Last year, my fiancee and I toured about 10 different venues, and we both agreed that Citadel is the most beautiful and is the venue we want to have our wedding in September 2020. The venue has gorgeous marble floors, chandelier, natural light, grand entrance floor, etc. Many couples including us are curious about wedding preparation under the current COVID-19 situation in Houston. Like others, we looked for options such as reschedule, etc. We finally came to the conclusion to have a very small wedding instead of a big one that we originally planned to ensure everyone's safety also support the local businesses; Citadel and all vendors we are working with. My fiancee and I exchanged multiple emails/phone calls with Rebecca (Sales and Event Manager) to adjust event details. I was very impressed by how she is handling the current situation. Most importantly, she kept reminding us she's there for helping us and bringing new ideas. We are still in the progress of the adjustment, and hopefully, we can figure out a way to have a safe and happy wedding. I hope everybody stays healthy and we can come out happy and stronger . I will update the reviews as we are making progress! read more

Citadel Houston - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Houston, Texas

I came here for my friend's wedding. It's an amazing venue with beautiful, picturesque settings. Great for a ceremony or reception.

The staff was terrific and the venue is beautiful and was the right touch for an elegant formal wedding read more

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You guys made everything perfect! From beginning to end of the planning of our wedding event, you made us feel comfortable and confident. Working with you not only brought us the experience we were looking for; but eased the stress level which comes with planning a wedding. The Citadel is breathtaking the moment you walk, and I would highly recommend Rebecca, the staff and the Citadel to anyone that is planning a wedding. Thank you for making a lifetime of memories. Amy & Sean Pendergast read more

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I came to citadel for a very elaborate wedding, and was not disappointed. This beautiful building is located in a VERY SHADY part of town, but the building is well lit with very big fences, security, and overall I felt very safe. The building interior is clean, beautiful, and spacious with many rooms and high ceilings, and good sound system... very good for big events. The lighting was stunning and vibrant. I'm unsure if the service staff and valet were hired separately or if they are related to the venue but overall everything was done to the nines. Every whim satisfied. The service bar was exceptional. The restrooms were exceptionally clean with good toilet paper and hand soap. read more

Citadel is a breathtaking venue, so when my fiancé and I toured in June of 2020, we knew that we wanted to have our wedding here. On 07/01/2020, we signed a contract with them for our wedding date of 04/10/2021. On 01/05/2021, 95 days before our wedding and after about 75% of the total had been paid, Citadel informed us that they had double booked our wedding. We learned that they had reached out to our planners on Christmas Eve regarding the mistake. Our planners (knowing that I am a graduating medical student who will be likely moving from Houston this summer to start residency and that we were planning to have an Indian wedding of multiple events across multiple days) told Citadel that we were unable to move our date and to figure out a solution before calling us. During our phone call on 01/05, Citadel offered no apology or solutions. They also did not set a meeting time to discuss our concerns. After we showed up in person to the venue the next morning, Sara the venue owner (not local), was put on the phone and asked us to send her a list of what it would take to make the situation right. However, after she received this list, she began to treat us disrespectfully and unprofessionally. She was initially unwilling to negotiate with us, threatening repeatedly to cancel the event and "find us another venue." Ultimately, we accepted their refund offer (which they did not deliver for another two weeks) because we knew we would be unable to hold a happy wedding here on a rescheduled date after how Sara had treated us. Like another reviewer who had a run-in with them recently stated, the situation honestly seemed unreal and we are still beside ourselves with the whole ordeal. We chose Citadel because we wanted a beautiful, professionally run, and stress-free wedding. As evidenced by the many good reviews about this venue, I think that when things go according to plan, Citadel can deliver that. However, when something went wrong for us, even though it was their mistake, they responded with defensiveness and incompetence. Unfortunately, you never know when something will happen to YOUR wedding. Citadel costs a pretty penny, so I would spend your money on a different venue that will ensure that your wedding day is surrounded by joy and celebration even if things don't go according to plan. read more

Amazing venue! Love this place. The candle lit Chopin event was just what we needed. It was a short, romantic, escape. We look forward to visiting soon read more

The space is HUGE. And it's not too far from the city, especially if you're in the medical center, it took us less than 10 minutes to get here. Opposed to the other glamorous wedding venues in town such as the Two Chateaus which can be upwards of an hr to get to depending on which side of town you stay in. So I have to applaud the owners of the Citadel for creating a wedding space close to town. The space is designed for upwards of 700 people. They are still finishing up some of the details but the main ballroom is basically done. There are not many places in town that can hold that many people and not be a hotel ballroom. It is very clean and sleek looking. read more

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We booked Citadel last year for our wedding in June of 2020. Once COVID came around we were worried about what would happen. We immediately started communicating with all of our vendors. Rebecca, from Citadel, was AMAZING. She was so easy to get in touch with, always available and gave us all of our options up front for us to make a decision. We went through with the wedding and everything went off without a hitch! All staff were wearing masks and gloves, markers for social distancing were in place and additional precautions were taking when serving drinks and food. We truly had the most special day. You'd think planning a wedding during a pandemic would be awful, but they made it stress-free! Thank you Citadel staff! read more

This venue cancelled the wedding of a close friend, less than 100 days before the event. They "double booked" and didn't alert the couple for over 6 months while they continued signing vendors, putting down payments and moving forward with planning. The team is unprofessional and was unwilling to negotiate a new contract with the bride. Beware of this venue. read more

My wife and I had our wedding here and we were incredibly disappointed with the services provided. Although the venue is beautiful, management was incredibly rude especially Sara. To begin with, the food which was served was not what we had tested with the venue. We asked for steak which would be served in slices and fish. The steak being in one piece as it was served on the day of the wedding would not have been a problem but steak knives were not provided. Instead butter knives were provided making it nearly impossible to enjoy the steak. Many of our guests did not receive both meats on our plates. Some received only fish while others received only steak. The wait staff informed us that they they had run out of food which would impossible since we paid for 350 people and only 300 had arrived. We had many complaints from our family and friends who did not receive the food in which they ordered. Through out the whole process of before, during, and after the wedding Sara showed no consideration in making our wedding as special as possible. I'm incredibly disappointed in the efforts and would not recommend anyone book their wedding here. They're are plenty of other options in which the management would be much more accommodating to your needs. read more

I will not give them any star, Sera owner is Not a pleasant person to work with. Do not cater any food from them they will do testing but aware of what you get on the day of your event. Food was not good at all we paid for steak and fish along with two other side for $60.00 it was not $10.00 food.Steak was too hard and very small and there was no steak knife fish was not what we tasted at the testing it was tiny and no flavors some guest got just steak no fish even bride and groom got only steak no fish. We also order vegetarian dish however they did not served to requested guest service was horrible I will not recommend anyone to book this hall specially for weddings. This people will take your money upfront and not deliver beware. We want to cater food from outside they will not let you do that unless you pay them$30 per person. Rude and low class people. read more

Citadel Houston - Steak, fish and rice. Not good at all - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Houston, Texas

In November 2019, my fiancée and I secured a wedding date of June 20, 2020. As Coronavirus took hold, we became aware that the wedding would have been impossible due to local restrictions by Harris County, not to mention our concern for the safety of our guests, and pre-existing conditions that made my fiancée and I more susceptible to Coronavirus. Over the next seven months, despite repeated attempts to find a new date, and an assurance by Citadel that we would be able to do so, they decided to either refuse to respond to communication or repeatedly threaten to sue us. Now in October, all we have to show for this continued effort to reschedule amid a pandemic is a stack of communications between ours and Citadel's attorneys, $25,000 gone that we have already paid to Citadel, and still no date to safely be married. We were close to securing another date, but when Citadel demanded that we sign a separate contract and waive all their liability and we refused, they said we had effectively cancelled the event (despite our various attempts to reschedule) and were in breach for not making our final payment 30 days before the original wedding date, now already two months past. Never mind the fact that our contract had a Force Majeure clause that allowed us to reschedule to 12 months later should government action preclude the wedding from happening. Now, to continue with our wedding, we will have to sue Citadel who is unwilling to communicate with us or our attorney and have evidently done the exact same thing to others in the past. We are beside ourselves as to nature of this whole encounter and advise you to spend your money elsewhere. read more

We had our gala here in October and to this day, people still mention how beautiful the venue is. Alice, Jim, Nina and the rest of the staff are amazing and made the day very easy for us, as well as accommodated us more than any other venue I've worked with. The owner and her husband came to the event and introduced themselves to us and esteemed guests and were a pleasure to work with. I'd just started working for my institution weeks before the event and Alice and Jim jumped in and ensured that this was a success. We are already planning the 2017 gala and the citadel is #1 on our list. Amazing people, amazing customer service, and an amazing venue! read more

I was really overwhelmed when I started planning my wedding but when COVID hit I was a wreck. I felt like I was a total bridezilla and that I wouldn't be able to celebrate with my family like I truly wanted to. I am grateful for how helpful, flexible and patient Rebecca and Kellsie were with me through everything. When my vendors fell through they gave me new recommendations, when I couldn't host my wedding (originally scheduled in early May) they helped me move it to the fall, and when my wedding day arrived everything was smooth and perfect. I felt like I panicked for nothing because they had everything under control and were totally calm. I would recommend Citadel to anyone who is looking for peace of mind on their wedding day. read more

Citadel and your owners - you are a horrible, deceitful, empty place - void of any sense of humanity or respect for people. This PLACE and its OWNERS DISGUST me. The number one complaint that my husband and I have is that the owner, Sarah, and her husband are dishonest and manipulative people to the core. They made our entire experience so painful and traumatic that it took me this long to write the review. I could not express enough how much stress they put on us during the process and even on the day of our wedding. They did not let up their abuse and attacks - not even in the final hour (read on). Booking the Citadel was the absolute WORST decision we made for our wedding. I'll make this a list, as the issues are numerous and the emotional baggage is heavy: 1) Firstly, it looks like a fake castle from a Super Mario Bros. video game. The exterior is as fake and cheap as its owners. I hated it the first time I saw it, and I hate it more today. 2) The owner, Sarah, changed the price of the venue rental fee MULTIPLE times. Even up until 6 days before the wedding, she was still adding fees to the venue cost (despite the fact that we paid for a full venue rental ALL day)! The price quoted initially doesn't actually allow you use of the venue all day. They will add fees - but they will wait til your invites are sent and your hands are tied to tell you so. Sarah threatened to CANCEL the wedding more times than I can count. She made promises of champagne toasts, free linens, and discounted prices on décor - all of which she denied after the contract was signed. 3) We wanted to do a food tasting at Citadel before deciding if we wanted them do our food service. Sarah said food tastings were only for people who already paid for food service. Now, all logic cannot reason with this concept. How can you expect that we book food for 400 guests without trying it first (btw, we were the first big wedding that would be using their chef and we had zero references we could ask)? She was pissy about it, but eventually let us do a tasting - at which the food came out cold, had been defrosted, and gave us diarrhea. Needless to say, we did not book food with them and paid the buyout fee. We decided from that point on we would not book any more services with Citadel or its affiliates. 4) We met with Sarah and her coordinator, Jenna (who quit the DAY after our WD), to finalize costs, since we felt we were getting extorted and just wanted to know the bottom line price (this is about two months before the wedding, invites were already sent). The disrespect she showed my father and mother during this meeting made me feel my pulse in my mouth. Sarah was nothing short of a nasty, lying, emotional wreck that day. I told her that I could not accept the disrespect that she was showing us and that I didn't even care if we canceled the wedding because this was not what a wedding is about. We came close to walking out and cancelling the wedding - the only thing that saved Sarah was her coordinator Jenna, who pulled Sarah out of the room and came back in to get our temperatures under control. 5) 6 days before the wedding, we were told we would have to pay an additional ~$2500 to use the rig points on the ceiling to hang the flowers that had been a part of our design plan all along. I told them NO. (6) The day of the wedding, the decorator was not allowed to bring anything into the venue on carts. Citadel said they would only allow items that could be carried in by hand (just a ridiculous attempt to make it harder for us). (7) At the end of the night, as friends and family were helping to remove the remaining decorative items, food, and personal belongings BY HAND, the owner's husband was shouting at my parents to GET OUT of the venue, my mother reminded him that we had paid EXTRA to stay in the venue to break down for one more hour. He said he didn't care. He began verbally abusing my mother, father, and extended family members. The husband of the owner kept turning the lights off at the end of the night, so much of the breakdown was done in the dark. 8) They LOCKED MY MOTHER INSIDE THE VENUE! They shut the door and locked it! My father was just outside the door while my mom was taking one more look around to ensure we had taken everything we brought (she knew we would never see any personal items again if we left them there); when my father saw this, he began banging on the door. Finally, a worker emerged and guided my mother through a back way to get out of the building. ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE! I cannot believe people and businesses like this exist. Don't give Citadel the chance to interfere with your wedding or the most special moments of your life. There are many other places to have an event that will make you feel welcome and happy as the days approach. Citadel is a concrete box owned by people with concrete hearts; nothing and no one can change that. You can only choose to avoid them and their childish, demoralizing antics. read more

Oh where do I begin. Sara, the owner is nothing but rude, disrespectful and money hungry. I really don't know why she's in this business because she can really ruin someone's special event as she did with mine. From the beginning she had a very condescending attitude, putting down the other venues that we had booked our other wedding events. We paid for food that was catered by them and that was the biggest mistake. We ordered bistro steak and dijon crusted redfish with scallops and shrimp. Our sides were grilled vegetables & herbed white and wild rice. What was served on the day of the wedding was far from what we ordered. The wrong steak was served which wouldn't have been a big deal, but the steak they served was not sliced and they neglected to provide a steak knife; guests had trouble cutting the steak with a butter knife. Each entrée did not have steak and fish, scallops and shrimp as agreed upon and the venue started notifying guests that they ran out of fish. We booked the venue for 350 guests and 300 showed up. Sara assured us that they usually have more meals prepared just to be safe. Well that was a complete lie. Most guests who received the non-vegetarian meal only received steak with grilled vegetables and rice. Then they ran out of meat entrees altogether; my sister wanted the non-veggie option but was served pasta and told that were out of meat and fish. This also happened to a few other guests, including the groom's grandmother. They did not keep track of which tables were served. A few of my friends notified me that they were offered food twice! The groom and I both received our entree with cold steak without fish, scallops and shrimp. In total, we were very disappointed with the services rendered at our wedding, as it did not amount to what was paid and agreed upon. On top of all this Sara was unapologetic, had crazy stringent rules on the venue of which she comes up with ways to charge you any way she can and does not have the slightest clue on how to deliver customer service. She does not care about your special day or aid in making everything as smooth as possible to ensure you are happy. All the cares about is money and that is very clear. Sara, if you're going to call your venue of one that is upscale and of luxury as well as charge people the money for it, learn to have your attitude and customer service match. My guests thought the venue was beautiful but I was sure to let them and anyone know that I don't recommend it due to the horrible people behind the scenes. *** I warn you, please do not book your wedding here! read more

Walk in, be amazed. I went for a holiday party here. Their interior and exterior lighting is awesome. The holiday lighting was so impressive and picture-worthy! Everyone at my company ​was talking about it the next day. They loved the custom appetizers and the carving stations! read more

This venue is pretty amazing from the inside. Me and my hubby and friends went for a party here recently. The staff and bartenders were efficient and professional. The food lived up to its reputation as I had heard from my other acquaintances. I'm also invited to a wedding here and am looking forward to attending! read more

My wedding at Citadel was everything I could have imagined and more. My husband and I were so pleased with how everything turned out. The staff is excellent and made sure our big day went as smoothly as possible. We did the ceremony and reception indoors and the cocktail hour outside and it all turned out beautifully. The food was delicious, and my guests had nothing but good things to say about it (which was a big deal for me). The space in itself is breathtaking and I couldn't have pictured having my wedding anywhere else! I highly recommend this venue to all. read more

My sister got married here and our family experienced the worst possible service. The venue itself was beautiful, but the management service we received was preposterous. To start, we did not get the right entrees that we had ordered for the event. They gave us cold steak that was difficult to eat and simply not enjoyable. On top of that, they ran out of it even though we ordered more than we needed. I requested a steak dinner as they gave me cold pasta instead because they said they didn't have any more. I was the sister of the bride didn't get an appetizing meal. They didn't even provide us with steak knives, our guests were forced to eat badly cooked steak with butter knives. My family went in for a food tasting for the fish and steak and they loved it. But the day of the event, it was complete trash. This venue is very misleading and I would not recommend anyone to have an event here. You will be very disappointed and not get your money's worth. read more

​I had never been to The Citadel before but had heard and read about this venue in various magazines. So when I was invited to a wedding this month, I was certainly excited to check it out. My cousin had been searching for wedding venues and this seemed alike a God-sent opportunity to check out the venue by attending an actual wedding. Firstly, the venue is a lot closer to downtown than it seems on Google maps. With no traffic on Saturday, we got there in 12 mins flat by hopping on 288 south from downtown. Citadel is very close to the freeway. As we stepped out of the car, the first thing that catches your eye are the roof lights which spread around the building and look magnificent. Valet check in was a breeze. The outdoor patio had a bar set up with outdoor speakers playing holiday music. We took a few pics in front of the main door before we walked in as we had seen on the Citadel website that this was a good spot to take photos. Upon entering, the high ceilings and water wall look majestic. Waitstaff dressed in perfect uniforms with white gloves were very attentive to each guest. There was a small line at the bar but no more than 3 guests. The ceremony started promptly and the Enclave ballroom is as elegant if not more than than the one in our downtown church! The floor to ceiling windows make a good backdrop as the sun sets. The we headed for our assigned seats for dinner. Salad was crisp and the waitstaff was generous with the wine. We enjoyed table side cocktails. The steak dinner was the highlight of the night. I had read on the Citadel website that their chef was the one who had worked at The Omni hotel on riverway for over a decade. I knew this chef was good as I had been to a few weddings at the omni and was impressed already. Another guest on our table decided to go for a vegetarian option. It seemed to be a last minute change of mind but the waitstaff was extremely accommodating and served him in no time. The creme brulee with chocolate lava cake was to die for. Then we headed to the dance floor to work off the sumptuous meal we just finished. All in all memorable night. We decided to book Citadel for our wedding the next day. We're now working with Jim Gray who is the sale director and couldnt be happier with our choice of venue! read more