The Anime Bar — Restaurant in Sugar Land

It's their 2nd day of opening so definitely take this review with that in mind. Give them the benefit of the doubt. That having said, there are a lot of opportunities for this place to improve on.

We went yesterday, a Sunday night around 8:30pm. The place is very spacious, with ample seating and open tables. The bar looked full, but we were able to find a seat after a short wait. After about 15 minutes, we were still not greeted. I had to get up and be aggressive in lining up and getting a bartenders attention. There were a lot of people standing around behind the bar, seemingly doing nothing and looking slightly lost. People approached them and found out that they weren't bartenders because they weren't TABC certified. That's understandable, but I would not loiter around in the bar area because you're going to get flagged down for orders. They were however, extremely attentive to bussing tables. This isn't a bad thing, but it did feel like they could allocate their resources better. It also didn't seem like the owners were TABC certified either as they were also sitting around and observing and not really doing much.

There are no cocktail menus there. The website is also not up yet either. There were only 2 bartenders there that could serve drinks. Unfortunately they were painstakingly slow at making them, and kept getting distracted. It took about 20 minutes to make about 4 drinks, which went to other customers that also looked like they were getting impatient. This wasn't limited to cocktails as there was a woman that only wanted 3 cans of beer. Still took a good 15 minutes for the bartender to get it out of the fridge for her. The bartenders there seem to operate based on accuracy and quality, which I appreciate, but is unfortunately not appropriate for this fast paced environment. If I may suggest, change up the method of making the drinks from accuracy to speed. It's okay to hastily prepare a drink (Toki highball) without the need to put ice cubes one by one into a tall glass with tongs. Grab a scoop and have at it. It's also perfectly fine to make a whiskey sour without the 3 drops of bitters and forming hearts with it (see attached picture). They use eggs there, which is a HUGE plus already for whiskey sours. Skip the art, and it will help with pushing out drinks faster.

The place is very well furnished with lots of screens everywhere, including a giant one. However, it felt like a wasted opportunity as the owner kept trying to show "anime fight amv" on YT instead of streaming full episodes of anime. The place already has music going, and having this on at the same time created a bad mix of 1 track conflicting with a 2nd track playing. It would be nice if they were to host a 12 episode marathon every week of something different to attract people instead of letting it go to waste on random amv videos on YT that anyone can google.

Overall, I'm willing to give them more chances as it is just the 2nd day that the place is open. There are definitely kinks to work out. The place has potential, but needs time to make...

I'm going to disclose this very bluntly. I am not pleased at all with this establishment. I am not happy with the quality of atmosphere I was given this weekend. I came to this particular place to enjoy my Saturday night. I was here in our typical First Saturday of every month to hang out with fellow "Fursuiting Fans" and I am not pleased with the owners "wife" pulling me aside as the leader of the group to state to me that I am making excuses for not "patronizing the bar" when not even listening to me that I was there to assist the other "Fursuiters", and had already ordered and eaten here prior. All of this when I noticed we had numerous Fursuiters with health risks of overheating and dehydration, so I approached the staff to get a pitcher of water for the fellow individuals in their suits. I wanted to prevent anyone from overheating and potentially other threatening life-threatening situations. I additionally cannot drink alcohol due to a health condition so it was unfair to pressure me into doing so. Our group had obviously been contributing to the bar and other commodities, and it angers me the owners wife would be so belligerent towards me for trying to make sure our guests were hydrated and safe, all because she valued us "patronizing the bar" over listening to a genuine plea for assistance in making sure these guests were safe. It displeased me at the disrespect I received for being blunt that I had to explain that her perception of the situation was inaccurate. If the store owner himself had the decency and respect to approach me, maybe then I would have a bit more credibility to give this establishment. For now I remain unfazed and unrequited in this matter. I was kind and polite and even did my best to be respectful to the other guest and pedestrians. That's all I have to say, and thank you for...

Having only 3 bartenders for the grand opening is ignorant. It took over 30 minutes to get a bartenders attention. I overheard a bartender saying they are running low on ingredients for drinks. As one bartender poured half a shot in my drink and charged me $14 for it. She was also very rude. No menus, so that was annoying. QR codes could easily solve that. Anime music playing on one side of the room and karaoke on the other. That was very annoying. I suggest having a karaoke night. Instead of having different things playing at the same time. The location is also an inconvenience. People tend to bar hop and The Anime Bar is in Sugar Land. So driving all the way out there to be disappointed was a major let down. My friends and I left after one hour to drive 30 minutes downtown to another bar. At least downtown you have the option to jump to different bars. I love anime and it’s cool being surrounded by others who also enjoy that. So I can understand why The Anime Bar picked another location instead of downtown. But maybe Bellaire would of been a nice choice instead. Because it’s either The Anime Bar is so great people plan to stay the whole night there or there’s other things close by so people can hop.

I love the concept though. And the establishment has nice decor. I liked all the statues. The bar was very nicely done. The Gundam theme was cool. I enjoyed the environment.

I would not recommend coming here. It’s way to out of your way. You can not bar hop. The drinks are over priced. They run out of food fast. They have a small staff so orders are completed slow.

I want to go back and change my review but The anime bar left a very poor taste in my mouth. I don’t want to risk the disappointment again. The drive is...