12 Cocktail Bar — Restaurant in Atlanta

I usually do not take the time to review places unless I really do believe there’s place for improvement. My partner and I went to 12 for pre dinner drinks, we were really looking forward to the experience. One of the things we enjoy doing is finding cocktail bars with unique drinks that cannot be found everywhere. While Atlanta has a plethora of bars, not a lot of them are specialty cocktail bars, therefore 12 was a welcomed opportunity at finding our new spot. We arrived at the lobby of 12 in the lower level, we were greeted by a friendly host who sent us on our way to the 11th floor where we would be greeted by another individual. We waited there and then a young gentleman came to take us to the bar. This is where the experience began to go south. As he starts escorting us, he begins a full blown conversation with another colleague about some issue they have encountered. It wasn’t a professional conversation, it was giving very gossip like conversation that should be had away from the customer, particularly when you are escorting someone to the bar to begin their experience. Once we get to the level he proceeds to ask, do you have a reservation. We did. He then says, we are a little packed right now but we have that table over there or the bar. We decided on the table. The young lady server comes over, greets us, gives us the menu. Seems like everything is going to get better despite the little snafu with that colleague exchange at the beginning. When she hands us the menu she says they can do anything on the menu or any particular drink we want. Well, I inquire about a drink that is depicted on the website, it looks like a little tea glass on top of a wooden board, with smoking cinnamon on the side. She said, I don’t know what drink that is, but let me go ask the bartender. She goes, asks, comes back and says that he said that the particular drink I was looking at was one that he had won an award for at a competition but cannot make it. I was disappointed because to be honest none of the drinks on the menu are special in its ingredients or presentation. When I think of a cocktail bar I am thinking about thoughtfully crafted cocktails by mixologists who also pride themselves in unique presentations. Anyways, I ended up getting the banana old fashioned—it was disappointing. My partner’s vodka drink from the menu was good though, tasty and the right amount of strength. With our drink order we also ordered the grilled cheese bites. Great. We placed our order, drinks come out, we are feeling good. Well, let’s just say no one came and checked in on us or ever brought the grilled cheese bites until we flagged the young lady down (after looking for her for a solid 25min) and told her to get us the check and remove the grilled cheese since we never got it. We literally kept a menu so that we could order more drinks, but when I say a solid 45min Went by between the time we got our drinks and gave up on everything else, I wouldn’t be lying. I understand places can get busy and there are other things going on, but the space is not big at all. Seating is comfortably spaced out so it is not a packed house. Which is great because the ambiance of the place along with the view is amazing, however the service needs major improvement and refinement. You are either going to be a bar with high end liquors or a cocktail bar who prides themselves in serving customers unique cocktails. It is unfortunate because we have so many friends and family from around the world who consistently visit us, my partner and I also work with clients from all over the world who ask for recommendations when they come into town—and while I really wanted to recommend this place, I cannot do so with an...

This place holds itself out as an upscale place. Their service should reflect that. It does not. Their staff was rude for no reason. See below.

Where do we start? I’ve been here a few times. I like the concept, decor, views, and the location, but sadly, it ends there. Something has always been missing and I hoped they’d work out the kinks over time. The music is a playlist that doesn’t seem to match the crowd. The drinks are great, but the bartenders double as waitstaff, which lends to inordinate wait times for service. And there’s the one time I visited before food service ended, asked for some small bites, and was told they stopped serving, but was never given any warning by waitstaff about food service ending.

I probably should’ve stopped coming at that point, but I really thought this place could be great. It’s gotten worse. A lot worse. I visited for NYE. I made a 9:30 reservation, which requires a $40 down payment later used towards the bill … no problem. My dinner plans before arriving ran longer, so I called to give the venue a heads up that I was running behind, but to hold the reservation. No one answered. When I arrived around 10PM, the woman and man (staff) working the door near the elevator were rude, and lacked the slightest shred of customer service skills. They pretty much blew me off for being late, said I’d be lucky to get a seat because it was so busy, and to step aside so they could attend to the other couple that was waiting to go upstairs. The staff (the woman and man) told me that their policy is to cancel any reservations more than half an hour late.

Despite paying a deposit, I was asked via email to confirm my reservation that day and I did. At this point, I broke out my lawyer skills. I pointed to that same email and their website where you book reservations as lacking statement of said policy. The larger man, who works upstairs near the bar, searched the email for the policy, but it was no where to be found.

After much back and forth, I was seated upstairs at a table. In summation, the staff was ridiculously rude, acted is if they couldn’t accommodate us because it was slammed, when, in actuality, the place was about 50% full throughout the entire night. I didn’t care about it not being full. What matters is that the staff was so rude and unconcerned with trying to rectify the situation. Needless to say, I won’t be back … EVER. A picture of how slammed they were...

We made reservations for eight about a month in advance as we were all coming in from out of town for a bachelorette party. Getting into the bar felt like a VIP experience being led by someone through back ways and up some stairs and knocking on the door.

When we walked in there was no greeting or a how can a help you, but a look of shock and irritation. As if we were in the wrong. I had the email up confirming our held reservation and still it was a scramble to get us seated at the only reserved table that didn’t have enough seats for us. We finally were sat and moved on.

The cocktails are made to order when the bar manager, Colten, took our orders he was patient with the group members that were unsure of what they wanted and made great suggestions. Our drinks were incredible and so tasty. It was a shame they were the only ones we had in the whole hour we were there.

This place is set up with a bar, about eight or so two tops and then a group seating in the middle. We were given our one round and that was it. There are several servers that check on all the tables equally from what I understand, but no one came by. Water came by once and was only offered to one of our party members. Eventually one of us went up to the server station and grabbed a water pitcher for our table.

Additional to the cocktails one person in our group ordered food and it took about 45 minutes to get to her. It was a super tasty bacon spinach dip with pita chips and the portions were off. She had to ask for more pita twice and was given attitude when she asked.

Overall the experience and service was completely not what I expected after paying the reservation fee for eight. We each loved our drinks and we wanted to order more, but didn’t have the opportunity. The bacon spinach dip was delicious, but would have been better if we could...