Sodo Pop

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.

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.

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.

I’m a total fan of Sodo Pop! I just held my husband’s 30^th 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. :)

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 Unilocal «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 Unilocal 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.

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.

I am hosting my wedding reception on May 8^th 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 décor 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!!)

I had my 30^th 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!

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 décor 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.

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 karaōke???

Toto, you’re not in Belltown anymore!
Its an interesting drive down 1^st, 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-​première 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