LeFrak Center at Lakeside - Brooklyn, New York

Paola Andrea

The experience was really bad, but here the two things that bordered me the most.

1. I had tickets for 3:30. When I got to the place 2:50, and tried to rent the skates there was a very long line. However, the employees said they would stick to the time on the tickets. At the end, it took us up to 40’ to get the skates rented, so we had less than an hour to skate. This is not the worse, because an employee authorized people to take any skate that was left behind for other people so they could just skip the line and skate.

2. Having less than an hour skating, the skates that we rented were completely destroyed, the laces were not long enough to tie the skate, and the blades were not sharp enough to skate smoothly.

Worse ice skating in New York and it was $30 per ticket.

Bleh Blah

What a disorganized mess from the very start… bought tickets in advance but this did not save any time at all, as everyone enters the same line regardless. There is no signage indicating that ticket holders must wait in the same line as everyone else and it took 40 minutes to get to the front (on a weekday), substantially offsetting the skating time I paid for upfront. Staff were clueless and unable to scan the QR code on the tickets because they were waiting for the scanning device to charge (talk about poor planning).

The rental ice skates are in complete disrepair… frayed laces, soles literally falling apart, holes and cracks, and the edges were so dull they wouldn’t be able to cut butter. I am a size 9.5 shoe and they do not offer half sizes, so I asked for a size 10 pair of skates. Staff neglected to ask my shoe size or tell me that skate and shoe sizes are NOT the same. The size 10 was far too big and I had to go back 3 more times, sizing down to a 9, 8, and eventually a 7 which still did not fit properly.

I got about 30 minutes of skating in before my ankles hurt too much from the poor fit and had painful blisters when I took the skates off.

Would not recommend going here unless you have your own skates and are willing to put up with an absurd line to get in. This place is a ripoff and the rental skates are a lawsuit waiting to happen when someone inevitably hurts themselves because of garbage quality equipment.

Sun Kissed

Great place to spend time and play with your kids. Love that there is a ice skating rink that is turned into a sprinkler for kids during the summer. Many places to sit and enjoy the cool breeze. There is also a restaurant to get food from and bathrooms to use.
Highly recommend for anyone to wants to enjoy the park or have some play time.

Mirna Skenderija

This was a terrible experience. The ice skates are TERRIBLE quality. Broken, worn down, unstable… we took a field trip here and they booked at least 10 different schools at the same time, CHAOS! No organization, no assistance. Not to mention the students couldn’t even skate as there were no skating supports (even though they were visible behind the counter, come to find out they cost extra). There wasn’t even any tissue in the bathroom! A school trip ruined. I hate to be a Karen on here, but this was unacceptable. The students were so upset their skates were so terrible they were unable to skate properly. I wish I could give them zero stars.
I’ll also add that we paid for a hot chocolate package which was water and just enough chocolate to appear brown.

Stephanie Poulos

I’ve been here many times and never have I waited over an hour outside to get tickets. By the time we got to the front of the line there was less than 40 mins to skate for the current time block. So our option was to pay to skate for maybe 30 mins or wait ANOTHER hour to buy for the later session. When I spoke to the manager he was entirely unhelpful and said it was “the holiday season” - sorry but the holiday season is past and you’re running an operation entirely inefficiently. They had only 2 attendants working to purchase tickets, someone really should have been monitoring the line and helping expedite the process or just let people know they were nearing the end of the time block. Do better.

Erin Cuddihy

Has really gone downhill. Had a really bad time yesterday. We have been coming to Lakeside since it opened. Before COVID you could skate at both the inside and outside rinks during the same session. Yesterday we went with friends. Tickets including skate rental is now $28 (!) The skates are the worst we have ever rented at any rink. The laces on mine were shredded and I didn't have enough length to lace them to the top. They're extremely wide too. My daughter needed to exchange hers multiple times (she was given mismatched skates, damaged skates, etc). Although we bought tickets in advance and arrived 15 minutes before our skating time, the lines are so long that we missed part of the session. Of course it was extremely crowded and the ice was very rutted. The bathrooms were filthy (like blood on multiple surfaces). We're never going back. Two stars only because it's basically the only game in town if you're in Brooklyn and walking through the park to get there is kind of nice. (Leaving, you see why the skates are so damaged with shredded laces: everyone is supposed to just put their skates in a large bin, and they're all thrown in there. And then they seem to be quickly sprayed and put back on the shelf.)

Margarita Pasitskaya

Unfortunately, my experience at the ice rink was extremely disappointing. I rented skates, but their quality was terrible: they were completely dull, didn’t glide at all, and made skating impossible. It felt like these skates had long outlived their usefulness, yet they were still being rented out.

After struggling for 5 minutes, I decided to leave because there was no enjoyment to be had. I regret the wasted time and money. I hope the management addresses the condition of the rental skates, as the quality significantly impacts visitors’ experiences. For now, I cannot recommend this ice rink.

Spencer J.

They ruined this place. Used to be the best ice skating experience in the city with two connected rinks, they’d resurface one while you skated on the other then you could switch back. One ticket got you as much skating as you could do. Now they make you choose which rink you’re buying a ticket to. Only have them open an hour and a half and then close both for resurfacing. Then you have to pay again. Ridiculous. So if you show up 45 minutes into a session you basically need to wait an hour and 15 minutes to catch a full skate session and you’ll still be made to pick just one of the connected rinks. The ice was in terrible condition the morning I went and they’d only been open 45 minutes. Crossing this place off the list of good options for skating, they’ve just made it totally unenjoyable.