The Pearl is a beautiful space run by people who are interested in nothing more than finding every way they can to cheat naive people (us included) out of their money. Should you be interested in holding your event with them, make sure you ask for a line item cost breakdown and reach out to caterers prior to putting down a non-refundable deposit, as once you learn the machinations behind their complete lack of ethical conduct, they will certainly not return your money.
We planned to host our event with The Pearl, toured the venue, and they send their friendliest, most helpful event manager, Carrie, to assist in selling the space to you. We asked Carrie if we would be permitted to use food trucks for the event in lieu of their preferred caterer list, as the venue and bar minimum for New Year's Eve itself was a bit higher than our venue budget. Carrie told us that we "should" be able to and even recommended a company, Off the Grid, to aid us in this endeavor.
It was only after reaching out to the company (after multiple tries and no response) that we learned that Off the Grid's proposal was as high, if not higher than every other caterer on the list.
Additionally, half of their caterers were unresponsive to requests for an estimate.
Through reaching out to one potential caterer who was actually responsive, we learned that The Pearl was charging hidden "kitchen use" fees to us through the catering companies, at the rate of an additional $3000. This caterer informed us that The Pearl, unlike other venues, folded this fee into catering packages, and while not all caterers would be up front about the cost and that it was mandated by the venue, they would all be charging us for it in some way or another.
Prior to signing the contract, we asked The Pearl if janitorial services were included, as we did not see them listed in the contract. They informed us that yes, these services were included. Only after speaking with caterers did we learn that in fact, the only "janitorial" services The Pearl covers are sweeping and that we would be forced to keep the caterers at the event hours after food service had concluded in order to provide actual janitorial services, per The Pearl's requirement of caterers. This added astronomical and unnecessary labor costs in estimates, simply because The Pearl was negligent in being honest about the scope of their janitorial services.
Lastly, when, due to our own naivete, we realized labor costs are nearly double on New Year's Eve (this is on us, as we should have better done our research beforehand), we asked if we could move the date up by one day -- this request was made in March or April, nearly 9 months from the event date, and before The Pearl had planned or executed anything for our event. They said we could, however we would forfeit the deposit we made ($6000+) in order to do so.
Though Carrie attempted to work with us and was far more helpful than anyone we spoke with at The Pearl, it became evident that the people who own The Pearl are interested in nothing but scamming people out of their money while offering nothing but an empty space for it.
If you're interested in a venue in San Francisco, our recommendations would be The Galleria, The Legion of Honor, Monroe SF (where we'll be having ours), or literally anywhere else that has a modicum of integrity in their business practices and will be up front with you regarding costs, as The Pearl lacks any such moral fiber. read more