Victor Social Club

Fabulous ambiance and beautiful craftsmanship. The service was stellar and the food fabulous. Won’t disappoint, for a casual but sophisticated evening.

This place is great! Mike the bartender is lovely and the oysters Rockefeller kill! Try the cucumber vodka cocktail.

As a bar, Victor’s succeeds in creating a great unique, rustic atmosphere — but even better drinks. The bartenders are top notch; although if you go when it’s busy it might understandably take a while to be served (the drinks can be somewhat elaborate to create). I recommend casually on a quiet weekday but always have fun on the weekends as well. Come especially if you’re from out of town — you’ll like it.

Very pretentious.
I’ve gone in there a couple times after shows to meet up with friends and each time the place is crowded and service has been poor. Top that off with prices that are on the high end (even for downtown Charleston) and it is a bad combination.
The place itself is kind of cool. You do feel like it’s a throwback to another era. The ceilings are at least forty feet tall and the amount of marble they managed to cram in is impressive. (If you like white marble.) I do wonder if they got a buy one get ten free deal on the marlin paintings/​prints. Everywhere you look you see one. I guess there aren’t «too many fish in the sea.» Just one. I don’t see myself returning again.

To put into context the review is only for a cocktail and service. Can’t say anything about the food. I always wanted to stop by and check the place out. Located in a quaint alley along with a few other restaurants, it seems like that low key kind of spot that I’d enjoy. Mike the bartender was super friendly and made my mojito not sugary sweet as I requested. Tasted a bit watered down for my flavor, but the amicable service made up for it.
So apparently the theme here is a bit good ol boys club mixed with a fisherman who loved painting marlin. I guess I can pretend to be like Hemingway. Either way, the space of the old warehouse didn’t feel overwhelming. I actually liked it for the acoustics. Crowd was a mixed bag of single night out with the ladies to wealthy Arab guys trying to spark conversation with them.
Charleston is awash with similar places and we’ll see if this one is able to differentiate itself enough. For the vibe and friendly staff, I pop off 4 stars.

Upscale bar tucked away in Hutson Alley makes you feel like you’ve really found something special. While the atmosphere is definitely swanky, and I can do swanky, it just didn’t feel like a place I wanted to be – not on the Thursday, Friday or Saturday that I stopped in. And apparently others feel the same way, because every night I stopped in, it was dead. For the people who were there, it felt like more of a place where they went to try too hard rather than just be. No one really seemed to «fit.»
Meh.

Go there and sit at the Bar. Wow, place makes you feel like you’re worth a million dollars, very classy. Food can come from there or restaurants on both sides. And it is very very good. Good conversations with Robert, a real professional. Prices are comparable to other places like this, but in here you are just warm and toasty. It ranks up there with the best that Charleston has to offer.
Frank G

LOVE LOVE LOVE this place!!! Found it completely by accident during food week. It is very nicely tucked away on John street, in between 2 other very good restaurants in their own right. (those reviews are later…)
First of all — when you walk up to Victors the palm trees and outside café seats & tables, on the small street make it feel very Cubanesque /​Miami like. Which I hear is what they were going for — love to feel like Im in a completely different place just by the surroundings and ambiance, atmosphere. They hit it out the park!
Once inside, you walk into this extremely high ceiling bar. Beautiful and fully stuffed, dark soft leather sofas around a coffee table for a great lounge type area. high tables placed around the perimeter of the room. Long and large bar you can sit at as well. Lots of fishing /​fish pictures on the wall. Later found out it is because the place is a hommage to Hemingway. On Wednesday evenings (around 5 – 530) they have a live band playing Cuban music. It is really worth it to come out to hear them play.
Victors is not a restaurant in its own. It is a bar. BUT they do serve dishes from either of the 2 restaurants they are connected to. One is a steakhouse, the other is Italian.
I have had the Lump Crab cake w corn remoulade — and all I can say is that is now the where I set the bar for any other crab cake I may eat in my life. WOW delish!!!
Drinks are very different — all named something from Hemingways life — his boat, cats name, titles of a book, etc. I love The Pilar — pineapple vodka martini and the To Have or to Have Not — a red sangria. Both are a must try! True at First Light — is also good, very different flavor, this is definitely a slow sipping drink.
The bartenders are all very very nice, Ive enjoyed meeting and talking to them all. This is truly one of my favorite places in Charleston to stop and relax.

Love this place!!! The atmosphere is amazing. It’s a very secluded, intimate setting. Doesnt seem like a place that gets overly crowded. The ambience is what catches me. I went with my boyfriend on Wednesday and a local band plays Cuban music.
The food was fantastic. You can order from either of the two restaurants beside Victors. I ordered the Chicken Parmesan and my boyfriend ordered the Shrimp Bacon and Grits. Both were outstanding dishes. Definitely going back.

We went to Victor Social Club last time we were in Charleston and it was okay. John Doyle’s paintings are outstanding but the service was not very good. We went there again tonight to have desert and a drink and the service was pitiful. I even spoke to the GM who kindly offered his assistance to no resolve. We left without a drink or desert, never to return. We have come to enjoy and expect much more from the holy city hospitality group.

Love the atmosphere! Just went for pre-​dinner drinks and a snack. Service was good but the waiter must have been new, he was awfully nervous.
The cheese plate was beautiful and had a lot of great cheeses and spreads and the bruschetta was some of the best I’ve had. We didn’t stay very long so I don’t have too much more to say, but since I’ll be going back, I’ll keep you posted!

Great place off the beaten path when you’re wanting to just have a nice cocktail in a classy, quiet, and intimate setting. At least that was my experience around 9pm on a Friday night. There were only had a handful of people and I’m guessing that’s the norm since I don’t see people stumbling across this place since it’s pretty well-​hidden. The space is unlike any other place in Charleston. It’s stunning and worth even just stopping by for a quick looksy. It’s not that big but it feels quite spacious because the ceilings are so amazingly high. All I kept thinking was it’d be a great spot to have a private party or rehearsal dinner. The service was friendly and the spicy cocktail I had was also great. I’m keeping this place in mind the next time I need to escape the craziness of Upper King.

Having just relocated from the SF Bay Area my husband & I have been looking for a place that resonates with us. We found that tonight at The Victor Social Club. A beautiful building dressed with mirrors that are reminiscent of Fish on King St and ceilings that soar above you. Victor’s incorporates the historic vibe of Charleston that draws so many people to this amazing city.
Jeremy is a whiz with the cocktails & it’s clear he wants his customers to enjoy themselves, a wonderful trait in a bartender! The food comes from 2 restaurants, one on each side of the bar and it’s very good. From lobster rolls to the creamy arancini to the burger with fois gras, everything here is an indulgent treat.
If you want incredible cocktails, a variety of excellent food at a great destination try Victors, you won’t be sorry.

I give it 3 stars only because it’s the first time here. Atmosphere is great and service very attentive. They get their deserts the two restaurants on either side. We had a peanut butter chocolate desert that was good. Drinks are well made and on the strong side. If you are in the area you should stop in.