Encino Banquet and Garden

Reviews 3

NI

Ninazyra Ligot

Throwing a wedding is not cheap. I thought I wont be able to find a place that can fit my budget. Harriett told us when we first met her that everything will be included, so I was so happy. We dont have to worry about anything. I asked her every single detail a wedding website checklist will give you. I wrote everything in my wedding notebook. (Yes, I have one- so I wont forget anything) She said well talk more in detail when the wedding date is closer. So we trust her that, but we ended up VERY DISAPPOINTED. Beware: theres no food tasting. [Heres a list of the things Harriett said was included when we signed the contract:] --Ceremony backdrop to cover the big blue and white design. So I had to pay extra. --food for the vendors, so I had to pay more than what we thought we wouldve. --she was trying to say that ceremony wasnt included in our contract, so she was trying to charge me. But her contract says its included. --she will charge for champagne glasses, so we just opted out. --verbally she said we can set up at 2pm (centerpieces & sweet table), contract said we can set up at 2:30pm, wedding will start at 4:30pm. My family and friends were helping with our wedding, they got there at 2pm, the whole placed is so dirty from the party the night before. Harriett said ceremony chairs will be set, banquet hall tables and chairs will be set before 2pm. BUT NO, it wasnt. My family and friends even helped them set up the chairs for our ceremony!! [Heres my rating for each one:] ***** Nancy (bartender) // awesome!!! No complains. *** Courtyard // beautiful BUT it was so dirty and not set up when It was supposed to be done. **** Banquet Hall // beautiful BUT wasnt set up when its supposed to be done. ** Harriett (venue manager) helpful at first, BUT drastic change to worst - closer to the wedding date. Rude to her employees and was rude to my family and friends who are trying to set up (centerpieces & sweet table) she said she will be there during your whole event, but no. Shell just take pictures of your wedding so she can post it on Facebook and thats it. * Valet attendant & Security // I dont know why theyre even there. They dont Park your car, they dont bring your car to you and the will still charge you $7 per car. The security, just walks around or sometimes sleeps during your event. **** Servers // we had only two, for 112 people!!! Bless their heart for dealing with Harriet. They have a lot of patience. CHERRIES ON TOP: --My wedding started almost an hour late because of the delay with the set up. --And the dinner was late too, so all my guest were hungry. --She said the food will be enough for our guest, but it wasnt. My father in law had to take one whole table (12 people) out somewhere else and leave our wedding because the food wasnt enough. --My husband and I were the last ones to get food, or get whatever is left of it. Burnt fish, soggy salad,etc. OH they didnt serve us food, our bridal party got us food// scraped whatevers left. Few more things... I asked if we can have a live band in the courtyard before and after the ceremony. She said yes, but when the band was playing, she signal them to stop because theyre too loud, that the neighbors might complain. Isnt Their business is to host parties? Its a jazz band, playing regular music in the courtyard, I dont have to explain this one. Smh -you cant bring appetizers because its against some law? But you can bring dessert and alcohol??? -you cant use real candles, because it might start a fire? There one event that had real candles around their cake and the head table!! - she said to us minimum 100 people, but to some its 150 people minimum? - kids food, are just in one small tray per kid. It wasnt enough even for the kids. - there was bread but theres no butter - they said they will serve soda, but they took the soda from the things we brought for the bar. Just wondering, reading the other reviews here, does she pick and choose who she will be nice to?

CH

Chad Knutsen

So one might think that when a Priest is the owner of a venue, he would have some semblance of a soul, and a modicum of humility and kindness when dealing with people...especially people who are trying to give him money in exchange for the use of his banquet hall. I wont be the first to say that "father" George was one of the most despicable examples of christianity I have ever seen in my three decades on this planet. When I tried to pay for my wedding, on the day of, with a valid credit card, as we had agreed upon previously...I was shocked to find that he had suddenly decided that he wanted all cash up front (not in the contract)...And he threatened to lock the gates of the venue until he received his gangland demand. He yelled at my wife to the point she was in tears, and I had to go over to the venue to try and discuss with him, but he was too cowardly to even face my enraged self and instead left poor Harriet to try and figure out what to do...I demanded that he come speak to me and explain what the problem was and show me in the contract where it said "all cash up front" because I had my copy of the contract in my pocket that clearly had no such provision... So thanks to Georges abhorrent and rude behavior, my wedding began 2 hours late, which led to us having to pay vendors extra, and buy more alcohol to keep guests entertained in the meanwhile. On our wedding day. The only people that generally demand all cash up front are drug dealers, prostitutes and mobsters asking for "protection money". Not priests running wedding venues... Priests like George are the reason Vikings didnt feel all that bad when sacking churches up and down the english coast... Harriet was very helpful from day 1, and honestly I felt bad when I had to raise my voice at her to get my point across clearly that if my wedding was shut down due to some puffed up pastors ego trip he would have a problem on his hands... If I was some slummy guy who had haggled and complained and been difficult all along, I might have understood his trepidation...But since I am generally dressed well enough, and had been totally chill in the whole proceeding leading up to the day of, and had given a significant cash deposit upfront, I figured Id done my part to demonstrate my "worthiness". What a shameful failed example of christian values. Jesus would be disgusted by Father George. TskTsk. Doesnt some book say something about "doing unto others as you would have them do unto you?" Well...here you go Georgie boy...Golden rule to the face. Do not use this venue, unless you want to deal with the antichrist that is Father George.

JE

Jeff Yoon

By far the worst Management ever. If your looking to do business with this place make sure you voice record every sit down with Hariet. If not she will flip things left and right. Her thing to say every time you quote her is " I never said that" even if its in the contract. The day I knew she wasnt business par is when she lost our check for over $1000 and until we showed our online statement she was denying the whole thing. The food. Wow. Garbage. Our wedding meal had to be in and out. Due to the fact that the food was horrible. And the food was set for over 100 guests and couldnt even feed 95 guests. This place is a joke. Just be careful what you jump into. The staff is great but its Hariet thats just tries to be sneaky. Even till the day of the wedding she did us wrong. If you need to ask for more questions feel free to ask away. Im here to help others and learn from our mistakes.

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