Villa Lombardi's was the first catering hall that we looked at. Having been to the Lombardi's in the past, we knew they do a wonderful job and their food is always top notch. I am not sure of his title (catering director?) but the person who showed us around and went over pricing detail was Craig. While we really loved the Villa, it seemed to be out of our budget for a Saturday wedding. Craig asked us where else we were looking and we went over our list with him:
East Wind
Miller Place Inn
Bellport Country Club
Gerogios
Criag had negative things to say about each venue which we thought was unprofessional but we didn't give it much thought.
We proceeded to thank Craig for his time and on our way out, Craig asked us to give him a call before we book a venue and he would speak to the Lombardi's and see what he can do. We kept that in the back of our mind as we went to look at other venues.
Our tour of East Wind was great. Elizabeth took great care of us and we had a really great feeling about the place, it was in our budget and were just about to book with them when we got a call from Craig for Villa Lombardi's asking how our search was going. We informed him that we were close booking with East Wind because we liked the Venue a lot and because it was in our budget. Craig asked us what East Wind quoted us and when we told him $85 per person ++, he said he would be able to match that quote because we were such a "nice couple". Very surprised and excited, we agreed to come down the following day to go over everything. Craig just asked that we bring in our written quote from East Wind and we would have a deal. So we meet Craig at Villa Lombardi's the following day. Craig immediately asked for the written quote from East Wind and started bashing the venue. For 10-15 minutes Craig claimed that he used to work for East Wind and proceeded to tell us bad things about the food, the kitchen and the facility. This really rubbed us the wrong way. After our quick tour of Villa Lombardi's, we went up to Craig's office. Craig leaves the room with our East Wind quote and comes back with bad news.
1. They don't have our date
2. They will not match the price
I almost fell off my chair.
Craig told us he could give us a deal on a Friday wedding (our date was a Saturday and he knew that) Then he tried to convince us to move our date from September to the winter which we didn't want.
We were shocked by his behavior and unprofessionalism.
We didn’t call him to try to get the price down. He called us. He said he would match their price for Saturday in September and we told him the price over the phone. He basically asked us to come in so he could bash the competition and then go back on his word that he would match the price.
Lombardi’s has a reputation that stands on its own. They don’t need such an unscrupulous person like Craig running their catering operation.
Apparently Craig has been with the Lombardi’s for the past 6 months. I don’t know if their operation has changed in the past 6 months but I would advise anyone thinking about booking with Lombardi’s to use caution and know what kind of a businessman you are going to be dealing with.