My experience with this venue was extremely unprofessional and uncomfortable. I booked the M Space…read morefor a semi-formal dance, we've used it before, and I assumed it would be a good choice. I was wrong. At first, Michelle communicated well. She explained that a woman living above the venue is very sensitive to noise and that music could not exceed 80 decibels. I told her we would have a DJ with his own speakers and sound system, and we discussed this multiple times both in text and in person. His contact information was included in the contract, and I sent it to her directly so she could explain the noise policy to him. Everything seemed fine until the event. Within the first 15 minutes, a random woman walked in asking for the venue keys. She was decorating for an event the next day, and Michelle had told her she could come by, yet she never informed me of this. About 30 minutes into the event, Michelle texted saying the upstairs neighbor was complaining about the music and that someone from the HOA was outside taking pictures of us. She then tried to claim I never told her about the DJ or his equipment even though I had proof we had discussed it and she had already been communicating with him. After I showed her the messages, she stopped responding. We had to turn the music down so low it was barely audible over guests talking. On top of that, what I thought was a homeless man kept walking around outside and looking through the windows, making everyone uncomfortable. Around 9:30 PM, this man entered the venue through the back door. My boyfriend and I told him to leave because it was a private event. He insisted he was "supposed to be there," and only after I threatened to call the police did he explain that he worked for the venue and wanted to begin setting up for the next day's wedding reception. Even though my event wasn't scheduled to end until 10 PM, he continued insisting he needed to be there. I was never told that this man would be at the venue, let alone walking into my event in the middle of it. Everyone was so freaked out and guests began leaving because they were so unsettled. By the end, I was overwhelmed, scared, and in tears trying to clean up. Michelle and her staff were completely unprofessional from start to finish. I strongly recommend not booking this venue if you want your event to be enjoyable and stress-free.

We have used this venue for 3 semiformals and formals and I can't complain enough. Terrible. No…read moremusic over 80 decibles. Not loud at all, especailly for a formal. Within the first 15 minutes someone came in each time with a complaint of sound. I understand people live above it but don't rent out the venue for events that involve music and volume if you can't have it. You get what you pay for and there is a reason this venue is one of the cheapest in Columbia.

We really enjoyed their Valentine's Day Dinner event! All of the food was exceptional, and the live…read morepianist was a nice addition. The interior is nice and feels very upscale. The only downside was that it went an hour past the planned time, so it ended up lasting 3 hours instead of 2 and had some longer than expected wait times between courses.

If I hadn't expected to be able to order dinner maybe I wouldn't have been so disappointed…read more Fried mediocre everything. As a vegetarian- a complete waste unless you can eat fried pimento pretzel knots again for dinner. My wine was from a bottle opened days ago. For a refill, I requested anything that would be opened new. Waitress came back and said that all bottles were open. I feel sad for this place, especially being so prominent downtown. Dueling pianos works so it's too bad for the artists playing that the house isn't steppin up.

Great place to host a special venue. We had our Realtor Luncheon today. Beautiful and very modern…read morebuilding. Plenty of parking even though the parking lot isn't paved yet. The caters were a little slow since we had over 200 people there. I don't know if they are affiliated with Central Energy.... but we really needed 2 catering sections with one on each side. Only having one with 2 lines was SLOW! Took a long time to get food. 4 lines would have helped a lot. The food was good and the staff was nice. Seems like they might need a few more bathrooms though. If you go to the bathroom at the entrance there's 2 locks that you need to make sure are locked. Also the bathroom could use a larger trash can. The one they have is functional, but lots of paper towels were all over the floor due to its size. The food was good but I'm not sure who catered it. Larger plates would be good also. We have to carefully place the food on the plate to make sure it all fits. Anyway, the acoustics are a little off so it's hard to hear. But over all we all had an enjoyable lunch there. I hope we go there again. And I hope they hear a few of the complaints and correct them.

From the owner: Central Energy is Columbia’s most vibrant and versatile downtown event space, featuring over 8,000…read moresquare feet of a modern aesthetic and additional, unique indoor/outdoor social areas. Central Energy was designed for constant reinvention, making it a beautiful canvas to bring your vision to life.

Attended an event here as part of the Columbia Food and Wine festival. It's a beautiful venue, very…read moreclean and plenty of space to host all types of events.

I have mixed thoughts on this place. Of the mansion tours, this is perhaps the least compelling,…read moredespite its history and famous resident. A museum on Reconstruction more than about the President himself, it feels like it is lacking on both. If you have the time, this beautiful house is worth it, but you will walk away feeling like something was missing. Reconstruction was a complicated and often ugly situation for both sides, So it can be a very difficult topic. Although there are some artifacts and some good information on static displays with in the home, the tour guide did not seem to know much about either topic. It lacks virtually any furniture or belongings from Woodrow Wilson himself, and it was not very versed in terms of its artifacts from Reconstruction. When telling the story, it is often falls short. Woodrow Wilson lived in Columbia in this house during the period and it shaped his attitudes and opinions and ultimately led him to run for office. That's the primary reason Historic Columbia made the era the focus. I believe it is the only museum dedicated to Reconstruction. Wilson lived in several homes as an adult, but only two growing up. The one in Augusta is much more focused on Wilson. I find the topic and the occupant of the home very fascinating, and if you really want to visit an important American landmark, you definitely should. Keep your expectations tempered though as it may not have enough artifacts from either the president or the era for your taste. There are two tours per day for this house. Visit the Historic Columbia gift shop at the Robert Mills Home to get tickets. It is approximately two blocks away.