Punch Bowl Social Austin

Reviews 3

LE

Leila Rahil

A friend was visiting from out of town and we were looking for something late night to hit up in my neck of the woods (aka Arboretum). We stumbled upon this place and while I remember briefly hearing about it a few months back for its grand opening, I had no idea what to expect. I went in Yelp blind (did not consult the app nor any reviews) and was initially wow-ed at the size of this place. It is MASSIVE! I had no idea it was a highball meets Dave & Busters type deal until we walked it. Only the bar area was open and we were carded prior to entering. After we walked past the "bouncer" we just kind of stood there...was it seat yourself...wait to be seated...wander around aimlessly until someone who works there helps you? After doing just that, we were pointed to a corner high top table and seated. I asked what the specials were and the guy that pointed us to a table quickly said "Im not a server, but I can find you one"...that would be great considering we want to order food and booze from your establishment...? Our waiter was nice and brought us all waters and after I asked again what the specials were he said hed check to see if they were doing their late night happy hour (they were) and he brought us the special HH menu. There didnt seem to be that big a price gap from the regular menu prices, which are surprisingly pricey! I finally settled on the Big City Dog, which is a Wagyu beef hotdog with pickled veggies, apple slaw, and mustard cream served with house made chips. I am not gonna lie, this was probably the best hotdog I have ever had! The dog alone, without the toppings was spectacular, but the picked veggies were super yum, I picked them off and ate them separately! Even the chips were delicious! The right amt of salt and crispness! If the hotdog wouldnt have been so delish, I would have moaned about the $9 price tag (and this was off the supposed HH menu!). I liked that they dub their canned beer options as "Old Man Cans" and these were listed as $2 on the HH menu. I ordered the Pearl (which is usually the cheapest Texas beer, along w/the staple Lone Star) because I cant stomach saying, let alone drinking, the likes of Budweiser, Coors, or Miller Light. However, when I got my bill, my Pearl somehow came out to $3.50, which if that is the HH price for a Pearl here...ummm, whoever priced the menu needs a stern lesson in ridiculous beer markups! I dont know that Ill be back here. The place looked cool, but I dont really bowl or skee-ball and walking out after paying $16 for a hotdog & beer seemed a little exorbitant, even for the Domain. I can appreciate, though, what this place is trying to do, which I think w/the menu options and pricing, is attempting to make this a high-end D&B and considering the location, it will be probably work. As for the parking, we had no problems parking in the lot behind PBS and unless you are handicapped, regardless of where you find parking in that area, it isnt THAT far of a walk to warrant griping and it is free.

LI

Lisette Gomez

If I could review this place without giving it ANY stars I would. My first time ever going to Punch bowl social and it was THE WORST experience EVER!!!!!!!! I made a dinning reservation a week in advance, after the lady on the phone told me bowling was first come first serve. When i got there to set up for my party at 5:30pm i was told they didnt have a reservation for my party, then told me that the bowling area was all reserved earliest time they would possibly be open was 8:30pm, and all there tables were reserved as well. they offer to give my party booths because thats all they had left, i took three booth and set up, after having to deal with all of that manager Patrick Sproull told my fiance first drink was on him since it was his birthday party that they had ruin from the moment we walked in until we left. After setting up for the party a few of my guest had appetizers before our actually party was suppose to start, Alicia was our waiter and she was about the only person in that place that gave us AMAZING customer service! She knew about all what the manager and host had done to our party so she attended us in the best way that she could and her customer service was PERFECT!!!!! we ordered 3 plates of chicken and 2 plates of tacos, we get our tacos as alicia said she would be right back our chicken is done, she comes back to tell us a runner took our chicken to a table who didnt order chicken but took our plates... so we had to wait for them to remake our chicken plates, and yes we still had to pay for them. on top of that, in the middle of eating Patrick Sproull comes back to our booth to harass us some more, he says we have been saving two booths for almost an hour and the place is getting busy so we need to give up two of our booths, mind you i put in a reservation and this man is taking away tables from my party!!!!!! there are plenty other parties he could have taken from, but no he needed my booths. After he took away booths from my party and we rushed to finish eating because i was a furious pregnant women we asked for our check that they didnt discount at all after all the trouble Patrick Sproull put my party through. This manager Patrick Sproull WAS THE WORST MANAGER, WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVERRRRR!!!!!!!! how he became a manager idk but my entire party left after dealing with this evil man and will not return. if you ever decide to go to this place id think twice, not worth it. not worth the crowd of drama, my party didnt get to bowl as expected didnt get to play any games NOTHING because everything was reserved, even the booths that we were sitting at and he was taking away from us. PATRICK SPROULL IS THE WORST MANAGER and i hope to speak with corporate about my experience here!

TO

Tommie Wesley

For starters, I had a GREAT time here on my first visit. I was with good friends (which is probably why I had such a good time), it was a pretty nice atmosphere, and it was the perfect temperature outside... whats not to love? I had driven by this place a couple of times and always wondered what it was about. Its always looked super crowded, which is not my thing when it comes to bars, but I was feeling adventurous that night. What I didnt like As soon as I walked in, I realized why it always looked so crowded. Their main bar area is kind of closed off from the other parts of the space and draws the entire crowd into about 25% of what could be and amazing, and inviting space. Id suggest they maybe add a smaller backbar to take advantage of the entire building. Also, my drink (vodka and water with a lemon and a lime... super simple) had no vodka in it. I basically had an $8 lemon water. Not cool. And I asked a bartender what was in a shot that I watched her hand to another customer and she said "I dont know". So you just made something, but you dont know what you put in it??? Needless to say, I got a beer after that. Although I love the space and the funkiness their trying to bring, from the outside, its not quite right on the inside. Its obviously not an Austin original and theres something very manufactured about the decor. So why 4 stars?? I really wanted to give about 3.5 stars. I love that its at the domain. Now when theres crazy festivals downtown, I dont have to fight the traffic to go somewhere more interesting than a neighborhood bar. I also really want to try the food. From the menu online, it looks pretty good. So basically, Im interested. After reading some other reviews online, it doesnt look like this place is off to a good start but Ill definitely be giving another try or two. And on another note... I hate their website. I couldnt find any of the information I was looking for. In fact, I left the website slightly confused. All I wanted was happy hour info, weeknight events, daily restaurant specials, SOMETHING to convince my friends to come with me. Sadly, I got nothing. Just something fancy to look at, and the regular menu. This place has a lot of potential. And if it doesnt do well, Im totally interested in getting that space for my future bar. Just saying...

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