The Castle at Park Plaza

Came here for wine riot and it seems like a great venue because they’ve got lots of open space. They know how to set up an event and had lots of people at the front to check IDs.
Coat check for $ 3? Nope…

Decent event space– pretty much a blank canvas depending on what you want the inside to be, but of course, parking would be a major issue for guests of whatever you’re hosting.

I attended the venue for the Wine Riot event. The event itself was very well run and I enjoyed it greatly. Right as I was leaving a security guard came by and forcefully shoved me out of the way saying «move it I have an emergency». I responded back to him with «woah don’t push me like that» He got belligerent trying to kick me out (which I was leaving anyways) and was signaling for other people to come over to escort me out. He proceeded to threaten to get the cops involved. The «owner» of the venue then came over telling me to leave and proceed to shove my female friend out. Luckily the CEO of the Wine Riot event came over and immediately began apologizing to me. She said security had been awful all night and they were on their «high horses». This tells me that the venue personnel had been unprofessional on several occasions throughout the night for her to come and immediately start apologizing to me as they were trying to kick me out. Luckily she said that they are moving future events to a different venue.

My friends and I went here for a Shecky’s Girls’ Night event a few weeks ago. The castle itself is obviously easy to find and beautiful on the outside.
The inside:
1. We couldn’t figure out how to get inside! they had a whole ramp and plastic entrance setup, but the entrance was through the huge, heavy doors that had a TEENY sign. Not the fault of the castle, I assume, but still…
2. It’s a cool space but caused the event to have an odd setup. The room to get goody bags was down the spiral staircase, which I assume caused a backup when it got crowded.
Like Danielle K., we were constantly comparing the layout to the Cyclorama, which is a large, round space ideal for circulating and looking at the vendors. This layout made it crowded in some spots and cramped in others, and made it hard to figure out what order to use to check out the vendors.
I didn’t use the bathrooms, because they were downstairs — another downside.
Perhaps this just wasn’t the right venue for this event? I’m sure it’s cool for other events!

How hard is it to find a Castle in Boston? Evidently for me, pretty hard since I didn’t realize that the Smith & Wollensky castle had event space in the back called «The Castle at Park Plaza». (I had to ask for directions at the Park Plaza and the door man must have thought I was nuts to not see the castle right in front of me.)
Anyway, when I finally got my bearings and found the Castle at Park Plaza, I went inside to attend a Shecky’s Girls Night Out event. Since Shecky’s Girls Night Out was traditionally held a the Cyclorama, I found myself comparing this venue to that one (as other reviewers did as well). The Cyclorama has more space, so the event felt a little more cramped than it usually does.
As others have mentioned, there are not adequate bathrooms for a well attended event.
Otherwise though, the space was pretty, and I could see a smaller event having success there.

went here for wine riot in 2012.
the venue as compared to cyclorama is not as nice. It was cool to be in an old building but the layout of the tables was just not optimal for traffic flow. At cyclorama everything was laid out in a big circle so it was easy to navigate. Here it just seemed to bottle neck.
Also, as I was going to the men’s room, i noticed that there was an extremely long line for the ladies room… i can’t imagine that’s a good thing for the girls if they broke the seal too soon.

I have been to a good 5 or so events here since 1997, and generally think the Park Plaza Castle is a cool venue. It’s definitely distinctive and unique, and it has a ton of space to accommodate large events. I can imagine that the interior would lend itself well to beautiful lighting and decorations for a formal event.
However, there are a few serious drawbacks to the castle, particularly related to the bathrooms. The number of restrooms is inadequate for both the size of the building and the types of events hosted there. I’ve attended both wine and beer festivals here in the last year and found both had unbelievably long wait times for the limited facilities. The beer festival was particularly bad, even with auxiliary porta-​potties available in the alley beside the castle. Unfortunately, I think these events need to sell fewer tickets if they use the castle as a venue. Alternately, they need to bring in an even larger number of additional facilities.
Second, the main restroom is downstairs in the castle. Not only are stairs potentially problematic for anyone with a mobility issue, but it’s not really smart to ask people who are at the venue for the express purpose of drinking to navigate a flight of stairs to pee. There is a small bathroom upstairs (on the main level) which is not always open depending on the event.
It may seem petty to complain so much about a venue’s restrooms, but they have a significant impact on people’s enjoyment of an event. I’ve spent way more time waiting in restroom lines in physical discomfort at the Park Plaza Castle than anywhere else I can recall. Even when I attended a First Night concert here, restrooms were crowded. I would hope that for a wedding or private event, this would be less of an issue due to a much smaller crowd size.

I went to the Castle for Wine Riot on 4÷29÷2011. Last year, I attended the same event at what felt like a smaller venue (very different space though — so I can’t be sure) and thought that this space was ideal. The tables were spread out nicely, there weren’t long waits to taste the wines, we were able to mingle and enjoy ourselves with ease. The only downside is that the bathrooms we were allowed to use were downstairs (which is not ideal when you’re handing out wine like it’s water!) … however, that said, it was a fun space and very easy to get to via public transportation.
I have to imagine that large events here (like a wedding) would be very lovely!