The Social

We went as a family, 4 adults and two teenagers. The Social was recommended for the food especially the burgers. The burgers were terrific. The service was adequate. We had to ask for several things that are normally on the table or on the food like mayo for the burgers, additional sauce for the appetizers, napkins, plates for the appetizers and several other such things. The rug leading into the side door was covered with animal hair. The inside was clean enough but not spectacular. The waitresses were trying to dress appealing, but lacked the bodies to do so. They would have looked better in bermuda shorts and tee shirts. Our teens played pool and darts up near the from of the restaurant. There were several men who had had too much to drink, especially a bald guy who thought he was a lady killer. Just before we got ready to leave, a fight broke out with profanity and fists. I think the bald guy was asked to leave. Good cook, okay friendly service, watering hole atmosphere, and not for families with children.
We will not go back and cannot recommend it to anyone.

Do not go here. Sketchy biker guys. Horrible service. Waited thirty minutes for our waiter to come back then just left.

We love this place. Great food and drinks even better staff and regulars. I just think the girls should have cute tank tops that say «The Social» on them, it would be great advertising and even better for business.

Great place as long as you know what you’re getting yourself into. It ain’t fancy and the food will kill you.
Almost everything on the menu here is fried. Fried pork rinds, fried bacon wrapped jalapeños tots, fried pickles, fried brussels sprouts and even fried oreos! What isn’t fried probably still has the equivalent artery clogging level of oil but everything I’ve tasted was pleasing to my tongue. The bartenders and wait staff are fast and polite and then there’s the Karaōke. Now it’s not my thing, so we didn’t stay for long but it made us smile and I’m sure those who enjoy it probably found it exactly what they wanted.
I didn’t get a chance to play darts but they have several boards and a somewhat private area to play at. I’ll have to go back and give the boards a try.
If you’re on the east side and looking for a cheap, filling, fattening and tasty joint. Go get it.

Every town needs one great pub full of regulars and guaranteed to serve up great burgers and beer. The Social hits the mark every time. Excellent pub fare and homestyle favorites and a great atmosphere with lots of weekly events.

Super Divey place with a surprisingly diverse menu. I went with a team mate after practice and I order the veggie burger (which is a chickpea base, rather than black bean) but done as the Chipotle Fried Pickle burger and it was surprisingly tasty. They had a lot of things I wanted to try such as the: Brussel Blossoms Parmtots. They also have two vegetarian entrees on their menu. My friend had a veggie quesadillas which were a good size, but I could have taken it down. The place had quite a few beers on tap and the prices were fair. I would go back — it’s an awesome greasy spoon post practice spot.

This place is not fancy smancy it’s a pub where beer comes first, followed closely by food, and sportsball. The Social is a comfortable casual east Asheville bar full of locals and regulars. The kind of place where people go to unwind to their favorite beer, and something deep fried.
Ive eaten here a few times now and their burgers are usually a solid tasty option. I’m a fan of the Wow burger with the ghost pepper cheese. My boyfriend loves the Wild West. Wings are crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. The bacon jalapeño wrapped tater tots are fabulous and more restaurants should serve deep fried Oreos.
I do wish there was a table/​bar/​stools/​hooks around the pool tables to put my purse and drinks on. That is my only real complaint. Otherwise this is a fantastic casual hang out spot with good pub food. If the parking lot is full don’t worry there is plenty of seating even with two pool tables and several dart boards. I will be back and bringing friends for burgers, pool, and darts.

Really enjoyed this place! Had the Carolina burger and the trio sampler with pickles, egg rolls and bacon wrapped tots. This is Not a complaint but I asked for my burger to be medium and it came out well done but other than that the food was excellent (for bar food of course). Even the service was great. We went a little earlier for dinner but the atmosphere was light and seems like it has high potential to be a fun place on a Saturday night for beer, friends and sports!

Its a bar, with decent food, great food specials, live music, and pool.
I stumbled across this place on wing night. Great wings at .49 a pop. I went with the cajun spice rub and some atomic sauce on the side. They happened to have Cold Mountain on tap, nice bonus.
I’m rarely in this area, but I will stop on back through if I’m ever driving by.

Great burger and great service. Enjoyed lunch here while on the road. Service was friendly, efficient and knowledgeable. Lots of burger choices (full menu not available until 5 p.m.). I had the Carolina and husband had The Blue. Both done perfectly with a very soft, flakey bun. Cooked fresh to order. They care about quality. Definite choice for a break from road.

We stopped in for drinks and karaōke a few nights ago and had a blast! The staff and patrons were so friendly, the drinks were well made and reasonably priced, the live band (Devyl Nellys) was awesome, and the karaōke hosts were entertaining and encouraging.
We ordered some cheese fries with bacon to absorb some of the alcohol and they were really tasty as well. I highly recommend The Social for a fun night out!

We did not eat at the restraunt but ordered through Valet Gourmet. The meatloaf is AMAZING simply amazing. The mashed potatoes a lil watery but good… green beans good but wow the meatloaf wowwwww… we will dine in next time. Nommy.

Why 5 stars? Because this was one of my favorite Browns Backers bars I’ve ever been to.
— — —
Yes, I’m stupid. I root for the Cleveland Browns.
And wherever I find myself on a given Sunday afternoon in the fall, I’m usually a short distance away from a Cleveland Browns Backers bar. The opening game of the 2015 season was my first time visiting The Social, and it was basically a flawless experience. These are all things I look for in a place to watch football, and all of which were found at the Social:
–The projection screen was huge, clear, and not obstructed.
–The audio was also heard loud and clear.
–The room was dark, which increased the clarity of the projector even more.
–This one is going to be Browns Backer bar specific: Yes, there is a mic and a sound system, but the people only spoke at halftime, and didn’t obnoxiously yell at us on every time out. This sadly happens far too often.
–The food was surprisingly delicious. I had the Chipotle Fried Pickle Burger, and I absolutely loved it.
–The servers come around often enough to not make you think you’ve been forgotten, but not too often… because you’re there to watch a football game, not remind them that, «yes, I would like more diet.»
–Bonus note on the servers: the turnout of Browns fans was twice as much as they expected, and though they apologized for being overwhelmed, no one would have noticed otherwise. Superstar servers and kitchen folks work here.
The Browns got absolutely embarrassed on this day, but that didn’t take away from my affection of The Social. I’ll be happy to return if my next trip to Asheville coincides with a Browns game.

Came from out of town and could not get the waitress to come over for anything. She talked and laughed with tables next to ours and when we stopped her to ask to get some food, she said, «I’m not ready.» And walked to the next table to talk. What? So I went to the bar to order food. The pregnant female bartender came up and said she would send someone over. We told her that the waitress wouldn’t take our order and we just want to get food. She said, «Thanks for letting me know» and walked away. Waited until she looked at us again and waved her over. We had to go to the edge of the bar to get her attention. She yelled at us to get behind the yellow line and that was the last straw. DO NOT REWARD THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOR. Go somewhere else. Awful service.

Came in from out of town looking for a restaurant that served chicken, couldn’t find anything in the $ 12-​$ 20 range, until we found this place. Came here expecting a restaurant, turns out it’s mostly a bar atmosphere with karaōke/​open mic/​bands/​etc. The people playing the night we were there were pretty good and not too loud that we couldn’t hear each other talking.
First we tried the bacon wrapped jalapeño tater tots… Holy cow– great with either the (mildly hot) BOOM sauce, or the ranch. I got a blackened bleu burger, which was well prepared and had very fresh ingredients. However my fiancée had the honey Cajun chicken, which was absolutely spectacular! Highly recommend that, with the green beans on the side– which were perfectly seasoned with a great garlic flavor.
Oh and our waitress was very friendly and although she was the only waitress that night she gave us great service.

This is a great spot for a quick bite/​drink after work, tons of live music throughout the week AND karaōke, my favorite activity. They have one of the best burgers in town.

We LOVE the social for late nights. The kitchen is open late and the food is pretty awesome. We LOVE going on saturday nights, for the live bands and especially for the karaōke!!! What a great time!

The only reason we ended up coming here was because my partner mistakenly purchased a Groupon for the Social (he thought it was for the Social Lounge on Broadway St downtown – formerly Sazerac). We went on a Sunday afternoon, and there were about 10 people in the bar area, and 2 other parties eating late lunch. We sat and waited for service for about 15 minutes before we were even acknowledged, and it took quite a bit longer to get our waters. It appeared that there was only one staff member working the bar, the register, running the food, and busing/​wiping down tables.
I ordered wings and a wedge salad, and my partner ordered a burger and a beer. Unfortunately, the beer was the only satisfactory item we ordered. My wings were very dry, with minimal flavor, and the chicken skin was tough and difficult to bite into. The wedge salad was completely drenched with about a quarter cup of bleu cheese dressing, which appeared to be from a bottle. My partner reported that his burger was underwhelming. In general, the food was nearly inedible.
After seeing the other reviews, maybe we just came on a bad day? I’m not sure I’ll be coming back to find out.

Good, good, good local burger place! I gave it four stars because of slow service times. The front end service is amazing and efficient. The kitchen has got to speed it up. Waited over 30 minutes for sandwiches. Will return, worth the wait!

Had a chance to stop in at The Social while i was out on the east side of Tunnel Rd and I was quite impressed.
It’s rare that I make it to this side of town, and I had seen it a few times, but today I was in the right spot at a famished time.
The place looks fairly nondescript from the outside, but I was pleased to find a lively interior immediately upon entering. It was 3 pm on a Saturday afternoon and bar was buzzing. People playing pool on the two billiards tables by the front, and friends watching sports games on the multitude of TV’s around the space.
It’s a standard burger and a beer kind of place. Large open interior, with a little stage in the back and a pretty decent sound system that I assume they use for local bands and such. Overall the space is extremely comfortable. I felt welcome as soon as I stepped through the door.
I checked with the bartenders to see if I should order at the bar or if they offered table service. They were kind enough to allow me to sit down and wait on me at a table of my choosing. That’s a nice style of service.
I got myself situated and found a table with a power outlet so I could charge my laptop while working. Mike the bartender approached me with a menu and a water and the first words were to give me the Wifi password. Dude. Classy.
I ordered a burger so that I can add this space to my list of top burgers in Asheville, and Murphy’s Irish Stout to wash it down. Mike took his time with the pouring of my beer, and if you refer to my earlier reviews you will know how much I appreciate a slowly poured stout. Another check mark in the awesome service column.
My food arrived quickly. The burger was well dressed, really fresh ingredients. The tomatoes were freshly sliced, and a nice leaf of romaine lettuce to boot, rather than shredded iceberg or whatever. I was pleased, and the burger was better than okay. It wasn’t a «I’ve got to bring all my friends to try this burger,» kind of burger… but it was a damn solid burger, and under $ 10 as well. Nice.
After my first few bites I began to plan take notes for this review. I really felt like the place was a solid 4 stars, but the service was just great. I made a promise to myself that if Mike checked back in on me twice through out the meal without any prompting, I’d have to give the place 5 stars based on the exemplary service. Why? Because Mike was the bartender on duty, not a server. For him to walk out from behind the bar and over to my table to check on me would be an indication of care and great service.
Three minutes into my meal, low and behold Mike was there. Just a quick «Everything good?» Cool. Next he noticed that I was watching the game that was being projected on the wall and asked if I wanted him to turn on the sound. I didn’t, but hey… Mike’s paying attention. And then… a few bites away from finishing my meal Mike was back again, just to check if I needed another beer. Bam. 5 stars. I was impressed.
I’d be happy to check out more of the menu here. The burger was solid, but the service at this watering hole is really what set it apart from similar burger and a beer spots.
I noticed they have Karaōke the greater majority of the week. I think I may have an excuse to drive out and visit The Social again in the not so distant future.