Social Junkie — Restaurant in Houston

I visited 5/6/17. As an Organizer I would have to say that I was disappointed with the Bottle service at Social Junkie. We booked 45 days in advance. We met with a representative to tour the venue and finalize all the details. We were not told on the day of the reservation that there was a cover charge at the door. We booked the balcony area above the lower patio. There was empty mounts for flat screens in the area. I specifically asked if they had flat screens for this section. We were told yes and assured they'd be out for our event unless there was inclement weather. Which in that case we'd be brought inside.

A few days before the event the rep texted us to say she would not be working that day and that she would contact us back when she knew who our server would be which was totally professional and appreciated however 24 hours from the day of our event she texted who our waitress would be and that our guest would have to rsvp to avoid pricing issues at the door.

Eluding to a cover charge was a red flag for my client because she didn't just come out and say they charge a $10 cover. We specifically asked if there was a cover charge and we were told there would not be. But she didn't say to get in free our guest would have to rsvp on eventbrite. This was a major inconvenience trying to get all 30 guest who had confirmed on the FB Event Page to then go and rsvp, not on Social Junkie's website but on a 3rd party event brite link.

We reserved a section for $500 bottle service but upon arrival our section did not have the screens. This was a major issue being that we specifically chose this venue because our guest would be able to watch the playoff game. We were then given the option of going inside to a private room away from the spectacular view of the downtown Houston night sky that the balcony in VIP offered. This also took us away from the social experience and ambience. It was a beautiful May night and the weather was perfect outside! (🙁)

Inside was hot and uncomfortable. They gave us a corner booth next to the DJ booth which was tight and hot because only one of the 3 ceiling fans worked. For $500 bottle service we should've had enough seating for 10- 12 people and enough space for 16-20 guest as promised and previously discussed in our meeting. We were able to get 9 people in the booth but it was tight and uncomfortable.

Though the server was very nice I would not say we had "Bottle Service". No girls with sparklers or razzle dazzle for the birthday boy. Our table was not being cleaned regularly and the drinks were not being poured for our guest regularly. Our server was offering standard waitressing service which if we had a regular table would have been great service.

The music was good but there is no dance floor. The bathrooms were clean. At Social Junkie Most of the tables if not all of the tables are reserved at a cost. . The parking is a mandatory $20 Valet service only and they charge $10 at the door without a table. In my opinion if the majority of the venue is reserved tables then they should have a full time event planner who handles all reservations.

They ask you for your confirmation at the door which I wasn't prepared to do. I had to step out of line to look through my emails to find it. They should make you aware to print your reservation or have it ready upon arrival. I assumed there'd be a guest list and I'd only have to show my ID at the door.

Each of our guest were suppose to receive 2 free drink certificates but very few guest received their drink tickets.

Overall on a scale of 1-10 I'd have to give my...

My two daughters, my friend, and I went on a Sunday for the lemon drop social. We reserved online. When we got there it cost $10 to valet, (yet I parked my own car). Our server's name was Tia. My first impression was she is going to be good. The atmosphere is nice, it's a bit small, but overall nice. I didn't see the upstairs nor do I know if it is accessible so I could only give a 4 out of 5. Now back to the service and food. One ordered a breakfast sandwich, one ordered chicken and waffles, and me and a friend ordered the chicken sliders ( aka honey butter chicken biscuit). They had buy one get one hookahs so we ordered that as well. Here is where things took a turn. My two daughters'food came out before mine. Tia (the server) immediately saw that they had put the sauce on her waffles that she wanted on the side and put in another order for her. About 5/6 minutes later I ask about our order of sliders. Her response to me was they will be out in about 5 minutes. I then watched my server TIA go and put my order in. She had forgotten to put my order in. So my daughter's second order of chicken and waffles came out and I still didn't have my sliders. Finally about 40 minutes into the experience I finally get my food and y'all I was tragically disappointed. The chicken was smaller than the biscuit but what was worse the biscuit was soggy and the chicken was mediocre warm. As soon as I tried to pick up the biscuit it just fell apart and crumbled into a mess. I called Tia back over and her reaction was "I'm just the server." She then went and did something and about 10 minutes later she came back with a plate with 2 biscuits topped with what appeared to be a honey butter drizzle. My question immediately was "am I supposed to put cold chicken on this?" At this point I ask for a manager or someone in charge. She proceeded to walk over and speak with a gentleman sitting a few tables over from us. He got up and went to the kitchen. By this time we are well over an hour and a half into the experience and we still haven't gotten the hookahs we ordered. So instead of the owner/manager or whomever was in charge coming over to talk to us they decided giving us a round of tequila shots was all we needed. Eventually the hookahs came but by then the experience had gone so bad we didn't really get to enjoy it. Fyi you have to get both hookahs at one time. I have been a restaurant manager for over 10 years. The experience I had shows the standard of service the leadership has allowed to be the norm. Oh and here is the kicker when I got my bill it was $35. That's not bad the only problem is my sliders were $16 and I had two drinks $5 each. That's $26 with tax a little over $28. So I asked her well do you all automatically add gratuity and she said no. So when I asked for the itemized list what was there. the gratuity she added. I went ahead and let her have it. She would have gotten a way bigger tip because I recognize she is just a small part of the service experience. But, since she took it upon herself to tip herself that's all she got!! I give them a 2 out of ten at best. I guess it just really depends on the person and the type of service they are...

I would like to first say for the most part me and all my attendees HAD A BLAST PARTYING TOGETHER. However myself and my best friend booked this place and have spent close to $4000 for our party. The money is not the issue, but the service and professionalism of the NON CONTRACTUAL agreement was not a good idea. I would not advise anyone to go this route. The person in charge of booking was never available, did not return phone calls so our first meeting (face to face) was last night. She did not honor the agreement and did not have a specific bartender or wait staff for our party. Then we found out our patrons were charged gratuity and we were also charged the same gratuity as well for their services and for the (1 WAITRESS) WE DID HAVE. Then got stuck with a $1700 bill. The wings were not good, so the fact that they would not allow for outside catering was confusing to me WE WERE PAYING AND THEY DID NOT HAVE AN ADEQUATE CATERING TEAM. Now we get to the good part. We were suppose to inform our guests (words directly from Ricardo- parking lot supervisor) to just mention they were there for Pink & Platinum party and valet would be $5. Unfortunately this valet attendant Alex was the one in charge of the parking because he constantly tried and in some instances succeeded in stiffing my guests for $10-$20 to park. I continuously had to makes trips to the parking lot to literally tell this guy to stop trying to get extra money from my guests and charge them $5. Then to add insult to injury they lost my friends keys to her car and did not know where they were. So I had to drive her home last night. Fortunately, a friend was going to work this morning and noticed a set of keys in her armrest of her car and called us. Wow guess where the lost keys were found. Alex being the liar he is calls my friend and says we just found your keys on the floor of your car. I cannot wait to get there (because I am about to take her to pick up her car) so I can inform him that I know he never found the keys he actually put them in another strangers car. Incidentally I called ahead and informed the car owner of the situation so when Alex called her with the lie, she already knew where her keys were and who found them. She never wants to return to this establishment. All I can say is Ed you seem like a nice guys, but the people representing your business are going to cause you to go out of business if this type of unprofessional, risky...