Fowler House Mansion — Restaurant in Lafayette

Let me first start off by mentioning I am not one that would leave a negative review. But, I feel as though I absolutely need to.

The food overall tasted great and the staff was awesome.

This review primarily deals with communication per Management. We used Sovereign Catering & Events to book the Lahr Atrium for our Wedding Ceremony and Reception. When we initially booked the facility and everything sounded good. Management was great at setting up an appointment to discuss details. After we booked is when things began to go downhill. It takes a while for management to respond, so much so we wanted to cancel the venue/catering all together. As planning a wedding can be stressful enough, but when this company takes so long to respond to questions it adds even more undesirable stress. The venue itself is beautiful though.

Be careful when speaking with management about the details. My wife was allergic to pineapple, so when we ordered the fruit kabobs (no pineapple)... they came with pineapple. We also ordered 2 kegs of Budlight. During our wedding we barely used one, leaving another completely unused. They will not give you a credit for that. Nor would you let you keep it. And with each keg being sold for $199 each, that's a decision you will need to think about. This was not explained to us when ordering. They also appeared as unprepared because they took roughly 45 minutes to get the first keg tapped because they failed to have one (tap) with them. Management also mentioned we can have candles as long as they were contained. So, we put them in lanterns and planned to have them lit. They didn't get lit when they were set up.

And in a pre-wedding meeting we had with management, we mentioned to them we were having a photobooth. Apparently, they did not take note of that, so the room for the booth wasn't available. I personally helped the lady move things around to ensure she had adequate space for the booth during the wedding.

Wedding day itself was stressful because you get "access" to the building but no key or way back in. So, once you leave you have to wait until an offsite representative can come back and open the door for you. You will need to plan your deliveries accordingly. Also, management makes you feel as a burden when they have to come unlock the door for you if you aren't there according to "their" schedule.

Also, management sent the final invoice to us 2 days before the wedding and stated it needed to be paid BEFORE the wedding started. This to me was an unreasonable amount of time.

Overall, I would NOT recommend this company...

Starting off, we went for V-day brunch and I called well in advance for questions regarding social distancing, and freshness of eggs. I saw they had been doing brunch quite a while now so I figured they do it well. Starting off, parking spot was way too tight, I almost crashed my car trying to squeeze in a tight spot, they should definitely work on expanding that, I mean I had to get my baby out of the backseat! When we got in, they welcomed us, and sat us down, it was busy so I wasn’t surprised it took awhile to get our food, however the distance between all tables, was at best, 3 feet. Even when we retrieved our coats after eating, from the coat rack, a giant crowd of the next seating group stood all mashed together, most without masks on in front of the rack. When we got our eggs, I am a chef, I know the difference between fresh and carton and those were hands down, liquid carton. The rest of the food was not too bad tasting. Although since it took half a hour to get a single plate, that was already limited to three food items at a time, some was cold. Did not help the insulation of the building was very poor, makes me wonder what they are doing with their money they make from these brunches and venue rentals, not getting the place properly heated? I saw a crack through some doors that lead outside, near where we were sat at. I think the biggest annoyance was they called it a buffet, but when I tried placing a order I was told to wait, so that two tables who got in after me, (for the next seating time, yes we were still there because service was incredibly slow for a place that should have had the food already made and prepare to be served) could place their meal orders. I’m sorry but if they can not properly staff for the demand of people they sold tickets, sell less. Or hire more people, you should not neglect your guests because or your poor planning. The buffet is pricey as it is. It’s a nice place and they were clean but maybe work out the major kinks, I wanted to return but more than likely will not till they get more organized and more staffed and less crowded. We are still in the middle of a pandemic after all. Organization people, it’s a huge mansion,...

By far the WORST Service & dining experience in a “nice” restaurant I’ve had in years. Waitress sat the 3 of us down with zero friendliness & came back a few minutes later for drink orders. Short, insufficient, detached answers to simple questions about the menu. Took 10+ minutes to get a cup of coffee, an iced tea, & a glass of wine - all delivered separately, minutes apart, with no courtesy. Waitress then disappeared for another ten+ minutes. Finally took our order while fully displaying her annoyance with our existence and disappeared again for LONG after food arrived. Meals were delivered by another person who also immediately disappeared. Out of water & drinks long before the food came. One meal had a cold baked potato, pasta was flavorless. . After another 10+ minutes an employee walked by our table and told us rudely to “wait a minute!!” when we asked her to get our waitress. That person then walked to the female at the hostess station (who was on her phone during our entire 2 hour visit) and never came back nor sent someone to help. My friend then got up, went to the hostess & asked her to get someone for us. Finally another new face showed up and after a ridiculous conversation that included excuses and NO focus on basic service said she’d have a new potato brought to replace the cold one & sent us a decanter of water. My other friend ordered an iced tea refill that never came but by then we were DONE begging to be acknowledged. Salmon was good, roast on toast very good, and pasta was sub-par. Such a gorgeous building with perhaps some talent in the kitchen- but such a travesty to make customers feel like they are neither welcome nor even barely noticed. We paid and walked out offended and the hostess still couldn’t look up from her phone as we left. I haven’t felt that invisible in a very long time. I was absolutely embarrassed to bring my dear friends there and most certainly will NOT make that mistake again! This was an experience that will be difficult to not vent about to anyone that will...