Review! Is One of the BEST Food Hacks in Disney World In…A Bowling Alley?!

Splitsville Luxury Lanes in Disney Springs isn’t your typical stinky shoe bowling alley with sticky floors and day-old hot dogs…

Mickey and Minnie Bowling Balls at Splitsville

…it’s a fancy retro bowling alley with leveled-up menu and a total party vibe. (Oh, and it doesn’t stink either!) Ok, so it doesn’t offer exotic flavors like its neighbor Jaleo. It doesn’t have romantic sweeping views of Disney Springs like Paddlefish either. Instead, it offers a HUGE menu with BIG portions that match the incredibly fun atmosphere. Also, they have sushi. Normally, we wouldn’t dare to try sushi from a bowling alley. Splitsville is very different though! With so much great food in Disney Springs, we often overlook this retro-but-make-it-new bowling joint. In fact, we haven’t had a full meal here in a few years. Take a look at how the restaurant and entertainment venue holds up against other Disney Springs restaurants!

Atmosphere

You can tell from the outside that this place is ENORMOUS. The restaurant boasts FIVE bars, 30 bowling alleys, pool tables, and tons of seating. This where you bring 10 of your closest friends to celebrate a birthday or a wholesome bachelor/bachelorette party.

Splitsville Entrance, 2019

The unfortunate part of the location is that it’s located on the Westside of Disney Springs. This side of the shopping and dining area doesn’t get a ton of traffic at the moment. Some have been venturing this way to try the new Everglazed Donut & Cold Brew. Perhaps now that the M&M’s Store has opened we’ll see more crowds down here. On the outside, it’s fairly quiet with the occasional live musician welcoming bowlers inside.

Splitsville Outdoor Seating

On the inside, it’s a downright bash. It’s like you stepped into a mid-century modern bowling alley. You’ll notice brightly colored lockers and old-school bowling shoes being rented. The shoes themselves are enough to transport to the swinging 60s when beach parties were a thing and people used swizzle sticks in their cocktails. BTW, swizzle sticks are still totally cool. 😉

Bowling shoes

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, we should note that Splitsville is currently operating with health and safety regulations. Bowlers can choose from sanitized shoes or have disposable shoe coverings over their own shoes. More hand sanitizer stations were installed as well.

Hand Sanitizer

All lanes are distanced between groups to practice physical distancing. All surfaces and items (including bowling balls) are cleaned between groups.

Bowling Alley Lanes

As far as seating, you can choose between booths, tables, and bar seating scattered throughout the building.

Upstairs Booths at Splitsville

Bowlers are given a dedicated table to eat while they bowl.

Bowling Alley Seating and Bar

You can choose to sit outside at the entrance bar or the expansive upstairs patio.

Upstairs Patio

All around you, you’ll notice the retro references like advertisements…

“Let the Good Times Roll!”

…and a giant “Vacation Kingdom” mural. This is a nod to Disney World’s nickname back in the 70s!

Vacation Kingdom Mural

The other side features a “Florida” postcard mural.

Florida Postcard Mural

The bowling balls are just as fun and come in bright colors with the Splitsville logo. Kids can opt for the lighter Mickey and Minnie bowling balls!

Bowling Balls

And, if you’re not a bowler, try your luck with one of the pool tables!

Pool Tables

Or you could totes request to get the little bumpers put up and bowl your heart out. We won’t judge. But remember, you don’t NEED to bowl to come here. You can just eat and that’s totally OK! So that said, let’s eat!

See more atmosphere photos of Splitsville here!

Eats

The menu is fairly expansive with items including everything from pizza to sushi to nachos. They’re really going for the “something for everyone” vibe and we think this concept checks out. If you’re dining, you’ll be offered a QR code to scan for the menu. Open your phone camera to scan the code and will direct you to the menu. Or, you can ask for a single-use paper menu.

Contactless Menu

Appetizers include items like edamame or cheeseburger sliders. While the pizza menu boasts old favorites like pepperoni or meat lovers.

Appetizer and Pizza

The sushi rolls are a crowd-favorite choice for us and other visitors!

Sushi

A lot of salad options are here for a lighter choice…

Salads

…and the entrees are incredibly diverse too. Choose from Chicken Fried Rice or even Fish n’ Chips!

Entrees

Handhelds include blackened chicken sandwiches and smothered cheeseburgers.

Handhelds

A small dessert menu is available with giant cake slices and sundaes.

Desserts

Kids can opt for entrees like chicken tenders or cheese pizzas.

Kids Entrees

And what’s a night out without a cocktail? There are plenty of frozen and specialty drinks on the menu. Also, shareable 18 oz bowl drinks are available too.

Frozen and Bowl Drinks

Plus, an expansive beer menu

Beer Menu

red wine menu…

Red Wines

…and white wine, blush, and bubbly menu!

White and Bubbly Menu

We went ALL out this time and ordered some custom vegan items for our veggie-eating friend that was dining with us and even a secret menu item! Let’s start with the top-secret menu item because it was a major hit with us!

Splitsville Spread

Loaded Fries ARE on the menu (basically cheesy bacon ranch fries), but we wanted to step the fry game up a notch. We noticed the massively delightful sounding Macho Nachos for $16 on the appetizer menu and our Spidey-senses (Cheesy-sense? Is that a thing? Totally coining that.) started tingling. Our waiter mentioned the most popular apps were the Loaded Fries and the Nachos…but he likes to combine them. BOOM. Mind blown, right? We ordered the Macho Nachos and substituted the tortilla chips with fries. Yes, it’s totally doable and yes, it was as glorious as it sounds.

Macho Nachos with Fries Secret Menu Item

The fries (frychos? Coining that too. Bam!) came with seasoned ground beef, shredded cheddar jack cheese, queso, black bean corn salsa, scallions, cilantro, and were drizzled with avocado ranch. This ends up being a HUGE portion that can easily feed 2 or 3 people. Maybe more! The queso was incredibly creamy with a small kick. YES. The avocado ranch was a nice tangy balance to the queso and the beef was seasoned so well.

Macho Nachos with Fries Secret Menu Item

This was our dream appetizer and would totally order it again. It’s such a fun app that would be great for a family to share. It would have been perfect if there was a bit more heat. We’d love a few sliced jalapenos thrown on top next time! Using a french fry as a vehicle to chow down on loaded nacho goodies was a fan-tas-tic idea.

Macho Nachos with Fries Secret Menu Item

Hack the fries. Nachos. FRYCHOS. Just do it. Now.

We went with two sushi rolls as a follow-up to the hefty nacho fries. The Volcano Roll for $16 is made with tempura shrimp, avocado, cream cheese, and spicy volcano krab mix. This was a solid sushi roll that used classic ingredients like fried shrimp paired with cream cheese and spicy krab (yea, it sounds weird saying “krab” but it’s the same imitation crabmeat you’ll find at most sushi joints which isn’t crab it’s actually…mostly fish!). We really liked the spicy krab that was placed on top and it was our favorite part of the roll.

Volcano Roll

Here’s the thing with this roll though — it LOOKED really pretty and it did taste pretty good. BUT, it was the least flavorful thing we tried. On its own, probably not too bad. But comparatively, it was a little underwhelming.

Volcano Roll

Following the Volcano Roll came the Veggie Roll for $12. This is a great option for vegans visiting Disney World. The theme parks tend to lack great vegan options that don’t seem like they’re trying a little too hard to mimic meat, but this lets the veggies inside shine on their own. The roll comes veggie-friendly and you can order the vegan version instead.

Veggie Roll

The Veggie Roll comes with cucumber, avocado, carrots, asparagus, spring mix, grape tomatoes, and yellow peppers rolled in sushi rice, drizzled with ponzu sauce, and topped with sesame seeds.

Veggie Roll

This tasted great as a vegan dish. The combination of vegetables rolled in the rice made it taste very light and fresh. It’s a great sushi roll if you’d rather skip the fried shrimp or heavy sauces. 

Veggie Roll

Basically, vegetarians and vegans might really like this option, but don’t disregard it for the meat-eaters in your crew.

Read our past reviews of the sushi rolls here!

Then, sticking to the sushi menu, we dug right into a Grilled Avocado and Ahi Tuna for $17. YUM. A halved avocado is grilled then filled with seared ahi tuna, tossed in spicy kimchee ponzu sauce, and topped with scallions and spicy mayo. It comes with sushi rice and crispy wonton chips.

Grilled Avocado and Ahi Tuna

This happened to be our favorite thing that we tried that day. The tuna tasted so fresh and we loved that it was quick-seared. The spicy ponzu sauce added just the right amount of flavor and a bit of acidity.

Grilled Avocado and Ahi Tuna

The crispy wonton chips added a small amount of grease that was needed for the dish (you know, not counting the grilled avocado fat bombs on the plate!). You can scoop up all the goodies and make fun sushi nachos with them! SO good. Such a flavorful and unique dish!

Grilled Avocado and Ahi Tuna

The last thing we ordered was a custom veggie bowl. This isn’t on the menu but we’re pointing it out if you’re traveling on a special diet. Our vegan friend asked the server what could be created for his dietary restrictions. We were brought a bowl full of fresh bell peppers, broccoli, avocado, and scallions. The veggies were topped with a big helping of sweet rice.

Veggie Bowl

Good news! Our vegan friend approved with rave reviews! He stated that this was one of the better vegan items he’s had at Disney Springs. The veggies were fresh and the rice had mildly sweet flavoring that really added to it all.

Veggie Bowl

This just goes to show if anyone in your group has a dietary restriction, ASK YOUR SERVER! Most restaurants are beyond accomodating with special diets and will do what they can to help.

Nosh or Not?

You might love Splitsville if:

  • You want some standard chain-style food that has been amplified a bit. You can choose from regular cheeseburgers or pizza and more that have been enhanced with a ton of goodies.
  • You love sushi! The sushi is great and not just for a bowling alley. 😉
  • You want a place to hang out. The food is good but the bowling, music, and pool tables is really what this place is all about.

You might skip Splitsville if:

  • You’re a huge foodie. Some of the meals are unique but they’re not something you’d find on an exotic cooking show! If you’ve been to a Dave and Buster’s or other massive “food and entertainment all mashed in one building” type place, you’re likely familiar with the idea of a sprawling menu made to please a range of palates.
  • You’re looking to budget yourself at Disney Springs. There are a few quick-service locations (like Chicken Guy) that offer good standard food that isn’t too spendy. Prices here aren’t bad, but if you add in bowling or other entertainment the pricetag can creep up.
  • Your group doesn’t want to bowl. It’s fun to tag along if some people are bowling. However, if your whole objective is to find good food, then you might want to try somewhere else that focuses on food. D-Luxe Burger has great burger options that are similar to Splitsville.

Overall

Here’s the deal. We’re still pretty surprised at how good the food is each time we’ve been here! You think you’re going to get a frozen burger patty paired with a cheesy bowling alley atmosphere. Instead, you get fresh avocados and seared ahi tuna. The food is NOT an afterthought. It’s such a great entertainment venue that really put some effort into the food. Those of you looking for some fun outside of the theme parks should give Splitsville a chance. You can have fun bowling, eating nacho fries, and hanging out in the cool retro restaurant.

However, if you’re only here for food, then you might want to try somewhere else. There are other restaurants at Disney Springs that really live up to the hype. Morimoto Asia has great sushi and a and we’ve given rave reviews to their menu. Homecomin’ and their southern comfort menu really knock it out of the park for us too. So basically for a bowling alley, the food is killer. But compared to other spots in Springs? There’s so much more to choose from. We prob wouldn’t go out of our way to eat here with so many choices nearby (probably why we haven’t reviewed it very often!). That said, the food has often exceeded our expectations. If you’re in the mood to bowl, stop on by for a game or two and a solid meal.

Read our recent review of Paddlefish in Disney Springs here!

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