PAY ATTENTION to each and every review on Yelp, the good and the bad. I am not sure on the accuracy of other social media sites as comments can be biased based on the user being able to delete as she pleases. I wish I did my research and read reviews thoroughly before booking Dolaj as my wedding reception venue. The venue is nice in appearance if you are looking for a venue that offers a blank canvas for decorating.
I paid $2613 (100 guest) to rent the space- breakdown $2000 for event space + $400 deposit + $213 in taxes. The $400 deposit consists of a $200 cleaning fee + $200 security which was to be refunded at the end of our event. We chose not to use her decorating services as it was not to our taste and would have increased the cost of the space. I purchased all my decorations and had someone decorate for me instead.
She offers a bartender and a busboy as a part of the space rental, which were two things that appealed to me when we booked. Only to arrive at my reception to see her and her husband as the bartender and busboy. If you choose not to hire staff to do this, at least be in presentable attire. She walked around in a bright red tracksuit and what looks to be like house slippers at my wedding reception.
The owner is very rude, nasty and manipulative. She only pretends to be nice, but the attitude is right below the surface of the pretense.
I was surprised to see chairs stacked at the entrance of the space when I entered my reception venue. The decorator asked that the chairs be removed and the response was that the chairs have always been there. The stacked folded chairs can be seen in some of my guest photos since they were stacked right beside the grass backdrop that we rented for photos. I've never seen folded chairs stacked at the entrance on the two occasions that I visited the space. Any classy space manager would never leave stacked chairs at the entrance for guests to see upon arrival!
Some of my guests complained to her that they were cold, in which she gave them an attitude, instead of fixing the temperature. To cover herself she went to my husband and told him to let her know if any of the guests were cold, at this point they had already complained that they were cold and received a nasty attitude.
There was hardly any toilet paper in the bathroom and the toilet was not flushing properly, which my guest told her and received her same nasty attitude.
At the end of the night, I ended up throwing out water from foil pans in my reception dress and throwing out what we considered garbage (leftover food scraps in foil pans) ourselves. When I asked what the $200 cleaning fee was for, I was met with her nasty attitude stating she has done a lot for us all day, as if she gave us the space for free. This is your business so if you choose to do things yourself because you don't want to pay extra staff, don't then complain to your clients as if you were not paid.
We were rushed to pack up after our event, not realizing that some of our bar supplies such as cups, drink straws, drink napkins, a bottle of whiskey, vodka and rum were not accounted for. All things that I purchased, I brought to the venue with my own money. My reception had about 85 guests, less than 90 people in attendance and I purchased a box of 500 cups, a box that contained 1000 black drink napkins and a box that contained 1000 drink straws. She placed all of our leftover wine, champagne, beer, water, juices and wine coolers on the bar top for us to pick up, minus these items. When I called after the event to inquire about the remaining cups, drink straws, vodka, whiskey, and rum. I was told that I should have checked the garbage. There is no way that an event of less than 90 people finished 500 cups and 1000 drink straws and 1000 drink napkins. Not to mention many of my guests do not drink so there must have been some of the vodka, whiskey, and rum left.
The icing on the cake was when she called me on my wedding night to let me know that our DJ mistakenly packed one of her cords and that " this may become a problem in us getting back our $200 deposit", since there was an event after our event that would not be able to use the cord. I called my DJ immediately and he assured me that he did not take the cord that he left the cord at the DJ booth. He explained to me that the cord is a cord used to hook up a phone, Ipad or other devices to the system. I looked up the cord and realized that the cord cost between $9-$15 depending on the brand. I called her the next day and told her that the cord can be taken from our deposit. She agreed that she would order the cord and refund us the balance of the deposit with receipt. Two weeks and 2 days later from the date of our event she refunded us $170, using $30 to purchase the supposed cord. (CONTINUATION NEXT REVIEWER) read more