact that the lane dude pretty much screwed me, and looks like he hates his job, I love this place. Whats not to like? Awesome history that I'm jealous I was never a part of. Cheap drinks, old school bar, cheap lanes and shoes, and close to home. I love the fact that I got drunk off of PBR bowling an embarassingly low score. but you know what?! I had fun anyway. More fun than I'd have fun paying through the nose at other alleys around the north side. And The RANDOM songs played on the video jukebox only made it better. Just don't elbow your pitcher of beer and then knock it over. And just hang out, hope for some semi-awesome punk rock to play, and have fun. I know I did. I love this place. 'nuff said.

If you're looking for a luxury bowling experience with modern fixtures and equipment and a bartender that speaks the English language, then for God's sake don't go here. Come to this alley to party. Lane fees are billed by the hour, which is a little bit strange, but it worked out to be about the same cost as I'm used to paying. Plus, when paying by-the-hour it gives you an incentive to bowl as much as you possibly can during that hour, which keeps the game moving nicely. Drink prices are alright. Thirteen bucks for a pitcher of PBR or Old Style or some other foul-tasting domestic. Honker's ale was only three bucks more, money well invested. As mentioned earlier, the bartender didn't speak much English but he was super-nice. Definitely better than a jerk that's fluent. MY ONE COMPLAINT: This place is a dive, okay? It's not for everybody, but it certainly suits my aesthetic. The one place where Fireside crossed the line was the mens' lavatory. There were a lot of fruit flies in there, and I suspect that they were not sustaining themselves with fruit. It's cool if you need to tinkle, but #2 is a definite no-go. They should really clean the bathrooms a bit better, but I certainly hope that they leave everything else with a healthy coat of grime.

I loved this place before and after their big transition. I just started going there for a while since when I went there for shows, I wasn't at all impressed with their "bowling" situation. Things have improved so much since back in the day. For one thing, the beer is cold now (no seriously, cold beer at the Fireside?). Pints of Guinness and Newcastle. The lanes are still pretty cheap depending on time/day. The guys behind the counter and who own the place are still sweet and great. Some of the lanes aren't 100%, but they'll comp you for the time. Also, there's usually someone's abandoned birthday cake hanging around. I really like abandoned birthday cake. You know what else has changed? The bathrooms. For one thing, the toilets flush and don't flood. According to my friends, the men's bathroom is equally modern now. There's also soap now and an abundance of paper - not just on the floor or TPed across the stalls. The jukebox is pretty dope for a cheap bowling alley. Everything Johnny Cash to Jedi-Mind Tricks and a whole lot of Latin music I know nothing about, but I haven't been disappointed yet by what I hear people select. It would seem they have an abundance of depressing mid-90s alternative music because once someone selected every Pearl Jam and Nirvana hit single. I don't know what the bitch-fest from "punk rock" kids (cough, cough, hipster douchebags, cough) is all about. When the place was open, did the kids show appreciation? No. The "scene" was sneaking in alcohol, faking IDs, ODing in the bathroom, and getting into fights. Did the family-owned business want to put up with that shit and make no money (ahem, actually pay-out money in insurance)? No. I guess it's much more effective to bitch about it on the internet 5 years after the fact. Let's drop a few more names and talk about how it's the owners' faults that you didn't own up to your community. ::roll eyes like zombie:: Jose, Hammer, all the guys really. . . they just care about providing a decent and affordable place to have a good time. They thought it'd be great to let kids have a place to rock out and the kids screwed them over. This is a great and affordable place to bowl. Probably the best bang for your buck in the world of Chicago bowling.

This place is a part of me as much as my left arm is a part of my torso. List of bands I've been able to see here include: Strung Out, 88 Finger Louie(RIP), Mad Caddies, Big Wig, Face to Face, Homegrown, Alkaline Trio, Drunk in Public, The Ataris, Apocalypse Hoboken, A.F.I (yes afi), Ignite, Blount, Smoking Popes and Jimmy Eat World(together), Anal Cunt(on my 16th birthday), The Vandals, Jugheads Revenge, Guttermouth, Assorted Jellybeans, Lagwagon, Snapcase, Down by Law, Rise Against, Thursday, Finch and Good Riddance. I hade to write these down on a piece of paper and I'm sure I'm missing some bands in there. Each one of these bands were seen in a space no bigger than my basement now. Each show holds a special place in my heart. Shouting out what song you want one of your favorite bands to play next and them actually playing it, just doesn't get any better than that. Shouting out a song you wanted played that your favorite band already played Priceless! I hear there's bowling here now... fuck that.

This place is a time machine back to the 80s. Doubtful there've been any changes to anything in here for 25yrs. Even have an original donkey kong jr game. I heard the owner is old and his kid runs it and mostly doesn't care. No idea if that's true but it looks like it. The good news is that the scoring machine gave me a few pins for the effort every time.. even on gutter balls. High roll was 7 pins on a gutter. Service at the bar is fast. That's good. Beer makes bowling way funner. Still not that fun but funner. Was sort of dark in the bar, but thought I saw a guy who looked like ladka gravas. Not sure. Lenny and squiggy maybe regulars too Was at fireside for about an hour and half. For me, overall not a bad excursion. The main plus is that it's sort of close to some other logan sq stuff. Other bars and such. If the kid is looking to upgrade, a galaga machine or maybe some earth wind and fire tapes for sale would be a great addition.

* Luckily, they allow you to drink and bowl at the same time if you want (literally, drink and bowl at the same time). The employees don't seem to give a f*** about what's going on down there, as they're too busy trying to mack on the overly-drunk under-age and under-dressed girls that stumble in with the overly-confident and under-the-influence frat guys. Dude, you're wearing a shirt with a loony-tunes character that's wearing baggy jeans and a dangly-medalion, just give her the free shoes and let's keep this night rolling ... you charge by the hour. * Drinks are about 5 bucks for a Solo Cup partially filled with PBR. * This place seems to be frequented by frat packs that like complete control over the jukebox (how many times can the average DePaul student play the Fugees in one night ... three times. Also they still seem to love that "put a ring on it" song, but that one annoyed me less because I didn't mind hearing it twice). * There were 3 of us, and we got an hour of bowling and shoe rentals for about 30 bucks. You don't pay by the person, so you may want to maximize the number of bowlers per lane... like the people at the lane next to us, 15 people ... one lane.. Yes, yes, yes. It used to be cool. And no, just because the Proposal was filmed there doesn't mean it's cool again. But, if you want to go drink and bowl, you could easily find worse places.

First off, I'd like to clear up a misconception that some of the previous commenters seem to have: HAMMER IS NOT THE OWNER. Hell, he's more of a mascot. Amir (Hammer) is the little middle-eastern guy. Jim (the owner) is the clean-cut guy who's usually covered in paint and grease and yelling at Hammer. Fireside Bowl is sorta grimy, sometimes the scoring is a bit off, the drinks aren't cheap (but no more expensive than any bar in the city), and the staff can be abrasive. This is what a bowling alley should be. If you want a sanitized, polite, uneventful bowling experience on pristine lanes, head off to Pinstripes in the 'burbs where some kid in a polo shirt will be more than happy to kiss your ass. If you want to down $3 Schlitz tall-boys, bowl for fun, and banter with the staff this is the place to go. Yes, the staff can be galling, but they also can take what they give. So you can either toss a barb back at 'em, laugh, and have a good time; or take it seriously, be offended, have a terrible night, and get all butt-hurt about it on Yelp. Your call. They still do shows during the week after the leagues end (April through January), and there is the old-school bar in the front, but I'm just focusing on the bowling bit of it. It may not be perfect, but it's my bowling alley of choice. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Hmmmm.... my husband's review on this place was filtered. I'm not sure why. He's an awesome and honest guy. So I'll recap our experience one night last year that will keep us away from the Fireside permanently. First, this is not about the fact that they had punk shows a decade back. The shows there never compared to the shows back at Medusas or even Metro or Cubby Bear (back when it was run by the awesome Sue Miller), but it filled a much needed void for the kids, so that was nice. This is about bowling. Unfortunately, bowling at Fireside is more of a chore than fun. The people who run the place either don't have enough people on staff to handle a Saturday night in February or they just don't care because nobody cleaned up our pod of seats after the previous people had left. There was also beer left on the seats and one of my friends sat in it. Should she have looked before sitting down first? Sure. But I didn't think this was the CTA. Still, the owners here take our money for our bowling experience and I'd think that a small part of the service should be to make sure that the place is a bit picked up. I can handle a little stickiness here or there, but this place is filthy. The bartender was rude. The drink pours were erratic. The jukebox has a lot of really lame crap on it, but I can usually find a couple of things that are OK. Not enough, though, given it's one of those cheesy (and really uncool) "Super Search" digital pieces of crap-o-la. You should be able to find Black Flag and Naked Raygun on those considering they are digital. Oh well. I can continue to dream about things that are never going to happen. Anyway, my hubby summed it up well: Part of running a business is to realize that it is a business. Most people don't find it charming to be treated like garbage, when you're paying money for a service. Avoid this place unless you like being treated like they could give a fuck whether you're there or not. He ended up giving them two stars and then getting filtered. I'm curious, yelp -- did Fireside pay for that service? I'm not going to be as nice.

A small group of us were looking for bowling tonight and 10Pin and Lucky Strike Lanes are a bit too shi-shi for our kind of scene. We wanted a fun place to bowl and have a couple of drinks without going broke in the process. All of us are fans of good dive bars and we'd been meaning to check out the Fireside after recommendations from several of our friends, so tonight seemed like the perfect opportunity. We got there and the odor after stepping right in the door could only be described as... distinct. Whatever. Moving on. We spoke to the clerk who told us that there was an hour wait. We'd anticipated that on a weekend night so we figured we'd put ourselves down on the waiting list and have a couple of beers at the bar while we waited. The clerk was a bit abrasive, but this place wasn't the kind that would suggest that people working there would have gone to school for business management. Fine. We get to the bar and a member of our party put $20 on the bar to indicate we wanted to buy a pitcher, although the bartender was busy at the time helping another customer. No big deal. My friend went to go put some quarters in the pool table and when he came back to the bar, the $20 and the bartender were nowhere to be found. Awesome. When the bartender finally made his way back to the bar, he acted as though nothing had happened, leaving my friend with the awkward position of having to ask what happened to his money. Finally, the bartender reluctantly poured us a $15 pitcher of "cheap" beer. We finally got to bowl after a couple left and that was fine, but we made sure to be back in time so that we didn't get charged the extra $5 for the extra 15 minutes. We were really just happy to be leaving and didn't care about using up every last minute of the $20 hour we paid for. As soon as we got our shoes up to the counter the clerk gives us a "I think you owe us some money..." No. We don't. At all. "Dirty" old dive bars are fun. But I feel there is a distinct difference between a "dirty" venue and an unhygenic venue. This place was the second. And rather than maintaining a laidback attitude, the staff truly embodied a genuine I-don't-give-a-**** nature. Which didn't win anyone over. This place is filthy. And not just old and dusty, but truly disgusting. Also, one of the other patrons thought it would be hilarious to cram the jukebox full of money and play THE SAME Lady Gaga song on repeat. Not so much. Next time we're going to try Timber Lanes.

Last year my "boss" at the time wanted to have a bowling party. After getting raped over the phone by certain other establishments, I decided to try the little guy. The place I remember being dragged to as a kid. With the big giant bar and the bowling machine. So I call and a nice man tells me the low down on group rates. Nice. Fair. Fabulous. Then I ask if we can bring in our own food. Not their policy but if it would be easier for me, sure, why not? The night of the event comes and we have people of all backgrounds....kitchen guys and their families, Yupster friends of owner, crazy staff both gay and straight, just a huge mix of peeps. And it went off without a hitch. The staff was so awesome that when our party grew a little bigger than expected, they locked the front doors and let us take over. I don't know if they have bands anymore and I don't know if they have the bowling machine I spent my childhood playing but I know this......I love this way more than the disco ball chain bowling and the over priced nostalgia bowling. Give me down and dirty with a side of cheap and nice any day of the week.

Gosh, I've been doing a lot of bowling lately. This place went up like 5 points as far as I'm concerned when I found out The Break Up was filmed here. Kind of makes me want to get a bowling shirt and join a bowling league. If you don't mind making the trek a bit west, not a bad place for a bowling party/event - it was under $40 for all you can bowl/all you can drink. I'd recommend reservations, especially on the weekends.

When I lived in Chicago this was my favorite place to see shows. I saw some good stuff here: Swingin' Utters, US Bombs, Peter and the Test Tube Babies, The Forgotten and the list just goes on and on. The venue is cramped but that's how you should see these shows. The bar was small the prices were alright but I always had a good time. Never actually bowled here so no comment on that.

In terms of bowling alleys, this has to be one of the worst that I've experienced to date. I know that bowling alleys range from dives (like this one) to modern (ie cosmic bowling) to pretentious (Lucky Strike Lanes). My friends and I were looking for something cheap and fun to do, so we bought the Groupon that Fireside Bowl was offering which was $15 for an hour of bowling for up to six people that included a shoe rental. This was a great deal, so we were happy to fork over the $3 apiece for an hour of bowling. Upon arriving at 8pm on a Saturday, the place was packed, and I'm assuming a league had just finished. It was incredibly disorganized, so we just stood off to the side waiting for the rest of our party to arrive. At one point the host/manager came over to us with a list in hand and asked us what our name was. Apparently we were supposed to check in upon arrival (even though about half of the lanes were free). Luckily he had noticed us when we walked in, so he bumped us up on the list and we were able to get a lane after about 10 more minutes of waiting. We showed our Groupon and we each had to offer up one of our shoes as collateral for our pair of bowling shoes, which seemed a bit odd. We were put on lane #13 and quickly got to bowling so the six of us could finish out one whole game. As we were bowling, we realized that the scoring was off... like terribly off. For instance, a gutter ball would sometimes register as a strike, but normally only for player #1. The back right corner of the pins would sporadically work. We all quickly came to the conclusion that Groupon users were put on these "broken" lanes as the same problems were plaguing the family of five next to us. Luckily, we embraced this "nuance" and decided that it would be a surprise on who won ultimately at the end as we were just there for a good time. Not a terrible place, just not my scene, especially when we were put on the broken lane with no explanation. I'd much rather go to Waveland Bowl or Southport Lanes in the future, but I can definitely say that you'll have an experience at Fireside Bowl if you so desire...

This was THE place. I met so many people. Saw so many bands over the years. Music actually mattered - to me in my young, naive days. I've been meaning to come bowl here, now that you actually can, but I just can't stomach it.

Maybe this place has a glorious past, but you can only ride on history's back for so long. This was my first bowling experience ever, and hopefully not all bowling alleys are this...underwhelming. Our game kept getting delayed and interrupted by faulty lanes. We had to switch lanes once but even at our new lane we had issues. I didn't know I'd signed up for manual bowling. We had to hit the reset button after just about every frame, and even then that sometimes didn't work and we had to have the staff intercede. Speaking of the staff, they are really good at shrugging and acting helpless. Maybe this place is best left in Chicago's bowling archives.

I'm sick of this sissy shit, everyone whining about no more shows... boo-frickin-hoo. Bowling is what made this place open its doors, bowling is what should see this place through to the end. Without the bowling it would never have became a punk, metal and ska show venue. So please stop complaining about the fact that it only has bowling now, because, beside it not being true... it is just closed-minded. Sure I saw a ton of shows there, have a lot of good memories there and such... but come on, bowling is what gave this place birth. So please, stop the outrage and go see a show or two again and keep bowling... if this place closes, it's because all the people who use to support it abandoned it. They still have shows, in fact I saw one there last week. Not demolished, not closed, not failing to do shows... plus they have non-synthetic lanes... even if they do have automatic scoring.

Turkey is a bowling term for when you get 3 strikes in a row andddd I apply it to throat ripping. Did you hear that? Good.

HAHA. This place is very old-school and Chicago-y. The guy who works there is quite the oddball, but he gets the job done. Prices are decent-I went with a groupon that was an hour of bowling and shoes for $12-much more to my liking. The place has a full service bar and soda for a buck-not too bad. When you rent shoes you have to give up one of your shoes in exchange-so be sure to bring socks to wear right away so you don't have to walk all over the dirty carpet to your bowling lane. Also, Fireside has a cool old-school Donkey Kong arcade machine! Watch out for the heat-when I went it didn't seem like they had the A/C on and it was relatively hot out. They had some fans on but it didn't really make the place that comfortable.

So just like some of the other reviewers, I remember going here for the myriads of punk shows during high school and beginning of college. Nevermind that the bathrooms were so gross, I would go outside b/c that just seemed cleaner. For $10/15 to see a bunch of punk bands? It was awesome. And now they have only bowling. So sad to see that place die. I guess everyone has to grow up sometime. :(

Ok, sure, I miss going to see Side Kick Kato in the mid 90s. I miss the gangbangers and Mexican cowboys throwing shit at everyone in line, I miss the poisonous bathrooms and it sucks that there really isn't a place left like the old Fireside. But come on, how annoying was it to go to shows where parents were picking up their kids in mini vans?? All things being equal, this is a decent place to bowl on a Saturday night because you are almost guaranteed a lane. Try getting a lane at Diversey Bowl on Friday night. They have electronic scoring and have done some remodeling / painting since the days of punk shows. The one thing that does remain is the bar and the man behind the bar, Hammer and all his jewelry. What suprised me was the crowd and then the jukebox in the main room. I was expecting some leftovers from the Fireside days but I guess those days are long gone. Seriously, it's the worst juke box I have seen in a long time unless you like groups that start in either Lil' (as in Lil' John, or Lil' Bow wow) or Los. If you want to bowl and you want to bowl now and you don't feel the need to do it in neon lights then the Fireside should do just fine.

It functions just fine as a bowling alley (though I might suggest that there is, as my friend put it, a "Michigan Lean" to the right as you bowl... or maybe we just sucked that night... who knows...), but the ornery employees seem to take away from the experience. Both the pin guy and the bartender seemed pissed off when we went, as if they just watched someone plow into their car with a renegade forklift or got punched in the junk by a kangaroo. But I simply know this place as a bowling alley, not a punk haven. Bowlers range from yuppies to entire families. I'd go back, just because I find the cross-section of people (including employees) to be humorous and rather unique.

I am giving Fireside Bowl three stars primarily because I enjoy old, dingy, dated bowling alleys. I definitely prefer them to the more upscale alleys downtown. And I had a fun time bowling here ... it has a nice--for lack of a better phrase--bowling alley feel. That being said, while I enjoyed the old school ambience of Fireside Bowl and its close proximity to my apartment, I was put off by the staff--both the bartender and the shoe guy were kind of jerks. Whatever. Shoe rental is $2, and it is $20 per hour per lane to bowl, which, for a run-down place, seems a bit pricey to me. However, the $2.50 Schlitz tallboys I drank somewhat made up for it (even if the dirty cans did leave smudges all over my hands and jeans).

The Fireside sucks as a bowling alley. The only brightside is the bathrooms are decently clean and don't constantly have a couple inches of standing water on the floor. I'll never forget the shows I've seen there though, especially my first: The Bouncing Souls back in 1995.

It is hard to screw up a bowling alley... Particularly when you keep it old school. Love coming here because their jukebox rocks but sometimes get extremely turned off by the service. Went on a Saturday night for my boyfriends birthday and was pleasantly surprised, a particular shout-out to Joey who was nice and helpful without attitude.

There comes a time in every person's life when it's time to admit they are no longer what they once were. That time for me is now. I no longer have a punk rock spirit living within me. The anarchic blood no longer flows through my veins. And, therefore, the Fireside Bowl no longer excites me. It now annoys me a bit. Despite no longer regularly hosting punk shows, the Fireside still has some of that spirit. Its bowling balls, for example, are a mish mash much like the clashing nature of a punk rocker's outfit. To try to find any organization by weight on what used to be the stage would prove beyond frustrating to a systematic human being. And the balls have seen better days. To say they could use some safety pins to hold them together might be hyperbole, but they are kind of gross to the touch. The lanes themselves are an oily mess. Punkabilly lovers might be able to use them to tame their pompadours. Bowlers, not so much. I pretty much threw my guessed weight ball and closed my eyes hoping I could catch a random pattern. And in the end the pin action was so stubbornly minimal, that I expected some angry agitpunk graphic to pop up on the scoring screen flashing middle fingers. Still, despite being a mediocre experience as far as actual bowling goes, I can't hate on the Fireside. It's historic both as a bowling alley (it's one of Chicago's oldest operating alleys) and a rock venue. It's legendary on the realm of Emo's in Austin or CBGBs (RIP) in New York City. To bowl there is to have participated in the realm of punk history. Plus the beer prices aren't bad and the jukebox is huge - though it would be better if it contained the amazing bands that had played there through the years. The only real knocks I have on the place is that it needs to be open during the day (punks do not only come out at night) and that they need to post their league schedules somewhere. Showing up during their limited hours and being turned away because no lanes are open is kind of annoying. Sure I could call ahead, but that's not very free spirited. Okay, I guess I still have a little of the attitude left in me.