The Manhattan Beach Jewish Center — Local services in New York

Go somewhere else. You may end up having a nice wedding here, but this is a special night you only get once and I wouldn't risk it here. I certainly wouldn't go here again. I was the chosson at a wedding here and it was terrible. There were many many issues so I figured I'd list some of them here (but there were so many problems). Many of the problems could have been avoided had the hall been clear on what they would and wouldn't do, didn't lie about it, and handled any problems even remotely intelligently. And of course if they didn't change what they had already decided in their contract.

The music. We asked both the keyboard player and the hall representative what type of music we wanted played and originally both said it was no problem. Of course 2 weeks before the wedding they entirely changed what they had originally said and what was agreed upon in the contract. The singer also made a big fuss and got the board involved since we wanted to play some music over mp3 instead of being sung, which we mentioned beforehand and was allowed in the contract. They significantly limited what we could play and had us email what songs we wanted and told us there were many they refused to play. Even within the songs they approved, they still didn't play many of them. The dancing. There were multiple moments during the dancing when the hall cut the music off and shut down the dancing. Needless to say nothing we did violated anything agreed upon in the contract but they don't really care. I even tried to join my kallah within the parachute and the hall representative physically pushed me back and told me I couldn't go. No one else was going with me. This was something we were both really looking forward to and was allowed in the contract. They also completely destroyed a flash mob that the kallas family spent months working on and was specifically mentioned that they were doing. Katzad Mirakdim. This is the part where the chosson and kallah sit down and the friends and family do "shtick." It went on for a bit and for a second some of the kallas friends came in the middle with dolls that she liked. They weren't dancing they just tossed them to her. Immediately they cut off the music and the whole part. The hall representative then took the girls who did it aside and yelled at them saying "if you pull a stunt like this again we're shutting down the wedding." Of course it was never mentioned in the contract or even said out loud that this wouldn't be allowed. It's also crazy that they threatened to stop the wedding for something that they paying clients had no part in. The seating. We originally had a very specific seating plan that the hall told us we were allowed to do and was allowed in the contract. When we got to the wedding we saw that they had switched what they approved. It took 2 hours literally right before the wedding to sort this out. They weren't going to allow us to go back to what was agreed unless they made changes to the contract and we signed it, of course threatening not to do the wedding.

The basic pattern here is that they'll say one thing, and once they get the check just do whatever they want. Normally in these situations you want to have what was agreed upon in writing but they apparently don't even care about that because they went against what was allowed in the contract many many times. They don't care about the chosson and kallah, they don't care about their clients, they don't care about the guests. They care about money and their image.

It's very possible that you aren't concerned about any of the things I mentioned above (which is really just a short overview of some of the bigger ones, there were many smaller details like the chuppah music, ect), but this is a special day for the chosson and kallah. You don't want to go to a place where they just decide to do whatever they want. They don't care how it affects the chosson and kallah or their friends and families so long as it benefits them. I strongly urge you to avoid this place unless you really have no...

Hall looks very nice. The food and the staff are extremely unprofessional. The COOKS are untrained. Salt would help slightly but it would be an urgent issue.

They require Culinary School trained professionally trained Chefs throughout the entire kitchen and a professionally trained wait staff. They don't have either!

The salt shakers shouldn't be rusted! Disgusting!

The desert buffet potato kugel is extremely overloaded with disgusting, bitter tasting black pepper! Yuck!

There are COLD crepes on the desert table. No service and no warming device to reheat the crepes, which should have been made fresh to order and served hot and immediately!

Some of the cookies on the desert table were stale! All of the cookies and pastries were purchased, baked elsewhere!

Significant lack of attention to critcal, important details. Electrical outlet covers broken, not enough bathrooms, not enough towels or clean toilet paper in the bathrooms, rusty salt shakers, extreme lack of salt in the soup, unprofessional knife cuts in the soup, no professionally trained chefs, stale cookies, cold crepes, untrained, unprofessional staff, rude staff taking away plates while guests are still eating, not enough wine or grape juice for the Sheva Brochos, etc. ...

We just had our first son's wedding at MANHATTAN BEACH JEWISH CENTER. They just finished renovation, everything is clean and beautiful! We are so happy with the excellent service and the unbelievable wedding we had . Rafi was professional and the food tasted excellent.......the presentation was amazing...every thing was AMAZING! Rafi took the time before the wedding, and explained everything, made sure that we will be happy. He directed us to a great florist, and helped in any other way. Josafina, the bride attendant was nice and sensitive. She was helpful and did everything with a wide smile. all the waitresses and the valet parking attendees were prompt, service was excellent. Thank you for the...