The Empire Club

sdot244

Hey all!!! so has anyone been to The Empire Club in Little Ferry, NJ. Or has had a wedding there? please let me know how was your experience there...im recently engaged and im looking for a venue... i am also going to see the Women's Club of Glen Ridge.....

JoBell123

I've been there and I'm actually going again for another event this weekend.  It's nice for a dinner dance (as I've been to there) or party, but I don't think it's anything special for a wedding.

I can report back on Sunday after I'm there again, but from what I remember from last year, I wouldn't recommend it for a wedding.

Denise91980

I have never been to a wedding there, but we did look there when we were venue hunting. We really liked the bar area. We just didn't like how it was in a very residential area (literally amongst houses) or that there wasn't much of an outdoor space. When we were looking, they were supposed to be rennovating the outside area, so I am not sure what it looks like now. I do remember them being reasonably priced and offering a pretty decent menu.

mbcdefg

My mom went to a shower there and said it was nice, so we went to check it out for our wedding back in 2009.

MH really liked the bar area. The outdoor area was really a turnoff, though ... like Denise said, it's just plunked down in the middle of a residential neighborhood. It'd work better if you have another place for the ceremony and photos ... if you need all of that to be on the reception site, I'd look elsewhere.


I think it's good if you'll have about 100 guests or less. Maybe 125 at the absolute max. The ballroom seemed a bit small. If we'd had a smaller guest list, we would've considered it more seriously ... the person we met with (Chris) was nice, the pricing was good and they seemed very willing to negotiate on pricing and menu options.

alykat216

I was there about 10 years ago for a wedding and I had remembered it being a good wedding. We went to look there but did not book it.  The pros: 1- the guy we met with was willing to work with us and honestly I felt would do anything I asked, they seemed very accomodating and had a large selection of food and drinks 2- you would be the only wedding there 3- it was in our price range.  The cons: 1- it is stuck right in the middle of a residential area, you don't get that "wow" feeling when you drive up to it (mind you we had just come from The Manor where the outside grounds are beautiful) 2- they had said they recently re-did the inside but it didn't look that way, it looked like it needed a face lift 3- the bathrooms were small so we had concerns that our guests would have to wait on line to use the bathroom.  Good Luck!

VivianM27

I'm having my wedding there later this year. Here's what I can tell you: Agree about the residential area being a little strange, and the outdoor area being small. We are not having our ceremony there, so this didn't matter to us. Ballroom: beautiful, but on the smaller side. Recently renovated in nice neutrals. Granite dance floor - pretty. Food: from our tasting, delicious! Best filet mignon and salmon I have ever had, and I'm hard to impress (I think most steakhouses suck e.g. Ruths chris) When we were there visiting, a family came to pick up their items from the wedding the night before, and they mistook us for staff (dunno why) and were raving about the food. Price: best price for a place that is newly renovated and looks most like a banquet hall. We saw all sorts of leas expensive places that were in a church or a sports club or along those lines, and they all showed it. And we're prob paying about 1/3-1/2 less than the average banquet hall. One wedding at a time - and that usually means the place as a whole is smaller. Other halls may have bigger bathrooms but there are guests from 3-4 weddings sharing the same bathrooms. Other perks: built in uplighting, screens and use of their gobo is included just have to pay for the monogram. This is a big $ saver. Pm if you have any questions.

HobokensFury

We went there while venue hunting.  We liked the inside but the residential area and "outdoor' space were a turn off.  We still considered booking because of the price and the fact that there is only 1 wedding at a time until a friend when to a wedding there last summer and the strawberries were rotten.  We crossed it off of our list then.

brendapc

My sister in law got married there 2 years ago. I thought the food was ok but they loved it....i can share some pictures of what the inside looked like for the wedding in a pm if you like....

michellemac14

The Empire Club was one of the 12 venues we saw when we went venue hunting. It was also the worst place we saw. When FH and i went there to look the one thing we liked a lot was (1) one wedding at a time (2) the price VERY VERY reasonable and negotiable (3) it's a family owned business and Chris was very very nice..... things that turned us off (1) the outside part for ceremony (the online pictures made it looked bigger than it really is) (2) the portable fireplace thing they had next to the bar (LOL i know it's stupid but FH thought it was tacky lol) (3) the bathrooms were supposedly renovated but it didnt look it. NOW for the tasting; i took my Matron of Honor with me since DH was sick and we really wanted to book the place inspite of the 3 things we didnt like. OMGGG the hors 'deourves we only like maybe 2 out of what they served. The salad i literally spit it out after i took one bite... yes it was that awful... for the main course the filet mignon was horrible and the chicken she didnt even touch... for dessert they gave us tortufo it was heavenly but guess what, it isnt included in the dessert package. And for the icing on the cake, when my MOH was halfway through her dessert, she saw an ant on the inside of her bowl!!!! I did tell John about it after the tasting was over and he was mortified. Im sure this doesnt happen all the time but it happened to me and it's just something that stuck with me and left a bad taste in my mouth.

Good Luck Venue Shopping Hope that helped!

goaliegirl

My sister in law got married there a few years ago and while it is a decent place, the food was just OK.   Sure it is in a residential area, but to be honest...once you are inside you don't even know where you are.  They had their ceremony there inside and it was very nice.      It isn't one of the best places around but I wouldn't say it is the worst place I have ever been to..kind of somewhere in the middle.

VivianM27

I just want to point out that sometime in the past few years, new owners bought it. I'm not sure exactly when, but I know it was fairly recently.  So things may very well be different from when many of you have gone there.

NJgurl19

It's location is weird, although affordable I got the same price for The Tides in North Haledon which is way nicer.