Lauren E.
Yelp
I've seen this place all over social media, so I was super excited to try it! My friend made a reservation for 13 in advance to celebrate her birthday to make sure we would get a table for all our friends.
Unfortunately, it was all downhill immediately upon arrival. The bouncer and hosts were very friendly, but after taking our phones (there are no phones or cameras allowed inside) they informed us that we would not be seated at a table large enough for us, and instead we would be seated at a smaller table and reseated in 30 minutes to a table large enough for all of us. They promised that they would bring over chairs for the rest of our party so that no one would have to stand until being moved to the larger table.
That was a total lie. We were seated at a table that was maybe large enough for 6-7 people, so half of our party was standing. The wait staff then refused to bring over chairs for anyone, so we had to take turns sitting at the table. Considering this is a nice bar, we dressed up for the occasion, and all the girls were very unhappy about having to stand in their heels.
The inside is very stylish and has gorgeous lighting, but they have some acoustic issues that make it very loud. We were shouting over each other trying to have conversations.
About 20 minutes into our reservation, we were informed that we would soon be kicked out due to a last minute buyout of the bar. There was no compensation offered or even an apology, just a very blunt directive that we would need to leave soon.
After an hour of our uncomfortable seating situation, we were moved to a table that was large enough for all of us, but we were extremely disappointed considering we made a reservation in advance specifically because we knew we were a large party and would need to be seated at a large table.
The drinks were another story. There is a very small, limited menu of 10 cocktails. The menu gave the impression that off-menu drinks are not approved of. I ordered the Icarus Agenda, the only rum cocktail on the menu, which is labeled as a "stronger" cocktail. I was extremely disappointed. The "cocktail" tasted like coconut milk with simple syrup in it. I'm not sure that there was any rum in it at all. One of my friends ordered the No One Here Gets Out Alive, which tasted like straight up bell peppers (very strange, don't recommend). Another friend ordered the Earthly Possessions, which smelled and tasted extremely smoky like mezcal. The waitress was adamant that it was not a mistake, so my friend choked it down but also highly did not recommend it.
Because of the extremely inconvenient seating situation, the bar was nice enough to send us a round of shooters on the house. The shooters were tasty, but also did not taste like they had any alcohol in them.
After being moved to the second table, we decided to cut our losses and leave. When we were initially being sat at the small table, the hostess and our waitress told us that our first round would be complementary due to the inconvenience, but when we spoke to the manager, they told us they had sent us a free round of shooters (which we did not ask for) and would be giving us a 25% discount instead. They claimed that this was a better deal for us in the end, but the math does not check out at all. I'm not sure how many rounds we would have had to order to make that work out in our favor, but paying for any amount of rounds of weak drinks is not worth it in my opinion.
In the end, the bar ended up comping all of our drinks because they wanted us to leave in order for the private party to be able to enter. We all felt like they didn't want us there and they were annoyed to have to deal with us at all.
Overall, I was extremely disappointed in this bar, especially considering we were there to celebrate my friend's birthday. I love the concept of locking your phone up to be intentional about spending time with your friends, but in order to be a successful bar, you still need to execute on the basics. That means seating people at the tables they reserve and serving good drinks. Powder Room clearly is not capable of either of those things. When people talk about problematic bars in Austin, they often speak of pretentious, overpriced bars with poor service and weak drinks. I had not experienced that until now, but I can confidently say that this is one of the worst bars in Austin. I have never felt like such an inconvenience at any establishment until this point. I can't even say that you should bear with the horrible service for the drinks, because the drinks are awful too. I think it goes without saying, but no one should feel the need to argue with a manager while celebrating their birthday. Although it is very pretty inside, I would not recommend this bar to my worst enemy.
If you're looking for a nice bar for a special occasion, I recommend Roosevelt Room, Holiday on 7th, or Codependent Cocktails.