NAMCO Funscape Braintree Reviews Summary

Facilities

Pros:

• "Great facilities, especially if it's for a northeast group or a Scout Group like this evening."
• "Really Fun they do karaoke bowling, clip and climb a kids soft area and an arcade."
• "Soft play is very good and clean."
• "It's clean and modern."
• "A great bowling alley with a smooth operation and, most importantly, no strings!"
• "Great place, food, bowling, arcades, bar, ticket system for prizes."
• "They have Amusements, bowling, soft play and wall climbing. Which we have done them all (we meaning the kids.... Not me)."

Cons:

• "The only thing that I didn't like is that you need to pass through the arcade games to reach to the soft play."
• "The bowling lanes themselves also seem a bit dodgy sometimes with the machines not counting the correct number of pins or some pins getting stuck in the machine."
• "Bowling was pretty bad. Pins kept getting stuck machine broke down multiple times."
• "The lanes feel poorly maintained as the speedo wasn't working."
• "Soft play is boring for our child, one in Chelmsford is same price but has a lot more fun stuff for the kids."
• "The play equipment gets booked up very quickly."
• "The arcade is quite annoying as it distracts the main desk staff with redeeming tickets for sweets instead of more important matters like tech issues or people waiting to bowl."

Staff and Service

Pros:

• "The staff are fun, interactive and entertaining."
• "Staff constantly doing the rounds cleaning, and they were polite, very helpful, cheerful and friendly."
• "The climbing staff were outstanding: very attentive and encouraging."
• "Amber has some great customer service skills, she was super friendly hand helpful."
• "Service is always helpful and pleasant."
• "Staff are very friendly, the place is always clean, the food is amazing and you get quick service once you have ordered."
• "Staff always helpful and friendly."

Cons:

• "Booked in twice for bowling on 2 separate occasions. Both times we got there after booking online to find out they didn’t have us booked in, even with confirmation and a reference number."
• "Staff were slow to and ticket machines in the bowling section were not working."
• "Staff need to be more helpful."
• "Some of the staff seemed very miserable on the bookings desk so it was a mixed bag really."
• "Awful! The staff couldn't care less, were too busy having a gossip."
• "Run by kids who haven’t got an ounce of customer service."
• "When the obnoxious member of staff had the audacity to stare us in the face, slopping his chewing gum and tapping his fingers on the till to try and hurry a response from us."

Value and Pricing

Pros:

• "There are some early bird deals and such that are usually on-going."
• "Not a cheap day out, but packed with lots of fun."
• "Good fun bowling, great price for the kids too, which helps introduce them to the sport."
• "Great prices too. Definitely recommended."
• "Good cheap price, managed to get in early and staff were lovely."
• "Good value for money and fantastic service."
• "Great value for money."

Cons:

• "Staff member told us that we need to pay full price £6.50 for 45min instead 90min of play time because she can't give any discount. A bit unfair..."
• "I wasn't impressed with paying 26 pound for 1 child to go in and 4 spectators."
• "Found them expensive for drinks. Bottled water was really expensive."
• "It was expensive because of the adult charge."
• "The only good things you could get were wildly expensive."
• "Food is average burger type stuff mostly and expensive. Apart from that a good place to go!"
• "Rip off! Went on Thursday afternoon, only 1 group bowling when we asked about the price no wonder!"

Cleanliness and Maintenance

Pros:

• "Staff constantly doing the rounds cleaning, and they were polite, very helpful, cheerful and friendly."
• "Toilets are clean and well kept."
• "So much fun, felt very safe, everything clean."
• "Clean, fun and staff are friendly and they are the only place I know not to charge for you as an adult to just sit and watch your child."
• "The place is clean, great to see staff regularly doing such."
• "It's the kids favourite soft play and in my opinion it's also the cleanest."
• "Everything was clean. There were sanitising stations everywhere."

Cons:

• "Toilets are absolutely filthy every time we visit."
• "Not very clean although we did attend on a busy day."
• "There was a lot of litter and there was a lot of stickiness on floor and tables."
• "Cleanliness isn’t great but this particular day was bad."
• "The WORST toilets I’ve ever walked into, dirty bloody period pads all on the floor, poo all around the toilet seats, absolutely disgusting."
• "A bit grubby, but still fun! Pricey with some games lasting seconds."
• "The holes where you put your fingers in the balls seemed quite dirty."

Experience and Atmosphere

Pros:

• "Always have a great time."
• "Overall it was quite a fun experience with the family."
• "Always came here when I was younger for birthday parties, and a late night bowl with a beer is always fun with a group of people."
• "Did a great job hosting our 5 year old son's birthday party."
• "Definitely a good choice for some fun."
• "Fun, bright and vibrant place, a good vibe and nice to chill out with a beer after the cinema or meal out."
• "A great place to spend a few hours chilling out and having fun with friends or family."

Cons:

• "It was freezing cold and we sat the whole time with our coats on."
• "Refused entry as neither my partner or I had a phone with us which has the new track and trace app."
• "Disaster, disappointing and chaos."
• "The attempt at disco lighting was pathetic."
• "Jesus christ it was hot in there."
• "Not our first time there but last weekend we invited friends from london to a bowling session with the children. One of the lanes stopped working mid game."
• "Arrived 5 minutes late for a climbing session and was not allowed to participate."