Curiocity: Tonight We Bowl, At Bryant-Lake

Bryant-Lake Bowl has created quite a name for itself over the years, which was apparent when I walked in and felt like everyone was a regular.

The place is quaint and cozy and has just about anything you could want for an evening out. Tables line the front entrance of the joint, with a nice dim-lit bar to the left, which sits below a colorful mural dedicated to the 10-pin sport of bowling.

Dinner specials can vary from everything from Fettuccine Alfredo to pan-seared Alaskan Pollock -- with just about everything in between. Specials, a full list of beers -- many unique to the typical bar scene -- and theater schedules are prominently displayed on colorful chalkboards that hang in the middle of the establishment.

But as you walk further inside, something truly remarkable greets you and takes you all the way back to a simpler time. An eight-lane, old-time bowling alley brings you back to the days when cosmic bowling and disco balls was never a fixture of a trip to the local bowl-a-rama.

Behind the bowling alley, in the far left corner of the place, is a mini theater. And when I say mini, I mean, mini. I nearly mistook it for a storage closet until people began lining up behind it. I have yet to try out a show at Bryant-Lake but from what I've heard, it's an event not to be missed.

We decided to go on a Thursday night -- after hearing that it can be quite crowded on the weekends. It was still pretty busy on Thursday but we felt it was worth the wait. We put our name down for bowling and tried out some special, local brews while we sat and took it all in.

And then, the lights went out.

I reminded myself that I only had one beer, so it wasn't the alcohol -- it actually was a power outage. The funny thing is, no one even flinched. Conversations continued over candlelight and beer kept flowing, as if nothing happened. Since this was my first time to Bryant-Lake, I half-wondered if this was a common occurrence.

After speaking with the waitress, she told us this has happened in the past and usually isn't out for too long. Staff walked around lighting more candles and tabs were calculated with an approximation. And nearly an hour and a half later, the lights were still out.

We waited a bit longer -- we were really in the mood to bowl -- and as a few people gave up and headed home, the lights miraculously came back on. So we picked out some sweet bowling shoes -- I found the lightest ball possible -- and we hit the lanes.

Bowling here is only $4 a game, plus an extra $1.50 for the shoes, and you get to test your math skills with old school scoring. Yup, that's right -- scoring is the equivalent of a paper score sheet and a pencil. So awesomely old school.

The bowling was a great success -- well, minus the fact that I completely suck at bowling -- but it was a great time, nonetheless. We bowled two games, the lights stayed on for the rest of the night and we nearly had the place to ourselves at that point.

I definitely want to head back to Bryant-Lake, at least a few times, to hit a show and try out their cheap date night, which includes two entrees, a bottle of wine (or a few beers) and a round of bowling for only $28 per couple. Cheap date night runs on Mondays from 6 p.m. to midnight.

I must say, for a place so refreshingly set in the past, I was happy to add it to my present and future.