I kind of dig REO Town. It's not Old Town, but I like that's it's not trying to be either. It has…read moreits own vibe. Just a quick skip across I-496 from downtown Lansing, the shops, salons, and eateries offer a small town feel as there's just enough walkability/bike access. However, it has plenty of edgy eclectic charm to balance the adjacent park and garden spaces making it an attractive location for many festivals. The anchors of the area include GM's Grand River Assembly Plant. the Board of Water & Light that occupies a former train depot, and several visual and performing arts hubs. The area has seen good BBQ, coffee, craft beer, New American, breakfast, and pizza but longevity continues to be a challenge. Even this month's review, REO Town Clubhouse, has gone through a change over the last 24 months having just been Ellison's Brewing Co. which we reviewed in August of 2023. REO Town Clubhouse took over a massive footprint on S. Washington and benefits from the previous facility upgrade work turning the warehouse into a brewhouse. The transition to the Clubhouse has been nothing short of extraordinary with modern lighting, seating, and décor in abundance. Marketed as an Italian restaurant, pizza shop, event space, and pool hall, REO Town Clubhouse aims to have a lasting place in the area and serve as a new anchor for entertainment. Walking in and you will be immediately taken aback by the sheer vastness. To the left, you'll find the upstairs event space, which is spacious and lovely, as is the main dining room on the first floor. To the right sits the pool hall, which is also quite large offering sharks and beginners alike enough room to run the table. In the middle sits the pizza shop with its rounded stone hearth oven shrouded in beautiful teal tile. What's Uneven? The brunch menu is intriguing, offering many traditional American breakfast items and others with a more Italian flare. I arrived around 11 on a Sunday morning with my much better half and the littlest of my daughters, having seen the brunch service started at 9 AM on REO Town Clubhouse's own social media. We walked into a mostly empty restaurant and a service crew that seemed to be scrambling to find their sea legs as coffee had not yet been brewed and the waitstaff, while very pleasant, reminded me of a team that hadn't yet had their first cup of coffee yet either. The food was also fairly uneven. My Biscuits and Gravy ($15) was quite tasty. The gravy was creamy and savory with notes of black pepper and the biscuits were dense enough to stand up to the gravy but not sit too heavy afterwards. The golden fried potatoes were crispy, and the sausage patties were large and packed with sage flavor. My much better half enjoyed a Bloody Mary ($9) that had a Caprese skewer atop the glass. She also ordered the Sweet Crespelle Crepes ($15) that looked better than they tasted. The lemon curd overpowered the palette, and the Sugar Cured Ham ($4) is an absolute waste of protein and money. Limp and lifeless with not a single hint of sugar to be found nor a streak of a sear on the meat itself. What's Better I met a mentor/friend/colleague for lunch and had a much better experience. We both ordered the Lunch Pasta Combo. The Caesar salads were fresh and plentiful, especially to be part of lunch combos. I had the Spaghetti and Meatballs ($14) and though the crushed tomatoes will never be my favorite, the meatballs were large and packed with layers of garlic, herbs, and parmesan cheese. The pasta was a bit overcooked, but the dish overall was solid. My companion ordered the Chicken Alfredo ($16) and said it was one of the best she'd ever had. Thick and creamy alfredo sauce was a yummy revelation. The chicken was more well done than I typically care for but spot on for her. She wanted me to be sure to relay that she would return at least 17 times. Best Bite The Fried Shrimp ($16) with a Calabrian pepper sauce were very good. The breading on the shrimp had been fried hard enough to withstand the oil and butter-based bath in which they rested. The sauce was tasty and perfectly spicy for lunch.

I've brought my other half here for dinner twice! Our first time, we were impressed with quality…read moreservice though the food could have used more seasoning. Service was so good I'd give 4/5 for the first visit, even with bland food. Our second trip was substantially better. A bottle of wine, an app, two entrees, plus an exceptional server. Reese (sp) provided just the right amount of attentiveness. 5/5. Will be back.

We used all grand events for our summer wedding last year for both floral / design and planning…read more Lynette and Emily are THE BEST! They truly did an amazing job to create the wedding of our dreams.

The best investment we made for our daughter's wedding! Lynette is an amazing wedding planner!!…read more She worked with us and helped us keep on top of important needed items. But, she shined even more the day of the wedding. She is an absolutely incredible wedding planner! Her skills and experience seamlessly kept the wedding moving with no interruptions. She magically changed "sets' and broke down chairs and moved them without our guests noticing. She calmed nerves, cared, had compassion, and led the troops with a loving and assertive coolness. My husband's words, immediately after the reception ended, were "Lynette, I doubted getting a wedding planner early on but you've far exceeded my expectations! Thank you!" We highly recommend Lynette and All Grand Events for your wedding.

My daughter is having her official wedding this coming Aug 4, 2018. Weddings by Nicole was…read morereferred to us by the venue along with a long list of other wedding planner/decorators, but we ended up wanting to just go with the referral. My daughter reached out to her on and scheduled what she thought would be her first appointment to secure her services for her event, her appointment was cancelled due to the heater at her facility not working this happened about 7 more times with various cancellation excuses that ranged from health problems with her husband and father, out of town, left phone at another venue and so on, this happened from April 4 all the way to the beginning of June 2018. After every cancellation, my daughter tried to reach out to reschedule just to be met with either lack of response or yet another cancellation. I would have thought that she had staff that wold be able to assit in the event of emergencies like this but I guess not. The young couple then decided that they were not going to use her but I the mother said to give her another chance which they did. I took over and began to communicate with the owner and through our first email conversation, she said she was glad to be dealing with me because my daughter was young and she (my daughter) was the reason why none of the appointments had worked in the past (which my daughter has all of the text communication messages saved from them both)? This left a bad taste in the young couples mouth, we began exchanging ideas, colour schemes and pricing to see if we could afford her prices to what we wanted to be done as well as to see if she could pull off what the young couple wanted which was not a lot at this point. Two and a half weeks in the owner of Weddings by Nicole kept asking for a good faith deposit to secure her services which I promised once we locked down the pricing and what her services would be performed on the day of the event. I sent a final copy of our back and forth decisions to the young couple and was awaiting their approval to go ahead and secure the deposit and services of this business. The next day I received a threating email saying if I did not secure with a payment within 24 hours she would not be doing business with us. this woman cancelled over 7 appointments for a span of two whole months prior to her actually trying to do business with us and she had the audacity to say that she could not wait a couple of days in securing a payment and her services. This business will never be referred by me or anyone involved in our event and the venue will be notified of this businesses and own lack of professionalism and responsible to their clients and their desired services. This owner had terrible communicating skills if any and not being able to keep her professional appointments with clients was the icing on the cake. Now with the event a month away we are forced to see if there is anyone else that can assist us in pulling this events decoration off.

As a bride, I heard wonderful things about her. At first she was easy to work with, and made me…read morethink I was going to have the wedding of my dreams. Keyword, think. My wedding day came, and my flowers were a huge disappointment, some looked dead, and when confronted she had an excuse. They weren't as big and grand as she stated and when something didn't go as planned, it was never her fault. It was the chapels fault or the reception venue's fault. I'm lucky I had wonderful parents and inlaws to help fix everything Nicole didn't deliver on.

So I had a chance to work with Sharon on my wedding party/2nd reception. I gave her a budget I…read morewanted to stay under and she worked with me! She said she was even willing to price match! I liked that she knew the venue really well and knew what tools she had that could work in order for the backdrop to be done! I showed up to my venue and it looked amazing! The backdrop was beautiful sequin silver and the chair covers stayed on nicely throughout the night!

Sharon was the best! I used Doves in Flight for my son's and daughter in law's wedding. Sharon…read moreprovided the beautiful pink table overlays and also Dave that were released after the wedding and fluffy curly Doves at the reception. Everything that Sharon provided was first class! Sharon's knowledge of what was needed for the wedding was spot on. The pricing was very reasonable. I truly enjoyed working with Sharon . She was always very kind and easy to work with! To say the least, I received so many compliments on the releasing of the Doves and the Doves at the reception. They were absolutely beautiful! (We saw the Dove house previously and the Doves live in a home that is absolutely stunning - they are well cared for!) Without a doubt I HIGHLY recommend Doves in Flight for any occasion.

We lost about $6,000 here. We made a full deposit, then decided this wasn't the right place for us…read more Alison refused to refund even half of the $6,000, even though she quickly rescheduled it with another couple on the same date. We ended up losing around $6,000.

I can't even explain to you about how friendly and kind and hard working this place is I got…read moremarried may 5th and I can't thank the crew enough we changed our date multiple times and had a hard time paying and she completely worked around us to help us! The venue with all the animals its self is beautiful but if you don't pick this place you're just crazy you're missing out on a whole new family you never knew you needed! Thank you so much Alison!

TLDR: There are plenty of other venues you can use for a large or intimate event. Choose them. I…read morewish we would've. I would leave zero stars if that were an option, the one star could be for the serving/bar staff, they were nice. Thats where my positives end. The people we worked with Kirk and Wendy were extremely difficult to deal with and my pregnant cousin was left in tears on what should've been one of the happiest days of her life. I helped my cousin plan their baby shower there. It seemed that everything was fine, my cousins decided to announce in the middle of their baby shower that they eloped. Wendy was told when we arrived 45 minutes before the baby shower while we were setting up and she was super encouraging as we are carrying things out and cleaning up we found that she completely changed her tune and they tried to charge over $3500 more than originally quoted for food and an intimate wedding package (which came with additional food, time and dozens of amenities we didn't use or were even offered to us to use) we received nothing additional from the service we originally were invoiced and agreed to. It was truly unbelievable we took 10 minutes out of our 4 hr party to celebrate them getting married and they said "the baby shower was secondary" (ACTUAL QUOTE) where we did literally 6 baby shower games, baby shower gifts, all the decor and cake (including a gender reveal cake) and party favors were all about the baby. It was really heartbreaking and can't believe they would berate a pregnant woman like that at her event.

If I could give negative 5 for customer service I would. Devasting…read more TLDR: There are plenty of other venues you can use for a large or intimate event. Choose them. I wish we would've. I have been to this venue for a number of events in Jackson. We personally haven't chosen to book for family events mainly because they require in house catering and the food is mediocre at best. However, we try supporter local businesses and nonprofit's. My experience completely took me by surprise, in the worst way. The serving/bar staff, they were nice. Thats where the positives end. The people we worked with, Kirk and Wendy, were extremely difficult to deal with and my pregnant niece was left in tears on what should've been one of the happiest days of her life. It seemed that everything was fine, my niece and nephew decided to announce in the middle of their baby shower that they eloped. Since our entire family would be there. Wendy was told when we arrived an hour before the baby shower while we were setting up and she was super encouraging. However, as we are carrying things out and cleaning up we found that she completely changed her tune and they tried to charge over $3500 more than originally quoted for food and an intimate wedding package (which came with additional food, time and dozens of amenities we didn't use or were even offered to us to use) we received nothing additional from the service we originally were invoiced and agreed to. It was truly unbelievable we took 10 minutes out of our 4 hr party to celebrate them getting married and they said "the baby shower was secondary" (ACTUAL QUOTE) where we did literally 6 baby shower games, baby shower gifts, all the decor and cake (including a gender reveal cake) and party favors were all about the baby. It was really heartbreaking and can't believe they would berate a pregnant woman like that at her event. WE WILL NEVER USE CASCADE MANOR AGAIN. And we are spreading the word about their service, lack of compassion and poor communication to everyone we know in the business communities we work with

Love this spot and this couple! Due to Covid- our wedding venue got canceled 3 weeks before our…read morewedding and I went into a panic! This was one of the only options and they were willing to accommodate EVERYTHING. Chris and Mary were our photographers as well. Sweetest couple ever!! They made our wedding day spectacular despite all the negativity going on in this world. I would recommend them 100X over and over again and this location!

I can't say enough positive things about my experience here with Chris and Mary. The facility…read moreitself was stunningly beautiful, but what really makes this place amazing was Mary and her unwavering support. I could visibly see my bride and mothers shoulders relax after meeting Mary for the first time, a few weeks before the wedding. Mary had all sorts of supplies we could use (all for free) and really knew her stuff. During our rehearsal, Mary instructed everyone to come to her on the day of the wedding. Not me (the groom), not my mother, not the bride, but her. She played the QB and handled everything. Guys, and girls, in a world where couples getting married are nickled and dimed for every little thing, this place is the opposite. Never once did Mary say something like "Sure, we can do that for an extra fee". Everything was "Oh sure, here's what I have, what do you think?" You can tell both Chris and Mary really enjoy their work. I have nothing but glowing comments to say about them and their facility. I would recommend them a hundred times over if I could. Go with them and their facility, you won't regret it.

I attended the Frozen-themed party at the Williamston Sun Theater with my grand-daughters and was…read moreleft with the impression that this organization is Not-Ready-For-Primetime. While the event was fun with a lot of energy from the mom's and little dressed-up princesses, the logistics of the event were awful. Hand held microphones did not work so only the first 10 rows of the sold out theater could hear the banter from Elsa & Anna. The subsequent directions to queue up for pictures and face-painting could not be heard either so the audience stood in lines for the next hour. The upside ... concession prices were kid-friendly, but the lack of organization for this event left me with a chill. :(