Pop's Uptown Supper Club — Restaurant in Antioch

I was really looking forward to this place because the drive into the parking lot, the restaurant was beautiful! However, this establishment fell very short on so many levels. I have a difficult time calling this place a “supper club”. It lacked the feel of a supper club to me and the fact we spent a great deal of money for the dinner we were served made it even more disappointing.

It was a 90 minute wait as they don’t take reservations. It was very busy, being a new establishment. We waited at the bar and had a few cocktails. I will say the cocktails were made well. The establishment is VERY loud, and didn’t give that intimate feel to me.

When our table was ready, we were seated at a small round high top “bar table” for dinner. This was not very convenient as it was a little wobbly, and extremely small to fit our drinks, relish tray and dinner at. The high top really cheapened the dinner experience to me. At the table was a drink glass and in the glass were 2 large sesame breadsticks, and 3 small broken looking plain breadsticks. I was unsure if they were from the party before us by the way the breadsticks looked. We were told the breadsticks were party of the relish tray to dip into the cheese spread. But the relish tray wasn’t on our table yet. The broken breadsticks were hard to get out of the glass it was in. I had to jam my hand into the glass in order to even pull a breadstick out. There was also a carafe of warm water (no ice) and 2 drink glasses. We were given a relish plate (yes, a large clear dinner plate) with a small tablespoon scoop of cottage cheese, a tablespoon scoop of beans, a few carrots, olives, 3 peppers, a small teaspoon of cheese spread and ONE little pickle. All the juices from the items of the relish tray were mixing with the other items, it looked thrown together and very messy. Later when I looked online, people posted photos with relish trays with the items separated and we sure didn’t get that! The waitress came over and took our orders. I had the $56 Bone In New York Strip and my husband ordered the 4pc boasted chicken for $25. Our soup came first and the cup was 1/2 filled. For the amount of money we paid, I would expect a full cup of soup. Our salad was not anything special. A very small amount of arugula, with feta and 2 extremely little slices of strawberries on the salad. My husbands 4pc chicken was served with 2 thighs, 1 Drumstick and 1 wing. NO BREAST! Usually when you read 4pc chicken, it is half the chicken and a breast is included. Not in this case. The chicken is not worth the $25 they charge. My steak and potato just seemed lukewarm if that. I will say the green beans on the plate was delicious though. To pay $56 for a steak dinner and only enjoy the green beans left me leaving still hungry.

I also made a trip to the ladies room. While in there, I had to blow my nose. I used the toilet paper, to blow my nose as there was no tissues or paper towel available. After washing my hands I was looking to throw my used tissue away, and there was no waste can anywhere in the ladies bathroom. Very odd. I had to throw my tissue into a toilet, flush the toilet another time which caused me to rewash my hands a second time.

For this being a “Fine Dining, Supper Club”, it was way off the mark. I wish them all the best, but...

My husband and I decided to eat here for our 16th wedding anniversary (since the first time we went the restaurant was closed due to a power-outage). We waited at least an hour, and they pushed the high-top table on us, saying that it would be a lot longer still for a low-top table, so we agreed to the itty bitty table (there was a regular table that was empty for a while near us, which frustrated us). Ultimately it was a disappointment for us on our special evening. For the hefty price of the steaks and drinks, I think there were far too many kinks.

The table was WAY to small for glasses, relish tray, our own dishes, etc. Every time we cut into our food the whole table shook and splashed our drinks.

The break sticks that they put out looked to be half eaten, so I politely asked for another just in case.

We never got the famous "relish tray," so we eventually asked for one. They must have ran out of nicer trays because ours was a regular clear plate and the beans and cottage cheese ran into each other in an unappealing manner. Not a big deal, but just one of many things that added up.

I ordered the $14 "Apple Cider Margarita," which looked great at first until I realized that it was completely watered down and I couldn't even taste tequila. I confessed this to our nice waitress and she apologized and replaced with with another (this time without the nice cinnamon rim), with less ice. No difference. It was hopelessly diluted juice--my guess from adding tons of ice in the picture sitting on the bar. She asked how it was and I told her, "sorry...I had my husband try this one too and we both agree that it's really watery. It tastes like really diluted juice that you give to toddlers, and there's no tequila taste." That, or they put in one total shot for the whole huge pitcher that they made on the counter. She traded it for a glass of house Cabernet wine (that was supposed to be cheaper--I believe $9/glass) but said that they kept the price of the margarita because it was cheaper.

They ran out of potatoes, so I agreed to have a sweet potato.

My filet mignon was cooked medium well (which I was fine with), but for some I think that might be an issue.

I ordered my steak with a horseradish crust, and it had no flavor. It was just breadcrumbs with butter. Once again, consulted my husband to make sure it wasn't me. I ordered a side of horseradish to mix in with the crust because I didn't want to send it back.

The bathroom was kind of dirty. There were empty vitamin water bottles littering the floor of the stall because the trash was full, there were martini glasses on the counter of the sink.

PROS- It's a pretty place. Very crowded, but fancy.

The red bean salad and cheese on the relish tray tasted great.

I told our waitress that it was our anniversary and she came out with a fancy oreo cupcake with a sparkler...

Visit 10/24: Grounds and Outside Building is done expertly and beautifully! That said there is a few things. We were told via phone reservations were not needed, just come in, this is different from we don't take reservations. We arrived and were told 15 minutes to be seated (party of 5). 30 minutes pass of sitting in the lobby when we decide to look for an update. We are told 15 to 20 minutes (ugh). A few minutes later we are addressed by a young man that they can seat us in a booth that may or may not be a bit crowded for us, we agree. The booth was plenty roomy for us. One of the group asked the young man why they don't take reservations, he advised that if they took reservations they would "Never fill the restaurant". (SILLY) The guest, thinking this was silly said that with 35 years in the restaurant business that theory seemed silly. The response, "Well we've been in it 50, so..." Just a wow there. Reservations in restaurants is NOT a new thing and usually used to keep the restaurant full but with order and to avoid guests waiting unreasonably with bad estimates.

The dining room was so loud conversation was quite hard. The owner, Christian, came to the table, introduced himself asking who wanted to see a manager. When we nodded that it wasn't a request he stated he wanted to explain the reservation question stating that they were this busy for the last 6 weeks, crazy busy, that with reservations they would not fill the restaurant so they don't take them. He also advised that if one fills out a google review he DOES offer a 6PM reservation to them. (interesting)

Relish dish was drenched in liquid, Waitress was AWESOME! Serviced was rushed to the point where we felt like we were being hurried along. Soup came luke warm and half full. Appetizer (Shrimp DeJohn) was extremely salty and again just warm not hot. Main dish arrived, all at table commented that their entrees were not hot but barely warm. Baked potato barely warm enough to melt butter. Steaks were tasty but nowhere near the claimed quality of 45 day dry aged, they were proper temperature. Green beans were cold to touch. (both steaks) Old fashions were pretty but bland and watery tasting and the flavor of the liquor barely detectable..

This is simply our review and certainly not the intent of gaining that secret reservation from the owner for a future visit. We think that we may try again when the place get their act together which should have been the case with 50 years in the restaurant business dismissing the 6 week "please...