Melissa M.
Yelp
STAY AWAY IF YOU HAVE ALLERGIES! I am SO disappointed in this hotel as a wedding venue. Firstly, the hotel was incredibly crowded with two different wedding events occurring at the same time, with only one bar available.
BUT the biggest reason for this review is that eating at the venue almost caused me to go into anaphylactic shock due to their staff being unacknowledgeable. The staff was serving a "chicken satay", which to my understanding is just breaded chicken. There were no labels or titles on the appetizers being served, meaning every guest had to ask what each dish was. I picked up a piece of the chicken on a stick and asked the server "is this just breaded chicken", to which the reply was "yes".
After taking one bite, I knew instantly that the food contained some form of nuts. I turned back to the same server and asked what is in the breading, to which they responded "coconut crusted chicken". Hmmm. I'm not allergic to coconut, so I knew that something was wrong. Within a few minutes, I was vomiting and shaking, then starting to lose consciousness. I had to be taken to the ER and given a shot of epinephrine, then stayed until the late night, causing me to miss the entire wedding reception.
The next day, another guest with tree nut allergies told me that the server said the dish was "pecan coconut chicken". At this point, it was clear that the servers had no idea what they were serving, because the dish was said to be chicken satay, then coconut crusted chicken, then pecan crusted chicken.
Finally, I emailed the hotel asking their food policies regarding allergies, because I was considering taking legal action. A manager named Sue called me that same day asking for general information on the event, and I told her the story. Sue finally confirmed the dish was actually cashew coconut chicken, and promised that she would call me back with more information within the next few days. A week later, I had not heard anything back from Sue and no one had reached out. I called back, and was told that a manager would be in touch to discuss.
This morning, Sue got back in touch with me, however she was far less than helpful. Sue began the conversation by saying, "well our initial conversation was only a week ago and I needed to do some research"....her attitude already made me feel like a bother to her. She then continued to say that the groom's mother planned the entire event and should have specified allergies to tree nuts. When I responded asking why the servers gave me three different answers regarding the ingredients, Sue said I should have been more specific when asking them.
Excuse me? I understand the server could have misunderstood the question "is this just chicken on a stick". However, what are the reasons for the servers then saying the dish was coconut, then pecans, then cashews? If I knew from the start that I had ingested cashews, I could have more effectively treated my allergy from the start.
I am SO upset at this situation. The wedding was rescheduled twice, I had driven over 5 hours to be there, and saw only the ceremony. All of this because the servers had no idea what they were serving to guests.
AND, how in 2021 are you still mass serving a dish without any label or indication what is on/in the dish?
Sue could have offered any assistance at all to me, but instead she made me feel like it was my fault for missing this entire event, and a bother for bringing it up to her. She said that since I am considering taking legal action, she will no longer speak with me. There would not have been a need for any legal action if the hotel staff were informed, and if Sue could have offered any form of help.
I would never come to this hotel again, nor recommend any wedding event.