Rose Hill in Aiken — Restaurant in Aiken County

My fiance and I had been to The Stables Restaurant and were pleased, so we went to Rose Hill to tour the estate for our wedding. We took the tour at 10 am on a Saturday. We expressed a sincere interest in having our wedding there,and were told our date was available to book.We even asked if there would be any other events booked on our chosen wedding day. Kena, the General Manager, assured us that since we chose to have our vows at the brick gazebo and our reception in the main house, there would be no other events. We discussed the brunch menu options and wedding time as well as our bar choices. Kena stated she would email me some sample menus to look at. Kena emailed me the following Sunday. I emailed her back the following Tuesday asking when we should make a deposit, and when should we schedule a tasting. Kena did not respond back to me until Thursday, and her response to my query about the deposit was "whenever you are ready". She then advised a tasting should be scheduled within the next few months. I phoned her the next day (Friday) and asked if we could drop a deposit off, but she stated that the next day would be better at 10:00 am. I agreed, and not two minutes later, she called me back stating that "Someone else took the tour this morning and booked for your date." I could NOT believe that since I had inquired about a deposit 3 days after our tour that she allowed someone to book a wedding on the date we had chosen without giving us right of first refusal!!! I advised her I would gladly have paid the FULL amount of the venue fee rather than the required 50% deposit to secure the date, but I was told "someone else higher up than me" was involved. They did offer to have us schedule our wedding on a Sunday at a reduced fee, but we wanted the original Saturday we had discussed with her FIRST. I feel this is extremely poor business, and we worried that if they were willing to treat US like this, we had no faith that they would treat our guests in the manner we desired, so we booked at another venue, but did have to change our originally chosen wedding date. We booked at the WILLCOX, which is actually a MUCH nicer place, as Rose Hill is in a state of disrepair, badly needs painting and updating. So actually they did us a favor, but I will never recommend anyone to choose Rose Hill as a wedding venue. I would not even want to give one star, but no star...

Celebrated my grandmother's 90th birthday here, we made reservations 3 weeks in advance, as it was a larger party (14 people). What a horrible experience. I am a very understanding person, as I have worked in the restaurant industry before, but the quality of service here was unforgivable. Once we finally ordered, it took 45 minutes for half the table to get their food, the other half of the table took an additional 30 minutes. The manager, Stephen Mueller, refused to speak with us, instead he sent his 80 year old mother, who was kind but offered a half-hearted apology. The excuse made by her and the staff was that our party was difficult to service because it was so large (14 people, really??) We had no special food orders, we were all on one check, and we made the reservation weeks in advance, and even called to remind them a couple days ahead. They really messed up, but made it worse by failing to take ownership and shifting blame. It was QUITE surprising what a cowardly man Stephen Mueller turned out to be. I will not even get into the details of the food, but let's just say that after dinner several of us needed to eat again elsewhere. We were kind, despite the circumstances, but when we addressed the issue (quite respectfully I might add), the response of the staff really spoke to the lousy leadership here. Please consider this review before booking this venue for your special event. Everything may go fine for you, but if they drop the ball, don't expect them to acknowledge their mistake or attempt to make it right. This review is coming from a long-time Aiken family who has a great deal of respect for our local business owners. So very disappointed on such a...

My husband and I got married here in 2012. Since we were both from Aiken, we thought it would be much cuter here than over at Hopeland Gardens. While everything turned out perfectly, there was a little more stress than I would have liked in setting up a menu (you have to use their chef for catering) and finalizing all of the details. They were very accommodating in setting up a rain plan (just in case!) and did agree to let a former employer bring homemade Baklava for the reception. While it is very hot indoors in the summer, they did their best to keep everything open and breezy. As previously posted, be sure to get everything written out. They provided tables and chair for the reception, but have no chairs on the premises for the ceremony. They also have stemware/china available, which we did not have to rent.

Overall, I think it was a lovely place to get married and we couldn't have...