Mitchell Hill BBQ — Local services in Rochester

My wedding reception party took place at Mitchell Hill at the Roberge. I booked the venue and signed a contract for services in February 2023. My event was September 9, 2023. The contract promised real plates and silverware, eating time of 1pm, and $50 cash for the bartender the day of the event. The morning of the event I get a call from Rocky saying that since April 2023 they no longer offer real plates or silverware. We were never informed of this and were forced to either accept styrofoam plates, accept disposable plates from Rocky's house, or purchase our own plates the day of the event. It seemed inappropriate that Rocky would bring disposable plates from her home. Styrofoam is horrendous for the environment and human health so I was not willing to accept that option. For this reason my husband had to go shopping for dinner and dessert plates hours before our event. If we had some notice, I would have ordered plates and silverware from a local vendor. Trying to have a good attitude, I accepted that sometimes things go awry and tried to move on. Then my guests started contacting me that there are two advertised addresses for Mitchell Hill at the Roberge (6 Bridge Street and 6 Wyandotte Street). We called Rocky for clarification but she never called us back so we had to call the main restaurant for information. When we arrived to set up the decorations Rocky told us the 1pm eating time wouldn't be possible. We asked for 2pm instead and she said it might be possible, but 2:30 would be better. This was 1.5 hours later than our contracted eating time. Again, I was willing to overlook this issue and try to have a nice event. When the food did come out, the chicken and steak tips were grossly overcooked and dry. I was embarrassed to be serving my friends and family this food. Rocky also interjected herself into cutting our cake and made a giant mess of the cakes, despite not being asked to cut the cake. Again, it was embarrassing to witness and serve my guests pieces of cake that were slopped into plates in varying sizes. It seemed very unprofessional. During the event, the staff had 3 industrial sized air conditioners going that were so poorly maintained that the venue was 82 degrees for the entirety of the four hour party. My guests were sweating profusely and huddling around the air conditioners in search of relief. The event space was also filthy, with dead bugs and debris in the windowsills as well as black and grey debris blowing out of the air conditioner vents. One of my guests informed me the day after the event that they blew their nose and black particulates came out, attributing this to the conditions at the Roberge center. Toward the end of the event I tried to give Rocky the $50 cash for the bartender but was informed the cost is actually $50 per hour. This was never written in our contract. Bob and Rocky told me I had to come back with $200 to cover the bartender, despite this being a communication error on their part. They kept saying, "Well we changed our forms in April," expecting that to hold up as a rationale for why my contract was no longer valid (even though my contract was signed in February - long before they changed their forms, and we never received any updated communication). Rocky also owed me a refund check for my guest list being smaller than originally quoted and spelled my name wrong on the check. She used my old last name (which is my fault for not explicitly stating my last name has changed) but my first name hasn't changed, and she spelled that wrong too. She credited me $100 for the issues with the plates, which pales in comparison to the automatic 18% gratuity I was forced to pay when charged for the event, and the $150 additional I was expected to shell out for the bartender, even though it wasn't in my contract. I am so disgusted in Mitchell Hill at the Roberge and Rocky's service that I will never be back, nor will I ever recommend their food or venue to friends or family. I tried so hard to have a good day, but left feeling like they dropped the ball in every...

To summarize, Rocky and Bob failed to fulfill their contractual obligations, demonstrated unprofessionalism, and even altered the contract terms on the spot. I would not recommend this establishment due to their unethical business practices and overall dissatisfaction with the event organizers.

Communication was a significant issue. Multiple ignored calls with no response. Didn't even have my wife's name correct.

9/9 before 9am Rocky calls my wife to inform her that the fabric napkins they ordered were"shorted" by seller and the replacements won't make it today, asking if it's OK to use paper napkins. She informs as well that there was an error on her part, and they no longer serve with China since 4/23. Only plastic now due to the difficulty cleaning them. She can provide Styrofoam (horrible for human health and environment) or plastic dinnerware from her house. We didn't want either of those options because, at that point, we couldn't trust her. 12PM we show up to get the space ready. Everything is set up and we are told the food is running behind, it won't be 1PM start, the $260 cheese and cracker plate (that looks like $50 at most) is out so they can snack on that. -1PM arrives, guests filling in and Rocky flags my wife to inquire what time they want the food served [we had already told her ASAP at noon] so I ask is it ready, "no need more time", how about 2PM, "maybe but 2:30PM would be better". Why even ask us what time we want when you know it can't be done. -2:30ish comes around, and food is served finally. Each gets gets 2 ribs, 3 completely unevenly cut, all sizes steak tips, and a chicken tender along with a heaping serving of sides. Ribs are the only good meat. They weren't cooked low and slow, so they have no bark, fat is not rendered, but at least the flavor is there and no dirty smoke. Steak tips are leather. Due to inconsistent cuts and over cooking in general, barely edible but flavor there. Chicken is so overcooked it's blackened and shriveled. Cole slaw had good flavor and fresh. Mac and cheese was stodgy, almost the whole tray left over. -We start serving cake, and Rocky wants to help cut it, so I oblige. Due to her health condition, she couldn't cut clean slices and instead was taking 2 of the 3 layers off the cake and serving it messy on the plate. She wanted to cut the cake in cubes to make it easier on her before I requested to take over before it was butchered. Know your personal limits. -4:45PM - Rocky is getting ready to go so we need to pay the bartender, who happens to be Bob himself, who was serving watered down drinks and accepting tips, the contractual $50, only to discover that Rocky "made a mistake" and that it's actually $50 an hour. That we have old contracts that aren't as specific and have been updated for clarity. I could not believe that Rocky, in front of Bob, was saying that essentially our signed 7 month old contract was not accurate, and that we need to be held to the terms of their updated contract that we learned of verbally hours to minutes ago. That is illegal business practices and grossly unethical.

The event space was incredibly dirty. Look at every windowsill, and you'll see dead bugs and a build-up of dust that looks as if it's been accumulating for months. Three air conditioners and ceiling fans to cool the space. It was 89 degrees out, 52 people in the space, and the lowest it got was 75. By 3:30PM, guests moved from their tables to the sides, sitting directly next to the AC's in an attempt to cool off. All of the ACs haven't been cleaned because you can see the black build-up of mold and dirt. You could see the dust in the air with the amount of sunlight coming through the ceiling. Half the party was medical professionals and a few with mold sensitivity.

For the inconvenience of the plates,they credited us $100. I spent $66 dollars on what I brought, and they kept the leftover materials. They were paid a built-in $300 tip for sending it in. I will never spend a dime here again, and I've been coming since...

We had an anniversary party here with dinner and dancing. We looked at several venues across NH and this venue was PERFECT. Such a lovely venue! It's really a beautiful space with nice amenities and perfect size for a small to mid-size gathering. Food was delicious and Bob and Roxanne were fantastic to work with! Highly recommend. Several local folks were attending our gathering and were surprised that such a lovely venue was right downtown/in their backyard (tucked behind the restaurant down the side street next to the water) - definitely...