Duckpin Bowling, Wood-Fired Pizza and a Promise Kept: A Fall Night at Oddfellows in Portsmouth

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PORTSMOUTH, Ohio — Most date nights make you pick: dinner, or something to do after dinner. Oddfellows, in an 1852 building in Portsmouth’s Boneyfiddle District, put the whole evening under one roof. Wood-fired pizza, duckpin bowling, a vintage arcade that costs nothing to play, and live music, all in the same night out.

The Oddfellows storefront on a fall evening in downtown Portsmouth. The building dates to 1852. (Photo: Oddfellows)

First time at duckpin? You’re the target audience

Duckpin bowling uses smaller pins and smaller balls, and most people who walk in have never tried it. Owner Maddie Kehoe-Burnside says that is half the fun. First dates, families with little kids, and groups of adults who get far more competitive than they planned all end up on the lanes, and nobody has to be any good at it to have a good time.

Duckpin Bowling, Wood-Fired Pizza and a Promise Kept: A Fall Night at Oddfellows in Portsmouth — Inside Oddfellows in Portsmouth’s Boneyfiddle District, where the bar, dining room, duckpin lanes and arcade sit under one roof. (Photo: Oddfellows)

The fall menu leans cozy

The kitchen is getting ready to roll out its fall and winter menu, bringing back favorites and adding a few new things. The homemade French onion and potato soups are back, alongside the Hot Honey and Goat Cheese pizza that regulars ask about, smoked wings, and a cedar-planked salmon Kehoe-Burnside calls a must-try. Nearly everything coming out of the kitchen is made from scratch, and the menu takes familiar foods and puts the house spin on them.

A baked dip with wood-fired flatbread at Oddfellows, where nearly everything on the menu is made from scratch. (Photo: Oddfellows)

A building, and a promise

The building itself dates to 1852, and it came to the family through her late husband, Jeremy Burnside, who had the idea of buying it along with three neighboring buildings in the Boneyfiddle. During development, Jeremy was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer, and he died in 2022 before he could see Oddfellows finished.

Kehoe-Burnside thought about walking away. She stayed with it because the project had meant so much to him, and somewhere along the way it became about more than opening a restaurant. Her husband, Jay, a builder who also works the kitchen, helped her bring it to life.

“It’s not really about pizza or bowling,” she said. “It’s about having a place where people can make memories together.”

The perfect fall evening, her way

Asked to script the ideal night, Kehoe-Burnside starts with a cocktail and something good to eat, then a competitive game of duckpin, a round of the free arcade games, and staying late enough to catch whatever live music or event is on that night. People come in for dinner, she said, and end up staying all evening, because there is no reason to rush off somewhere else to find something fun to do.

Oddfellows is in the Boneyfiddle District of downtown Portsmouth. Menus and event nights are at pizzasandpins.com.

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