To preface, I have experience hosting events from 50-200 guests and have worked with numerous…read morevenues and coordinators. Vanessa is by far the WORST venue coordinator I've interacted with in terms of customer service, industry knowledge, and communication skills. If you read the other positive reviews, you'll notice they ALL paid additional money for Vanessa to be their wedding coordinator. If you do not pay this, she is a horror to work with (as corroborated by the negative reviews), and I recommend AVOIDING this venue. Another reviewer also stated the owner is her brother-in-law so there is no recourse for her behavior and there are no other venue coordinators available. Detailed below are just some of the negatives: - The wedding was actually for my sister. She was having difficulties with Vanessa so asked me to assist. I reached out to Vanessa explaining who I was but never received a response. Instead, Vanessa told my sister that she felt threatened by my contact and will only work with individuals that signed the venue contract. I never said anything negative, but she often overreacted and took offense over nothing. - Every response took 2 weeks. She would contradict herself in the same email, which added confusion. - She would use made up lingo and when asked for clarification, she would blame us for not understanding "industry language" and still wouldn't clarify. In my 10 years, I've never heard some of the terms that she used. - She didn't understand standard wedding requests. We asked for a cake table and Vanessa responded that the request was unclear because she didn't know what size a cake table should be. We asked to add 2 rectangular side tables for guestbooks, gifts, etc. On the proposal, Vanessa commented "unsure why the client requested". - Unless asked, she wouldn't disclose critical information. We asked multiple times if additional tables (sweetheart, cocktail, etc.) are free. Vanessa confirmed they were free, but once the proposal arrived, it showed free tables with each linen at an additional charge. I told my sister to confirm if the venue provided cake cutting utensils. They don't (which is fine) but this is all information that you tell your clients without prompting. Imagine cutting the cake with no utensils! - When asked questions, she rudely responded with "NO" or "YOU'RE RESPONSIBLE" - In the 1.5 years of planning, despite multiple requests, the venue proposal was only updated twice - once for the initial contract and once when full payment was due 30 days before the event. My sister had to withhold final payment to get her to update it. She updated it 1 week after with inaccurate information. We annotated and returned it next day saying that she'd pay once it was correct. Vanessa had the audacity to respond that making notes on the proposal made it seem like they were stalling payment. Granted, there were 1-2 new updates amongst many more corrections but it was because Vanessa withheld information, and new adjustments were required after seeing the revised proposal for the 1st time. - Vanessa never provided a table layout. My sister had to create it and then confirmed if 5 round tables per row would work. On wedding day, we arrived to a different layout of 4 rounds per row. Vanessa blamed it on a 2 ft. wide photo arch, stating that she had to make adjustments to fit the arch. However, it was evident that the room would have NEVER fit 5 rounds per row. We had to rearrange the seating chart and the chairs to accommodate for her mess. - Also on wedding day, Vanessa was surprised to find the timeline included a champagne toast. Mind you, the timeline was provided 30 days ago and toasts are standard in weddings. So, she gave us 30 mins to decide on the additional champagne cost. I asked to remove 1 champagne bottle charge as there was an entire table of kids, but she refused. So apparently, the venue includes children in the champagne count even though serving alcohol to minors is illegal. - There was also a safety hazard. About 25 chairs with wheels/casters were intermingled with standard dining chairs. I unknowingly sat in a chair with casters and almost fell. There was no visible difference between the standard chairs vs. chairs with casters, and the table linens prevent anyone from seeing the casters. I told Vanessa who saw no issues and argued that people falling out their chair has never happened before. Thankfully, we were able to get these all replaced prior to the wedding to avoid any older guests from getting hurt. To the owner: Not only is Vanessa horrible to clients, but since she never updated the proposal, the kitchen used the original headcount and cooked 40 additional meals (talk about a waste of money). Also, due to not providing a layout, the banquet captain Griselda set up tables once, and then had to come back 1 hr earlier to redo all her work, all of which was avoidable.

This review is specifically for Vanessa Youngblood, who is the catering and event producer for The…read morePainted Table Event Center, a wedding planner, and our main point of contact throughout our wedding reception planning. The review is longwinded, but please read before booking an event through The Painted Table Event Center. My husband and I chose The Painted Table Event Center for our wedding reception because of its highly rated events, good reputation of food, and nice atmosphere. We were planning a destination wedding as we do not live in Fresno, which made planning more difficult. We originally decided to go with the Painted Table from talking with a different employee who soon left after we booked the date. We were then transferred to Vanessa, where all the problems began - especially after we declined to hire her as our wedding planner. We were extremely disappointed and frustrated working with Vanessa as she had poor and confusing means of communication. She always used her own made-up jargon that she called "event planning jargon" when communicating with us, which led to multiple misunderstandings. Vanessa would also contradict herself within the same lines of communication and then reply with attitude when we asked for clarification, which was extremely unprofessional. Communicating was complicated as she would take multiple weeks to respond to our questions. Because we booked the venue over a year in advance, we had discussed finalizing details as the date approached. Rather than updating the proposal as we finalized details, she refused to make the updates until the day of the final payment, then blamed us for delaying the process. When she did update the proposal, she would not correct the numbers which showed we had a higher price to pay. In consequence, we often sent line-item corrections to each draft of the proposal, essentially doing her job for her, to attempt to get the corrections. We also asked about our open bar package and ensured the champaign toast was included multiple different times. She did eventually tell us via text message that it was indeed included, but the day of the wedding, she told us it was not included and charged us extra for it. We unfortunately updated our phones a few weeks before the wedding and no longer had written proof of her stating this. We had tried working on the table layout on the Prism App prior to the event, in an attempt to finalize the layout. But she never corrected us on the dimensions of the floor and tables, so when we arrived to decorate, we discovered the tables arranged differently than expected. This resulted in trying to re-number the tables in a way that made sense the morning of, which was frustrating as we had certain guests seated to specific locations of the room for specific reasons. Vanessa was rude and unpleasant to work with for months and made the entire planning process much more stressful than necessary. On the morning of the wedding, during set up she also sat in the corner of the room, being standoffish and glaring at our family who were there to help us. As we continued with the planning process, we realized this is not the first time she's made planning difficult for others, and we won't be the last. In previous negative reviews she's received, the owner, who is also her brother-in-law, has come to her defense. This will likely happen with our review as well. We do not recommend booking anything through The Painted Table, despite the other positive reviews. These positive reviews are mostly from attendees rather than the people who hired them. It wasn't worth the unnecessary heartache. If I could rate 0 stars, I would.

The other night I learned to make my own Easter Pie in the kitchen of Love & Garlic ! I was…read morebaking with 9 other wonderful classmates in this clean, well designed kitchen while Nancy was sharing her family secrets of making a truly delicious Easter favorite . The other little essentials to a successful baking lesson were not held back! I learned so much & loved it. At the end of the evening I had 2 Easter Pies to bring home along with the recipe . I am looking forward to the next featured class that will be offered on a variety of Love & garlic favorites ! Dori G

We used to love and garlic for our son's wedding reception. Very good service, very good food…read more Recommend the mushrooms and beef entrees.

I would give this venue 10 stars if I could! Our daughter's wedding on 6/20/26 was absolute…read moreperfection and Kim went above and beyond to make sure everything was smooth and flawless! She was organized and thorough throughout the entire planning process and made sure that we had everything we needed for our fairy tale wedding. Every guest had a wonderful time and many mentioned the immaculate details that went into making both the ceremony and reception absolutely beautiful. Kim and the staff of The Manor Estate were all kind, patient and helpful, and we had the most epic day that we will never forget. Thank you Manor Estate!

The manor estate was truly such a special place to get married at! So charming and beautiful! Our…read morenight at the manor went exactly the way we wanted it to thanks to Kim. She was there for every step of the day and made sure we were relaxed and able to just enjoy ourselves.We didn't need to worry about a thing. She helped put on our groomsmen's boutonnière's, bustled my dress after the ceremony, made sure our guests were served their food promptly, and had the night manager transition in after it was her time to exit. If you choose the manor estate, just know you will be taken care of and be able to enjoy your day fully without having to stress the little things! Thank you Kim!!!

Board & Bottle came to our rescue at the last minute after another caterer unexpectedly cancelled…read moreservice for our Mom's memorial celebration. Marieta completely understood what we wanted, and what she created for us was nothing short of spectacular. Every detail was artfully arranged with great care, thoughtfulness, and attention to detail; every bite was delicious and the entire table was a masterpiece. I cannot recommend this business highly enough, and we want to express our heartfelt thanks to Marieta for providing for us on this very special occasion. I understand she is also part of the family that owns Noah's Ark Restaurant and Bakery, so we will be going to check that out very soon. Thanks again for your amazing service!

I had my 40th Birthday Party here, and it was perfect. We also got the bartending services. Rene…read moremade sure we had everything we needed and was a phone call away. This place is a little hidden gem. Super convenient place to host your gathering.

We booked a room,when we got there it was not what we was looking for,called and asked for a…read morerefund, they said they would give as a refund, but when the time came to refund us we were not given a refund.so bewere.

I hired them to cater for a holiday party at my house for about 35 people. Chef Lea was very easy…read moreto work with and help design a good menu. She even made a separate meal for one guest who was vegetarian! Set up and clean up were on time and efficient. I definitely recommend them!

The pizzas vary in quality depending on what you get. The margherita is a weak point but their…read moreSpicy Hawaiian and their specialty is usually very good. Others have noted charcuterie and sweets but I have never seen these advertised. What disappoints me is the disregard during COVID. They do not wear masks or gloves at all. No hand sanitizer available or cleaning of the payment counter between guests. They very clearly do not care about taking simple precautions during this time and that's frustrating for me as a customer. I will not be back soon.

I first tried Brick L'Oven back when it first opened up at Ziveli winery and I was very impressed…read more The pizza was SO SO GOOD. Like ruined all other pizza for me. I didn't realize how different wood fired pizza tastes than a traditional pie and it blows it out of the water. That time we got a pepperoni pizza and a prosciutto/mushroom pizza. Last weekend during the wine journey I ordered a sweet corn/nectarine pizza. Every single pizza was delicious and made with high quality, fresh ingredients. And their dough. That dough is money, pun intended. Theee best pizza dough I've ever had. Basically I can't wait to go back and try allllll the flavors.

This is a family business, and they were great. My 'event' was a "celebration of life" after the…read morefuneral of my best friend's mother. The two young men who delivered our order (fulfilled perfectly) were so respectful and kind, it was humbling. I told them where I wanted the tables and chairs, but I was glad that one of them spoke up with a better idea (he knew the path of the sun there). Everything went perfectly, it all felt natural for the guests, and the owner was present during the pickup. Even though it was clear that I was from out of town, I was treated like a long-time customer.

My wife and I rented a the 20x30 open sided tent package that includes 6 tables and 48 chairs. We…read moreadded 6 tablecloths. The owner was immediately responsive by text and we worked out the cost and our specific rental request within 15 minutes. She even sent multiple quotes by text as we discussed our planned event. The only minor hiccup was that my text asking when the rented materials would be dropped off went unanswered initially, but when I called the week before our event to ask, the owner 1) answered by using my first name (points for customer service/organization) 2) and reassured us that materials would be dropped off the day before our event. We were informed that the drop off crew would notify us within an hour of coming to our home. The day of drop off came and was getting into the early evening, so I admittedly started to panic a bit and called again to ensure delivery. I was assured our materials would be delivered within the next few hours, which they were. There seemed to be some confusion between the owner and delivery crew since the crew was asking for more money than we were initially told, but after showing the messages I'd received from the owner, the crew deferred to her. I negotiated a pick up time with the delivery crew, who were very flexible and allowed us to keep the materials another day at no extra cost since it was a Sunday. They arrived the expected day and removed the tent and materials quickly, and they were consistently professional and respectful of my home. The materials weren't anything fancy, but they got the job done. Would definitely use again and recommend to those seeking an event rental company for personal/backyard events.