The Best Restaurants and Bars in Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill and the 919
From arcades to bowling alleys and much more!
Looking for the latest in bowling, video games and family fun? The new Stars and Strike is now open on Capital Boulevard and offering up a variety of activities for your kids. Beyond the bowling, there’s laser tag, bumper cars, a restaurant, bar and of course, a modern arcade. Take a sneak peek through these pictures if you’re curious!
If you’re a fan of golf or just hitting a little white ball around with a driver, you need to check out the new Drive Shack out in W. Raleigh! This brand new, three level driving range offers up a host of fun and food for the avid golfer or golfer wannabe. With 96 driving bays, two bars, restaurant, game area and patio, you’ll find lots of options to keep a group entertained. Play one of 5 classic, virtual golf courses or maybe a virtual golf game. Three TVs in each bay will show you where to hit your ball based upon real targets on the driving range. Order up some food or beer and have it delivered to the comfort of your driving bay couches. Driving bays are rented by the hour for up to 6 people. And prices for food and drink are reasonable! I’ll update this post after I have a chance to visit but until then, enjoy this virtual visit!
As the Triangle continues to grow, it’s fun seeing successful businesses opening up second and third locations at other points in the Triangle. Long-time Raleigh favorite, Boxcar Bar and Arcade has done just that! While its second location sent them out to Greensboro, their third location brought them back to the Triangle and to the Bull City on January 10. Located on Foster Street next to Urban Axes, Boxcar Bar and Arcade Durham offers up the same great games with more space, a private room and a pizza kitchen. Game tokens are also re-usable across all three locations. Check out the pictures below if you’re curious!
With all the bar arcades that have popped up in the Triangle, one city was conspicuous lacking one: Durham. Especially given the urban, hipster origins of the bar arcade. We’ve got the Baxter out in Chapel Hill, Level Up and Boxcar out in Raleigh and… Yeah, there really wasn’t a bar arcade in Durham except for maybe the Social out on W. Main street but it’s more bar than anything else. Enter Quarter Horse Arcade! I had watched them for a bit on Facebook, wondering when they might open and finally they did, right before the 4th of July. So what could be more ‘merican than some good beer and arcade games? It was time to head on over for a visit!
The Quarter Horse sits conveniently on Mangum Street, right across the way from DPAC. Head down those stairs to its subterranean space, the Quarter Horse Arcade used to be a storage area and gives off the feel of your friend’s really cool basement full of video games! Get your membership card from the security guy at the doorway and your information will now be in their system, regardless of whether you’ve got your card or not.
Inside Quarter Horse you’ll find an L-shaped bar straight in front of you with red leather stools dotted in front. The space here is functional with exposed pipes overhead, a small DJ area and games along the edges of the space. A small nook behind you holds the change machines and a handful of more arcade consoles but I’m grabbing a drink before I get my game on! The Quarter Horse offers up a small selection of draft beers and cocktails along with a slew of junk food. Fruit by the Foot, Charleston Chews, Pop Tarts, Slim Jims, Fruit Gushers and more, it’s a veritable junk food fest here at Quarter Horse Arcade and perfect for getting your heart rate amped up with some sugar! I go with a Trophy Pacific IPA to get the evening started.
Scanning the room I guesstimate there must be about 40 games in the space! On the lower side for a bar arcade, but certainly enough to keep you entertained for an hour or two. Quarter Horse offers up the usual Space Invaders and Donkey Kong along with some decent pinball tables (Addams Family) lit underneath by neon! Given the smaller space Quarter Horse also has a handful of quirky and narrow console games like Taito’s Cold Beer. In this dexterous challenge, you balance a metal ball on a bar controlled by two joysticks and attempt to maneuver it up the playing table to deposit the ball in specific holes, fun! There are cup holders installed on most consoles or a stand nearby to protect your beer while you play.
Bathrooms are located out in a hallway out back and the crowd here at Quarter Horse Arcade is all-Durham: quirky, chill, mostly under 45 and male (shocker). So while you may not think of Quarter Horse as a pre or post-DPAC show option given its casualness, I certainly do! It’s a fun and noisy spot to drop in real quickly, grab a beer and game away for a bit. So rock on Quarter Horse Arcade! You’re off and running at a really good clip, looking forward to dropping some more quarters into your consoles and cussing out your Cold Beer game!
108 S. Mangum Street
Durham, NC 27701
919.973.1717
I gotta confess, I’m not a very good bowler. Maybe because I grew up in New England where we would throw these little balls at little candlepins instead of what the rest of the country uses! So I was not a frequent visitor to the departed Sparians bowling alley up in North Hills. But recently I heard that a small chain of upscale bowling alleys called Kings and based out of Massachusetts was taking over the venue and refreshing it. And yes, they had a charity event called Kings Cares on the calendar so I figured it was a perfect time to visit and see what up at the new Kings Bowl at North Hills!
From the outside, Kings is pretty unimposing and plain, located at the side/entry along Park at North Hills Street. The staff was already out front checking ID’s and getting people ticketed for the event. “Woody” their mascot bowling pin was out front for pics and yes, I’ll try not to make any naughty jokes about his name as much as I want to. Inside we paid our charitable donation, got three drink tickets and we were off to have some fun! Kings Bowl was well-staffed and probably in shake-down mode with limited hours. I’ll be interested to see what final pricing is like and if they’re able to nail down a better wait queue/bowling operations since wait-lines at the old Sparians was a huge part of its demise. The entry-way seems a bit more open with a traditional counter to request a lane and grab your shoes which I already see as an improvement from the old place.
Straight forward you’ll find the first bar and 8 or so lanes and to the right you’ll open up to the main Kings Bowl area! Another bar decked out in crimson, two gaming areas and then another set of lanes in back. The overall space seems opened up and better laid out. You can see people and activity all around which gives the place a more energetic feel. Inside there are definitely some changes in the space, but some of the old neon remains, enhanced with the Kings Bowl starburst theme. There’s also a modern retro feel with prints of Jeff Bridges as the Dude from the movie the Big Lebowski, very kitschy and cool!
We first head off to the front bar where Kings has a shorter selection of craft beers, house wines and house cocktails. Definitely lots of fruity on the cocktail menu, spins on classic drinks but I wouldn’t expect anything too fancy! As the Kings Cares event started off, the staff came out with hand-passed appetizers ranging from fried mac n cheese, spring rolls, fried won tons, sliders, seared scallops and hummus. Unfortunately, trying to stand and eat is pretty tricky so I forgot the food pics! But suffice it to say, everything we were served was above average for bar food and enjoyable.
As the night wore on we moved to the fun and play side of the evening. Things were livening up so we grabbed a lane for a couple of strings of bowling. Very modern and high-tech scoring system, Kings does some really colorful balls and the pin set-up/machine is super fast making for much quicker play. Just be aware that some lanes do not have markers and the lighting makes it tough to see where you need to put the ball. And our lane had a tight approach meaning you had to shorten up your strides or roll your ball more quickly than usual. So if you’re a serious bowler you might want to double-check before grabbing any lane.
In addition to the bowing, Kings has added quite a few additional games like foosball, shuffleboard, ping-pong tables, air hockey and even one quad air hockey table, cool! The event had free games so I’m not sure how pricey they are but it was certainly a great diversion from bowling. As the evening slowed down, we were brought out cake-pops and mini smores which was a great way to end the event!
All in all I can honestly say I had a really fun evening at the Kings Cares events and I think they are headed in the right direction. If they can resolve lane reservations/wait times and keep prices within reason, I think this new version of hip and retro bowling will have some staying power. Good food and lots of fun sounds like a winning recipe for North Hills and the families in the area. So welcome to Raleigh and the Triangle, Kings Bowl! And maybe add some candlepin bowling for us ex-New Englanders? I’ll even promise to “pahk my cah in a wicked good space” the next time I visit…
141 Park at North Hills Street, Suite 120
Raleigh NC 27605
919.600.5700
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