Southern Social — Restaurant in Germantown

Visited on a Friday night for a birthday party of 7 people. The atmosphere is nice. Nicely decorated and multiple seating options I.e. tables, booths, bar, outdoor, private room. We were seated immediately once we arrived with no wait which was wonderful. The restaurant is well staffed and I always appreciate a dedicated water boy who is eager to refill your glass. However, once seated the experience abruptly shifted and I could feel this luke warm tsunami of “It’s fine. Everything is fine. I’m just going to try and stay positive” flood into my brain making my face hot. I didn’t want to be let down. Our server, while incredibly friendly, was a bit too motivated to take our orders. We started with drinks and before leaving the table we were asked if we are ready to order. We had been seated for 7 mins and we weren’t ready. Drinks came, which were very well made, and at this point we placed appetizer orders but were asked again if we would like to order a main dish. Not yet. While we waited for our first course, we were asked again. Still not ready. The appetizers came and when asked this time, we put it the main course orders. It just felt like we were being rushed. It created a sense of urgency and anxiety that was hard to bypass. So urgent in fact that I googled the closing time of the restaurant to make sure we didn’t need to leave. However, the urgency ended here. Drinks and appetizers came out almost immediately, our dinner did not. It was busy, and I understand this, but it was the amount of waiting where you start to look around and think something is wrong. Like when your server comes back and tells you “there was an issue with the computer when I put in your order so the kitchen didn’t get it but the chef is making it now. I promise” That didn’t happen, but that was the vibe. Let’s talk about the food. The shrimp in the shrimp cocktail were rubbery, slightly above room temperature, and akin to chewing on the eraser end of a pencil during math class. The fondue was tasty, but fondue without a heat source becomes solid, chewy cheese very quickly. Eating a solid spoonful of fondue is not favorable. The fried pimento cheese sandwiches were good, too big for an appetizer portion, and bobbed atop a shiny lake of sticky, sweet syrup. The wedge salad and the chop salad are the exact same thing except one is in a wedge form and one is chopped. I also would consider both a slaw as the lettuce drifted away on a pond of pale colored, flavorless dressing. The base coat of dressing also camouflaged what I was eating so I took many bites of foul pure blue cheese. Lettuce to dressing ratio is personal and I would advise you order the dressing on the side. The fried chicken was good, the greens were better, and the biscuit could be used as a coaster for your drink. We wrapped up our urgent meal and I got the lemon icebox pie for dessert. I can’t confidently say it is made in house but I can say it was made many days ago. I commend the servers keeping the table mostly clean and removing plates and empty cups very efficiently and I appreciated the birthday message printed on the menus for our friend. The birthday crème brûlée with a candle and message was a nice touch at the end too and very appreciated. I believed if you are a restaurant that chooses to operate in the fine dining atmosphere, you can’t get lazy about details and serve a great steak with rubbery shrimp or good fried chicken with a soggy salad. The ideas behind each dish are there but, much like the salad, are soggy and need a bit of refinement to feel...

I would not recommend this restaurant. My husband and I went here for our anniversary. The restaurant itself is very nice inside. We were a tad early for our reservation so we had a slight wait but nothing too bad. We ordered the “fondue.” It was served with pita bread sticks which were tasty. The fondue tasted fine, but was more of a cheese spread than what I’d imagine would be considered fondue. I ordered the signature filet medium rare with a side of loaded mashed potatoes. My husband ordered the fried chicken which came with a biscuit, mac and cheese, and collard greens. Our food took a tad long to arrive but they were fairly busy. When it did, my filet was burned on the outside and overcooked to medium. That’s not even the worst part. This was literally just a piece of meat. Absolutely no seasoning whatsoever on it. No salt, pepper, olive oil, butter, or even garlic. Nothing a traditional filet would have, let alone something thrown in for creativity. The mashed potatoes lacked salt or pepper and only had a mild salt flavor because of the bacon and butter. They were edible. My husband’s chicken was a gigantic piece of breast meat, not dry surprisingly, but again, devoid of any sort of flavor. The breading fell off of the meat and again, lacked flavor. This $30 piece of chicken taste the same as what you could get for half the price at a church’s chicken - breading tastes the same. The Mac followed the precedent of all the other food and lacked flavor as well. My husband didn’t even try the collards. Wouldn’t want to ruin his first time trying that with lack of seasoning.

I have no idea why this place has such raving reviews. Either our experience was an anomaly or the majority lack tastebuds because basic seasoning was not even used in anything we ate. The only saving grace on the food was the brownie. It was moist and pretty good.

The only good thing about this restaurant was a very kind server, Christina. Our meal was comped minus the fondue so applaud them for that but for the prices they charge and to have the audacity to include “southern” in their name, I’m appalled. I will definitely not recommend to anyone nor would I come back. If you’re wanting food with flavor, I’d...

A review is all about your experience. Since this was our 1st time to Southern Social, I'll base my comments accordingly.

My wife and I decided to celebrate our 30th anniversary at Southern Social after many of our friends recommended the food. They were not wrong. The food was superb. My wife called 2 weeks in advance to book a reservation. The person answering the phone tells her the system is down and she would book us for November 1st at 6:30pm in the dining area once they were back online. Days later, we thought it wise to checked in with them to confirm our seating. They didn't see any reservation. We were told they had nothing for us unless we ate at 5pm, outside, or in the bar. Neither of those options worked for us. We were able to speak with a manager who was nice enough to find us a 6pm table, but said only if we could be gone by 7:15pm. They had a reservation for the table at 7:30. So, it was a quick anniversary dinner, but a good one none the less.

It's interesting that every single wait staff welcomed us. We meandered through the building to "hello" and "enjoy your meal". The top of the menu said Happy Anniversary. Nice touch. We ordered drinks and salads. At least my wife got her drink. Enough said. We both ordered the harvest salad. Very good. The entree was excellent. My wife had the Tomahawk Pork chop. I had the Chilean Sea Bass. We asked the waiter to box the remainder of the Pork Chop and we ordered dessert. The waiter came back and apologized that the pork chop had accidentally fallen off the plate to the floor. They offered to make us a new one, but we declined.

The desserts were as fantastic as the rest of the food. We ordered the strawberry cake and the bread pudding. Mouthwatering good. It was getting close to 7:15 so we got the check. The waiter was kind enough to comp the desserts which was very nice. We paid the bill was got out of there in plenty of time for the next couple who actually got to make a reservation.

Now granted, things happen and that's why I would highly recommend Southern Social. We would certainly give it another chance. Fingers...