Amendment XVIII Cocktail Club — Restaurant in Franklin

Update - Jan 2024 - I originally added the review below - I’ll leave it so you can read if you’d like. I have been to the place several times since then and am happy to share that the experience is very different now. This has become one of my favorite places in town for a drink and small bites. The staff is very friendly and attentive from hostess and bartenders to servers and bar backs. I often get someone stopping by to check on how I’m doing. The drinks are very good and creative. The bar didn’t choose a lazy approach of offering well known drinks you can find everywhere but rather developed their own versions of traditional cocktails while also offering their own drinks. The vibe and atmosphere is that of a speakeasy and very cool. You get the bar, then a high top with seats on both sides, individual tables and a more cozy church pew and chairs in the back to choose from depending on the experience you’re looking for. I think this is one place to watch in the area and wouldn’t be surprised if the concept catches on. I recommend you stop by and check it out! Beware that there can be a little bit of a wait as there’s lots of people wanting to come see the new place. I suggest you get added to waitlist with plenty of lead time.

Original post from October 2023:

This is a tough one to write. I have been waiting in anticipation for the opening in downtown Franklin for a while. I went three times the first week! The location is great and the atmosphere hits the spot. The drink list is very good and bartenders do not leave you wanting. Drinks are tasty! Organization and leadership although is severely lacking. On weekend nights there’s a ling line outside. It takes about an hour to get inside. Reasonable for a new location, until you get inside and take a peak. Only about 60% of the place is full. Makes no sense, considering the size of the line outside and the time it takes to get through. When you come in, it takes a while to get service. If you seat at the bar you’re in, but a table or benches in the back, don’t feel the same. Drinks take a while to come out. And they dont come together. My sig other got her drink about 10 mins before I did. Food came quickly but no utensils. I asked for them a few times but took about 10 minutes to arrive. By the time they got there, food was cold and had to be sent back. Servers seem to be doing the best they can but appear to lack leadership and direction. There’s a great concept here that I’m afraid is doomed to fail without serious correction from ownership. If you’re going to ask your patrons to wait an hour standing in a hallway before they can even see the inside of the place, make sure they have a good experience inside. Wish this place the best as we need more bars in Franklin, but more than just a bar, people are looking for a good experience and so far this place has...

My wife and I went on Wednesday 11/8 and had a good time. We returned on Friday night with a group for someone’s birthday and unfortunately we were denied entry by a very rude, condescending, man. Maybe a manager? Maybe the owner? Not sure, but he was loud and decided to try and embarrass myself, my wife, and our friends in front of an everyone else waiting. Here is the story: We get there and scan the code and enter our party info (14 people). Keep in mind we knew this place was small as we had been inside before so we got there around two hours before we were thinking we’d be able to get in. There is not a note anywhere that limits party size not on the website not on the door not in the hallway waiting nowhere. So we proceeded to wait two hours before we kindly asked about how long they think it would take before we could get inside the door. The hostess did not know so she brought out Mr. Rude. Mr. rude comes out and loudly butchers my last name, and says party at 14?! Then walks up about 4 feet from us and yells. “Yeah that’s not gonna happen. This place is really small, not a chance, come back at 12:30 AM.” I mentioned that there was no limit on party size when we booked, we had been waiting a while, and we would definitely split up into smaller groups. We did not have to sit together, and would have easily made two or three different names on the waitlist. He continued to speak very loudly, trying to embarrass my wife, myself, and our party. Completely ruining the vibe of the rest of the night. Luckily, there are other places to grab a cocktail in Franklin. Mr. Rude did not apologize for zero communication about the party size limit. We had clearly been on the waitlist for a while. No communication - just kept skipping over us after two hours. We finally asked and we were told very loudly that 14 people is 20% of his seats. I’m not sure if we were supposed to calculate what percentage of seats he could accommodate in his mind. I am not sure if we were supposed to blindly know that they could not accommodate a party of a certain size. I’m not sure if we were supposed to know that he only has “50 something seats” in there. We did not count the seats the last time we were in there. I’m not sure if we were just supposed to wait up until they closed to be told that they can’t accommodate our reservation. I would not be writing this review if the guy was not the most condescending person I have ever come in contact with - I would probably even go back. I’ve worked in restaurants, and I understand larger groups can be tricky, but we always effectively communicated. If this guy was the owner, I really feel bad for his employees. If he was a manager, I really feel bad for the owner. I can honestly say I will never be back to this place and I will make sure people know about my experience...

Super disappointing first experience at last night at Amendment XVII. The bartender was so off putting, rude, and cold. She spilled some of my first drink all over bar right in front of me, did not apologize or clean the bar off. After the sticky liquid continued to get everywhere, I asked for a napkin. In response, she sat her cloth work rag in front of me. So I cleaned it up myself. INTERESTING. The same thing happened again due to her bar mats being so full of liquid from constantly spilling the drinks when she poured them, that I had to ask for napkins again because it was about to start leaking over the edge of the bar into my lap. Once again, she just sat her rag down right in front of me without apologizing or saying a word. She definitely wasn’t cleaning anything up herself.

What is more shocking about this experience is my friend and I both work in the service industry and expressed to her that we understand this is a very busy time of year, trying to be empathetic. She didn’t care at all, and it obviously didn’t help her attitude towards us (although I’m not sure what we did to deserve that type of service). Everyone has bad/stressful days, but at the end of the day it takes very little effort to act like you care for a few minutes while you are speaking to your guests, especially if you are expecting to get TIPPED based off of your service.

Also, I can’t imagine being a bartender and not offering to wipe the bar counter down after YOU spill their drink or when you can see with your own eyes liquid running across the bar. Very unprofessional.

Do you all really not have napkins behind the bar? Or does everyone have to use the restaurants cloth rags? I never actually received a napkin… very strange. Imagine if I needed a napkin to wipe my mouth off, would you give a guest a restaurant rag for that, too?

The place itself is cute and has potential. The drinks weren’t great and were pricey; but the bartender who was making mine didn’t seem to care about what she was doing. If you are in the Franklin area, this is NOT the first place I would go to get a drink. Very...