Garza's Reception Hall — Attraction in South Houston

Unfortunately, I find myself having to make this review to share my experience& help others be cautious when booking this & any other venue. We celebrated my daughter’s quinceañera here this past Saturday, and while we tried our best to make it a beautiful evening, I left absolutely disappointed—and honestly, still heartbroken. I worked very hard for this special day and so I tried hard to keep myself composed the day of, regardless of the situation as I did not want to ruin my daughter’s special day. But what they did to us is completely unacceptable.

So, on Saturday June 07, we had our daughters 15 at this venue, and from start to finish there was NO air conditioning. I kept questioning why it was so hot if they could lower the AC and all they would tell me was “we already put it more down” or “yes let me work on that” .. come to find out the AC was broken & they didn’t have someone working on it till almost 9:00 PM.

Mind you it’s the middle of summer, it was absolutely unbearable. My guests, the photographers, and even the staff were drenched in sweat. Several guests, including those with diabetes had to leave early because it became too unsafe to stay. The extreme heat ruined the entire look of the event. My daughter’s hair fell completely flat from the nasty sticky heat, and many of our guests—who paid for professional hair and makeup had their looks fall apart within the first hours due to the extreme temperature. That’s time, money, and confidence lost, all because there was no proper response or backup in place for such a serious matter. What made the situation worse was the lack of immediate response& what upsets me most is that after letting the first few hours without AC slide, it came to a point that I had to personally text the owner during the event, but I was completely ignored and disregarded. No reply, no apology, and till this day, not even a follow up. That lack of basic communication and accountability is inexcusable. When you trust someone with such an important event, & putting so much effort and money into it, being dismissed like that feels so disrespectful, unprofessional and unethical. I went the following day to the hall, on Sunday, to attempt to speak to someone & it was closed and their Sunday event was moved to their new location on Pensilvania St. I’m assuming it was due to no AC. To make matters worse, the event was incredibly disorganized. The DJ failed to announce key moments, despite multiple cues and signals. He also forgot to release the smoke for the mother daughter dance and had to use it for dad. He didn’t announce what she received for her surprise gift. I constantly had to tell the coordinator to tell him to keep going & what to do with the presentation because he would daze off. It was so uncoordinated to the point that the musicians group started playing almost past 9:30. I literally found myself having to manage things that I just shouldn’t have been dealing with on my daughter’s big day. Not once was I able to sit down for a break nor drink because I had to be behind their backs telling them what to do although they had a full schedule printed in their hands. Truly, the only saving grace of the night was the food service manager - Toña. She went above and beyond, constantly checking in, apologizing for what was out of her control, and even stepping in to help with the DJ when she noticed how frustrated I was. She truly did everything she could to help make the night better. I had originally planned to rebook this venue for my next daughter’s quinceañera—but this experience has left me so discouraged, I now feel nervous about planning any other event at all. I truly hope the venue takes this seriously and makes major improvements, especially when it comes to communication and emergency preparedness. I truly believe that any venue hosting major events should have proper backup plans in place for emergencies like this. The least they could’ve done was acknowledge the issue, take accountability, and show some compassion. Instead, it truly felt like the...

So far so good. Place has been extremely helpful and party packages are definitely good. We have a good deal that eliminates the hassle of ordering or researching additional services. The place is beautiful and a hidden gem! Will update as party gets closer which is end of August 2022!!

UPDATED: 8/27/2022

Finally! Yesterday was my daughters quience and omg note to parents. As much as we planned for this, some things will not go as planned and you’ll just have to move on lol this hall was on point! Toña was a gem! She was on it. Made sure people were fed had had drinks and Tona would find me throughout event, my daughter and her father and offer beverages and so thankful for this because I was walking around talking to family and friends and rarely able to go to my seat to get my drink! The DJ Diego was amazing I told him to switch it up toward the end and he nailed it lol my daughter loved every min of it! He had my playlist or something lol he knew what we wanted.

Food was delicious. We went to one of their open house events to try all the food samples and cakes and how they’d host a quience. And encourage you to attend.

This hall clearly deals with parties all the time and know the possibilities that can occur and will help you through it flawlessly!!We loved this hall and everyone in it who made this night stress free! Giovanni thank you too! THANK YOU!

PARENTS: 1.Recommend getting with one point to contact at hall so you have one person to always go to think of that person as your caseworker so when you need to make 1k changes you have that one person whose familiar with you lol Create a schedule for your day with photographer, hall, limo and get everyone’s name & number so not doing last min. Something or someone will mess up. It’s okay lol just go to the next thing. Get over...

Im sure they get plenty of booking from people that don't know any better. For ppl looking for venues; don't go with the first location you see and you should get the most out of your money. I Toured this place and then checked out their socials for an idea on how it is decorated. I'm a party planner hired to find the venue, look for the best fit and deal for my clients. Let me start with saying even a plain warehouse can be dressed up with decorations so I look at the actual building and structure. To start this almost looks like it is off a back alley, hate the ceilings tiles looks ugly but appreciate the new floors. Although this was the right size venue, the bathrooms need a facelift, and the cash bar is very ridiculous for the type of venues that you are. Your a bit overpriced especially when you add the bar fee. Advice: Update bathrooms, get new modern ceiling tiles. maybe more draping, change the chandeliers on the dance floor out for bigger ones. It'll fill up more of the empty overhead space up top, Add more Variety of centerpieces so not every event looks the same. Oh yeah and get rid of the cash bar doesn't fit your venue. the bar fee was not a go. consider painting the exterior a more modern color. Venues need to invest some of their revenue into upgrades to Avoid looking dated and be able to compete. Times change and looks change this does not mean you should raise prices. this is just so you stay up to date with what's treading. Yall already have made some changes ...so I'll definitely check yall out again...