Loft18 Houston — Restaurant in Houston

It had a chance to be a great venue and I was looking forward to some good screen golf with a bar/food addition in the Houston. However, I was rather disappointed in the business model of Loft18. SwingZone is by far the better choice when comparing price and setup of the game. however, it is in Tomball, not really in Houston.

Price Breakdown of SwingZone per hour: Sunday - Thursday (all day) is $25, Friday - Saturday (all day) is $35.

Price Breakdown of Loft18 per hour: Sunday (Day) $45, Sunday (Night) - $25, Monday & Tuesday $25, Wed & Thursday (Day) is $30, Wed &Thursday (Night) is $35, Friday & Saturday (Day) is $45, and Friday & Saturday (Night) is $55.

1st is the price - it is pretty expensive - they charge $45 for 1 hour for a bay on a Sunday/Saturday Daytime, as well as $7 for a club rental. It gets cheaper on the weekdays, but they gouge you on the popular hours. More expensive then compared to even something like top golf. They also advertise a bay can hold up to 16 people - which would make play excruciatingly slow. Max I would estimate is 4 people for 2 hours of 18 hole golf. The pace of play is slower then top golf - as its like regular golf and its the furthest person away from the pin goes next.

2nd is the mechanics of the game software and bay. There are a few golf simulation software packages you can buy commercially, and it would appear this is a second/third rate package. (Google Korean Screen Golf). GOLFZON is by far the best - as it was rated by GolfDigest to be #1 for the third year running. They supply you with a bucket of practice balls of random types - like they bought them from a defunct driving range. They give you small plastic tees to tee up your ball that go flying every time you hit a ball - and you have to retrieve your ball and tee every time from the dark area in front of the screen. There are much better ways at doing it (automatic feeder system that collects balls and puts it back on the tee/fairway for the next hit with a rubber tee). There are no controls for the software at the golfing position as well, so in order to adjust your aiming position, tee height, or anything you need to go back to the TV screen and adjust accordingly - which just adds to the time it takes.

Overall, fairly disappointed with the cost that I paid vs the experience I had. Especially since they are new, I would expect prices to be much lower. Starting off for $45 an hour on a Sunday/Saturday daytime is a real buzzkill.

Hopefully they will be able to figure out their price point soon, as well as revamp the software systems - Unfortunately the latter seems like a huge undertaking. Not sure if I will come back - it would have to be a corporate event or...

Love this place! I live very close and didnt even realize the place was going in. It just opened on Friday Oct 5th. I went Saturday evening to watch the Astros on their movie theater size big screen and back on Sunday for the Texans. The build out for the place is very nice and well thought out, the rest rooms are also very nicely done. Their main thing, as you can imagine, is the golf simulators, they have five large separate lounges for each set up. Not only do they offer a plethora of different courses to choose they have a bunch of different golf games to play on the screens as well, 99 total! They have loaner clubs which are of a good quality and of course you can bring your own. I ate both times and found the food very good. Its kinda a bar food menu but the quality, the taste, appearance and presentation is far beyond. I had chicken wings the first time and the burger the second. The burger was outstanding and the hand cut fries were fantastic. The food prices are amazingly inexpensive as well... The waitress I had (both times) was Veronica...excellent! She knew all about the golf, the menu and she was personable, great smile and just as cute as she could be...shes worth visit by herself. There was one thing I was disappointed in tho...the place just opened with little advertising so it was dead and I mean dead.. Now in my opinion the manager should have been walking the floor a couple of times and greeting guests and giving the glad hand. If more managers/owners would put forth that effort they would certainly see it come back ten fold in...

I made a reservation for 2 people (my husband and I) on a Saturday night, and their website let me book without issue. I was fully aware of the 4-person minimum and was completely fine with paying for 4 people — even though it was just the two of us. That’s how much we were looking forward to it.

The day of our reservation, they called and cancelled it because I wasn't physically bringing 4 people. I explained that I understood the policy, was willing to pay the equivalent, and even asked about the food & beverage minimum, which they told me was $300.

They said regardless of the food and beverage minimum, they would still refuse our entry without bringing 4 people.

First, that’s a huge amount of food and alcohol for 4 people, never mind 2 people. With the addition of the playing fee, thats $500 for 4 people for 2 hours. This makes no sense, and it almost seemed like the food and beverage minimum was made up over the phone when I was upset.

LOFT18 clearly doesn’t value customers who try to follow the rules and are willing to spend money. They’d rather cancel your reservation than be flexible or reasonable. The booking system is misleading, the customer service was cold, and the policy itself is flawed and poorly executed.

I won't be returning, nor will my husband and I be bringing customers or hosting corporate events there. I suggest others look elsewhere for a night out that doesn’t come with last-minute cancellations and...