Community Bowl owner opens full-service restaurant connected to bowling alley

A full menu of favorite food will now greet bowlers after a day of fun at Community Bowl Bar and Grill in Dumont.

At the end of December, Community Bar and Grill opened a full-service restaurant connected to the existing bowling alley.

Owner Brandon Barber purchased the restaurant portion of the building in November and crews conducted a full renovation of the space after the previous restaurant closed nearly three months ago. New flooring, paint, a redesigned and expanded kitchen, new walls and an open doorway between the bowling alley and the restaurant give the space a family-friendly feel.

“We used to have a little kitchen in the bowling alley side…and we were really restricted with what we could serve out of there as far as space and equipment,” he said. “Now we’re full-service.”

The menu still includes Community Bowl’s popular pizza, but now features restaurant favorites such as burgers and sandwiches.

“Those seem to be catching on very well,” he said. “Our goal is to have a good, solid menu.”

He added that eventually, Community Bowl will offer specials – such as steak nights and fish fries – on certain nights of the week.

“Stuff like that won’t necessarily be on the everyday menu,” he said.

No matter a special or a selection from the normal menu, Barber said diners are bound to find something that suits their tastes.

“I’m not one to have a 3 or 4-page menu because then it makes things harder to choose,” he said. “I’d rather have a smaller menu and have everything really well pre-pared than to have a ton of stuff that’s mediocre.”

Currently, the restaurant is open the same hours the bowling alley is in operation – 5-10 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 4-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3-9 p.m. on Sunday. Barber said once the restaurant is up and running full steam, he intends on add-ing lunch hours as well.

For now, Barber said the staff at Community Bowl is working to perfect operation and work out some of the kinks commonly found in opening a new restaurant. While the eatery gains mo-mentum, Barber said early crowds indicate the restaurant is a welcome addition to the community.

“The crowds we’re having have been great,” he said.

“We get great feedback from everyone and that helps with training the new staff.”

One of the unique aspects the restaurant offers, Barber said, is its proximity to the bowling alley. Before or after bowling a few games, customers can fuel up on hand made food. Having both food and entertainment under the same roof, he said, is a bene-fit to the community.

“It makes or breaks it, honestly,’ he said. “You have a spot where family can come out and in one stop, they can eat dinner, they can have a night out.

The atmosphere we create is something for the whole family, not just for the bar crowd or just for the food crowd,” he said. “There’s something for everybody to do all in one spot.”

Having familiar faces in the staff and a familiar spot with the bowling alley doesn’t hurt either, Barber said.

“You know a lot of people, a lot of people know us,” he said. “I really like that relationship.”