Its motto is ¨It´s not your daddy´s bowling alley.¨ No foolin´. Ma and Pa couldn´t get sushi, stone hearth pizzas and mahi mahi at the lanes of yore. Splitsville strikes it rich with all these elegant edibles and more, plus a choice of four bars, huge plasma-screen TVs around every corner and an overall cool, retro-chic look. In fact, the only thing Splitsville seems to lack is, well … bowling lanes. The place has the lowest lane count in town at a mere 12, but that doesn´t stop it from being the Bay area´s new cool place to have a ball. And if you have to wait for a lane, there´s plenty of action to occupy the time, be it billiards (six tables) or people watching (Splitsville is positively packed on weekends). The place will set you back a bit — bowling costs $4.95 per person per game Sunday-Thursday, a buck more on Friday and Saturday, with a maximum of two games, and that doesn´t include shoes. Billiards will set you back $12 for two hours (also the max) — but apparently that´s not a problem for champions of the semi-new Channelside hot spot.
Splitsville, 615 Channelside Drive, Tampa, 813-514-2695, www.splitsvillelanes.com.
This article appears in Sep 22-28, 2004.