Sans Souci Ballroom — Attraction in Tomball

I had my wedding reception at San Souci ballroom on October 30, 2021 and I'm sad to say it was an experience I seriously wouldn't wish upon anyone. Although the venue's interior is beautiful, it is severely mismanaged and definitely not worth the issues we faced on the days leading up to our event and on the night of our event itself.

We booked this venue over a year in advance, when it was under completely different ownership. TWO weeks before the event, we ran into the new owner, George, during a walkthrough.

Not only does George have ZERO customer service experience, but he also knows literally nothing about the wedding industry which was showcased for all of guests to see on the night of our event - we were the FIRST WEDDING San Souci had under new ownership.

At the time of signing our contract we CLEARLY expressed our need for 4 bartenders for our guest count to Lidi, and she promised that she would deliver. On the day of our event, San Souci decided to half the bartender count without ANY warning - 2 bartenders for 250+ people! We had lines that stretched half the size of the entire ballroom because it was taking that long for our guests to get even ONE drink.

To name just a FEW of the issues we faced at our event: they closed dinner over an hour before it was supposed to close. George also only put out ONE plate per person for the buffet. Anyone should know, MULTIPLE people use MORE than one plate in a buffet. That is common sense. We had people standing in line to eat when the plates ran out and no one knew what to do. My husband and I were HUMILIATED. Guests were coming up to us to inform us that there were no plates.

George refused to add more plates until my husband paid him more money for the "extra" guests that he claimed were in attendance. We had an entire list with the name of every guest in attendance are certain that George mis-charged us for his own personal gain. There's no guest counting mechanism in place at San Souci - just whatever George says goes. He pulled my husband away for an HOUR during HIS own event demanding more money otherwise he said he would shut the lights off and call the cops - who does that to a client on their big day? Who is that greedy that they cannot wait until after a couple's event to resolve any alleged issues? Was it worth spoiling our entire night?

No one received the cake that was part of our package. It was a giant six tier cake that we even paid extra to the bakery to upgrade and it was never seen nor consumed by any of our guests.

I paid my decorator thousands to have her put an indoor fountain on display an at our reception, with San Souci's approval of course. Even though they approved, on the day of the event, without even informing us, they shut off the fountain. It was rendered useless and all my money and decorators efforts were wasted.

Not only were there only 2 bartenders the entire night, but one of the bars had NO garnishes (no lemons, no limes, nothing). For a bar at a "luxurious" venue to not even have LIMES is outright embarrassing. The most comical part about the bar was when I, the BRIDE, went up to the bartender to ask for a drink he gave me SO much attitude and was incredibly rude IN FRONT of my friends, LOL. So much for the "guest of honor" treatment!

Valet is said to be "complimentary" but they were demanding money from our guests before getting their cars. One of the valet staff told our guests that he would not retrieve their car unless they first tipped him $10.

All in all, I would have much rather taken my business to a venue that actually cared about me and our event. San Souci is DEFINITELY not equipped for an Indian wedding. All of our guests and many vendors in the Houston area refuse to work with this venue due to our experiences with them. Take your...

I just threw my marriage reception here on 10/30/21. I booked this reception hall back in December 2020. However, a couple months ago it was bought by a NEW OWNER(s), the guy in charge at the actual place's name is George. George has 0 to no customer service and wedding industry experience, especially in South Asian weddings. DURING MY OWN WEDDING RECEPTION, George had the audacity to demand more money, he also said he would call the cops, etc. He claimed 296 people showed up instead of 266, however there is NO WAY TO PROVE how this count is accurate (there is no name list, no photos, no signature, nothing). We had 266 seats, many of which were empty throughout the evening. Even if George was correct (which he wasn't) and more people showed up which would have been entirely beyond our control, I paid for an outside vendor to bring food, brought my own liquor, and the same number of seats and service staff were provided - there is NOTHING more the venue provided or had to do in the event that a few more people decided to come without informing us. Moreover, he has no more extra costs out of his pocket even if more people showed up. When this was relayed to George during our reception, his answer was he's "using more air conditioning", even though the evening was already very cold. To able to enjoy my own reception that my family had already paid tens of thousands of dollars for, I sent George another 2k online and 1k cash DURING my reception (alleged 30 extra people x 100dollar see screenshots). George is trying to save money in every way possible. For 266 guests and two bars, he had TWO BARTENDERS TOTAL (San souci provides the bartenders). ONLY ONE at each bar, although we were promised DOUBLE the amount when we signed our contract. All our guests were really upset with how long they had been waiting on liquor and on top of that, the bartenders were also asking for money before they agreed to pour alcohol to our guests. A huge embarrassment to my family and the venue itself. How can you call yourself a luxurious venue if you hire untrained, unprofessional, adolescent staff to man your events? Also, you can speak to any South Asian carter, you are supposed to put 1.2 or 1.3 times the guests for the amount of plates during a buffet. George with his complete lack of experience put out the exact number of plates for the guest count (266)..As the groom (who barely got to eat), I used two plates myself. During our dinner buffet, we EMBARASSINGLY ran out of plates and it took forever for them to restock because George would not put out more plates until he was paid to do so, and he also did not hire enough staff to restock them quick enough. I later found out that the valet staff was super rude (hired by San Souci) and was forcing people to pay (supposed to be complementary) before they park or get their keys back (see screenshots). The only good thing about this place is the ladies who work there when signing the contract, Lidi and Lisa. When you sign your contract, you will probably work with Lidi or Lisa. They are nice people BUT REMEMBER, on the day of your event you will be dealing with George!! No one will ever tell you that. Lidi and Lisa have ZERO SAY on the day of the event so do not fall into their nice personalities to sign the contract, as they are nice people but have no pull when it comes to George. I just want to remind everyone one more time that this all happened during the reception, stressed the bride & groom and I lost over an hour of my reception time dealing with George (I even texted him after my reception night, see text). I paid him in Zelle & cash to get him off my back so I can focus on my reception. Since our event, this experience has haunted me and my wife. We really can't believe how poorly...

Pros: Beautiful place, good location Cons: Bad owner, might change price on you mid-event and demand payment on the spot, terrible service.

Full review:

First impression was bad as when we were driving in we were yelled at by the rude valet staff who kept saying pay or turn back the other way.(Later found out that valet was supposed to be free so I don’t know what was going on when they asked us to pay).

My first thought when I walked in was wow this place is nice! High ceiling and nice chandeliers along with the decorations done by the newly weds (ice sculpture, etc). I made a mental note to add this place to my list of potential places to hold my own wedding reception.

Pretty soon though I added this place to my list of where NOT to host.

There were two bars on each side of the hall and the lines were enormous. You’d think there’s some Black Friday sale event going on with the amount of crowding in those lines. The issue? Only one bartender…. ONE on each! The owner was too cheap to hire more staff causing congestion at the bars.

Anyways, on to the actual events… I’d like to add that I hadn’t seen some of my friends here for almost 12 years, and the groom for many years. So obviously I was excited to see them and talk with them. The groom seemed super stressed to the point where when I said what’s up he just said hey and turned away with a stressed look on his face. I was confused as to why but later found out that apparently the owner came by and mid-event asked the groom for $3000 more because “more people showed up”. First of all. How do you even know more ppl showed up? Was there some count done? From my POV it looked empty Bc there were lots of tables not even touched and still empty so how did he suddenly decide okay there are more people. Secondly, even if you have some issue with the number of people, why would you go ruin the event by asking for more money during the event. I legit saw the groom trying to find his parents and they were counting cash while the owner waited for it DURING THE MIDDLE OF THE EVENT, threatening to call the police if not paid immediately. Thirdly, let’s say more ppl showed up… how is that costing him?? The groom brought his own drinks and food. The owner did not hire any additional staff or call for help or anything. So someone please ask him how it was costing him any more IF somehow he was right about there being more people (which I doubt anyways). Apparently he mentioned “Air Conditioning” as the additional cost (even though it was cool that evening).

Anyways, don’t have more time to waste on this place. Just beware if you do book this place on price changes...