Chandler’s Banquets

While the venue and the staff were warm, courteous and helpful, the food was horrible! All the hot food was cold! The eggs tasted like army rations. The pastries were stale. Not sure if the hosts ordered the drinks, but they were generic and not what I would consider celebratory!

Forget Wisconsin. Save your gas. Chandler’s Friday lake perch fish fry rocks!

We had looked at several venues in the area before selecting this one for our early August reception. We had an option at a country club, banquet halls, hotel ballrooms, and some mansions since we were planning a 150 person reception. When we looked at this in the spring, they informed us that the patio was being re-​built and it was hard to imagine since there was so much snow on the ground back then. The now named Augusta room has a high ceiling and mood lighting along with windows looking East so that you don’t get any glare at dusk. The prices were reasonable for the amenities and required deposits are quite low comparatively, which you can use credit card, so we got some points out of it.
We had a meal tasting a few months before and we were a little disappointed with the portion size and plate size since the food seemed crowded. The filet was overcooked as well. We never got a taste of the soups or salads. On the reception date, everything was prepared and served splendidly and the portion sizes were plentiful to the point that several people thought it was too much. The package includes a cake from Central Continental Bakery in Mount Prospect which have a great reputation in the area. The bar was well stocked and the servers were professional and quick.
Kim was great to work with and even met with us individually when we hadn’t set up appointments. The other staff were also helpful on Kim’s off day. As we got closer to our reception date, all of the facilities were being built to completion and receipt of place cards, table cards, and our preferred layout were all honored and laid out to our request. There are many chair, centerpiece, table cover, table layout options (color, size, material, etc.) that they will work with your requests and also make recommendations if you want.
Before the reception started, Kim took us out on golf carts with our photographer to take some photos out on the golf course on bridges, near greens, around the clubhouse without disturbing the pace of play of golfers on the course. We made special requests to bring our own coffee and the staff accommodated us conveniently by letting us try some before serving all the guests. We were busy with greeting guests and the staff took our plates away to keep it warm when we got back to our table. Overall, I could not have asked for a better experience at a facility when there are so many moving parts with so many people. I would highly recommend Chandler’s for any reception or even business meetings in their upstairs facilities.

My husband and I recently had our wedding and reception at Chandler’s. Everything was perfect! The newly renovated outdoor ceremony area is beautiful, and the reception space was very nice. The food was excellent. Most of all, though, Kim and Kathy were beyond superb at giving us options, being flexible, and making everything run smoothly, from our very first meeting all the way through to the end of the reception. Kim even came by on her day off to make sure that the ceremony was properly coordinated and that all the last minute details were handled. Our experience at Chandler’s was fantastic!

My daughter has left several messages with the rude lady that answers the phone. We’ve also sent emails requesting some general information regarding their weddings. That was two weeks ago. I guess they don’t need any business.

WEDDING REVIEW
Chandlers– where can I begin… only with a warning to NOT host your wedding at this venue if you are potentially considering it.
My brother’s wedding ceremony and reception was held there on 5÷17÷2014. What a mess. From the beginning when we walked in there was no assistance provided by Chandler’s coordinator Kathy– she popped in to the bridal suite for about 5 minutes at the start to tell my sister in law she «looked great!» and then was nowhere to be seen for the rest of the evening.
There was no communication as to what was to take place, and everyone was left on their own. For the bride and groom’s «first look» there was a Chandler’s employee showing someone around on the gazebo area and NOT MOVING even after I said, «hey! they are going to do the first look now!» (something that should have been Kathy’s job) Clearly they care about trying to rope in new business, but did not give a crap about existing customers.
Grounds were terrible– bright orange tape running all over the greens – No flowers, tons of construction, nothing being done to hide the work during an OUTDOOR CEREMONY. Also there was no direction on where we COULD take pictures, (again, Kathy was not present) but plenty of notice from Bob, the manager at Chandler’s, about where we could not stand. Any location we walked to, we were quickly told by Bob in a rude tone that it was a «danger zone» and to get out, but not given any alternatives on where we could stand for photos. Adding a joke about the bride being hit by flying golf balls does not make your rude comments to move funny, or OK. Not even close. You would expect a lot more from a manager, but not Bob! Total nightmare! The coordinator was nowhere to be seen. Thanks Bob and Kathy for ruining the photographs and the mood of the bride right before the wedding ceremony! Super Job!
On to the dinner– food was good, but the kitchen ran out of prime rib for some of the guests. Not acceptable when you are running out of the higher priced dish that has already been paid for.
Highlight of the evening, the DJ Marty– he was excellent!
WARNING to all brides– DO NOT HOST YOUR WEDDING AT CHANDLERS. Will be posting this review to as many review boards as possible so that future weddings will not have to deal with the mess my brother and sister in law did.
Brides, Do yourself a favor: DO NOT HOST YOUR WEDDING AT CHANDLERS

We had our wedding at Chandlers a few weeks ago. The whole process of working with chandlers was a complete nightmare. Kim was our «planner» and she was terrible in every way. Her communication skills are the worst I’ve ever seen and she acts as if she’s never planned a wedding before.
During our rehearsal dinner, which she was suppose to be in charge of, she just kept leaving with no warning and was gone for 20 minutes at a time. We ran the rehearsal ourselves.
Our outdoor ceremony site was a complete mess. It was under construction and extremely unsafe. Chandlers offered 0 support to get that fixed. We had to spend all night getting our florist up to date with fixing it and had to pay her more money. Chandlers refused to split the bill with us.
So we sent the florist out early to set everything up and chandlers ripped them all up and threw everything in a corner. Because they had a booked a party til 430 when our wedding started at 5. So we couldn’t take our pictures because the place was packed with a bunch of over served people who were wasted.
Luckily our vendors that we choose were amazing and we all worked together to get this going, no help from Chandlers. The wedding started and Kim was suppose to be there all day setting everything up and getting people in the right spots. She did nothing of the sort. She set up nothing, I was scrambling around at 515 looking for programs and the bouquets and everything else she was suppose to do.
During the reception Kim was supposed to be there all night. I never saw her after 6pm, she is awful. We had requested stations but instead we’re given a buffet. The floor plan showed one thing and we got something completely different. There were people that we didn’t invite and didn’t know hanging out in our lounge area and dancing in our lounge area.
The night was a big hit due to the DJ and the way we designed everything. But absolutely everything Chandlers had to do with they failed completely. They didn’t follow through on anything they said they would do. Kim is impossible to work with and she is very bad at her job. Bob Whitehead is the manager and he is a complete jerk and needs to be fired. He not only refused to help us, but was a complete jerk about it.
I would never recommend this place to anyone and if you’re getting married there be prepared to do everything.

My fiancé and I are getting married this May and will host our reception at Chandler’s Banquets. Since we have a medium sized party (hoping for 160 – 170 guests), we will be on the second floor at Chanlder’s.
We stopped by Chanlder’s to learn more about the hall and their services as we found decent reviews online. We were meeting with Kim (who is phenominal to work with!) who was going over services and showing us the space that was going to look totally different after rennovations and the power went out. Kim stayed so calm and not only resolved the issue with guests who were visiting for an event, but also put us down in her calendar, all the while smiling and making jokes! We really liked the venue location (close to hotels, our church and the freeway and on a pretty golf course), the cost and all that is included (food, beverages, linnens, center pieces, lighting, dj connection, connection with rehearsal dinner at Moretti’s/Chandler’s, etc) and even though we did not know what the space would look like, we knew we’d love to work with Kim, so we booked it!
Since then, we’re so happy that we did. As I said working with Kim is great, she is a very genuine person and I know she will help us make our day what we hope it will be. The food is very good as well, we had two tastings to figure out what to put on our buffett menu and enjoyed both (the cake which is also included in the cost comes from Central Continental bakery in Mt Prospect and had really nice cake/​buttercream frosting). Also– the rennovation is beautiful! Even the bathrooms are gorgeous :) It looks like something out of HGTV. If you haven’t seen the second floor and are looking for a nice place to host your event, you should check it out. I will post more after our wedding with more feedback that may be helpful for those of you looking for a place to host your event. :)
Wow, I wrote a lot :) We had our wedding here and it was great!!! We have so many fond memories and Chandler’s was a great place to host our event. The space looked more beautiful than we expected, the night flowed flawlessly, and everyone is still talking about how great the food was (especially the chocolate mousse and prime rib) and how much the DJ got the party started. I could write more, but I’ll stop here, the experience was great, I totally recommend Chandler’s!

My sister’s wedding was this weekend, and her reception was at Chandler’s. I cannot think of a single negative thing to say about the experience. They have phenomenal people to work with there – they are so easy to work with when she booked the wedding, we also had the bridal shower at Chandler’s. For both events, Kim (who is in charge of catering) was fantastic and Lee Ann was the best server ever.
Chandler’s is gorgeous. The greenhouse room was beautiful for the shower, which was around Thanksgiving. They even put out some large centerpieces for the shower that matched the centerpieces we made perfectly. The reception was in the main ballroom. It has a soaring lofted ceiling, great lighting, and right now, a giant beautiful Christmas tree off to one side.
The food was awesome. And that was no small feat. We have a lot of food allergies and dietary restrictions in our family. My sister literally handed Kim and her head chef a spreadsheet with a couple dozen people on it with restrictions that ranged from the relatively straightforward (vegan) to allergies like citrus and onions. They said no problem, and meant it. If you have any kind of food allergies in your family, you know how hard it is to get a special event catered so that no one has to either skip eating or go to the ER. Chandler’s nailed this. The food was awesome and everyone was accommodated, all without any fuss. That’s a huge success.
My sister and her new husband are extremely happy they chose Chandler’s and I know I am too. I heard over and over again how impressed people were with the hall, the food, the décor, and more. It was a beautiful wedding and we have Kim and Lee Ann and everyone at Chandler’s to thank for that.

Nice old world bakery.

I just got married over the weekend at Chandlers. I worked with Kim throughout my entire process who made everything so easy every step of the way. We actually had Kim perform our ceremony as well which she did an amazing job!!! It was casual, and most of all about us opposed to religion which is exactly what we wanted. She has you fill out a form which determines how religious you would want it, and personalizes it perfectly! She was great to work with but throughout the time of my engagement I was able to get to know others that help in the banquets as well. Every single person that I spoke to was extremely helpful and friendly every time. If I could have another wedding I would hands down choose Chandlers. The property itself is gorgeous, the individuals that work there are amazing, and from what I heard from our guests the food was delicious as well :)
The day of went extremely smoothly due to the people who work there. Two others that stand out to us are Jose and Oscar. The entire evening they were constantly ensuring that my groom and myself were happy with literally everything– which we were! Everything was perfect with them, and I could not have been happier with any decisions that we made.

If we could afford it, my wife would have me throw a wedding every year at Chandler’s! People STILL talk about how well our wedding went here. Kathy was our contact point, and she not only managed to help us through the otherwise stressful process of planning a wedding, but she was very personable and understanding about what we wanted and catered to our needs.
The grounds are fabulous – it’s just too bad it poured rain on our wedding day and didn’t get any outdoor pictures! But the rain, truth be told, made for an excellent backdrop through the windows of the hall.
The food was amazing and had our guests asking for seconds, thirds, and fourths – particularly on the beef! Plenty of parking, plenty of room, plenty of dance floor, very elegantly decorated.
We had no issues whatsoever with Chandler’s and we HIGHLY, HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend visiting Chandler’s if you’re even thinking about having a wedding. You will NOT be disappointed in the least. More importantly, your guests will thank you. We have not heard a single complaint about anything that happened that night.

We had our June reception at Chandler’s and we more than pleased. Our contact was Kathy, and she knows her stuff. She was slow to respond sometimes, but I never felt as though our plans were falling by the wayside.
Our tasting, visit to see the place decorated for a wedding, and when we brought everything there a couple days before the wedding all went smoothly. Kathy helped us draw up a detailed floor plan and did spend time with us even after the venue should have been closed to make sure everything was set.
The space itself is beautiful. We had the large downstairs ballroom with a huge, gorgeous window looking outside out onto the golf course and all the greenery. There were tables and chairs set up outside so guests could wander out there. Best of all was the toile and lights coming from the center of the room outwards. And no ugly banquet hall mirrors!
The food was delicious and the portions are very, very generous. One of our meal choices was a NY strip steak, and I got many complements on how perfectly cooked and tasty it was. We also had a large sweet table with Italian goodies (my Italian mother insisted) and one of my favorite parts was the White Castle sliders they bought in for us about 11:30 for «fourthmeal.» The pricing was very reasonable, and it was the best place we found to get the most for your money.
A few slight mishaps did happen the night of the reception. Something always goes wrong, I guess. The place cards for the bridal party were held to the side by Chandler’s for the florist to put into the seating card table floral arrangement. They never made it in there. Further, one of our tables didn’t have enough chairs for all the people who were placed at that table. But, my guests were awesome, and just moved themselves over to another table with too many chairs. I didn’t even know about these problems until the next day, so it wasn’t so bad.
Oh, one last thing. Watch out for the cake tasting. When we called the bakery (they contract with a separate bakery to provide the wedding cakes that come as part of the package deal) to schedule our tasting and provide them with our tasting choices, they informed us there would be a fee associated with the tasting. We tried to clarify this with Kathy, who told us the tasting should be complementary, but I guess the bakery never got the message. We never had our tasting. The cake was yummy though, so it worked out.

Went to a wedding reception here and had a great time. They decorated the room wonderfully, the service was quick and friendly, and the bartender was generous. They also have a little bar downstairs that we passed through out to the smoking section. I guess if your party suck you can stop in there. The food was super yummy and there were tons of leftovers, so that means they didn’t skimp on the portions. The bathrooms are very clean, which is very important when everyone is in their fancy clothes. Overall, great place to have a good time. Doesn’t hurt when you’re surrounded by some of your favorite peeps and there’s dancing.

Had my wedding and ceremony at Chandlers. Food was amazing and the staff was very accomidating. We had the chicken and filet for dinner and everything was just great. It was a little hot at first (august weddings) and I just asked them to turn up the air and it was no problem. It is a small bar but it was just fine for my wedding.

Just had my wedding ceremony and reception here, so awesome! Food was AMAZING, planning went super smooth, Kim is awesome, very understanding and accommodating! Sooo many complements on the wedding, recommend the roast tenderloin. We had the ceremony outside, it was beautiful! Chocolate fountain and Martini Luge were fun additions to the night!

Attended a wedding here a few weeks back and though the wedding was a blast I can’t attribute that to Chandler’s.
Upon first walking in, the air conditioning had been off and there was sweat dripping down everyones forehead before the wedding party had even entered. We asked to have the air turned up or on or whatever it would take so it wouldn’t be 500 degrees, they said it would take about a half hour but it should get better. It did get better but why wouldn’t they have sprung the extra $ 20 bucks to turn the air on BEFORE the reception started?
The bar was tiny and VERY understaffed. The wedding party walked up after waiting for quite a while for some bar tending attention and the bartender made everyone one of the groomsmen and their dates show ID before anyone could get a drink. Have you ever been to a wedding where you were carded? How about one where the wedding party is carded? Ridiculous. Everyone was well over the drinking age and pretty insulted by the snobbish bartender.
The rest of the wedding was great because of the people but not because of the venue. It’s not that I wouldn’t recommend them but I would definitely bring up the bar size and the amount of waitstaff prior to booking.

I recently had my wedding ceremony and reception at Chandler’s. Everything was great… planning, packages, food, service! I highly recommend Chandler’s as a wedding venue to anyone who may be looking!

We had our wedding reception at Chandler’s. Our contact was Kathy, and she was phenomenal. From booking to the wedding day Kathy was flexible, supportive, knowledgeable, and fun to work with.
Our wedding reception went perfectly! The food was great, all the details that had been worked out beforehand were executed to the letter, and the staff (from waitstaff to bartenders) were fantastic.
My husband and I and all our guests had a great time! I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect wedding reception and venue!