Disappointing Experience—Not Worth the Price

Spent over $2,300 and regret it. I booked The Strand House for my mom’s 60th birthday, specifically for the view. The plan was to have our party of 18 seated in the main dining room, where the water is in full view. I worked with their coordinator, Stephanie, from 01.23.2025 to 02.16.2025 to plan this. She was great—detailed, accommodating, and even arranged a personalized event menu with our own logo. Everything seemed solid. But here’s how it actually went down:

1. The reservation was somehow made for 2024 instead of 2025. Because of this, when we arrived, the host staff couldn’t even find our reservation.
2. My party was split up. Some were tucked in the back of the front dining room, one person was placed at the bar, and others were just turned away completely.
3. Once they finally located my reservation, our space had already been given away. Instead of the promised main dining room, we were crammed onto a small balcony that didn’t fit our group comfortably. Paying over $2K, I expected to get what I was promised. No apology. No accountability. Just a shrug and a “this is what we have” attitude.
4. The service was frustrating. Wait staff took away food without permission—if a guest wasn’t at their seat, even if there was plenty of food left, they cleared the plate. My mom specifically requested some items to be boxed, yet a lot of food went missing. I found out about this after the fact.
5. We were rushed. I get that the space we were put in is normally for general seating, but that wasn’t our fault. We had a reservation for a private area and should have been treated accordingly.
6. The photographer I hired wasn’t able to capture the moments we were hoping for. The space we were moved to was too small and poorly positioned, which completely altered the aesthetic and backdrop we had planned for. The whole point of choosing this venue was for the view—and that was taken away.
7. Stephanie’s response regarding the space we were guaranteed made no sense. She claimed that for parties larger than (insert random number) reserved groups are always assigned randomly. But in her own email, she clearly stated that the only expected change for groups larger than 16 would be two parallel tables—not a completely different location. So not only was I misled, but the response contradicted what was actually communicated.

At the end of the day, I just expect better—especially when the service fee alone was 23% of over $2,300.

I didn’t complain that day. I just paid the check and followed up with Stephanie the next day, hoping for some accountability—maybe even an assurance of a better experience in the future. Instead, I got excuses and dismissiveness.

This was supposed to be a special night for my mom, and I paid a considerable amount for it. With 15+ years in the service industry, I understand mistakes happen. But grace is for those who seek it—and clearly, they have no interest in doing so.

Wouldn’t recommend. Not for a special occasion, not for the price, and definitely not for the service.