California-San Diego

Stone Brewery-Hidden charges

Just a heads up, ladies.  I love Stone and we really wanted to do our reception there.  We chose the option of the smaller banquet room with the attached Bocci ball court (One of the two courts came with the room) for our reception.  We did the walk through and asked all the usual qustions regarding pricing.  After weighing our options, we did finally settle on Stone an requested a contract.  To our surprise, burried in the contract was a non-negotiable additional 20% service charge. No, this was not for the gratuity,which is standard.  This was an ADDITIONAL service fee that was never mentioned and that was clearly stated as not a gratuity.  NONE of the other venues we considered had this, and the coordinators at the other venues were baffled by this as much as we were.  We put a call in to our coordinator and left a message for her that we had some quetions about this and never received a return call.  This whole senario caused us to tear up the contract and start our search over again.  (Ugh!)  Ultimately, we found a better suited venue with no hiden charges, but it was a stressful experience,  I still love Stone, and think it could be a great venue.  Just be sure to ask about this charge if you are considering it.  Had it been brought up in our initial walkthrough, I probably would have agreed to it.  The lack of mention though, made it feel very shadey.  

Re: Stone Brewery-Hidden charges

  • lc07lc07 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    Our caterer had a service charge. Every caterer I inquired with had one. 18-22% was normal. It did not include the gratuity.
  • I am getting married at a country club, and i think ours is 20% too; every venue we went to (and i went to prob 25 venues) had it.  I think it is very common. They should have been upfront with it since its such a common fee. 
  • Strange!  None of the other venues we talked to had a service charge in ADDITION to the standard 18%-21% gratuity.  Tom Ham's, Bali Hai, C-Level, The Prado.  They all just had a minimum food and beverage and the gratuity.  Stone was the first to hit us with this.  
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