Black Forest in Green Bay

Laura10482

Has anyone ever been to or had their wedding at the Black Forest in Green Bay.  We have absolutely fallen in love with this place.  It is so unique and beautiful and so rustic looking.  The only thing is that we have heard some questionable things about their financial status.  It would be such a nightmare to book our wedding there and then find out that they are going out of business.  We also would like to know about the quality of their food and service.  Any advise would be appreciated! 

KatieD212

I have heard good things about it.  I am standing up in a wedding this summer and they are doing a rehearsal dinner there!  Sorry, that doesn't help you much!

lizm336

We are having our Wedding at the Black Forest, or I guess I should say we might be having it there.  I got nervous when I read your post the other day and last night my fiance's parents talked to us about moving the reception becasue they haven't heard good things about the service on the wedding day and his mom wasn't impressed when we sampled the food just the other day.  

I have fallen in love with the Black Forest.  When we found it we took the day to think about booking it and even ate at the restaurant, which was really great.  I'm kicking myself becasue I had done so much research on every other part of the wedding but we never looked up reviews.  We're 6 months away from our wedding, I can't believe that this is happening now.  I have been picturing our reception there, and planning how I would decorate, I love how unique it is. I really don't want our wedding in a banquet hall, it doesn't reflect our style but I may have to compromise.

FI's dad thinks for special events they get food that is precooked and reheat it because the beef tips we tried were tough.  Personally I thought the food we tried was ok, but not nearly as good as what we had at the restaurant.  FI also reminded me that the Banquet manager was difficult to get a hold of when we wanted to put down the deposit to hold the date.

I'm doing some research today, talking to my other vendors to see what they think of the Black Forest, I'll let you know what I find out.

I'm curious what you heard about their financial status?

Here's a link to 2 reviews: http://www.weddingwire.com/reviews/black-forest-dining-and-spirits-green-bay/34c6f39e2a7f72ac.html

kagarvin

I called them when we were trying to book our wedding and I got a very short email back basically saying they didn't have the time to go over things with me but if I was still interested to contact them at a different time. It was really bizarre. Not what I would have expected but it is a gorgeous location I've heard. Good luck if you go with them!!

lizm336

I spoke to a bride that had her wedding there last July and the only negative thing she had to say was that she had to repeat herself a few times, I guess they were a little forgetful?  

I also spoke to my dj and he said that he's had good experiences with the current banquet manager, but did have problems with the one before her.

I also spoke to a wedding planner, she said she's done a bunch of weddings there and had one bride complain about the food service after the wedding.  She thought it was weird that the bride didn't come to her during the wedding so she could fix the problem for her.  So the problem could have been miscommunication or just a difficult bride.

I really want to stick with them but I'm still unsure about the type of service we're going to get on the day of the wedding.  A few people suggested hiring a day of coordinator to make sure things go smoothly but I don't know if it's in our budget.

Laura, what have you heard about their financial status?

Mr&MrsLaudolff

We too are having our reception at the Black Forest in October... after reading the post yesterday I got a little nervous myself. We tried stopping there a couple of weeks ago for lunch because there is a coupon in the entertainment book, and they no longer serve lunch, that kind of struck me as odd.

We had some friends last year that had to deal with SC Grand closing a few months before their wedding. We are now looking into Wedding Insurance, but will be calling Black Forest to see if they have anything to say. My mom suggested looking into the “you ask, we investigate” with one of the news channels around there.

Laura10482

Sorry, I've been away from the computer for a few days. My parents live in the Green Bay area and they went there last weekend for the restaurants 3 year anniversary party.  They were talking with a relator that they met there and she was saying she thought they were in bankruptcy.  I guess there are all different levels of bankruptcy, but it still doesnt sound good.  We looked it up online and found nothing.  Then my FI and I stopped by there a couple days ago just to look at it again and talked with a bartender there.  He said he knew nothing about any financial problems and he actually thought they were doing really good.  The man that owns it is very wealthy and owns many properties in Green Bay.  I just dont know what to think.  Its such a beautiful place and as you have said I can just picture my wedding there. 
We have not sampled the food yet, but defiantly want to before we book anything.  Did they offer you anything on the banquet menu.  When we were there and asked about sampling the food that we select the woman's response was kind of strange.  She said we could eat in the restaurant anytime and to come for the Sunday brunch.  I would rather taste the banquet food. 
Thats a great idea to look into the you ask, we investigate news channel.  We have also been asking around a ton.
As we find out any more information I will be sure to post it.  If any of you hear anything else I would really appreciate hearing about it.  Hopefully everything will work out.... Its such a beautiful place!!

lizm336

There is a link to a PDF on this page http://www.blackforestdining.com/banquets.html

for the "Banquet Menu 2011" with pirces and meal styles

When you book them for the reception you get one free meal tasting and can bring a bunch of people too.  So you would probably have to schedule a meeting with her and pay for one if you haven't booked them.  I think she was trying to tell you that the best thing to do is eat at the restaurant becasue what they have on the banquet menu they also offer on the restaurant menu.  Asked her if the food is prepared any differntly for banquets than it is in the resaurant.  The only difference is that they have the Executive chef prepare the banquet meal during the event and have the sous chef in the restaurant.  I still need to get some clairification if the food is precooked of site at all before the event I guess my future father-in-law heard that some places do that?  I don't think they do though, they have a kitchen upstairs.

lizm336

My fiance's Dad did some research on the owner, Paul Kaczwroski, in the Wisconsin Court System and found some bad things.  

We're now reconsidering having our reception at the Black Forest.  We're going to talk to his dad about what he found out about the owener.  You might want to do some research on him.