The Mellon Gala — Local services in Washington

Excited about what sounded like a great way to celebrate NYE, our group of six bought tickets. Shortly after buying the tickets, we realized that the general admission tickets that we purchased limited you to the main hall. In order to be able to access all the fabulous party spaces, we needed VIP tickets. I contacted the event organizer, and for an additional $20 per ticket was able to upgrade our tickets.

Our initial impression upon entrance to the main hall was very good; it was impressive and beautifully decorated for the event, and we were all very excited for what we thought was going to be an amazing night. Unfortunately, things went downhill from here. The first time we checked out the “other party areas” no one asked for our “VIP” wrist band. And as for those other party areas....from what we could tell, they weren’t really much. Subsequent trips to those rooms did include a check of our VIP bands, but the consensus was that there wasn’t much reason to venture there from the impressive main hall

Food - We saw a few tables in the main hall with the same four food items. Though good and appeared to be replenished frequently, there wasn’t much of a selection. If there were any other hor d’ouerves being passed around, we were never aware of that. Finally, while we watched them take away the “dinner” food at some point during the evening, we never saw dessert of any kind before we left at 1am.

Bars - This was a big disappointment. When deciding which NYE event to attend, we looked at some that included an open bar and some that did not. We ultimately selected the Mellon Gala, with the idea that it would be nice to enjoy the night without the hassle of paying for each drink. Within an hour of the event start time, all of the bars were so crowded that getting a drink took 20 minutes. That’s just not acceptable when you’ve paid $130 per ticket, particularly when waiting so long for a drink meant not being able to dance and enjoy the party as expected. This is where I would have thought that the VIP access to the multiple party rooms would have been beneficial as we had access to the bars in those areas as well. Unfortunately, the lines in most of those areas were just as bad. At one point, someone in our group discovered an upstairs area that did have a bar with a shorter line, but there was nothing much happening in that area, and by then, the frustration had already set in.

Bathroom - We only saw one bathroom area, and the line took over 20 minutes. A few of us almost missed midnight due to this line. While some amount of a line is not unexpected, one that took that much of our time is just not acceptable at this type of event.

Crowd - Age wise many appeared to be on the younger side, but everyone was dressed beautifully and seemed respectful of others; I think people of all ages would have felt comfortable. Unfortunately, it was the sheer number of people that led to the event not living up to expectations. It was way too crowded, to the point that by 11pm it was very difficult to even dance. As a result, by 12:45 our group agreed that they had had enough. Ending the evening so early was absolutely not the plan when the night started.

Maybe these events are oversold in order for the organizers to make the money that they want, but I would much rather pay per drink if that means being able to get one in a timely manner, get in and out of the bathroom in a reasonable amount of time, and have enough room to move around and dance. Being that it was NYE, and our group was fun, we certainly made the best of it so the night was still enjoyable. But based on what we drank, what we ate, and our inability to dance and move around as expected, not only was the extra cost for the VIP access a waste of money, I don’t think the event itself was worth the price of the general admission ticket as the size of the crowd made fully enjoying what we were paying for...

Pretty venue but that’s really it. Lines for drinks were a 40 minute wait even with the all access pass. On the website there was Hors d’oeuvres as part of the tickets, zero food at the event. The DJs were so so, I actually got bored dancing because at times the music got so slow paced. I get COVID is a huge factor but don’t present this venue as...

Everyone working there was so friendly. So was the crowd! Everyone was in a good mood. Loved the atmosphere, and the space. Really loved that I finally got to wear this dress I'd been holding on to for forever to wear! Got lots of compliments on it too! That meant a lot since it was like a fashion show in there! Mine was the...