Stopped by for happy hour. Great service, good specials, enjoyed myself. Will be back, most interested in South American wine flight.
Returned later same night, wife complained about very irritating paint smell. I noticed in earlier visit, but put up with it without someone else to validate. It was pervasive so we left without eating
This place was amazing! Â I had their bold and spicy wine flight, arugula salad, and pork two ways entree. Such a great way to end my visit to Charleston! Â I only gave it four stars because service was less than stellar--our waitress was preoccupied with a larger party and our food came out very slowly--but the ambience was lovely and a great place to go for wine and fine dining and a check that didn't make you cringe at the end of the night. Â Try it! Â You will like it!
Review Source:I stopped in after my walk late one night to battery park with my parentals as I was starving.  I loved the chandelier made from empty wine bottles and the fact that their cocktail menu was called the medicine cabinet and they used the word libations.  It is a wine bar and wine flights are there thang.  I wish they had their cocktail menu online, but I can tell you I had a cucumber drink that was alright. From studying the menu outside, I knew I had to have the house made potato chips with blue cheese fondue.  It was good, but disappointing.  It was just potato chips that were pre-sauced with blue cheese.  I was picturing a bubbly, hot fondue pot to dunk my house made potato chips into.  Next, I had the arugula, fennel salad with Boucheron cheese, grapes and walnuts.  It hit the spot.  The Alsatian pizza was Crème Fraiche, bacon and caramelized onion on top of a nice thin hand stretched crust. Â
It was good, but Charleston has so many award winning places that I would chose first, of course those need reservations.
Great place- not only are the wine "flights"-3 related but different wines- fun and a great way to learn about wines you may never have tried, but the food was excellent and the wait staff was knowledgeable and helpful. Â
We had 2 happy hour 'snacks', one of our party had an app as her meal and ended with a cheese course, the other an entree and dessert- each of us had a wine flight of three half glasses of wine, and the check with tip,100 bucks. Â I've paid way more for less and less sophisticated food.
If I lived in charleston I would be a regular!
Loved Social! Food was awesome and the atmosphere was cool too. I had the mushroom pizza and it rocked my world. Also tried the homemade chips with blue cheese. Other people in my group had scallops and duck and it was all well received. The only thing that could have been better was the service. Our waitress was a tad snobby but nothing too bad. Also the drunkards one table over were slightly annoying. Other than that, loved it!
Review Source:We came here with a group of 11 for a Bachelorette party on a Saturday night. Love the atmosphere and we had a very attentive waitress.
For appetizers we had the housemade chips with blue cheese and the seasonal bruschetta with peas and cheese. They lasted about 5 minutes because they were so good. They have a great wine list and we ended ordering 3 bottles of wine.
I ordered the Pasta Carbonara with ricotta cavatelli, pork belly, butter beans, and black pepper. Everyone at the table wanted to try mine because it was that delicious. Granted, I do not like seafood so I thought this was the best alternative. And I was correct!
The main reason this place gets 5 stars is that literally everyone cleared their plate.
So I've tried a few eateries in Charleston, but never a tapas bar, but I was pleasantly surprised by Social.
This small plate place has a lot of great little dishes as well as a nice little selection of wine.......for which I partook of while there thank you *grin*.
No music the night I was there, but it is a great place and one I'll try again when I'm back down here from the mountains.
Went to the wine bar around 5 pm on a Saturday...wasn't too busy. My husband and I sat at the bar and watched college hoops while I enjoyed the Classica Italia wine flight. I really like the atmosphere here...great lighting, interesting artwork, not too loud and good, friendly service. :)
Review Source:I think the only thing keeping this place from 5 stars would be to have more great drinks to compete with the Cool Hand Collins. Â This drink was really unique and refreshing. Â
The Bleu Cheese Chips were great for an appetizer, snack, etc. Â After that we got the pizza that had Chicken & Bacon on it, which was also really good. Â All of their pizzas looked like they would good, so try any of them.
I know the menu was more expansive, but I loved their bar food.
I also think the service was good, but I was too busy slurping down my drink and devouring the food.
I am pretty obsessed with Social. Â If you come to visit me in Charleston, I will likely get you to come have a glass of La Bubbly in the afternoon, sit down together for dinner, or drag you down East Bay St. while insisting you try one of their wood-fired pizzas. Â More than anything I like sitting down with a friend to have a glass of wine and decompress. Â And despite having a fairly extensive menu, Social's specialty is still vino. Â The wine list is extensive; there is a nice mixture of old favorites mixed in with new or seasonal offerings. Â If you aren't sure what kind of wine you like, Social has you covered with a half-glass price for each wine as well as a "flight" option that lets you try several wines of the same variety. Â Personally, I think this is a great way to figure out what you like--not all Merlot are created equally! Â Lastly (and importantly, I think) is how knowledgeable the staff at Social are about wine. Â It is obvious that the management at Social care that their waiters and bartenders are able to answer questions confidently and competently. Â This in turn, shows patrons that the ownership at Social cares about customer experience and is invested in building a relationship that will yield repeat visits. Â And you know what? Â It works like a charm. Â
I'll go back and revise this to five stars if the chef ever brings back that sausage-apple-fennel pizza magic that used to be on the menu. Best pizza I have ever eaten!
atmosphere: very new york, dimly lit (yes had to use my phone as a flashlight), dark wood, balcony surrounded with a glass railing, and its LOUD - 4 out of 5
food: wonderful tasty and SMALL SMALL SMALL portions -- the $17 flank steak was 4 pieces that could have fit on a toothpick
Wine: great selection, staff was very helpful
All in all: i wouldn't go back, for my $75 (fight of wine, 1 glass, flank steak, and gazpacho  (tomato salad)  -- we were starving and went out for pizza.
Other nice places in Charleston: Vende Inn Roof top bar -- great views, pane e vino (sit outside away from the bar)
Would have gotten 5 stars if they had had my bottle of Dogfish Head in stock the night I was there, but otherwise a great place to go out. Â Food is tapas style, pretty good, but nothing phenomenal or must have. Â Beer selection is good, and very good wine selection.
On another note, I've been here twice and there's always bachelorette parties stopping by, so if you're anything like us, pick up a bridesmaid or three ;)
Very nice place on East Bay Street. Â Great wine selection and surprisingly a very nice beer selection since it's touted as a wine spot. Â The menu is good and has a fairly good variety. Â I tried the pizza/flat bread twice now and have not been disappointed.
Service has been hit or miss on my visits so far though. Â Priced about right for East Bay Street - not cheap. Â I'd go back again.
Sometimes all I want for dinner is a cheese plate. And this happened to me in Charleston. Social showed up on my radar with a cheese board and several options and so Sir Nicholas, Ephraim, and I went in.
At first I was nervous because it's a wine bar and I had a 2 1/2 month old baby with me. I asked the hostess if this was okay and if she could seat us as far away from other tables as possible. She led us to a back corner and asked if it would be okay noise-wise for our baby. When I explained I was not worried about the noise affecting my baby, but rather my baby ruining other people's eating experiences she laughed at me and said, "The adults here often get louder than any baby I know of." So that really charmed me because it's not too often that fancier wine bars will be so accepting of a younger child. And as it turned out Ephraim did really make any noise anyway.
The menu states that all plates are designed to be shared and are served as they are ready so be prepared for that when you go in. Also be prepared for most of them to be much smaller than the pricetag will lead you to believe. If you are looking for substantial size in a dinner item choose a pizza. They are definitely the biggest thing we saw on our table, but what we ordered was quite good. Besides the cheese selection, we ordered a pizza (with crimini mushrooms, truffle oil, and goat cheese), a Tomato Carpaccio salad (heirloom tomatoes, croutons, fleur de sel, and Puglian olive oil), and Confit Pork Cheeks (with smoked pecans, mushrooms, polenta, and blackberry jus).
I enjoyed all the food, but I really, really enjoyed the fact that they had a flight of champagnes. And I drank each and every taste.
The wife and I swung by during happy hour and sat at the bar. Â Service was efficient and quick. Â We decided to stick to appetizers and just ordered one of everything off the happy hour menu.
If you plan to do this, plan to eat a lot. Â For 20$ we got a ton of really delicious food. Â The pizza was probably the highlight... it was fantastic. Â I can't speak to non happy hour options.
Fine for happy hour, where select small plates, wines & beers are a remarkably cheap $4, but probably not worth visiting otherwise unless you sport boat shoes and a popped collar (fellas) or bottle blonde hair, saddle brown tan and a hot pink dress (ladies). Blue cheese chips and spring rolls were good beer fodder, coconut fried riceballs were cloyingly sweet and caught in a no man's land between savoury and dessert. Â Decent service if you're wondering.
Review Source:Conveniently located downtown on East Bay, Social has the vibe and aesthetics of one of those "see and be seen" establishments. But aside from being a "good looker," this restaurant and wine bar is full of delicious substance -- we visited (and ate) twice during our six-day vacation to Charleston.
The beer list is seemingly overlooked (nothing really all that interesting on draft, but several 22s available), but the cocktail and wine lists were impressive. On our first meal, we ordered a few cheeses for the table -- the plates were set up very nicely --and a couple pizzas. The boyfriend and I also split an heirloom tomato salad (oh, how I miss tomato season... LOVE). We all fell in instant-love with the mushroom pizza; the Alsatian (topped with bacon, edam cheese and creme fraiche) was a second favorite. The vegetable pizza (ordered on our second visit) was not as interesting as I hoped.
Service was pleasant, but slow -- especially so sitting on the restaurant side on our first meal (we sat in the bar on our second). The hostess did inform of us of potential service issues when she sat us (due to a computer problem or something), but even when the restaurant cleared out, we couldn't figure out the lapse of a missing pizza when we received three others... and then a long wait for running the check. Also, one of the mushroom pizzas was decidedly more "cooked" than the other (read: burned and crispy); another seemed almost undercooked.
Overall, Social was a great hangout for both happy and dinner hours! Be sure to check in and take advantage of their mobile check-in offer (for me, it was a free glass of La Bubbly champagne).
I love Charleston, what is there not to love...and places like Social make Charleston what it is, a great wine and food town. As a huge California wine gal the wine list didn't appeal to me, but their cocktails was fantastic and the small bits were yummy yummy yummy! When you go, get their Spinach, Artichoke & Roasted Tomato Dip. The wood fired pizzas are delicious too, and I am very picky about my pizza.
What makes an experience is always the people, and April, our server, was wonderful. She was attentive, friendly and went above and beyond to make our girls evening a fun one.
I will be back to try the Ponzu & Truffle Tuna Sashimi!
Atmosphere/Wine Ratings: 4/5
Food Ratings: 3.5/5
This is definitely a hot-spot in downtown. The restaurant was littered with people on dates and groups of girls dressed up for a night out (take note, men). The inside is romantic and swanky with an energetic vibe. Good wine selection, reasonably priced.
The food is tapas-style- it's delicious but the plates are extremely small. I know this is typical of "tapas" but when you're a hungry girl like myself and it takes 3-4 of these to fill you up, that can leave a dent in the ole' wallet quickly. Don't go hungry but do sample one or two of their well-prepared dishes (try a pizza- both the eggplant and the pesto were fantastic).
Service was on the slow side and it was hard to eat with friends when the dishes trickled out of the kitchen- I didn't get my entree until my friends were done eating.
Try Social for drinks and a snack- get dinner somewhere else.
We were in town for a weekend getaway, perusing for a place to eat on a Friday and thought Social looked like a good bet. The interior is very modern and the bar was packed, so we put our name in for a table (we had no reservation) and headed to the bar for a drink.
The service at the bar was the first we'd had in Charleston that wasn't friendly - and the wine was nothing to write home about. Then, the hostess came over to tell us that a table was ready - but that we had to eat within an hour since they had reservations coming in at 8:30.
Well... having never had someone put us on a schedule at a nice restaurant (esp. at a tapas place) we were kind of shocked but decided to get a bite to eat anyway. We sat down, started to order with a waiter, when a manager came up and told us there had been a mix up and in fact we were supposed to have another waiter. After that awkward moment we ordered sliders - which came out soggy and cold. That was the last straw - we asked for the check, paid our bill and took off before we wasted any more time or money there. Overall a huge disappointment.
Large open expansive space. Strictly for the ambiance, experience and wine selection. Good full selection of wine from reds, white, sparking and blends. The Huber from Austria is a red, smooth, well balanced and amazing. The Azura-spicy just a hint of berries-the taste is crisp, a well balanced dry and a bit airy. Excellent drink offerings including the Social Butterfly with berry vodka, white grape juice and elderflower liquer with a cava float-smells sweet like candy. Holy. Probably, my new favorite drink of all time. I can't tell you how it excited my taste buds were because on the SB. Its indescribable. Delicate but gently stirring your tongue to heaven. Orange basil mojito with rum hadmuddled orange and mint-sutble and sexy, perfect for a spring day or the hottest of summer nights.
Service was great!
When the best thing you try is the spinach dip, you know you've got a problem with a restaurant/wine bar merely pretending to be fancy schmancy.
I picked this place via yelp reviews to try while I was visiting a girl friend who had just moved to Charleston. Â We made a reservation for a Saturday night, anticipating a good meal and a fun place to start our night.
The person answering the phones and the hostess that seated us both had a lackadaisical attitude to the concept of service. Â And in fact, our server did as well. Â While I appreciate not being upsold, our server didn't even offer the option of dessert, additional drinks, etc.
But onto the food. Â We started off with the spinach dip, and it was, as I mentioned, amazing. Â Huge portion, tons of lightly toasted pita for dipping, and a great, rich flavor. Â Unfortunately, it was downhill from there. Â I ordered a wine flight, which was very nice and reasonably priced, but I was left no menu to know what I was drinking when, or even in what order I should drink them.
The thing that really killed our meal though was the meal itself: Â a vegetable pizza, that featured paper thin crust, undercooked squash (still crunchy), and grape tomatoes tossed in such a bitter balsamic that they were nearly impossible to eat. Â And it was served room temperature. Â It was the kind of meal that I would have sent back, but again....no server to be found!
Lesson learned: this is not the place to go for dinner. Â Sit at the bar, order a (couple) wine flights and that spinach dip. Â But skip the sit-down service. Â It's not worth the attitude.
Trying to find a delicious but not overly expensive meal in the South was making my partner and I feel like bigger San Francisco food snobs than we ever thought we were. Â I don't doubt that there are fantastic expensive restaurants around here, but so far, the moderately priced ones have fallen short of what we were hoping for vacation-quality food. Â
After being served from a bottle that had clearly been open for a while in Charlotte and passing over the wine list entirely at what otherwise seemed like a promising Charleston restaurant (populated by distinguishably unremarkable California wines), my meal at Social started off with a bang -- a $3 (happy hour) glass of house sauvignon blanc that simply had that special something something I have come to expect of all good wines. Â
We followed the wine with some $3 happy hour appetizers, all of which were very satisfying. Â My partner devoured the yukon chips with blue cheese fondue & scallions while I tried the truffled risotto balls that had been specifically criticized on yelp. Â They turned out to be good though not necessarily the best I ever had. Â The chicken sate with red curry cream, basil, and coconut rice, however, was pretty much the best I've ever had of anything similar -- and San Francisco has a lot more than a handful of Thai-inspired restaurants. Â It was so spot on that we nearly forgot about the sliders which were the reason we had come in the first place (having determined they were the best of all 20-something sliders offered at Taste of Charleston). Â
We didn't have any dessert but did order $3 glasses of champagne to finish the night which were also clearly not bottom of the barrel despite being cheap. Â Total bill before tax and tip was $33 for a full meal for two, but we would have been very enthusiastic about the meal even if we had paid full price for everything. Â
P.S. The decor was what everyone else has said though my construction eye was sort of delighted at spotting the imperfectly globby caulk at the base of the restroom sinks. Â The art was intriguing to the point that I wrote down the artist's name to look him up.
Tasty small plates! Â Dish breakdown:
Short-rib sliders: Â Everyone's favorite. Â The super sweet marinade for the pork was complimented well by the sheep's milk cheese and pickled onions.
Mushroom and goat cheese pizza: Â Also delicious. Â The sauteed mushrooms are large and tasty.
Pigs in a blanket. Â Unremarkable. Â The pastry blanket way overwhelmed the pig.
Fried Calamari Salad: Â Good. Â Nice to have fried calamari that's not 90% fried and 10% calamari.
Dessert Plates: Â We had a thick slice of chocolate cake (meh), a very nutmeggy creme brulee, and rice pudding (by far everyone's favorite).
The wine flights are *very* generous; they aren't kidding when they say you're getting a half-glass. Â I'm not a wine genius, and I ended up ordering a very sweet flight of Mediterranean wines. Â I wish the menu gave its guests some guidance on the flavors to be expected.
Social's service is good. Â Our waitress came by to check on us every few minutes. Â We didn't get the crowds referenced by other reviews (we dined on a Wednesday night).
Overall, a good experience. Â I'd definitely head back (if just for the sliders).
My buddy and I had a ton of good times here, back in the summer of 2007. Â Fun, older, employed crowd, and good selection of wine. Â At the time, I was on a 'Chimay' kick, and drank Chimay every time I went there.
I've never gotten any food either.
So basically, 4 stars for attractive, friendly girls, and friendly bartenders.
How shallow of me.
Places like this will probably not be opening up anywhere in the next few years. When you walk in, you can readily interpret the joint as the product of aggressive entrepreneurial imagination and a super-surplus of capital. They did the place up nicely, though, and they deserve credit for that. The light fixtures, the wine dispensing system, the climate-controlled wine "cellar" with glass walls, all very classy and glitzy.
Although we were not there to eat, I think we wished we had been. The menu was great, and all around us people were devouring interesting and substantial dishes from the bar menu. The fries looked incredible, drenched as they were in a gorganzola fondue and topped with minced scallions.
But we stuck with beer and wine. The wine menu is extensive, and flights are popular there, with four good-sized tastes going for $11-$20 depending on the flight. A glass of wine will cost anywhere from $5-$12. Monday through Friday, they've got spectacular happy hours, with bar food, house red, house white, and several beers, all for $3.
They had three good beers on tap: Ommegang Belgian style, Sweetwater Extra Pale (from Atlanta), and one other that I can't recall.
Service was great, the atmosphere was really slick but also very comfortable, and I'd be back tomorrow if I lived down in cha-town.
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