Reviews

Review Details

• Review fromKatherine Z

  Date: 09/30/2024

  1 star

  Katherine Z

  Date: 09/30/2024

  It's a cute venue and the staff is helpful, but the owner does not honor promises made. We had our wedding at this location and paid around $20k for our wedding. $8k was for the food. We had 5 meetings before the wedding and every time they reassured us we would be able to take our leftovers with us. After the wedding we went to go pick them up and was informed it had been thrown away. When we confronted the owner about it he responded very aggressively and denied we requested it, stated we would have had to pay additional money to take our leftovers which was never mentioned. You must have everything in writing and the contract re-written if you want any form of recourse. This was the major issue for us; some of the smaller issues were that you had to pay $1k to have them turn the lights on that they have up all year around which are 100% needed to hold an evening event. They also didn't give the room we paid for to my husbands brother like they said they would. That family member ended up sleeping in another room with family. None of our non drinking guests were able to get soda from the bar. All that was available was water and ice tea which was broken 2 hours before the end of the event by there staff and never replaced.

  Fort Conde Inn

  Date: 10/04/2024

  Mrs. ************** are misrepresenting several issues in your review above. Our policy on "leftovers" (of which there was very little from your event) has always been as follows: Per Mobile Health Department, we are not allowed to serve food to guests once it has sat outside (or inside) for several hours due to the risk of foodborne illness. Because of this regulation it is our company policy to throw away any leftovers from all of our events. If one of your guests had consumed leftovers from the previous day and had become ill, we would be liable and we would potentially be inviting a lawsuit. We also do not have the storage space at our restaurant to accommodate these types of requests, and according to our management, these requests were not made. Furthermore, if additional food had been required it would have had to have been paid for. Per the catering contract, you are paying for a service during the course of your event and not are not strictly speaking entitled to any food beyond what your guests consumed during said event.The staff knows this and has assured me repeatedly that this request was never made by you or any members of your party. If this request had been made, you would have been informed of the policy above. You paid $7,316.85 (plus ****** sales tax) for the following:MENU: (for 52 people)Chicken and Waffle Bites Fried Green Tomatoes with Pimento Cheese and Pepper Jelly Bruschetta with Goat Cheese, Cranberry, Prosciutto, Arugula, and Balsamic Glaze on a Buttery Crostini Caesar Salad Housemade Bread + Butter Roasted Brussels Garlic Smashed Potatoes Smoked Gouda Cheese Grits Smoked Beef Brisket ************* Marinated Chicken Breast Pasta Primavera with Asparagus, Zucchini, Squash, Shallots, and Parmesan Key Lime Pie Bread Pudding with Caramel Pecan Sauce Freshly brewed coffee station ($4,134.00 + Tax = $79.50/per person)Full Bar for 4 hours (52 people)($1559.48 + Tax = $29.99/per person Staffing Fee $1623.37 for 1 bartender, 3 servers, 2 bussers, 3 chefs, 1 dishwasher, 1 event manager These prices are not unreasonable and are consistent with other venues of our quality.Regarding the lights over the street:We do not keep these 10 100' string lights up all year. They need to be taken down for almost every event in order to replace light bulbs. They also need to be periodically replaced with new strands. This process takes several hours for our employees which costs money. The lights also consume a large amount of electricity. We've also invested a significant amount to upgrade our electrical outlets and circuits in order to provide this service without blowing fuses. Our price is at least $1,000 cheaper than any of the lighting vendors in our area and we are fully within our rights as a business to charge for this service.Regarding the groom's brother not getting a key to his room:(from my email dated 9/16/24)Regarding the room for the ****** brother: the room was prepared for him and all he had to do was checkin at the front desk to sign his registration card, furnish his ID, and put a credit card on file for incidentals. We do not hand out keys because we have a legal obligation to know who is staying in every room. Our checkin procedure is consistent with industry standards. Our staff does not know who ****** is or what he looks like, so it is unclear how we could have located him even if we wanted to simply hand him a key.Throughout this process, I have not been "aggressive" with you or any member of your family. I simply refused to give you a refund because we had fulfilled 100% of our obligations under the contract. I have been thoroughly professional and we are all very disappointed and dismayed by your continuing attempts to hurt our business after we did everything within our power to provide you with a wonderful wedding reception.For purposes of full transparency, please see below the only communication I had with the Zachariadis party:Mrs. ******,Were happy that you enjoyed your event. It was very beautiful and it seemed that everyone enjoyed themselves.Regarding the leftovers issue: Per Mobile Health Department, we are not allowed to serve food to guests once it has sat outside (or inside) for several hours due to the risk of foodborne illness. Because of this regulation it is our company policy to throw away any leftovers from all of our events. If one of your guests had consumed leftovers from the previous day and had become ill, we would be liable and we would potentially be inviting a lawsuit. We also do not have the storage space at our restaurant to accommodate these types of requests, and according to our management, these requests were not made. Furthermore, if additional food had been required it would have had to have been paid for. Per the catering contract, you are paying for a service during the course of your event and not are not strictly speaking entitled to any food beyond what your guests consumed during said event.Regarding the room for the ****** brother: the room was prepared for him and all he had to do was checkin at the front desk to sign his registration card, furnish his ID, and put a credit card on file for incidentals. We do not hand out keys because we have a legal obligation to know who is staying in every room. Our checkin procedure is consistent with industry standards. Our staff does not know who ****** is or what he looks like, so it is unclear how we could have located him even if we wanted to simply hand him a ****** far as feeling that you received less than you paid for, we disagree. There were several things that you insisted we do that were not a part of our obligations under the contract. We paid personnel to assemble several items including the flower wall and arbor, which took several hours of their time. We also furnished additional rentals that were needed at no additional cost. You also paid no venue fee at the restaurant despite taking it over the night before without any reservations, leading to our being understaffed and we received multiple complaints from other patrons due to the fact that space was being treated by you as a private function where everyone stood around, went from table to table, etc.We handled the above situations without complaint and without additional charges, and we are not seeking to charge you now; however, we feel that we more than fulfilled our obligations under the contract and are unwilling to return any ******** is unfortunate that we must part ways on a bitter note, but were glad that your event went beautifully and wish you well in the future.Very truly yours,***** ****** Director of Operations/Owner Fort Conde Inn