I co-hosted a wedding shower at this venue on August 14th. Without the assistance of family,…read morefriends, and the bridesmaids, it would have been an unmitigated disaster.
We booked the place at least three months earlier after meeting with then manager, Shannon. We were promised everything would be done: setup, linens on the table, and plates and silverware for 60 people. We ordered three sandwiches: chicken salad sandwich, vegetarian sandwich, and a turkey sandwich. Accompanying that was to be fruit salad and a green salad. Shower was to start at 12 noon and we made arrangements to come in at 10:30 a.m. to decorate and set out the cake and desserts.
The above was confirmed with new manager "Mitch" on August 3rd (at an in person meeting) and on August 12th (during a telephone call). We also advised him that we would be paying in cash to avoid any credit card service fees. He responded that that would not be a problem.
We arrived the morning of the shower at 10:30 a.m. to find a gentleman mopping the floor and absolutely NOTHING prepared. There were no tablecloths on the table - nor could any be found - and my sister was told upon arrival that they were "not sure if they even had plates and utensils for 60 people"!
I immediately went out to find tablecloths and plates and, luckily, my sister-in-law had several linens that she brought over and we were able to cover the tables. I purchased appetizer and dessert plates just in case they were needed (and yes, they were needed). Our group had to set up the extra tables while the venue managed to scrounge up two black tablecloths for those two tables.
The shower started at noon and I noticed the appetizers were not yet put out. However, two of the sandwiches, the chicken salad and the vegetarian, were sitting out at the end of the serving area. Just sitting there in what has to be the sorriest presentation of food I have ever seen. The chicken salad was to have lettuce and tomato on it and the vegetarian, which was "chef's choice", was a spread of hummus, with some having sprouts and/or a tomato on it.
I asked for the appetizers to be put out and when they arrived the amount served was woefully inadequate for the number of people it was contracted to serve. Also, they were brought out without serving utensils and without the dip to go with the veggies. There were no appetizer plates put out so we used those bought at the beginning of the day.
Since the sandwiches were on the counter, people began lining up to eat and I had to announce several times that we were still missing the two salads and the turkey sandwiches. They were finally brought out - had to wait again for the salad dressings - and it did not take very long for the salad to be depleted. When they were advised that the salad bowl needed to be replaced, we were told that that was all that was to be given. They were advised that the salad was to serve 60 and that only little more than 1/2 of the guests had eaten. They did eventually bring another salad to serve.
Another embarrassment happened when the bartender tried to charge a guest $3.00 for her diet Coke (soft drinks were included in our deal). She declined to pay.
At the end of the event, after cleaning up, we were presented with a bill that included the service charge. We asked to speak to Mitch about a reduction in the bill based on the horrible experience and the bartender told us that Mitch said there would be no reduction and that the bill was "as is". We demanded to speak with him and said we were not paying the full price.
Mitch appeared and, during the back and forth, it came out that (1) the real chef was on vacation and he was handling the chef's duties; (2) that because he was obligated to attempt to fill the chef's role, he was running around trying to do everything himself. He claimed it was due to being short-staffed but it is apparent that it was a lack of preparation; and (3) that he thought that the tablecloths were only needed for the 2 extra tables, despite stating at our August 3rd meeting that he would need to order them. We received a nominal credit to the bill.
The venue itself was very nice, especially when decorated by the family and friends of the bride. The guests were happy to celebrate our bride and, hopefully, the bad food and faulty service will be overlooked and will not reflect poorly on the hosts and family. Thankfully, we were able to bring in our own delicious desserts - cream puffs, tarts, cheesecake with berries, Irish soda bread, and cake - and they went a long way to making up for the bad food. The salads, and the lemon vinaigrette dressing, were particularly good.
The bride enjoyed her shower (thankfully, she was too busy to eat!) and, at the end of the day, that made the event a success.
I would not recommend The Copper Cup to anyone looking for an event space until they get a better, more knowledgeable team in place.
