Champers Social Club — Restaurant in New York

Unfortunately, while the food wasn't bad and our server was incredibly kind and friendly, the treatment we received after our visit to Champers is the reason for my negative review. We made a reservation and needed to change it at the last minute. There was no phone number, which seems wild in the year 2024. Nothing on Google, the Champers website, nor on Resy. All outlets refer you to their email address for changes. I emailed them and received no response, so we canceled on Resy, even though it states there would be a fee for canceling, but we thought since we were rebooking for only an hour later and they had no phone number, we figured the restaurant would understand and refund us the cancellation fee. Upon getting to the restaurant, we alerted our server, who spoke with someone else, and our server alerted us that either A) The $50 would be credited to our bill while in the restaurant or B) a refund would be issued if that was not possible and we would be hearing from someone via email. Since we received our regular bill and no follow up, my assumption was that the second option would be honored. After emailing the restaurant again, I received the most aggressive, non-customer focused response I've ever gotten from a restaurant. The response stated that it was explained to me before I left that they couldn't issue a refund (this was not true). They said that last minute cancellations "have an outsized impact in our small restaurant, including our ability to rebook the table and keep reservations available for other guests" (while it may have been true on another day, when we arrived, we were one of two total tables occupied in the restaurant). They also said that the reservation is "double confirmed when you book, on our Resy page, in our email response and was also confirmed in person with you when you were at the restaurant" (I received not one text message confirming the reservation, there was no email response to us confirming this, and there would be no reason to double confirm a reservation at the restaurant because we were already there). All to say, I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone. The food wasn't worth the money, especially considering the outlandish treatment we received after our visit. Had the restaurant had a phone to answer questions or responded to my email as requested by them, this likely wouldn't have been an issue. I also don't appreciate untrue responses and gaslighting. To the restaurant owners, I am happy to privately provide the name of the person who sent me this message so as not to compromise this person's privacy on a public review. As I told this person in my response (which has not been acknowledged after a full week), I hope the $50 was worth it. We won't be coming back and cannot recommend Champers to any of our friends, many of whom live...

I am sorry I didn’t read the negative reviews before I made a reservation for Champers. In the responses to negative reviews, the management team makes abundantly clear what their commitment to service is and how little respect they have for their customers. They are rude, dismissive, insulting, unreasonable, entitled, and immature. I learned the hard way that this is a pattern of behavior.

We arrived for our Champers reservation expecting a fun brunch spot with great atmosphere. That is the opposite of what we found when we arrived. We were greeted at the front door by a guy who said we could pick our table…in an entirely empty restaurant. The vibes were all the way off. It was depressing and creepily quiet (there wasn’t even fun music to brighten things up). We felt like we were sitting in our great-grandmother’s dining room. We looked at the menu and chatted a bit, but the atmosphere was bland at best. We had planned to drink champagne flights and have a great time…but the vibe was definitely not conducive to that. And no other customers were showing up (I realize now that everyone else must have known something we didn’t!). We decided to cut our losses and leave. We thanked the host and said we had changed our minds. Not ideal, but it is what it is. Right? Wrong.

The next day, I got a $75 charge for a “cancelled reservation.” We clearly did not cancel our reservation. We showed up on time, assessed the atmosphere and menu, and decided not to stay. I emailed back and forth with “The Champers Team” (no one ever provided a name), as that is the only means of communication with the restaurant . The emails I received were snarky, rude, and entitled. I was told that, even though we showed up for the reservation, because we hadn’t dined, we had been charged the cancellation fee and there would be no exception made or refund given. They likened it to signing up for a gym class or a salon appointment and then walking out. Listen, if I showed up for a gym class, and I was literally the ONLY person in the class and the vibes were super weird, I would absolutely leave and not expect to pay for the class! I explained this and also pointed out that we clearly had not taken the table from someone else who wanted it (because literally NO ONE else was there), so their analogy wasn’t a good one. And then the “Champers Team” ghosted me without refunding the fee. This was some of the worst customer service I have ever experienced.

There are so many great brunch options in Soho! But this one should be avoided...

My husband and I went for our 8th anniversary and surviving almost 12 months of parenthood. I took a shot because he and I love champagne. It was so worth it! I cannot recommend Champers enough. The service was warm and knowledgeable, Maja was amazing. Everything we ordered was delicious in its own right but each dish was a great accompaniment to the sparkling wines. We started with the Sparkling Flight and loved the one from Spain so we ordered a bottle of Raventos, Brut Rose. Then for appetizers we had the champagne dill dip, deviled eggs, and a dozen oysters. All of the appetizers we ordered were wonderful but the mignonette on the oysters was sublime and the oysters were so delicate, it was our favorite of the three. Then we ordered a variety of dishes as entrees (all of the entrees are smaller shareable options). All of the dishes are well thought out companions to any of the wines. We went with the mushroom risotto, mushroom toast and garlic roasted shrimp. My husband hates mushrooms (I adore them) and he loved the risotto. The risotto was flavorful and creamy, the mushrooms on top were a great counterpart as they were crisp and meaty with a nice char. The lemon ricotta on the mushroom toast was also a bright acidic note to balance the richness of the sautéed mushrooms. My husband’s garlic roasted shrimp was garlic forward without being overwhelming and light on the palate. For dessert we started with champagne granita, we got it as a palate cleanser but it is so so good it could have been a stand-alone. But we couldn’t end it there, we also got a slice of chocolate cake (Maja’s favorite), the bread pudding, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream… each and every one of them was rich and decadent. The manager even came and asked if we were celebrating anything and congratulated us. There were too many highlights to mention (some secret) but my husband and I left there on cloud 9. Thank you Maja and...