713 Music Hall — Attraction in Houston

The venue and sound were great. We paid for the VIP upgrades and were terribly disappointed. They added a DJ in the VIP Lounge who did a phenomenal job. That's where the positive experience ended. Once we were inside the VIP Lounge we were told by the bartender that the VIP sales have been low so they were giving free admission tickets to the Lounge. Since he was the ONLY bartender in the Lounge it made it nearly impossible to get a drink in a reasonable time. Not at all the bartenders fault. We decided to go to our seats in the VIP section and it only got worse. Once seated, we never saw the dedicated server we were supposed to have as part of the VIP upgrade. After 30 minutes I went to find a server. I got the attention of a young lady standing in the area that works there. She informed me that she was a manager and she would personally make sure we got everything we needed, after I gave her our order and paid for it in full, including gratuity. Twenty minutes later we still had nothing, so I went to find her again. She said she gave the order to our server and we should have received it by now. After a short time we found out she delivered the order to the wrong table. Then we were approached by a gentleman that was curious as to why we were sitting in the seats we were in. I told him that we were seated there by the venue staff and showed him our proof of purchase. He explained that there was an error because he was the building owner and we were in his box seats. So off I go to find the manager again. She confirmed that we were in fact seated in the wrong seats and we had to be moved to seats in the loge area... if they were still available. Once were seated in the proper seats we were satisfied. The loge seats were much closer to the stage than the box seats and the service was very good! The only thing that wasn't preferable to me was that you could not open a tab. You had to pay for every order up front including the tip. How do you know how much to tip if you haven't received the service yet? Regardless I tipped 25% on every order, including on the drinks I did not receive. Once they work out the bugs the VIP package would be a valuable addition...

Paid $40 per person extra (in addition to ticket cost) to get into the Kashmere VIP Lounge. Big mistake. Bought two rounds of drinks and then left to watch the opening acts. Returned to the Lounge with second drink in hand which was nearly empty by that time. Ordered an appetizer and another round of drinks and waitress made us pay the bill on the spot at time of ordering.

Appetizer arrived but drinks never made it. Waitress pointed to our original drinks which were still sitting in front of us and empty by that time. She was adamant those were the new drinks that she delivered and we were owed no other drinks.

We understand that mistakes happen and we didn’t want to make a fuss, so we spoke to her once more after that to give her another opportunity, but she didn’t back down. (By the way, the Lounge was mostly empty all night and there were two other servers so it wasn’t like it was super busy and she was overwhelmed with customers, either.). We were able to get a refund with the help of a Manager, but the whole ordeal caused us to miss the first 15-20 minutes of the main act.

Come Monday morning, I was assured by the Events Coordinator that the GM would call me back after reviewing the footage from the camera that was pointed right at our table, but GM never followed up with us. The Manager of the service staff admitted they were short staffed for the event and, to quote him, some of the service staff brought in to supplement were “bad apples.” Would not return. Totally unacceptable for a “VIP lounge”!

UPDATE: The GM, Brandi, contacted me after I posted this review and her handling of the situation turned a negative experience into a much more positive one. Thank you Brandi for your professionalism...

Extremely disappointing and disrespectful experience at 713 Music Hall. I attended a show recently and made a mistake by tossing a small camcorder toward the stage—something others were also doing at the time with items like GoPros. Security returned their devices, but when I politely asked for mine back, I was completely denied.

Despite asking multiple times for my camcorder—or at least the memory card, which I also told them held priceless personal footage—I was told it was “disposed of.” When I spoke with a Operations Manager named Jenn, I explained the sentimental value and even offered to delete any concert footage. Her response? “Oh there’s no way,” followed by, “you need to learn your lesson.” She was completely dismissive and even seemed to mock me while I was visibly upset.

The security member named John also refused to help and told me the camera was being thrown away. Meanwhile, other attendees who threw prohibited items had theirs returned—something I now have video proof of (video link).

The double standard in how I was treated compared to others raises serious concerns about inconsistent policy enforcement and possible discrimination. My bag was checked at the entrance and nothing was said about the camcorder being prohibited. If it was an issue, I would’ve happily taken it back to my car.

To this day, I’ve been denied a clear explanation or a copy of the venue’s policy that supposedly allows staff to permanently dispose of someone’s personal property—even after it's been requested back. I’ve been met with deflection at every turn.

I’ve tried multiple times to resolve this respectfully and privately. Unfortunately, I’ve been left with no choice but to share...