Bourbon N' Bubbles — Restaurant in Charleston

I usually don't post reviews but I want to let the owner or top management over the management that was there that night we were there with to know the experience that we had. We came to this place for my sister's bachelorette and unfortunately did not have a good experience. For starters, we were forgotten about after putting in our order and were waiting a good two hours to receive dinner. Finally a nice gentleman asked us if we were ready for dessert when our response was we are still waiting for dinner. Our reservation was for 7:45 pm which we sat at 8:00 pm and we weren't served our dinner till 10:00 pm. There was also a crowd at the bar by our table which crowded the space between people walking by and our table. A man spilt my friend's drink from across the table all over her and just kept walking and didn't apologize. The only person I really have to give a shoutout to was Lizzy for saving the day and making us feel heard. She immediately took over the table and even gave us champagne as an apology for the drink spilling (not her fault) and the forgetting to put our order in. Also, not one time did the manager come by to see how we were doing to see if there was anything to do. He passed us by a few times and didn't acknowledge us or even apologize for us waiting two hours for food or to be forgotten about. Honestly, I felt that we were just a number in the restaurant and no one was attentive to us or even cared besides Lizzy. If you are management I would like for you to acknowledge how caring and how great Lizzy is at her job and tried to turn the situation around (the forgetting of food, the drink spilling, the switching of waitress, etc. which had nothing to do with her) But truly the one thing I was disappointed about was management for not even stepping in to say a hello or an apology or see if there's anything they can do. Lizzy was the one doing all of the saving and we weren't even her table. I've never experienced anything like this in my entire life and am really disappointed with management. We paid top dollar to be ignored, served late, and to be treated like we were just a number to get money from when it was supposed to be a special evening for my sister. Also, my sister ended up not feeling good since we didn't get served till 10:00 at night and ate...

We went here on a Thursday night for dinner. The first clue that there may be a problem is that they require a deposit with your reservation. That is usually not a sign of a respectable establishment, but rather one that has financial problems.

We were seated in a bar-type area. There were six of us and they put together three small cafe-type tables. Not horrible, but not ideal either. The placement of the tables was directly under a large AC vent that poured cold air on the table throughout the meal. We were all very cold and uncomfortable because of this. I understand they need to keep the AC going to cool the entire place, but the proper thing to do would be to put a diffuser on the AC register so that the air was not blowing directly on the tables.

We ordered drinks and a bottle of champagne. They got some of the drink order wrong. The champagne was put into a wine cooler with ice on the bottom. It was basically useless to keep the champagne chilled. At first I thought they just did not have champagne buckets, but when we later ordered wine they did bring a champagne bucket for the wine. It was at this point we began to realize that our servers were completely inexperienced and lacked any kind of minimal training.

We ordered our meals and twenty minutes later they started to come out, which I think was a reasonable time. However, two people ordered the same thing (Farmer's Plate) and as they were bringing out the other entrees they were told that their order could not be completed and would they like to order something else. Now I understand that sometime the kitchen runs out of things, but to wait unit the other guests are being served to inform someone that they can't complete their order is a clear service failure.

When they brought out the white wine, it was warmer than room temperature. We informed the manager, and to his credit, he did comp the next bottle of wine. They should have never served warm wine in the first place. Again, a service failure.

My overall assessment of this place is that it is more or a bar for singles looking to hook up than a restaurant.

There are much better dining choices in...

I ordered mussels 10 minutes before the kitchen closed while making my way to the restaurant. Only place near me with a decent menu and the kitchen still running. At my arrival, the food was put into a to-go bag, and I requested to sit at the bar so I could order a cocktail and eat them there.

I sat at the bar and a young woman put the brown paper bag on the bar. I repeated, that I would like to eat there, and can they put the food into a bowl. This person went to the back, brought a bowl, put it in front of me, and said here you go.

…what?

I told the bartender I didn’t want to take the food out of a to-go container… and she quickly took the bag and brought me out a bowl with my order.

Similarly, when I asked for the food to go (admittedly, I did not love the mussels - a bit too creamy for my liking but the sauce was great with the bread. And, the Palmetto 75 was absolutely delicious), I was brought a paper box to put my food in. Again, I requested that the kitchen package my food.

In what world would it be the correct service to expect a paying customer to handle saucy food in this way?

As a young, well-traveled, black woman, and it being my first time in Charleston, these were completely disappointing exchanges that are hard not to bring up as I am here supporting the opening of the International African American Museum.

I spoke with the manager, Holly, re: my experience and really appreciated her response to my comments. Thank you, Holly, and I am confident you will communicate...