Palace Social — Restaurant in Southside Place

We decided to do my son's birthday at Palace this year after coming quite a few times to hang out and liking it. This review is strictly for the event, and not for our every day experience. When we started making inquiries about parties, we were helped by Joanna, who was amazing. She was very helpful, thorough, and accommodating with planning out the party package, add-ons and activities. She even did a walk through of the venue with us, made suggestions and helped us figure out setting up the space with our theme, the dessert table we wanted to have and the cotton candy stand we added on. She mentioned we would have a party host that would help set up and help with the flow of the party on the day of, but she still took notes on everything on our banquet order, from how we wanted to structure our time at each activity down to which tables should be placed where and we felt very comfortable and stress-free going into the party.

On the day of the party, we walked in and nothing was set up the way it was discussed, so I knew we were going to lose time rearranging. My party host met me and when I explained that the setup was wrong and asked to move the tables to how we had agreed, she said she would have to ask someone, then came back and asked to see the banquet order with the notes, then spent another 5 minutes waiting for a manager who came over and said it was no problem and seemed confused as to why we hadn't just already moved the tables. She moved the cotton candy stand to the right area and then didn't help set anything else up, just disappeared until it was time to bring out the kids food. Throughout the party, she disappeared frequently and was hard to find. She was definitely not aware of the schedule we had agreed to as far as the activities, and said we needed to do the dark ride first or that the cotton candy was going to be served with the cake (which is not what we had agreed upon) and when I asked to stick to the original plan seemed annoyed. I had brought all our own plates and napkins and asked her to use them when serving the food/cake, but she kept using the restaurant ones and I kept having to stop to remind her again, or go get the plates and hand them to her for her to use the ones we brought.

The flow of the party was fine, except for the awkward couple minutes we were waiting around or couldn't find our host to do the next activity before we ran out of time. At one point, all the kids had gotten their cotton candy were already playing in the bay, and the bay froze and stopped working. I couldn't find our party host to fix it. My friend finally found her and asked her to help, and she told her she was coming, but 5-10 minutes went by and we looked over to see her and two other servers recording on their phone of them making cotton candy for a video while all our guests were at the bay waiting (not sure if they were recording for marketing or for TikTok). We just ended up asking the lady who was in charge of renting the bowling shoes to help, which she did immediately and was very nice. None of this was that big of a deal until the party host said I wouldn't be able to do the dark ride after 3pm even though I was told that would just get added onto the end of the party so it wouldn't cut into the time we had for bowling or the bay. This was frustrating because I had communicated what time I wanted to do each activity beforehand and to the host when we got there, and then after having to wait around, we felt rushed to get through the cake so we could make it to the dark ride.

All in all, it was a great space and the kids had fun, but I definitely wouldn't do another event here. The customer service on the day of the event was poor for the price point - I love the venue and had high hopes but could have paid half of what I did and gotten the same or better service at a Dave n Busters and the kids would have had just...

This was truly one of the worst experiences I've had at an entertainment venue in Houston. I don't usually write reviews to complain; however, the ownership group of this company should be made aware.

The entire experience from the start was terrible. We arrived and wanted to do the Dark Room and the Omni Room (VR). The dark room was fine. The worker didn't explain much, but we figured it out.

The Omni room was a different story. I won't put the employee's name in this review; however, he followed NONE of the safety protocols. The couple before us in the room did not have their shoes on under the VR slippers you are supposed to latch on. As a result, the female fell flat on her face and slammed her ribs so hard on the device, that I can't believe she didn't break something. If she sued, I'd support her. The worker at the room didn't pay attention to anything. He was on his phone the entire time. He didn't make anyone watch the safety videos of how the machines worked. He let people not wear their own shoes, which made the floor slick for anyone in the device. People weren't strapped in properly, and he wasn't helping people get in and out of the device. All of these things led to the girl falling out of the device so hard. He didn't seem concerned when she fell. He helped her up, but that was about it. He then proceeded to get on his phone again the entire time.

After finishing the VR room, we went to book the sports bay. There was a line at least 15-20 people long, wrapped around the corner. We waited in line 30 minutes, and while waiting, a guy walked up, cut the entire line, booked a bay and then started playing. We walked up to one of the workers to ask if we could just book a bay through her or had to wait in line, and she said, "No, wait in line." So then we asked how that guy managed to skip and entire line of us who were waiting to do what he just did. She responded, "Oh, I didn't see the line." Which is complete garbage since the line filled the entire space and she couldn't help but see the line. We then had to wait another 30 minutes for a bay to open up.

We then ordered food, except the food came and 20 minutes later, we didn't have the sodas we'd ordered. I followed up on the sodas, and was told "they go to a different queue so they don't come out at the same time." By the time the sodas arrived, our bay reservation was basically over.

There was clearly no manager on duty in any area. No one walking around to make sure that things were safe or workers were doing what they were supposed to. The workers act like they can't be bothered to help you and that you're inconviencing them when you ask a question. There was one girl that was working so hard to help people with bowling reservations, but no one was helping her and she can only do so much. That girl deserves a raise and should be made the manager.

It's only a matter of time before someone gets hurt here. I will never go back to this place. Too many great...

It's trendy for the gram, will be an excellent place for corporate events, happy hours, special events and bdays.

For a normal family looking for a family fun night....prepare for the money you will drop. The friendly staff is why my review is 4 stars.

Everyone from bar staff, manager, floor staff, had smiling faces, greeted us, and were helpful.

Figuring out prices, cards, what cost what etc..wasnt fully explained at the front though. We didn't know what to expect, how much things cost and just guessed on how much we should load our cards and figured we'd figure it out once we got inside. They just opened, so a suggestion would be to place a full price sheet on display or educate staff on suggested card loads,etc ... could be helpful.

Did have a tiny problem with arcade card later and the manager quickly resolved the problem, going above and beyond to help us out.

Checked it out with 2 teenagers and a 5 year old and $80 went so fast, in about 30 min. That was BEFORE we considered food and bowling. Hour wait for a lane and approx $40 an hour to bowl. Kids couldn't wait. My wallet couldnt wait.

Teenagers even came back from trying one of the experiences saying "whoa...too expensive, we have games at home for free" Even they realized the money didn't need to be spent!

Yes we were in Southside Place/West U. New build, new place, I get it. But don't alienate the working class who would like to have a fun time as well 🤗

Drinks are not allowed in the arcade area so we played a fun game of taking a sip, leaving it unattended at a table nearby, follow screaming children into arcade to play, wash and repeat. Not sure how Main Event and Dave & Buster's do it with drinks on the arcade floor but I feel like there is some kind of formula to letting parents have their drinks and following their kids around in an arcade that has got to equate to spending more money at the arcade. I don't know... just a gut feeling 👍

Can't comment on food or VR or gaming as that would have been more money out of my middle class pocket, but I can say the staff is FRIENDLY! As they kept telling me drinks were not allowed, (even water) they were super sweet about it 😀 All staff was nice and accommodating, explained rules and offered alternatives.

The atmosphere is really cool with retro decor and a nice flow for the many different activities. The menu looked great, but again, considering how much 30 min in the arcade cost, 2 seltzers and a Topo Chico added an additional $20, continuing to hang out to eat was out of the question.

My suggestion to a family of 4 would be to eat before you go, check all prices, call ahead for a lane rental (if that is an option) and prepare to make it a special family treat because you can easily drop a ton of cash QUICK.

I should have checked ahead, so my review is to help you! Next time I'll...