Hashemite's Banquet Hall — Local services in Duluth

I was a customer of Hashemite’s Banquet Hall for my wedding reception on 10.26.19. We purchased the “All Inclusive” package which includes food catering and beverages (no outside vendors were hired). The following issues happened at our event:

• Food: Food provided by the venue was insufficient for the number of guests. Staff members were caught eating directly from the food buffet before dinner. Staff members also refused to provide additional food for guests or make changes (i.e. a guest that did not eat red meat was not allowed to change the beef option for chicken). • Cleanliness: The venue owner did not comply with making sure the floor was swept; he did, however, provided a guest with a broom with the instructions to “just sweep it out the door”. It should be nonnegotiable and a business best practice that the venue is clean before an event. In some areas, there were plastic bags, used paper napkins and dead bugs on the floor. The floor also was never mopped as it was sticky. Many of the glasses placed on the tables were dirty (had remains of previously poured liquids and lipstick stains), two tables had dirty table cloths, and silverware unclean. Additionally, wall floral décor and draping were stained. • Supplies/”Cocktail Area”: The venue ran out of clean silverware and plates which resulted in the guests being served dessert on mismatched disposable plates and plastic spoons which were reluctantly supplied. The Venue’s “wait staff” did not plate the dessert nor provided cutting services as promised. The “cocktail area” was not set up as promised and approximately 7 out 10 tall “high boy” tables were loose to the point of wobbling side to side or extremely loose to the point that it rotated in circles. • Professionalims/Accesibility: The owner was often unable to be found to answer or provide the support needed for the above concerns. When approached to ensure the client’s wishes were met, his demeanor was very rude. He left much of the responsibility to the young men that he had working for him which it was really obvious that they really did not know what they were doing. Attire was lackluster with respect to how a vendor/server should present himself for a wedding event (loose collars, partially unbuttoned shirts, half-tucked shirts, etc.). As the evening progressed, the venue owner and all but one of the venue’s waitstaff couldn’t be found for assistance.

At first glance the venue is beautiful but with a closer inspection, it falls short! Mr. Ahmad (the owner) does not believe in repeat customers. His business model is to extract as much profit from the client as possible and move on to the next.

The issues stated in this review are not new, they have occurred to multiple clients. When we asked Mr. Ahmad about previous bad reviews he stated that it was an isolated incident or it was because the client brought an outside vendor. He also points to the fact that there are many positive reviews but many of those positive reviews are fake; by doing a social media search one can see that many of the reviewers are family or friends...

I held my wedding at this venue on 4/3/21, and it was the worse experience ever. Ahmad had me sold on this all-inclusive package, which was a complete rip off and the customer experience piece is absolutely horrible. It all started when I did the food tasting for the catering portion of the all-inclusive package. Ahmad told me when signing the contract that the salmon was an extra 7.00 per person and once I selected to have the salmon as part of my meal, the price then changed to 22.00 extra per person. Next was my décor. Ahmad is not able to provide any of the décor based on the pictures from his website. That is all false advertisements. You would think that for the price he is charging for the all-inclusive package that he would be able to accommodate some request from the client, however he is not. So because of these 2 things, I decided to go with my own caterer and provide my own decorations. I was told by Ahmad that his servers will serve the food and the caterer just needs to drop off the food, and his men will flip the room after the ceremony to have it ready for my reception. However that was a lie. There were no servers to serve my food, so the day of my wedding my meal had to be switch to buffet style vs plated. The kitchen was disgusting and Ahmad fussed at my caterer for her washing her hands and using too much water. He didn't provide any cups or ice for cocktail hour. Nor did he provide plates or silverware for the guest to eat to the cake which lead to no one eating cake. He closed the kitchen down during dinner and locked the door so the catering staff couldn't clean their dishes or finish serving the guest. He was rude to the catering staff as well as guest and only provided 3 servers for a wedding of 154 ppl. None of the guest got drinks during the dinner because the wait staff said they were told not to serve drinks. The woman's bathroom stalls had no tissue and the men's stalls were broken and not flushing. All bathrooms were extremely dirty. My wedding party had to flip the room for my reception, causing me not to be able to take pictures because everyone was helping set up for the reception. Including the groom. Everything he verbally promises is a lie. Ahmad makes up prices as he goes, and I didn’t realize this until the night before my wedding when he tried to tell me I still had a 1300.00 balance. Luckily I kept all emails from him because I was able to validate why I didn’t owe him any more money. Save yourself the hassle and DO NOT HAVE YOUR WEDDING HERE. VERY UNPROFESSIONAL IN EVERY WAY!!!. This venue is not worth the stress that comes from Ahmad and his BS. If you decide to go against my better judgement and book anyway, make sure EVERYTHING...

Stay away from this Place. I had read the reviews of this place it’s so Terrible and I ignored it but here I am -_ - I didn’t listen , it’s all my fault for trust people this much. so I am warning you Do not do anything with Hashemites B . Hall in Duluth. Stay away !! Ahmed Ed will take advantage of you and forces you into signing a contract without even meeting with him or looking at the venue. Did I meet him ? No . did I see the venue ? Nop. Did I go over the contract with him ? Nop. I thank God I didn’t sign no contract with him even tho he keeps emailing me asking me to sign the contract $7800 just for venue ooooohh . HE Has my THOUSAND dollar that he told me to send to him in order to see him and go over about everything.He didn’t told me anything about no refund. If he had I wouldn’t have sent him anything . He told me if I didn’t give him anything on 6/10/2021 11:30 pm he will charge me $200 extra . Sooo I sent him a thousand dollar in order to have an appointment with Ahmed ED on 6/11/2021 at 1pm. I drove an hour away just to meet him so that I can take a look at venue and go over abt everything and CONFIRM if everything goes well like a normal people. I got there called Ed up few times he didn’t answer he text me back saying to call him later and wait 15 min. Minding you his the one who told me to meet him at 1Pm. 15 min turned out to be an hour and some min so I went back home. Time is Money . I texted him and told him the place was to far from my house , the price was to high and the time range didn’t work out etc , so I was gonna look for somewhere else. As soon I texted him that He reply my text with a 3 second video and 1 picture of the venue. I told him the way I am looking at the one picture and the 3 second video I am not impressed so imma look somewhere else. I asked him to return my Money but he refused he said it’s non refundable. The Money wasn’t a deposit cause I didn’t Sign no Contract with him . He keeps ignoring me every time I asked him to return my money . I have a wedding in 2 months with a different vendor, I already signed my contract with them and everything is paid off. But Ed keeps abusing me forcing me to sign his contact . My minding the venue was high for my understanding $7800 to rent a venue for 250 with no deco no nothing just the venue . I have many many reason I didn’t want to sign deal with him all I want is for him to return...