I attended a Sweet Sixteen here. From the time I walked in until the time I left the staff could've been nicer or more helpful. They would constantly come around filling the tables with drinks soda for the kids, wine for adults and removing unwanted dishes. The ballroom was large and spacious . There were colored lights everywhere along the perimeter of the room.( this was a winter wonderland theme.) In the middle of the room was a special light that encased the dance floor. It spelled out my nieces name and sweet sixteen. At the far end of the room was the food. This was a buffet and geared for 100 kids. They served breaded chicken strips, penne pasta with peas and prosciutto in a cream sauce, french fries, mozzarella sticks , salad, etc. The food was fine but it was more for the kids. There was a separate long table across from the dance floor with towers of homemade cupcakes , hot chocolate and coffee, and bowls and bowls of candy. There was a photo booth just past the food station, and a DJ upfront. My niece had a special room where she could get ready or change into another outfit. Everyone had a great time and I would recommend this place for ur future parties... They also serve brunch, especially for Easter.... read more

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My parents decided they wanted to go to Skylands for Easter for an early dinner... at noon, so basically lunch. The place overall looks very nice. Although earlier in the day it seems very desolate. They assortment of food was pretty good; they had a carving table as well as a breakfast table, with things ranging from omelets to Blintzes. They varies entrees were decent, nothing was that special besides the Flank steak with gorgonzola, which was actually really good. The dessert table was filled with all sorts of things and included a chocolate fountain. The variety of desserts was rather impressive but over all quality wasn't there for me. I had both a piece of flan and small thing of crème brulee. I didn't not expect them to be fantastic, but the flan wasn't very rich, and the crème brulee tasted more like a mousse brulee. My sister also had some things covered in chocolate from the fountain. The chocolate was cheap, and the texture and taste where both off. Overall the price wasn't to bad for what you received. But I just wasn't a fan. read more

I had my daughter's Sweet Sixteen Party here on Dec 5th. I was overwhelmed how incredibly helpful and nice the entire staff was to us. They bent over backwards to accommodate us. The booking manager provided so many extras I'm not permitted to say. They let us come there the day before to decorate the room for the party. The price we were charged was actually much less than at any restaurant or venue we checked out prior. The room was spectacular. There were beautiful accent lights around room, along the walls. The food was for teens.... pizza, chicken strips, penne alfredo and meatballs. Simple but tasted very good. The wait staff was very professional. I highly recommend this for any party you have. read more

Skylands Event and Conference Center - Sweet Sixteen Party - Caterers Near Me - Randolph, New Jersey

My fiance and I threw our engagement party at Skylands. The staff was very nice and accommodating. Nick was very helpful in organizing everything. Skylands has a huge ballroom for large events. We will be recommending Skylands to our friends and family. Would have received all 5 stars, however the downside was the fact that they charged an arm and a leg to extend for an extra hour and hold the cocktail hour in the entrance area. There were no other events going on and therefore it should not have cost the extra money. Besides this, everything worked out well. read more

Do not pass go, do not collect your $200. I have attended 4 events here over the last 4 years. The Skylands is mediocre at best with highlights of bad. 2010: staff argued with me on meal choice for my children. 2011: * The ceiling exploded in the men's bathroom and it turned into a tropical rain shower during the event! * 2 of the sinks did not work. * The staff are less than stellar - bordering on surly... * platting of meals is childish and sloppy! 2012: * walked in and the whole place smelled of gas. Told the manager and he claimed he smelled nothing. Every guest smelled it but he claimed nothing. Only when I told him I was going to rate him online did he say he would call PSEG! * the same 2 sinks in the men's bathroom still don't work * the side walls are covered in dust. Do you have any idea how long it takes dust to accumulate in a vertical surface? * entry carpet is starting to rumple in spots - stretching form age and needs to be replaced. * had to ask for water multiple times. * Chicken Francaise - Where is Gordon Ramsey?! My meal was slopped on the plate. The flavor was mediocre. If this was a restaurant I would NEVER eat here. Why ruin your event with this place? Most of these flaws could be overlooked at a wedding with an open bar but a daytime event with kids - the flaws are glaring. read more

Unacceptable kitchen practices---The Skylands Catering Facility has been knowingly allowing cooking grease to pour out of their building into the retention pond behind their building where it then flows to The Jackson Brook, a trout producing stream. Cooking Grease is supposed to be collected in 500 gallon totes for facilities of this size. But the catering facility has been allowing it flow out of their building. Town officials were notified but months of grease flow has already killed countless wildlife and the trout stream is surely in dire straits. Neighbors properties down stream are also in peril as the stream overflows causing the grease to cover residential properties. A ride to the Skylands rear lot shows what has been happening. And a short walk to the retention pond which you will find if you follow your nose will tell the rest of the story. If you're thinking of booking a party and eating there---think about what corners they will cut in food preparation and handling if this is how they operate the kitchen. read more

Never go there!!! Had my wedding done there. Service sucks, Roy ( Maneger) lying to you all he wants. Bartenders about to die..... Making a huge line at the Bar. Drinks they mix sucks... Had 8 long island ice teas, went home completely sober!!! STOL our guest favors!!! Never go there!!! read more

We threw my mom's 60th Birthday dinner at Skylands and the evening turned out great. Our guest enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. The service at Skylands was good. Everyone was super helpful and on top of things. It would have been nice to extend the party that night without having it cost an arm and leg. Other than that it was a great night. Thank you Skylands. read more

Zero stars. Absolutely horrible experience here. Had steak, which was barely cooked, stone cold, and tasted like eating iron. The service seemed like they missed several of our tables, and never came back to check on us. Had to beg for coffee to come before the event was over. I was embarrassed to be here to support someone I care about knowing the food quality and service we received. I would never recommend this place, am I only hope is it will be replaced by a different management group and certainly chef ASAP. Being at Skylands was really one of those experiences where if I had a chance to sit and talk with the manager I wouldn't even know where to begin. read more

The Shining.............. We checked this place out while making the rounds of other North jersey wedding venues. We went around 2 in the afternoon on a Saturday and it was a complete Ghost Town! The parking lot asphault has weeds and patches of grass growing though it. The building itself is very large and to be honest, resembled a mausoleum but with hideous stucco colums infront. When we walked in I instantly felt liek I was in The Shining! Freaky, weird, large layout with the second floor overlooking the main floor..the icing on the cake was that right smack in the middle of the lobby when you first walk in is an elevator with an exposed shaft. It looks awful! They can accomodate numerous weddings at one time and everyone uses the same entrance and exit. The ceiling looks horrible with cream color drop ceiling tiles with water stains on some. I asked why the building had such a bizzar layout and they explained that it had been built to be a casino but was converted into a banquet facility in the early 80's. When we went there were only 3 people working in the building. The place was partially set up for a wedding and they explained that they hadn't had any weddings the weekend before or even that weekend and that they had started setting up for a wedding the following weekend, which was going to be the only one. It was apparently for the owners daughter. This made me wonder who was even having events here. The second floor rooms are basically just large spaces, plain walls and accordina walls deviding the rooms. They are very dimmly lit. Infact, the entire place was. All of the chandeleirs were off, with minimal ighting on. I had to continually ask for them to turn the lights on in the rooms they were showing me so I could see how they'd look. The mainfloor ballroom has recently been redone. It's called the Hamptons Room. It's very pretty, but also pretty small. The cocktail hour room is connected to the ballroom with no separating wall, so they use some potted plants to try to give the illusion of a wall. The cocktail hour space is pretty tight as well. When we left we were given a box of cookies from their onsite bakery, which tasted pretty good! I thought that was a very nice touch. They have different packages and you can swap some things around in them. They do seem pretty flexible and offer tastings periodically throughout the year. They don't include chair covers in all of their packages and the chairs are pretty unattractive looking. I don't mean to bash this venue. The woman showing us around was very sweet. The problem is that the venue is just plain creepy. We couldn't wait to get out of there. Pricewise, we saw much nicer venues that lacked the creepyness of this one and weren't stuck back in the 70's/80's time warp. read more

Please read ..... All of the linens were wrong upon arrival and had to be changed. On top of that all the linens had stains, and chairs were broken. The worst part was the security/service. Dinner was good and served quickly , but as individuals left their tables for dinner buffet security went through girls bags and pocketbooks without permission. They were extremely rude threatening to call the cops and shit down the party multiple times. They were targeting individuals making people feel uncomfortable. They yelled at people and refused to serve us drinks (keep in mind each individual 21 and older were only allowed a 3 drink limit to begin with as per our rules to monitor behavior) . We were refused water and soda as the "bar was shut down and did not have permission to serve us any more drinks". Luckily we outsourced a DJ and everyone danced the night away!!! Would definitely try and find another venue before booking here. read more

The white linens had food stains and yellow stains and the party hasn't begun. And it smells like wet puppy. Awful presentation for the high price. To make matters worse 6 of the invitees including myself had tilapia and I find out they left early because they had stomach issues. First and last time. Awful awful place read more

Upon entering the parking lot make sure your shocks are in good order. It is all torn up, maybe from the horrible winter we had. The side walk to the entrance from the parking area had several downed branches making it impossible to walk on. It's not fun walking in heels on soft grass. The foyer is impressive. We occupied 2 rooms on the second floor and a third for food service. It is so cold in the dining area, my coffee was cold before I was able to get back to my chair. Tortellini Alfred and Penne Vodka was served. Both were good with the Alfredo being the better of the two. Salads, cheese and crackers were also served. Desert consisted of store bought cookies and cake. However, there wasn't enough cake for everyone. I love cake. Was extremely disappointed not to have cake. It's one of the reason I took off a star. I took off a star for the temperature in this room. If I have to wear a coat indoors, I'm not coming back here. And finally, there is no excuse for a parking lot to be in such disarray. Update: when I left this facility it was dark. So when returning to my car I decided to take the opposite path I came from. Since it was not illuminated I could not tell that the retaining wall had collapsed and stone and brick were blocking the path. There were lights, but they either didn't work or were not on, thus making the return to my car scary. There is absolutely no excuse to not have adequate lighting in a parking lot at night. read more

We attended a Quincenera on Saturday. The ballroom that the event was held in was beautiful. The staff was excellent and very friendly and professional. Especially Dawn The bartender!!!!. The food was delicious vegetarian dishes and pasta dishes as well as excellent hors d'oeuvres. We had wonderful evening and a great experience. One more thing I would like to mention my daughter had lost a very expensive earring and the staff had found it and we went to pick it up the very next day we were very impressed. Thank you to all the staff again!!!! read more

I had my daughter's Sweet 16, it was a wonderful night! The staff from planning to servers were all very nice and helpful. The food was good and they were very accomodating. read more

Attended a banquet at Skylands in Randolph last weekend. The place is pretty. It's also huge, and there were 3 events there that night all happening at the same time. the party next to ours was very loud, and we could hear their music all night. The food was good. Not exceptional. There was nothing that I thought was really good and nothing that was terrible. I was disappointed with the ice cream sundae dessert. It was about 2 tbls. of ice cream with some whipped cream and a cherry. The banquet was expensive for what it was. The service was fine and the place was clean. All in all it was just ok. read more

Absolutely appalled at the service here. I attended a college formal at the Skylands and the servers and security staff were incredibly rude. They put pitchers of soda on the table but did not set the table with any empty glasses. I used one of the coffee glasses to pour my drink and when a server came around she ripped it OUT OF MY HANDS!!! She questioned me about what was in the drink, how I got it, etc. and was incredibly rude the whole time. She thought I had brought in outside alcohol and spiked my own drink - all because I put it in the coffee glass (the only empty glasses on the table). I watched as she went around the room, doing the same thing to people who were using the wrong glass. After getting our food at the buffet, one of the other girls at my table noticed her bag was missing. She asked the staff if they saw what happened to it and they said they took it!! One of the security guards went through all of our bags while we were up getting food and inspected them for outside alcohol. When confronted, they said we shouldn't have a problem with it if we had nothing to hide. Throughout the night, the staff continued to harass the guests about their drinks, going so far as to search people every time the re-entered the room. I have never experience such bad service from a venue. The food at the buffet was room temperature and the white linens had stains and tears. The overreaching security staff just made it read more

Let's just say, if I could give them negative stars I would totally do that. If you want your wedding/event ruined then have the event here. All the things they promised, wasn't there. We booked the 2nd floor banquet hall and on the day of the event we came and they had given it to other party and gave us the banquet hall on 1st floor. We needed minimum 12x12 stage for our wedding, which they promised they will set it up for us, however, on the day of event nothing. Our decorator had to setup everything on floor. During cocktail hours, they apparently run out of food and lot of our guest didn't had any appetizers. Food service was horrible, they ran out of food during cocktail hours. We had asked them to setup table certain way for main course - setup tables in U shape for bride/groom and immediate family - but when we walked into hall where we were supposed to have dinner after wedding ceremony, tables were not setup for us at all. We were asked to wait until they set something up for us in other room. It was a total disaster - we will never recommend this place to anyone. Even after reading this review you decide to book the venue - be prepared to have your event ruined. read more

DO NOT HAVE YOUR WEDDING HERE!!!!!!!!! First thing to make clear is that many of you will read this, and will still end up having your ceremony/reception here because the price will be right or the management will claim they were targeted with a bad review, or that they have new staff, or whatever other BS they can make up. To those people, I sincerely wish your experience was better than mine, but I would imagine you will end up severely disappointed on what is supposed to be the happiest day of your life. I attended a wedding here several months ago. I liked the setup when I walked in and thought it was a nice place to have a wedding. My opinion of the event and the venue was high until I saw the actions of the staff halfway into the evening. Many of the people on the dance floor were barefoot, and a few staffers were moving votive props. As if playing a game, they pushed the props around, and the candles fell to the floor and glass holders shattered. Instead of clearing the area, the staffers began to stomp on the glass while laughing, smashing the glass into smaller shards. They then left the dance floor and didn't come back to clean up, leaving the guests to clean up the glass. After that, I returned to my table to see that plates had been cleared, ALONG WITH MY CARD which had a cash gift inside of it. (At this wedding, cards weren't left at a table at the beginning of the reception) I spent the next two days checking with the bride and the manager to see if either had found that envelope, and neither had. I then found out that several other guests also returned to their tables to find their cards missing. This was unfathomable. I would have never believed that we could leave our tables to have our plates cleared, and would come back to find our gifts missing. When I talked to the manager, he claimed no one had ever mentioned something like this before, when I know for a fact that other fellow guests facing the same problem had already brought this up with him. If you are considering this place, just keep in mind that no matter how much you do or spend to make a great wedding experience for your guests, ALL they will remember is the terrible way they were treated by the staff, and the sheer lack of professionalism. There are hundreds of other places where you can have a wonderful experience and make sure your guests are treated respectfully. This is not one of them. Pros: *Reception hall is large and can be nicely decorated for a beautiful event *Nice spiral staircase for photos *Ample parking Cons: *Serving staff steals from you *Floor staff is a bunch of high school kids (cheapest labor possible) and they have no respect for your event whatsoever *The manager is a liar who has no intention of cleaning up his business as long as he is booking large events and money keeps coming in the door *Once again, the staff steals from you. I can't even believe I'm writing this... read more

This place is in need of a serious face lift. I went to Skylands for a family friend's 60th birthday over the weekend. While they have a big, spacious area to work with, everything from the carpet to the chandeliers to the bathrooms needs to undergo major renovation. The rooms are dark and outdated and I felt like I was at my 8th grade formal in the nineties. If they put some money into renovating, I think this place would be great for wedding receptions and other celebrations. read more

Held my sisters bridal shower here recently and the staff could not have been more accommodating.They did everything they could to help keep the surprise for my sister. From the second I walked in they were asking how they could help and bringing me a cart to help carry in presents. While I had brought my own centerpieces and decorations, I was pleasantly surprised to walk into the room to see it decorated with flowers matching the color theme. As an event planner I'll admit I didn't have very high expectations for the food due to the very good price they offer. However I was blown away by the quality of the food! Everyone I have talked to since keeps telling me how wonderful the venue and food was. read more

Had a Tricky tray luncheon here for the 2nd year in a row. Service was great; Nick and the rest of the staff were amazing. They were very flexible and accommodating. Guests commented on how good the food was and how beautifully things were decorated. They knew our color scheme and took the extra step to ensure the buffet area complimented our color scheme...it was beautiful. Can't wait to have our next event there. read more

I attended Easter Brunch at the Skylands, the food was great. They had a wide array of food from made to order omelets to Tilapia, even Leg of Lamb. My husband loved the Tiliapia and Salmon and had 3 slices of blueberry cheesecake for dessert and I loved the french macaroons! Can not wait until Mother's Day! read more

My son and daughter in law had their wedding here, although, it was 10 yrs ago. I cannot speak since that time, but, 10 yrs ago a family wedding or not it was absolutely wonderful. I am 63 yrs old come from a very large Polish/Italian family and have been to many, many weddings. The cocktail hour was magnificient and there was seating for 200 + people and we had 160 guests. Noone at the cocktail hour, especially females had to juggle their pocketbooks, a cocktail and food, EVERYONE had a seat. The room was lovely and the lavoratories for both men and women were spotless and well decorated. The dinner was wonderful and the glass elevator that took you to the 2nd floor to the main ballroom after the cocktail hour added a lovely touch. As I said, previously, in this review I cannot speak about the past 10 years since their wedding, but, May of 2001 the wedding was great !!! I read these reviews and cannot believe 1/2 of what was written. Shame on people if they do not speak the truth as it could destroy someones livelihood. read more