Skip to main content
Weddings

Reviews for Carmens Event Centre by Carmens Group

Carmens Event Centre by Carmens Group

Carmens Event Centre by Carmens Group

Hamilton, Ontario
4.6 out of 5 rating, 57 reviews
View more information

Reviews

4.6 out of 5 rating
57 reviews
  • Quality of service
    4.6 out of 5 rating
  • Response time
    4.4 out of 5 rating
  • Professionalism
    4.6 out of 5 rating
  • Value
    4.7 out of 5 rating
  • Flexibility
    4.7 out of 5 rating
87% Recommended by couples

Awards

57
  • C
    Coral Sent on 15/08/2022
    1.8 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      1.0 out of 5 rating
    • Response time
      3.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      1.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      1.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      3.0 out of 5 rating

    Poor Guest Experience

    I came onto this website to look for a good wedding venue but was so shocked to see positive reviews of this venue that I had to leave a review. I was a guest at 3 separate weddings held at this venue, so I would like to warn future couples regarding guest experience- I cannot speak to the planning process with Carmen's.

    1. The food
    The quality of food at Carmen's is absolutely disgusting. The plated chicken was dry and horrible, and then in 2 of the weddings, there was an additional beef passed around by servers and added to guest plates. That meat was about
    an embarrassingly small sample-sized stewing meat that was meant to be braised or something. It was so tough. Usually wedding food has pretty standard quality, but these weddings are still talked about to this day by guests because of how disgusting the food was. We were so hungry because no one could eat the food, that we left to buy McDonald's from down the road. The only good thing about this venue was that Mcdonald's was close by.

    2. The Service
    I'm not sure if they were understaffed, but one wedding was before Covid, and two were after, and all of them had really bad service. Waiters/waitresses were lost. They looked confused and flustered the entire time. They also forgot to serve people their food, and when we called them over multiple times, they would disappear. One guy on our table was served his plate after the entire rest of the wedding, even after our table was served. But our server continued serving other people on other tables their dinners while this poor man on our table sat watching the rest of us pick at our food.

    3. The decor
    One of the weddings used the decor provided in the all-inclusive package. The centrepieces were just dollar-store candles. Nothing special. The bride expected so many candles that it would be a beautiful candlelit event, but it wasn't. I can't remember how many candles were placed on the large tables, but it was definitely not more than a few votives.

    In the end, you get what you pay for. If you can, I would stay far, far away from this venue unless you want your guests to forever remember your wedding only by how awful it was.
  • B
    Bob S. Sent on 10/12/2023
    1 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      1.0 out of 5 rating
    • Response time
      1.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      1.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      1.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      1.0 out of 5 rating

    Horrible holiday party experience

    Absolutely horrible. The food was disgusting slop, bartenders were extremely rude. Overpriced garbage. Avoid at all costs.
  • illustration stars

    Are you interested?

    Send a message
  • Monika
    Monika D. Sent on 31/05/2022
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Highly recommend

    My fiancé and I are getting married at Carmen's Banquet Centre in August 26, 2023, and let me tell you, the experience has been amazing so far. Working with Hector has been so amazing. We've encountered some personal issues but Hector was relentless to give us a good experience and be flexible to out situation. Highly recommend.
  • Christopher
    Christopher R. Sent on 28/01/2024
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    We couldn't have asked for a more perfect wedding day!

    The staff at Carmen's from start to finish of our entire wedding process were so wonderful to us. We got married on our dream day in September of 2023 and every request was very easily accommodated. The food was delicious, and especially so for our guests with dietary restrictions. The venue is so charming and stunning and Carmen's just KNOWS weddings. Cannot recommend their services enough for your big day, as the photogenic venue, the acoustics, the outdoor ceremony terrace, the wonderful staff all contributed to making our perfect day possible. You won't regret hiring Carmen's!
  • Alex
    Alex A. Sent on 19/09/2023
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Dominika to save the day!

    Our experience with Carmen’s was phenomenal, Dominika was absolutely the best! She was there until the last minute and never rushed us, even when our florist left without finishing up our cake , Dominika went and did the cake herself to ensure we had everything we dreamed of, talk about going above and beyond!

    I will absolutely recommend Carmen’s to all my friends that are or will become engaged!

    Thank you Carmen’s for hosting such a beautiful day!
  • Keily
    Keily L. Sent on 24/07/2023
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Absolutely Amazing!

    I had an amazing day! Carmens went above and beyond for us!! Very attentive, the maître d was absolutely amazing!! The servers were Soo nice and made sure we were well taken care of! All my guest would not stop talking about how much fun they had and of course they loved the bar! Our signature drink was the highlight of the night! If you are looking for a place to get married and almost everything included , the best people .. Carmens is the place to go! Thank you for an amazing night!
  • Judith
    Judith A. Sent on 08/05/2023
    1.8 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      2.0 out of 5 rating
    • Response time
      1.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      1.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      4.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      1.0 out of 5 rating

    Disappointing Experience

    First I’d like to talk about the good…the food, cake, waitstaff were all were great! The venue is beautiful and the wedding packages are excellent. Miko, our Maitre’D was amazing. He was accommodating and attentive. He made us feel welcomed and comfortable. Really, a special thanks to those listed above they made the event what it was along with our external vendors. If it was based on these elements alone I would give a higher rating. They deserve 5 stars.

    We do thank the set up team , the following is just a reflection of management and who ever is actually in charge. (We actually have no idea who is we weren’t able to get their information.)

    The bad…up until the last week before the wedding (which would be the most important week) everything was fine.

    But then things got sour. The coordinator Taylor gave us an unnecessarily hard time with a fairly simple change that in the end we got done ourselves on the day of the wedding. The worst part is she did not even TRY to solve the issue we had.

    We just needed 4 tables to be switched around. We had forgot to make this change earlier due to all that we had going on (wedding and closing on our home at the exact same time) We were more than willing to pay the fee for last minute changes because we understood we were past the deadline and it wasn’t like we were adding a whole new table or something crazy.

    Apparently, it was too much work for her to execute. Taylor made it seem like it was a huge task that could not be done and complained that it needed to be re-set and kept saying she could not assist. My husband asked to get in contact with upper management multiple times to get the issue resolved because we really needed it done but she never gave us that info. Note: he had to go back and forth with her through email to even allow us to get it done ourselves. He told her he would willing do it himself if it had to be done since her and her team could not assist.

    It’s ridiculous that this could not have been resolved 3 days prior. We weren’t asking for the change to be done the day of the wedding. We couldn’t understand why it couldn’t be done because to our knowledge there was going to be a room flip anyway as the ceremony and reception was suppose to be in the same room. But lo and behold, it was not communicated to us that the ceremony would be in a completely different room until we mentioned the had the issue of needing tables moved.

    On the day of the wedding my husband, best man and a couple my cousins ended up switching the four tables around in 5 minutes. By lifting the tables and switching them without disturbing the place setting. Easily.

    The day of the wedding Taylor did not greet us, see how we were doing or even congratulate us (after working with her for 4 months I just think that was was strange? Maybe that’s just me)

    Also, there seemed to be zero communication between staff from the decor drop off day and wedding day staff. We still had a couple of things to bring back on the day of the wedding (Friday) because we did not receive everything on time for decor drop off (Monday). I’m not sure how a lot of things were missed as the staff member on decor drop off day wrote down 2 pages of instruction notes.

    Day of wedding a staff member was under stress and venting to my brother and cousin when they came by to drop of the rest of our items and told them that they were dropping things into her lap last minute. It was unprofessional because it’s not our issue that staff is not communicating properly as it was always planned that decor items were going to be dropped off the day of the wedding. It was a little chaotic, decor items were not put in the correct spot, led candles were not turned on, among other things. When coming down for the ceremony I turned on a neon light we had set up myself because it was not done.

    We wanted to enjoy the cocktail hour but found it hard to do so as these errors were annoying to correct and deal with when we arrived. It’s bad when the venue creates the stress on your day instead of relieving you of it.

    During cocktail hour lines were very long for drinks.
    I don’t believe 1 bartender was sufficient for 140 guests and not enough passed hor d’oeuvres.

    There were a lot of other issues and I can’t pin point everything but just wanted to get the main points out. And I’m aware that not everything is going to go perfect but some of it was a mess. And some of the team need to find better ways to communicate and execute.

    I never leave negative reviews and don’t let a lot of things bother me but when you’re spending THOUSANDS of dollars it’s unacceptable.

    These things did not completely ruin our wedding, but there are definitely improvements to be made. I just wish we had a better experience.

  • Sabrina
    Sabrina I. Sent on 17/10/2022
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    The all in one, perfect venue for any event

    My husband and I got married at Carmen's on October 14th and we could not have been more pleased with them! I was blown away when I found out almost everything was included - decor (although I upgraded to some premium options cause I'm extra lol), cake, DJ, food, our night of suite, bar (8 hours and open during dinner too!) and so much more! Carmen's helped to ease a lot of our stress as everything was kind of all in one place, not to mention the venue is stunning! I had a few coordinators over the time I was dealing with Carmen's (we had to push due to Covid so the wedding was a 2+ year process to plan) but each and every person I dealt with was kind, patient and so helpful. For the day of I ended up dealing with Pam and she was incredible! Even as the night was ending and she approached me with some things to be done while I was completely inebriated, she was still so patient and helpful. If you are considering Carmen's for your big day, this is your sign to DO IT! Thank you so much to everyone on the Carmen's team for making our day so special ❤️
  • Alassadi
    Douaa Sent on 07/11/2022
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Amazing experience

    Our wedding was amazing with the help of Brian he's an amazing person he made sure we were happy and delivered everything we asked for, and made sure our day went well. It was magical. Service was very good, food was amazing.
illustration stars

Are you interested?

Send a message