The Purple Iris at Hartwood Mansion — Restaurant in West Virginia

I was excited to attend a special catered event at the Purple Iris this month because the property is lovely. Unfortunately, I was disappointed so badly by the food that I will not look forward to a catered event at the Purple Iris again.

Ambiance, cleanliness, and memorable food for a large number of guests are the usual reasons one would book a catered event at a venue. The venue was lovely, the staff members were friendly, and the tables were set up nicely. They have the ambiance and plenty of parking, but could work on food and cleanliness.

This catered food is some of the worst I’ve come across. Our event started on time and I was third in line for the buffet, so there was no reason for any food to be served cold. The main entree and side dish were intended to be served hot, but was served at room temperature. The food was served right out metal trays without a source of heat or thermal container to attempt to keep it warm. It had either been sitting out for hours with no attempt to keep heated or were minimally reheated leftovers.

The taste of the food was palatable, but the appearance and textures were as though someone who never cooked before threw something together out of desperation without caring whether it would be enjoyed or served at a safe temperature.

On the menu were steamed mini carrots, vegetable “lasagna”, cold, hard dinner rolls, salad with dressing, over-baked cookies and stale, cold, apple fritter halves.

I was advised that the main entrée was supposed to be vegetable lasagna. It was a creamy, pink, cold mess with chunks of crunchy mixed vegetables and chopped up lasagna noodles in it. The vegetables had the notorious, disappointing, rubbery and mildly crunchy texture that you only get from undercooked, reheated frozen vegetables. it was undeniably a bag of California vegetable mix from the freezer section. There were no evident layers of pasta, cheese, red sauce, that one would expect from a lasagna dish. The light pink goop was most likely a jar of red pasta sauce mixed with ricotta cheese before it was mixed up with broken up lasagna noodle pieces and chopped, frozen vegetables. It resembled a soupy mix of leftovers someone would feed to their family pet because it wasn’t good enough to serve to their family. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich would’ve been more enjoyable.

The steamed carrots also had the disappointing rubbery, waterlogged texture that you only get from reheated frozen vegetables. It was if fresh vegetables weren’t even a thought in the “chef’s” mind despite the fact there are four grocery stores within two miles from this venue that offered fresh vegetables. The seasoning was fair, but the texture was awful. I noticed that my friend who always eats all of her vegetables did not even finish her carrots. The dinner rolls were served cold and hard just like the pads of butter. Luckily, the lettuce salad with sliced cucumbers in it wasn’t terrible.

Cleanliness—As I left for the buffet line, I noticed large pieces of broken crackers all over the carpet around my chair. It wasn’t just a missed crumb or two, it was nearly two whole crackers crushed and scattered on the carpet. Crackers weren’t served at this event, so it was evident that the dining area wasn’t thoroughly vacuumed up after the event prior to ours. I didn’t enter the restroom, so I cannot comment on that, but the hard water spots all over the silverware were hard to miss.

Although the staff was very friendly, and the venue was decorated nicely, I would not recommend booking a catered event here because the food presentation was insulting, the food safety was questionable since the hot dishes were served cold, and cleaning standards were sub-par. What a shame the key personnel who could have kept a higher standard were remiss at such a...

I simply cannot recommend The Purple Iris enough! The highlight of my experience hosting an event here could’ve been the beautiful historic venue, or the elegantly curated catering and bar options, but what truly sets The Purple Iris apart is their dedicated staff. I primarily worked with Nikki on the event coordination, and not only was she accommodating to my admittedly lengthy list of requests, she made it a priority to embrace my vision and to do whatever it took to bring that vision to fruition. She made herself available to me and answered all of my questions promptly, ensuring early on that we had an open channel of communication. She really made me feel like I could trust her to help make our event a huge success. Another member of the staff, also named Nikki, was a fan favorite as our mixologist for the evening. I wanted to have a featured cocktail and she took that idea and ran with it! She made sure the drinks were flowing and that everyone could enjoy themselves while also consuming responsibly. Lastly, the venue owner Destiny. What I loved about Destiny was that while she is the leader of her staff, she was working alongside of them the whole night ensuring that they were supported and that our event could flow seamlessly. It is clear that she respects her staff as much as they respect her, and it reflects in the quality of their service and work product. It felt like no matter how grand of a request I thought I was asking, these ladies took it in stride and made it seem effortless. It truly felt like I walked away from that experience of hosting an event with The Purple Iris having made three new friends. In all, The Purple Iris makes hosting your event feel easy. They are prompt, responsive, organized, and they completely exceeded my expectations in every way....

My family attended the Thanksgiving meal. It was an early seating... 11:40a I believe. Seating was easy and quick. I believe we were one of 3 tables that early. Both of them were seated earlier and were into their plates. We were not offered the advertised melted Brie at the table. It was about 30 minutes in when we saw the server to ask for it. That was after later seatings had it brought to them which made us trigger to ask. The couple already eating when we came in asked afterwards because they were left out as well. All other servers were offering it as they took drink orders. I guess we arrived too early for them to be on their game. Drinks... well we didn’t see our server much and had to flag down others for refills or cocktail orders. They lost out on cocktail purchases by delaying monitoring our glasses. Is what it is. Food was ok. Not great but most definitely not bad. The buffet items were easy but the servers behind items like the mash were skimpy. Oysters were a great item. They were not fresh shucked. Low grade but I’m a bit of an oyster snob I guess. Lacked flavor. Still tied to the shell and ice cold as of recently defrosted on the half shell. All toll we had an good time but won’t do it again. The biggest issue was a mandatory 20% tip applied to the bill for a table of 4. For a buffet. With a mediocre server. That hit me the wrong way. I have zero issue with 20% tips even before covid... but a mandatory 20% on poor service? No. That was also not in any fine print that I saw and I have checked since. Our server deserves to get paid but ~$50 tip added to the bill for 4 people (two adults and two children) that had to flag down others for service!? That’s disturbing and despicable. We usually attend for New Years but I think this venue has...