Rocket Man Dueling Piano Bar

Great place to go to on a Friday night to pre-​game before you hit the clubs. Ambiance was great, staff was friendly. I am of color (hispanic) and the staff was very receptive and friendly so idk what that other review was about. $ 3 shock tops, they just opened up here in Columbia, I would definitely go back. $ 5 dollar cover charge but worth it in my eyes. Bathrooms are clean and huge, plenty of tables and the crowd when I was there was good. 3 stars need to be wowed for me to put 4 – 5 star rating but it’s up there. Great place!

Came here on a Saturday night with a few friends. We had to make a reservation earlier in the day since most of the tables get reserved well in advance so the earlier you reserve a spot, the closer you will be to all the action. We got here early around 8 since the show was supposed to start at 8:30. There was a $ 5 cover for each person to get in the place.
Once we got our IDs checked and everything, the hostess took us straight to our table that our reservation name and party size on a little sign. A server came over shortly to get our drink orders. They had drink specials for beers and mixed drinks with their specialty being a «Malibu bucket,» which is a mini bucket filled with a mixed drink featuring Malibu as the liquor for $ 10. The piano players came up shortly a little before 8:30 and got straight to it. There are song request sheets at your table that you can fill out and take up to stage for the performers.
The performers were very fun and interactive with the audience but the sound system was pretty mediocre at best as it was hard to hear them talk. Really not much to the place except for watching people sing and perform on the piano. Kind of wish they had bar food which would be nice since you are sitting at a table the whole time. Average place to go to but not that breathtaking or anything.

I’m not the biggest fan of piano bars to begin with, so take this review for what it’s worth. If you love piano bars, I’ll say that the performers are fun, interactive, and just overall good at their jobs. The wait staff is likewise friendly, helpful, and very responsive. The cons to me are that this just isn’t the type of place to go out with a group bc it’s so interactive and demands your attention most of the time; it’s hard having conversations. The drinks are well priced, though, and they usually have some kind of special.

The owner of this place conducts himself in the most unprofessional manner and because of his actions we will never be back and I will tell anyone that will listen about our horrible experience. First off compared to other piano bars I’ve been to: Croc Rocks in Myrtle Beach, Bobby McKey’s in the National Harbor and Howl at the Moon in Charlotte this place is a complete dump. From pulling my feet off of the sticky floor, to the tiny bar, the dark lighting, cheap furniture and decrepit looking stage I wouldn’t recommend this place to my worst enemy.
I made reservations for a table A MONTH in advance. I received my email confirmation on December 18^th regarding my reservation, confirming a table for 16 people for January 17^th. I called and spoke to the owner on January 15^th and verbally confirmed our reservation again. I explained to the owner how this was the groups’ first time attending the bar, that it was my husbands’ birthday and that everyone was really excited about our plans. The owner said he was excited to meet us; he would take care of us and make sure we had a great table on Saturday.
We arrived at the door at 9:33pm. By the time we paid the $ 5 cover and I found the owner it was 9:35pm. The owner informed me he had given our table away. Our reservation was for 9pm, no we weren’t late because we’re inconsiderate, we had dinner at Hickory Tavern and they took 50 minutes to bring out our dinners (we even got several apologies from the staff for the terrible service). From 8:55pm to 9:15pm I tried calling Rocket Man 5 times to tell them we were running late, the phone went straight to voice mail.
The owner said that they only held tables for 30 minutes, meaning he had given away our table just 3 minutes before we arrived… except every single table was well into their drinks and clearly had been sitting for a while. I asked the owner to point out which table had been sitting for just 5 minutes… he couldn’t. The place was full and there weren’t any other tables open, he seriously just look dumb founded, he walked around pretending to look for a table then came back and said it was our fault for being late. I told him I tried calling and that their phone wasn’t working, he said they PURPOSELY DID NOT ANSWER THE PHONES. So I asked him how was I supposed to inform him we were running late, again he just looked baffled.
I called him a liar and told him he knew darn well he had given our table away a long time ago. After several minutes of back and forth he finally said «Alright fine, I lied, I gave your table away a long time ago.» I don’t know where this guy learned how to conduct business but YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG. Any decent human being would have held that table, you don’t tell someone «we can’t wait to meet you, I’m going to take really good care of you!» and then pull a shady move like that.
I’m happy to report that our group went out and spent $ 1,300 at another bar. This may not have made a difference to him; but it’s money that stayed out of his pockets. Not to mention no one from my group of 16 wants to return or support his business.

Lucy Luck is correct… this place deserves no star at all. I didn’t have an option for no star… to flipping bad… apparently the people working here and the manager has never gone outside the boundaries of Richland County. What a racist environment… If you haven’t figured it yet you will soon be the minority the world is a place of color yet over yourselves… Its not pretty being so UGLY… get outta your white box