Douglaston Manor — Attraction in New York

I have never written an online review before, but I felt compelled to write the most positive possible review for Douglaston Manor out of gratitude for their truly outstanding service in hosting my wedding in September 2022.

From our first meeting, we were very impressed by the transparency, organizational skills, professionalism, and excellent communication among the team at Douglaston. Their staff was happy to accommodate all our requests, including exotic desserts and extra items to make our guests more at home. We had visited a dozen venues prior to Douglaston, but were so impressed by the initial meeting and by the beautiful appearance of the building and grounds that we signed a contract that day.

The staff at Douglaston managed to surpass our expectations based on that outstanding first impression. Claudia and Kathy were so responsive and helpful with our planning that we were able to plan and hold the wedding without a wedding planner, even as two busy physicians living remotely in Boston. We felt prioritized and taken care of throughout the entire process and were so happy to find all our requests remembered and expertly implemented for our big day.

When we arrived for our Wedding Day, we were stunned by the beautifully-maintained grounds, gardens, fountains, and external appearance of the building, as well as the perfectly executed reception space. Kathy managed to make my wife’s exact vision a reality, and Claudia’s exceptional attention to detail came together to make Douglaston Manor look absolutely perfect.

Douglaston also provided a bridal attendant–Lisa–and a maitre’d–Carlos–along with a team of very professional staff to keep our bar lines short and our dinner timeline on track. Lisa anticipated all our needs and concerns, jumping on every random task that arose, and kept us well-fed and put-together throughout the entire night. I can’t say enough about how well she kept us happy and cared for the entire night. Carlos also did an incredible job organizing the entire staff, directing us and our wedding party, and managing to keep a complicated timeline that included two ceremonies perfectly on track.

Finally, I just wanted to add a final word of thanks to Claudia, the owner of Douglaston Manor. She stayed in close touch with us for months and worked hard to make sure she and her staff understood our exact vision for the event. It’s so clear how much she loves and has mastered her role there, as well as how much she cares for Douglaston Manor, knows every inch of the space, and how hard she’s worked to find the very best staff to orchestrate perfect events at great value for her customers. By the end of the process she truly felt like family.

Bottom line: Douglaston Manor is the ideal place to host your wedding or big event. We cannot recommend them...

For such a nice place and great location, I need to be honest and say I was disappointed with service and flavor of the food served. I'm staying neutral for this venue.

To top things off, the DJ's selection in music wasn't to my liking as well. This had nothing to do with this catering venue itself. Poor song selections at times and made a few mistakes when changing songs. To where the music stoped and everyone on the dance floor looked list at best. Here he comes running trying to fix his mistake for not being at the DJ's booth.

Staff was a bit disorganized, the first set of food served was at 9pm. Not to mention but already to late to eat at that time. I was seated in table 11, so by the time they got to my table it was almost 9:30. I asked for a cup of water with ice, I was told it's on it's way, it never made it's way to me. The same server spilled coffee on my wife's dress, like are you kidding me? Over filled the coffee cup to where you really can't add milk or cream. The filet mignon was a bit overdue and drowned in some kind of mushroom sauce not mentioned on the menu. Guess what, I'm allergic to mushroom so there went my late dinner. I asked to have it packed so my wife can enjoy it at home, the server said I'll be back, guess what he never came back. Also don't leave your drink on your table to go dance because they take them away.

In all I give the venue and location a 4 star rating because the surrounding area is beautiful. I give food taste a 3 star rating and service only a 2 star rating as well. Did you notice the rating is getting lower?

Read what they did to some customers on not returning their money back due to the pandemic. That's bad business practices and I don't care if it's stated in the contract, everyone had to make changes because we were all affected. I'm not sure if I would even recommend this location due...

I never leave bad reviews but I feel if I can save someone time and stress In addition to the stress from planning an event around COVID I will be helping even a little. Douglaston Manor used to be amazing Pre-Covid. I’m a regular for many events here NYE, Valentine’s Dance etc. It is still beautiful for the most part, minus how small the bridal suite is, the rooms are still beautiful. However, they have “temporarily” laid off the good banquet managers. The women I met with for a wedding, I believe was Kathy (long black hair), was completely pushy “I assume you’ll be signing today?” the second we sat down in her office and only seemed to want to generate a cash flow and not take care of loyal customers. If you thought they were expensive before don’t even attempt to go now. They are now taking you to the cleaners with the menu they gave out. The day we met I told her I would be back tomorrow but most certainly will be taking our business elsewhere going forward. They officially lost long time regulars.I can understand needing to generate a cash flow because of COVID but if you treat potential clients fairly you will have more events booked and generate an even bigger cash flow than what you will generate from overcharging a few people who MAY book here. I’m not too sure how many will book as Kathy is really off putting and leaves much to be desired when it comes to what you are paying for the menu items being offered. Many places have “one wedding at a time” if that is what you are looking for who will treat you more fairly and may value your...