If I could give 0 stars I would. The owner Jodi made a lot of my family and friends uncomfortable with her rushing, anxiety, and rudeness. We had a celebration of life for my mother in law that unexpectedly and tragically passed. For her to say "the colored people" to a 19 year old is 100% unacceptable and I wish we knew of her ill opinions before finding this space. We are a blended family and take that very seriously. We also were helpful and checked with her for anything to make sure everything was ok. So for her to be rude, pushy and yelling is also unacceptable. The space fit us well. And is a very workable space as long as she wasn't there telling you what to do the whole time. The bartender (co-owner?) I forgot his name was FABULOUS! He was patient, helpful, energy was high and positive, let me know multiple times that we were very nice. And is also in a local band so we appreciate the Seattle love and also love to support them back. We will be sure to reach out to appropriate people for the discrimination. read more

This is an amazing venue. I would love to host a party here. Plenty of party space for dancing to your private DJ that has their own awesome booth, space for a bar and catering too! Parking is close by and I found it to be easy. You can decorate and arrange the venue space to meet your needs. Very impressed overall. read more

Sodo Pop - Awesome birthday wall! - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Seattle, Washington

4 minutes agoNEW I had my mother's celebration of life there this past Saturday, the owner (Jodi) was TERRRIBLE. I regret honoring my moms life at this racist, rushed and unappreciated venue. I payed 1600$ for 8 hours, the owner made racist remarks like "colored people" she was at my moms celebration of life helping herself to food, drinks and more. We rented it till 9pm and she was cleaning up OUR stuff at 7pm which made a number of people uncomfortable and they began to leave. Several guests came up to me asking what was her issue and who she was.... She also made several remarks while we were setting up that most of our decorations were "pointless" and nobody would remember. This was supposed to be one of the most important and memorable days of my life as me and my FIVE siblings just tragically lost our mother. At the end she threw out the remaining things we had, shut the lights off and locked us out. She also walked around all 6 hours making ALL guests uncomfortable and wondering who she was. She began to raise her voice at me when I went to move tables, which I didn't think was appropriate as I payed to rent the space. All in all I wouldn't recommend booking here unless you are ready for someone to watch your entire event down to telling you how to decorate and what you SHOULDNT do. read more

The owner of Sodo Pop, Jodi, shot me an email and responded to my review a few days ago, so I thought it would be fair to address some of her points. I also spoke with the friends who planned the party, and even though they felt my review was accurate, I'll revisit this. Sodo Pop has only one employee--the owner, and unfortunately on the night we had our event, she was sick. While I don't think this fully excuses the impressions that those interacting with her got, it should be noted that it was late and she wasn't feeling well--we've all been there. Unfortunately, that's the risk you run as the sole employee of a business (and may be a risk a renter of the space runs). It seems that others have had very good experiences, so we may have been the aberration. The recycling is tricky. Jodi pointed out that as a business owner she faces strict requirements from the city and I applaud her for following through on those. I'm an avid recycler myself, but I don't know that I've stacked cups or made sure to remove the caps of plastic water bottles before putting them in the bin. But again, to her credit, she was up at 2am and did return our cleaning fee. Jodi also mentioned the earthquake retro-fit the property is undergoing (mostly in reference to the comment I made about the door jam). It's always nice to see a business owner take city codes seriously, but at the same time I think it was the manner in which she addressed the comments rather than the issue itself. The perceived curtness was likely just due to the fact that she was sick. There was also a reference made about the 'unfortunate' way that Yelp "allows a computer to filter damaging or even intentional sabotage to a business". I'm not exactly sure what that means, but rest assured that I mean no harm to the business, nor am I someone who signed on to slander the place. I have over 110 reviews and I take what I write very seriously. It may well have just been an 'off' night for Sodo Pop--it seems that other reviewers have had a good time there and again, this is just my opinion (but that's what Yelp is for). For me and the renters of the space, I don't think we'll be back. It's certainly not a bad place at all, but it's just as the rating indicates for me: "Meh. I've experienced better." Best of luck. read more

Another wonderful dance party at Sodo Pop! You guys have made some pretty awesome improvements. Love the bar/ catering kitchen as well as the VIP lounge! Thank you Jodi and Terry for being awesome read more

Toto, you're not in Belltown anymore! Its an interesting drive down 1st, watching the biz's go by, from the Frontier Room and Queen City Grill in Belltown, down past the Showbox, right on by Pioneer Square, then the stadiums, and into SoDo district. Was invited to a post indie film-premiere party last night, and the producer/director rented out this space. The front of the biz is very non-descript. If he hadn't put up an event banner, we would have missed it. But once you enter the front door, you feel that you have stumbled upon a secret rave. Their's a long narrow entry way with a bend. For this event, they had lined up a greeting station, and then an appetizer table, steering you next into the "dance" room, with appropriate DJ spinnin the beats. Nice combination of stand-up coctail tables and a couple of plush chairs too the sides, leavin plenty of mingle/dance space in the center. Round the next corner and up a couple of steps is a basic bar. This is a make-it-your-own venue, a space to rent out for whatever function you want. Rehearsal space, private party, love-fest, whatever. It also has a full-on recording studio. Check out the website for the 411 http://www.sodopop.com/index.htm read more

About the management: Called the venue to enquire about hosting a club event and received nothing but rude remarks from Jodi. Immediately after saying we are from a Greek organization, she told us to be alcoholics elsewhere and hung up on me without any sort of goodbye. I understand that she is the sole owner and employee of Sodo Pop, but nothing and no one warrants such rude manner and lack of professionalism. read more

I had my 30th Birthday party here and had a blast!! The place isn't all fancy smancy, but if you want to hold a house party and don't have a big enough house, this place can accomodate over 100 people i think. What I did was book the place on a Friday night for $500. I had all day to set up if I wanted to. I booked my own old skool DJ and had my own food catered. (You can also pay an additional fee to book their awesome sound system and even play music from your ipod if you wanted.) You can set up the place any way you like with their furniture provided. I asked all my friends to bring alcohol. Nothing was sold there so we did not need a banquet permit. They have a cool light system and disco ball. All my friends came through with beer or liquor, LOTS of it, and it was pretty much an open bar ALL NIGHT, til 2am of course! There is plenty of parking across the street. Everyone I talked to had a great time even though it was windy and rainy! We were supposed to leave the place the way it was, with our garbage neatly in bags or recycle. That didn't happen. By the night's end, we were all too drunk and the place was a mess. Sorry, JODI! Hopefully the tip we left the owner made up for it, but the memories from that party will last forever! read more

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Two of my cousin and I threw a birthday party here. We didn't want to make it all about us. So we decided to make it into a charity event as well. We charged our guest a small fee to party with us at the venue. But the fee included an open bar and a club atmosphere. The open bar itself was worth more than what people paid. We took the money from the fee to donate to Charity:Water. It was such a success. It was our first time doing anything like this and the owner Jodi helped us out tremendously. She knew what she was doing and what she is doing. She made the event planning a lot easier than we inticipaded. The nice thing about working with Jodi is that she can get everything done for you. She will go buy your alcohol for you. And what you don't use she will return and give you your money back once she has returned the items. Overall the event was a lot cheaper to put on than we were expecting it to be. And we had a good turn out. Which made it even better. read more

The Halloween party I went to at Sodo Pop was super awesome. Everyone had a great time and my friends who worked with the staff had a good experience. However, for this New Year's Eve another friend had a reservation which the manager just cancelled on my friend without notification, and now she's stuck without a NYE venue. This is a major disappointment. So at this point I've had a 5 star experience and a 1 star experience with Sodo Pop, and the average of that is 3 stars. If it's not too late for the NYE mess to be corrected, I'll update this review and rating. read more

I am hosting my wedding reception on May 8th at Sodo Pop. I cannot wait!! Jodi has made the choice a very simple one. She has been most accomodating ( and believe ME when I tell you, I have been popped in one more than one occasion to look at the space and show it to my Moms & bridesmaids. After reading some of these other reviews, I was really inclined to step in and be an advocate for Jodi...she kind got a bum wrap! Yeah Yeah so she's a little bit of an odd duck....WHO'S NOT? I found her to be very clear in what her expectations were/are. I chose Sodo Pop BECAUSE of the repore I built with her ( the decor and price did play into it as well) So to the others, I say...NANNY NANNY BOO BOO!! ( and I will repost after the reception to not only bump my star rating up to a 5 but will post pics and tell yah all about it!!) read more

Jodi was a pleasure to work with! We recently celebrated our 10 year anniversary here and everything went smooth as planned! The venue was perfect size and very intimate for our about 80 guest. Jodi was so easy to work with and very accommodating. We would for sure host another event here. Thank you Jodi! read more

I attended my co workers birthday party here and we started off having a great time. I helped organize the party and was the ultimate decision maker in where we ended up for the evening and I chose this place. I chose wrong. First, let me address that this is a rehearsal space for musicians and bands, which is great, but there were times when the music we were playing, was suddey competing with some of the bands that night. Im sure they were just as frustrated as we were, and I dont blame the bands at all for this. Its overall a very poorly structured building, with no sound proofing or dampening of sound in the walls. I would say its safe to assume that you could hear someone elses conversation through the wall. The manager "on duty" probably is a great person, but I would highly recommend hiring employees that would accommodate those at the event. I would highly advise against hosting an event here, as I surely never will again! read more

Ten years ago I had my birthday party at Sodo Pop and it was a fun and memorable experience. I've had a few events there over the years and referred many friends. It's great I can leave the leg work up to Jodi and not have to worry about a lot of the details. Loved it!!! The sound system is awesome! How about some karaoke??? read more

I'm a total fan of Sodo Pop! I just held my husband's 30th Birthday Party in her space and it was fantastic. Jodi was great to work with! Whether you have her host (for a fee) or you host it yourself; she is very clear and concise with how the process works to rent her venue. She took the time to go over numbers and shared different ideas to make sure you don't blow your budget. Sodo Pop is a great place to hold a private party. I'm already thinking about other parties to hold there. Thanks for all your help, Jodi! And thanks for hooking up the husband's band with a new practice space. :) read more

I was a drummer for a band that rehearsed here in 2013 and have never been so glad to leave. The management is terrible. We went through a line up change and had to wait two weeks to get a key card for him to enter the building, leaving him outside in the rain (he had no car at the time). Before he had gotten his key card, he called a few times and there was never an answer, which was followed up by him leaving a voicemail everytime. With all that being said, he would be given access to the units from others that rehearsed, which ended up in big trouble for the people. I talked to one musician that was a bit quiet and he said that when he had rehearsed there in late night or early morning hours, he heard Jodi hanging around outside the door to see what was going on! Overall, poor and NOSEY management. If you want happy customers, let them practice in peace! Also, return a phone call maybe within the same week? read more

Definitely a lack of communication and coordination between the owners and tech crew. I watched them set up for a party, or rather rush around like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. I wasn't part of planning the party at all, but I felt a great deal of tension. As far as the space goes, they tried to go for an industral loft look, but it was just opening up and decor was nonexistant. I guess this is the kind of space that you hire out and decorate for your private event 100%. The sound system was pretty good. read more

The place was great until I met the owner. My friends were having a birthday party there and everything was fine until at 12:30 the owner returned and flipped out because the floors had some drinks spilled on them. Now I will admit there were some other spills around the area but nothing so bad that a wet cloth wouldn't take care of, however the owner decided to freak out and kick everyone out of the place. Mind you this is at 12:30 Where as according to the website the space is rented on a saturday night until 2:00 and every hour after is $50per. Now after forcefully kicking us out, the hosts of the night asked to get the bill from the owner, more than ten times. She blatantly refused making false assumptions that everyone was drunk and tole the hosts that they would receive the bill in the morning. Now at least to me when the website states that the evening will be $600 all included. I quote" Let Sodo Pop host your event. We take care of everything but the guest list (minimum 50 people). No cost to you!" That means everything is included. However to our wonderful and hospitable owner I don't believe this will be the case. Anyway I must wait until tomorrow to see how much the absolutely horrible owner will charge my friends. And not to mention the bit of racism I felt being the party was held by a group of Asians, and as she was complaining her asking and I quote again, "does anyone in here even speak English?" Perhaps her goal is to take advantage of a group of Asian kids who want to celebrate their birthdays? So if you want to have a party hosted by a racist control freak please by all means use this establishment... read more

SODO POP has been the home for the Starbucks Musicians Network for over 5 years. Personally I have worked with Jodi and her staff for more than 15 years. Have had several great events and parties at her various locations (from a party to launch Starbucks in Japan to a concert featuring 10 Starbucks bands in her live room). Nothing but great experiences from my view - always professional, always flexible and always reasonable in pricing and follow-up. read more

Was here today for a private party and it was awesome. About half as many people showed as we expected and the owners allowed us to use there private deck it is amazing and they are great. I would say you should use this place for your party no matter what it is. They are awesome and the venue is great. Thank you again for being so cool. read more

We recently booked Sodo Pop for a joint Bachelor/Bachelorette Party and all I have to say is this place is a hidden gem. We had a group of about 60 including a live band, it was the perfect size. Jodi was a pleasure and easy to work with. She made sure we had everything that we needed and answered whatever questions we had in a timely manner. I definitely recommend Sodo Pop if you are looking for a unique place outside of downtown this is the place. read more

This was an awesome space and just what we were looking for to celebrate our anniversary & birthdays! We had a friend DJ for us and we brought our own food but we had a "hosted" event. We charged a small fee for guests (We made it into a fundraiser for a charity we like), so that all we had to take care of for the night was food, entertainment and decorations! Jodi was absolutely great to work with, took care of everything else and went over everything very thoroughly (definitely was looking out for us and our budget, a rare find in a venue host!). I joined YELP, just to post this review because it's just as important to rave as well as rant :D read more

The worst experience ever. Jodi is so spaced out and irresponsible. I was supposed to have the venue from 7 pm and the place wasn't even clean then. My guests arrived and the place was dirty with so much grime on the floor. The bartender was not even professional who kept drinking on her job. Not to mention the totally unprofessional attitude. The walls aren't painted, there's no sign outside, the place is a wreck!! I had over 50 guests and Jodi convinced me this was going to be a win win situation. She said she'd make sure I wasn't swindled. But never called back to make sure about liquor consumption. She said the bartendar wasn't tipped enough - who pays a non-licensed bartenders $20 an hour? I remember throwing a 20 dollar bill in the tip jar myself. She was so rude to my guests, she promised to print tickets - which she didn't, charged 2.5 dollar per guest charge which included cleaning, event monitoring, setting up, etc. She did NOTHING! I had to go and set the place up. It was so terrible, she really really ruined it. I'd never go back again even if the place was done up. She promised the place for till whenever we wanted it and then started kicking us out at 2 am. It's not that I don't like obeying the rules, but when you say something in the beggining and say something else when the party is actually going on, it seems to be a downer. I'd never go back there again. She made my special event so terrible!! read more

I just had my wedding afterparty at Sodo Pop. All in all it turned out to be a great night. There were definitely some issues but not at the fault of Jodi or the venue. First, the price is great for what you get...a raw party space with a fairly nice bar setup, good sound system, some miscellaneous furniture and tables available for use. Second, Jodi did allow me and bridal party to decorate the night before which was very nice of her. The afterparty did get slightly out of hand, there was A LOT to drink and some people couldn't handle their liquor and threw up in various spots inside the bathrooms and around the building. And at the end of the night there was just a big mess. Luckily, I have a great family that cleaned up after everybody else! One thing I would suggest is that maybe Sodo Pop have a clean up crew for after events. I think that Jodi is a one-woman clean up crew so any big mess like the one we left would seem like a huge task! But in the end, the night turned out exactly how we wanted it to be and I can say that I had a positive experience there. read more