Reservations Bar &Bistro — Restaurant in Memphis

I was excited on going here for first time, but it definitely was my first and last time. I know the owner couldn’t possibly know his business is being ran like this. Service was horrible! I book the private room from 3-6pm, was there on time. When I arrived the young lady at front pointed to where the room was vs walking your guest to their area. So again I was on time and it’s now 4:00 not one waiter has came to my area to even take our drink order. I go and find a waiter , she stated she would send someone over. 30 minutes pass still no waiter . I go out and ask for a waiter 2nd and 3rd time. So at this point I’m irritated and remind you I paid $300 for this room and the $300 don’t go towards your bill (which we knew that prior to coming) So after 3rd time a guy comes out and ask me what’s the problem. So I’ve ask 3 times for waiter and it’s almost 5:00 now and we haven’t even got drink order in. 2 hours of my time in this room now have already been wasted! So young lady comes and takes our drink order, tell us that we can only order from soul food menu at this time ( ok fine) . I told my guest to go ahead and place their food order at this point cause clearly there’s no organization here. So the waiter comes back about 5 minutes later and tell us that they didn’t have the majority of what my guests order and that the soul food had been cut off. So yes I’m in different mood now! I want to see upper management cause this is ridiculous. The guy comes back and ask me again what’s going on, I broke it down to him as respectful as I could. Long story short we ordered again off different side of menu. So as I’m entertaining my guest it’s now 5:30 and we still have no water or anything. I goes to the bar All of our alcohol drinks where just sitting there and bar tender stated they look water down they just been sitting there. So this unprofessional guy comes back and says we have new waiter and the drinks are at your table now . So basically I’ve wasted the 3 hours just trying to get ordered. So the new waiter Kell she was absolutely on her job and did a wonderful job, she needs to train the others even that unprofessional guy/ so call manager. So again Kell got our drinks right out and our food came about 6:15. I had the catfish plate it was over cooked and hard. Two of my guest had meatloaf which was cold. Let’s go back to when the waiter told us that soul food was cut off and we order different food and was still given the soul food we ordered the first time . I can not make this up. I’ve never experienced or had to even write a review on anywhere I’ve been but this was beyond ridiculous. Not to mention the room wasn’t clean when I arrived , there was trash on the floor, you could tell it hadn’t been cleaned from the last party because it was empty cups on floor under chairs , balloons and plastic on floor. I’m so disappointed in this restaurant. $300 for a room and then $360 on tab and this is service we got! Reservation’s definitely needs to do better. But this is one family that will not be back. Very over rated. And how could I forget the women restroom needed cleaning and I had to come back out the stall to get tissue. At this point I gather my things and my guest, we paid our tab and left. Black Business I support 100% but this one needs to be shown...

5:00 reservation. No one is at the front for several minutes. A man that works there, walked past me many times and did not greet once. My hubby arrives and still waiting. About 10 minutes passed during this time and after his arrival he gets someone's attention that turns out to be the manager.😳 30 minute wait for an actual reservation. Just for the reply to be "I'm just one man, I can't be doing the cleaning and seating." Sad excuse for a business. Honestly, if you're open, you're saying to people, I am prepared to be open. You're RESERVATIONS! You should be an expert on making RESERVATIONS. Cause what are you doing. Bad management all around. Please get a scheduling expert. They'll know how to reserve spaces for upcoming reserves and will be ready as soon as the party arrives. Just to be seated at 5:45 at a table where the floor is drenched with unknown fluids. Moved again where the floor and table was just ew 🤢 After someone cleaned up my party wanted to give it a chance and so we did. Now to the food, well lack there of. Too many "we don't sell that no more" and "we ran out." Like yeah it happens, but the hype failed me. Like get it together, take account of your sales on a daily basis and order your food accordingly. This place needs to rethink a lot of things. Like padding in different areas to balance out the music so patrons won't have to yell. There's yelling throughout the whole place because you can't hear one another over the loud music. This is not a family oriented place. Not for kids and it should be listed on the website. You should also promote your place to 21+ only! Get some shades so people will feel better about table seats. Speaking of seats, do you really want people there!? Those seats are horrible! You are for sure getting butt 🍑 cramps. Those seats are in the stone ages. By now it's 6:30 and my entire party has received their appetizers except 2 of us. 6:45 and still waiting. 7:00 food came and it was time to go. By the end of our night, the manager/owner was having a temper tantrum 🤣and had the servers "gently" encourage patrons to leave so he could close early. 🤨One can only hope it was to detail clean, and make some much needed adjustments instead of whining about service to patrons like it's their FAULT for choosing to spend money with you. Do Better!

On a positive note: Kirsten! She was an absolute delight! She made it worth giving it a chance. I'll never return though.🙅🏾‍♀️ But she was superb! 👌🏾 This place does not deserve her! Although her service alone deserves 5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

It couldn't fix the failure of the establishment.

If you like an upgraded Hole-In-Hall Lounge with overpriced mid food, this is the place...

When I learned that my family had made a reservation for 14, I was genuinely excited. Unfortunately, that enthusiasm quickly faded upon our arrival. The music was so loud that I couldn't hear the person next to me. While I appreciate a lively atmosphere, there needs to be a balance for a restaurant setting.

Your venue has a lovely lounge area behind the hostess desk that fits a club vibe, ideal for mingling and drinks. The restaurant section on the right is also beautiful. However, we encountered significant issues with the service. My parents arrived 30 minutes early and informed the staff about our large party. When we all arrived at 4:30, we were seated at a booth with a small four-top table—far from suitable for a group of 14.

When we explained to the hostess that this arrangement was inappropriate, he walked away to assist other customers, leaving us standing in the middle of the restaurant. The atmosphere felt chaotic, with customers moving around with bottles, people smoking hookahs, and even women dancing, hoping and twerking to the loud music in the dinning area. While I didn’t mind the music itself, its volume made conversation impossible.

As a supporter of black-owned establishments that cater to our community, I believe it’s crucial to create an environment conducive to dining. Some soundproofing would significantly improve the experience. After waiting for 20 minutes without any attention, we decided to leave at 4:58—20 minutes after our reservation time—still unseated, and went to another restaurant. I was disappointed, as the food we saw coming from the kitchen looked delicious, and I was eager to try it.

As a member of the community visiting a black-owned business, I felt particularly disheartened by the service. We need to do better, especially in places that represent us. Your restaurant has tremendous potential, and it’s unfortunate that our experience didn’t reflect that.

Due to the lack of attention and care we received, we have decided that your establishment will not be a place we frequent for future family dinners. You missed out on the patronage of our party of 14, as the staff and environment did not meet the standard...