Social House Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Bakersfield

The atmosphere here is amazing. Its just the right amount of loud to be fun and gives off a great vibe. The food is also delicious. This was my first visit here this place was recommended to me and what a great recommendation it turned out to be. So let me start off with the pizza I ordered the bbq chicken pizza. It wasnt a standard what you'd expect bbq pizza. It has a spicy pesto sauce and thatbhas just the right amount of heat and the chicken is sliced super thin. The crust is a little softer than I expected, but was perfect for this pizza. I have literally thought about this pizza 2 or 3 times since I was here a few weeks ago. We also ordered the jalapeño popper appetizer which I wasn't a fun of it was a jalapeno with a cream cheese center and a piece of bacon wrapped around it deep fried. I feel like if the jalapeno had cooked a little more it may have been great. But you basically bite into well done bacon and a mostly raw jalapeno. I also was underwhelmed by the mac and cheese. You pick 2 toppings for your mac and cheese i got chicken and bacon. Which both tasted fine but the cheese in the mac and cheese didn't have much flavor. We also orderd the carnitas nachos. They were really good but if I ordered them again I'd try a diffrent protein the carnitas was not a traditional carnita more of a shredded pork. I definitely will go back and try other things and get that pizza again. The food other people ordered looked and...

The atmosphere at Social House is horrible. If you try to pull two tables together for a larger group, you will be in BIG trouble! That’s for starts. I made arrangements on 04/13 with the owner of Social House to host a Celebration of Life for Russ Carter (the “R” of RJ’s). I asked if it could be a private event as I knew that at least 100 people would show up. The owner agreed. After I had 50 RSVP’s, the owner called me on 04/23 (10 days later!) to tell me that I would need to pay a $1000 rental fee! I explained that we would be buying drinks, buying dinner and spending money that she would not normally see on a Sunday night. I was stuck. I knew we had to have the event there and I would now be forced to pay whatever she told me I had to pay. In the 5 hours I was there, a total of NINE customers showed up at the door and read the sign that said, “Private Party”. Their cash register system failed during the event. They asked to take photos of people’s credit cards to charge them later. Most of the guests experienced problems with their bills when they went to settle. It was a big mess. This is not a customer friendly place. Numerous other properties realized Russ’s commitment to the community and offered up their facilities. I should have just moved the event. Lesson learned. I will never patronize this...

So...the last 3 times we've gone (we went the last time because we thought no way it could be this bad 3 times in a row) we literally waited 20+ minutes before even being greeted. The last time i started the timer on my phone, laid it on the table..and waited 20 minutes. That's with about 4-6 servers running around. Once we were greeted the lady was super short and rude...I get it...you're in a hurry, but we didn't do anything wrong so stop being rude. Also, the whole brunch and no other regular menu item being available is pretty lame. What..do you have to switch machines like McDonald's? Even ran into some friends...on the SH patio who had the same complaints as us. Bad service and annoying menu availability times.

The food tastes GREAT. The ambiance has major potential, and 1 of the guy servers was excellent (he knew the menu, suggested mods etc) and genuinely looked to be enjoying himself. The girls on the other hand...need a rude awakening. My wife and I own and operate our own catering biz and have a combined 40+ yrs in the industry. With such great service and food available in other places, I don't see myself ever going back to...