Social Club Restaurant & Bar

I really want to like this place... I mean I REALLY do!  I have now dined at this restaurant 3 times, and sadly, I don't think there'll be a 4th.

Being a lifetime Petaluman, I am charmed with the tribute to the long time resident of the building Tuttle's Drug Store with their cocktail list of Tuttle's Elixirs.

The space is beautifully decorated with a rustic country charm that fits well with historic downtown.  The 4 sided bar in the center of the dining room is clearly successfully designed to be a focal point.  The TV seems out of place, but as I'm not much of a sports fan, I understand I'm not their target audience with this.  The music is "club" style music and ends up quite noisy because the bar and dining room is full of patrons attempting to talk over it.   The menu is appealing with a good mix of local/seasonal options.

Visit #1: I had a groupon for dinner for 2.  Bianca was our server and she was friendly, knowledgable, and efficient.  I had the pork belly appetizer & the hanger steak which were good and the butterscotch pudding which was ok but Central Market does it better.  All in all, I was happy and planned to come again.

#2: A group of 4 adults and 1 infant, for dinner on a weekend. Due to the baby and the heat we requested a table outside and were told we could sit there, but they didn't have service so we would have to order everything at the bar.  A puzzling inconvenience, but we said ok.  The bartender did his best to help us out and came outside to get our drink orders which was nice.  Things went well until the food arrived, their "Social Plates" have 2 sizes, full or half orders.  We ordered one of each size of gnocchi.  When the plates arrived the portion size was identical.  When asked, the bartender confirmed that it was indeed a full and a half order and offered to comp. us another half order to make up for it.  Without a server it was a hassle but the food was good, and we left more or less happy.  Again, I expected to return.

#3: Saturday, dinner for 2.  Billy was our server.  Things started off well, we ordered our drinks and the pork belly appetizer again because I enjoyed it previously and thought my husband would too.  It wasn't as good as I had remembered, I found the skin to be crunchy instead of crispy and the inner layer of fat was just a little too rare.  Not amazing, but ok, everyone has an off night.  Shortly after the appetizer, I managed to drop my almost completely full cocktail into my lap drenching me and the table/floor all around me.  Our server was standing about 10 feet away chatting with a coworker.  The table next to us saw what happen and gave me their napkins to help contain the mess.  Finally, once I had cleaned everything up and piled it on the end of the table he noticed and brought us new napkins and offered to get me a new drink.  I thanked him and asked him if I could get it the same one made with rum instead of bourbon this time, which is my usual preference.  His response was short and almost irritated sounding as he said they have a passion fruit mojito on the menu if I wanted rum.  I politely responded telling him I had enjoyed the peach and would like the same drink, made with rum instead of bourbon.  To which he responded "well fine, but I don't think it'll taste good that way" and walked away.  I was a little annoyed by this exchange, because I didn't think it was that troublesome of a request, but I tried to put it behind me and enjoy the rest of my meal.  I thought the second drink with rum was much tastier than the first with bourbon, although I still wish I hadn't had to wear my first one due to my own lack of grace.  Unfortunately, when our entrees arrived things didn't get a whole lot better, my risotto was ok, but not as good as I had remembered and my husband's steak was bland and boring with overcooked vegetables as a side.  All in all, it was a disappointing experience and we ended up skipping dessert.  To their credit, they didn't charge me for the extra drink which I appreciated (and would not have grumbled at if they had since it was my own clumsiness), but the attitude of our server really soured me on the whole experience and to get food that didn't meet the standards from our previous visits was disappointing. Definitely not worth my $85, and I don't think I'll be giving them another try.

I think this restaurant has a lot of potential, but unfortunately they are traveling the wrong direction in their learning curve, and I can't help but think that other diners agree because at a peak time on Saturday night the place was more than 1/2 empty and many of the tables that did have patrons appeared to be only ordering drinks, not food.  So far, it's a good bar - so long as you order something the staff "approves of" but as a restaurant, there are many better places for your money.

Update: Still terrible service and still really great food. Unfortunately, service doesn't make up for the grub.

Snooty greeting by hostess. Great.

Bartender came out and looked straight past us as he asked what we wanted. We ordered sangria and some beers to start.  And, just like last time, he was obviously ignoring us when we spoke because he asked us all, twice, what we ordered. Dude, write it down or listen!

The drinks were quick and really good. The actual food and drink here is really tasty.

About a quarter of the way through our drinks, he came out and mumbled and pointed at our happy hour menus and said, "We're running low. I need these." And took them to a different table. Well, I guess no snacks or different drinks for us.

Like some other reviewers said, "If you aren't a single, young female, you might as well be some sort of infectious disease because that's how you are treated."  

We had to flag down someone else to get a second round because god forbid the a-hole waiter come check on the table with the kids.

If this place had good service, it would get four or five stars from me, the food is bomb!

Too bad I won't go back.

My authentic review:

I arrived at 4:15pm. I arrived to a completely empty restaurant. I thought this was awesome because I met get some special attention and get to know the workers a bit. Uh, wrong assumption. Apparently because I was the only customer, I didn't matter.

I asked if they could change the TV's to some sort of something else they had Golf on the TV;s and seriously, how boring. The bartender/server didn't necessarily seem put off, mostly because he didn't answer me, acknowledge me, let me know that he heard me or anything. He just sort of walked away. And suddenly 5 minutes later the TV's changes to ESPN.

then I ordered the deviled eggs. They showed up and WOW they were good. Pretty amazing. Now there were a couple women on the other side of the bar that for some reason got TONS of notice. Not that they were models or anything. They were average 60+ year old kind fun women. But I kept thinking to myself, i wonder why they are getting so much attention. They don't seem to know the server/barender. Weird.

Then my second course showed up. He simply dropped it off and said "enjoy." Which I DID! The "Arancini with English Peas and Basil" were off the hook. But again. He never came back to refill my water, ask how they were or make sure I was okay. The bare area (I wasn't drinking, maybe that was the problem) is only like 22 feet by 16 feet and somehow, I felt voted off the island.

Maybe he, the bartender, was pre-occuipied with flirting with the other women and apparently "the regulars" after a while that i just decided to take off. Could have easily spent another 30 minutes there ordering more food to taste and catching up on emails.

Bottom line:

1. Food was great
2. Service was disappointing and I felt like I shouldn't have been there in the first place.
3. Background music was great.

My clients always ask me to meet them there so I thought I'd check it out. No go. Don't think I'm going to rush back! May even deflect.