Reviews for Black Rock Oceanfront Resort
Reviews
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![Andrea]()
Andrea Sent on 08/07/2025Beautifully curated wedding at the Black Rock
We recently held our wedding at the Black Rock on June 21, 2025. The venue is exactly what we wanted for our small intimate affair of 20 people. When we booked the venue ~1 yr ago, the event manager at the time (no longer there) was rather inflexible and unaccommodating , however our experience with the new staff at the venue couldn’t have been more different. The wedding packages are structured, but they provided plenty of flexibility within them to more than meet our needs. They were communicative and clear, offered plenty of helpful suggestions for the planning, and were extremely pleasant and professional. Antonia really put us at ease with her competency in organizing the Black Rock staff and the AV materials for our slideshow. The canapés and dinner was exquisite and generous (we had a plated dinner), and the cake was beautifully done.
I consider myself a pretty easy-going bride and we did not do a lot of fussy details (flowers, decorations, DJ, etc.) so we had a very seamless experience at the Black Rock. Our guests raved about it as one of the nicest weddings they’ve been to.
The contract is a bit daunting, with clauses to fill rooms for your guests. This was a concern for us, and put us under some pressure to encourage our guests to stay at the Black Rock instead of elsewhere (Airbnb, other less expensive hotel, camping). We had no issues with it though, everyone happily signed up for a few luxury nights, and we weren’t charged a cent against this contact clause.
I would absolutely recommend a wedding at the Black Rock based on our recent experience. Top notch! -
Rosieanderic Sent on 05/07/2025
Amazing Wedding!
We had our wedding on June 26,2025 at Black Rock one the wine cellar, and I’m just over the moon. Emily and Antonia were absolutely amazing throughout the whole process. They were quick to respond to my million questions and didn’t seem to mind my thousand more ☺️. The day itself was absolutely magical and even though I didn’t see them, I knew they were there if I needed them for anything. They even did up a beautiful sign which I completely forgot to do.
All the staff at Black Rock were absolutely brilliant, right from housekeeping all the way to the head chef. The food was phenomenal for our buffet dinner. People are still talking about the salmon and Cesar salad. And the potato salad…wowza. That was my favourite. And if you are lucky enough to have Ness make your cake…you will not be disappointed. It was so moist and delicious, I wish she could make all our cakes. And even though I said to make it as simple as possible to make it easier for her…she went above and beyond and matched our colour scheme to the letter. I was so surprised and delighted.
I could go on and on about how amazing our day was because of these people. I want to say a huge thank you again to everyone at Black Rock for making our day so incredibly special. We will definitely be back! -
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![Anna]()
Anna Sent on 30/06/2025Beautiful.
The venue was gorgeous. The event coordinators were so kind. Everyone raved that the wedding was the best they had ever attended. -
![Robyn]()
Robyn Sent on 29/06/2025Do Not Recommend
Earlier this year we signed the contract for a wedding in the wine cellar and I immediately had regrets (the contract was poorly written, and the coordinators were poorly organized - you will get bounced around between like 5 different people with no continuity). They took 5 days to return the signed contract, and in that time I asked for them to hold off on signing so we can discuss. They didn’t - they signed it and forced me into the contract and told me if I wanted to cancel I had to pay a 50% cancelation fee which we could not afford.
They said that they would be flexible and accommodating to ensure that we ended up happy with our experience since they forced us into this experience - and to date, every time we’ve requested changes/modifications they’ve been unaccommodating. -
![Genaah]()
Genaah Sent on 23/06/2019Gorgeous Venue, Frustrating Experience
Our reception in the wine cellar at Black Rock was beautiful but we also as most brides have mentioned, had an incredibly difficult time coordinating with the venue to achieve that. We held our ceremony at a local beach so that was separate from our dinner & reception at Black Rock. At the time that our contract was due for signing there was not a single person available in the events department to connect with and provide a deposit to. There was a 20% off giftcard sale in November that we really wanted our guests to take advantage of but we couldn’t do so until we officially locked in the venue. In desperation we contacted guest services and gave them our deposit just to ensure that everything was squared away. After two weeks of waiting for someone (anyone!) at Black Rock to email or call us to acknowledge our wedding and welcome us we heard nothing and had to contact them to beg for some interaction. Finally, we received some feedback and were hopeful that things would improve.
The event coordinator was very kind and friendly. However, we still had major communication issues. Our emails regularly went unanswered for two weeks at a time, at which point we would follow up. It’s not that we expected an immediate response because we understand that everyone is busy but if you’re not going to respond at all for an extended period of time at least send an email acknowledging you are in receipt of the email and that you will reply. We also had a lot of issues with guest services getting reservations incorrect, being unresponsive and placing our guests all over the hotel (not grouped together even though everyone booked under the same name).
Fast forward to the night of the reception. The venue itself was gorgeous and the food was absolutely phenomenal. We really enjoyed the buffet, it was absolutely delicious and the atmosphere in the wine cellar was to die for. We still had a few hitches… we substituted chicken for the fish on the buffet menu and confirmed this change twice with the coordinator. Of course, we got fish instead of chicken the night of which was fine for our guests that love fish because apparently it was amazing but not so great for those that only eat chicken. We thought the venue would offer a discount for the error but nothing was proposed. We also had issues with the number of candles provided but that is a small detail that was resolved quickly.
In summary, we would absolutely recommend Black Rock as a venue purely based on what it is already gifted with – beautiful architecture & a gorgeous natural setting! The staff during our stay were really friendly and lovely. The sign at the café had our names on it with congratulations so that was a really unique touch. Essentially, you just have to understand that many months of frustration leading up to your big day will culminate in a beautiful reception and/or ceremony. We hope that Black Rock will be able to improve their client experience moving forward because if so, it will be an all around amazing experience! -
![Andrea]()
Andrea Sent on 05/11/2018Gorgeous venue, but so many problems
The good: This is an absolutely stunning venue. We had our ceremony in the wine cellar overlooking the ocean and surge channel, and the room is just gorgeous. Our room was beyond fabulous - big enough that we were able to host all our guests for a reception the night before the wedding. Hotel staff was very friendly and responsive. A new Events Coordinator, Aria, came on board literally a couple of days before our wedding. She was amazing and managed to salvage the complete hash that was made by the other coordinators who "worked" with us. Everything that was within her control turned out well. Unfortunately, a lot of things were beyond her control - including months of stress from poor communication leading up to our day, and the quality of the food.
The bad: We had so many difficulties and disappointments with this venue that I can't really give a good recommendation, as it caused us so much stress leading up to our wedding. Communication with the Events Manager, Emilie, was unacceptably poor, usually taking 3-4 email follow-ups to get (usually partial or contradicting) answers to any of our questions. She completely disengaged in the weeks leading up to the wedding and was unhelpful, unprofessional, and downright rude on the day of - giving us and our guests the impression that she couldn't care less. The new coordinator, Aria, took over at the last minute (thankfully!), but she was not provided with our paperwork or file, so had to start from scratch on the planning THE DAY BEFORE OUR WEDDING. Aria's competence is the only reason things came together as well as they did. Things went fairly smoothly up until the reception, when she went home after a nearly 12 hour day. At our reception, we had to chase someone down to bring out our cake after dinner. Staff then refused to cut and serve our ice cream cake (which was in our contract), claiming they didn't know if it was "in the contract". They made excuses and disappeared while our cake sat melting. Eventually our MC stepped up to cut and serve, which should never have happened.
Our biggest disappointment was the food. The quality and presentation was very poor, especially considering the price and the "upscale" nature of the resort. We paid $75 pp for a custom menu of lamb shanks, salmon, sides and salads. Everything was very lack-lustre and luke warm. We were NOT served lamb shanks as had been agreed upon, but overcooked cubes of a cheaper, stringy cut of lamb, which we felt was dishonest at best. The quality of the meal is about what one would expect from a $25 2-star hotel buffet, and we were a bit embarrassed. We had a tonne of other problems and headaches that added up to a lot of frustration - too many to mention here.
We forwarded our concerns and complaints (as well as our compliments to those who deserved it) to the General Manager, Ted, but he has never bothered to respond to us, even given three weeks and a follow up. Unfortunately, upper management at the Black Rock seems to be indifferent at best, and the events department has too many holes for one person to patch, even someone as uniquely talented as Aria (besides which, she'll likely get snapped up by one of the better resorts). The hotel itself is lovely, and I'd certainly recommend staying here for a vacation or honeymoon, but I would NOT recommend booking a wedding or event here, due to the lack of competence, communication, the poor food quality, and complete indifference on the part of management. -
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![Mackenzie]()
Mackenzie Sent on 19/06/2018Black Rock Wedding
My wedding at Black Rock was amazing, but I had a very hard time coordinating with the venue to achieve that. Everyone was difficult to get a hold of, and ended up charging us extra fees when we got there the day before my wedding. Not impressed and unprofessional. That being said, the location was beautiful and all the staff on the day of were helpful.
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