I wish someone had posted this much detail when I was looking for a venue, so here goes!
AMAZING experience. I booked the Cantina room with the outdoor space add-on. 5 STARS. From Tanya, my coordinator, Laura the bartender, Julio the DJ (the best!), Betty the chef and Roberto. THANK YOU all.
I should say, I did all my decorations myself as I wanted it to be exactly what I had planned. I will post pictures to show you how it turned out. When my guests walked into the room, they were shocked, how nice the decorations and theme was. The other parties stopped in and kept taking pictures.
First Tanya. I had so many questions and changes or clarifications and Tanya did the best to accommodate everything. She was creative and imaginative to make my birthday the best. She made the planning and day of less stressful for me. Ask for Tanya to be your coordinator. She will work with you to get your vision come to life.
Laura. She stepped in when Tanya was off and made the transition seamless. She did everything she could to make the day less stressful and was the bartender to boot. I was worried my 85 guests would have to wait in line for drinks, but they didn't. She kept up with the demand and knew what most of my guests were drinking before they even got to the bar for their second round. Laura did well in tips as my guests loved her.
Now the food. Everyone is talking about several things. The top of the list was the prime rib. Betty's prime rib could put the fancy steakhouses to shame. All the food was excellent and hot. Only 3 nits about the food. Appetizers: The lumpia didn't come out until after dinner and I had to ask. I am not sure what happened but once it came out my guests loved them. And the market board was supposed to be on risers, and it wasn't. It was served on regular boards. The second would be the desserts. I wanted a dessert bar with the desserts served in individual cups so I could make a dessert bar with a dry ice fog effect. They serve their desserts on a plate which is ok but not the look I wanted to fit in with my theme. Lastly, dinner was supposed to start at 5:30 but it didn't start until 6 pm when the other parties were starting which caused a crowd in the shared space hallways. Overall, I would give Betty and the chefs 5 stars and would have them cater my event again. The wait was worth the quality and taste of the food.
Roberto. Roberto helped me a lot. He met me at the venue several times to let me in to drop off and pick up, helped me load and unload my car. He is more behind the scenes guy but let me tell you, this guy is a keeper. He represents Encore very well!
Julio, the DJ! Made the entire party! SO much fun. My nieces loved him, and I would book him again and again. You rock Julio!
A few suggestions to make Encore Event Center more upscale.
1) Have tiered packages, like gold, silver, bronze levels that includes everything. Their pricing is confusing. Everything is priced out separately. There is a room rental fee, outside rental fee and it is just that. Nothing else comes with the rental. You have to add on chairs, linens, chargers, silverware, glasses, lounge furniture, alcohol, food, centerpieces, decorations, DJ, dance floor, lights etc. Plus, there is an 18% service fee, 5% accounting fee, taxes and gratuity on top. I thought the 18% should cover the gratuity. There is a gratuity line on the contract and invoice. Having all these fees, after everything was added up cost more than what I could have gotten the House of Blues downtown with all the decorations, food, bar, dj etc. included. I am very happy with how my event turned out, but it was a little pricey after everything was added up. For the price I paid, I expected the next items table stacks.
2) Parking. Day of event, they blocked off the parking directly in front of the space and we couldn't use it. Still not sure why. And the way they blocked it off was with construction zone like tape and orange cones. The first impression my guests had was of the parking lot being taped off. It looked tacky and like the venue was a low budget space. It isn't. It was gorgeous inside, but first impressions go a long way.
3) The restrooms are shared space for all the rooms. The restrooms were not the cleanest, there wasn't any soap in the ladies rr. My suggestion would be with that many parties going at the same time, someone should be attending to the restrooms all night.
4) The venue could use a makeover. The flooring is buckling, the landscaping is full of weeds and the outdoor space has a few trip hazards.
5) Clearing the tables after dinner. It seemed like their busing staff was working all three events and we couldn't start our speeches until everything was cleared which put us behind schedule.
Overall, 5 stars! read more