Everything was GREAT! The food was amazing, the staff was awesome, and the dance floor was more than big enough for me and my dancer friends to cut a rug!

I would like to leave an honest review of the Monterey Ballroom for everyone out there thinking about booking their wedding there. The only reason you get one star is because negative ten is not an option.
My family and I flew across the country for a wedding and reception at the Monterey. When we got to the Monterey, which our daughter was the maid of honor in, we had quite some time before the wedding started. While I walked around the inside of the building, it was dark, dank and in the bar area it smelled like a homeless encampment had just moved out. The smell of urine was overwhelming. It was hot as Hades outside and the air conditioning didn’t seem to have the stamina to keep up with the heat. This was before guests started arriving. It didn’t get any better for the rest of the day and into the night.
Once the wedding happened, in the beating down sun, everyone moved inside for the reception. Things seemed to be going fine, but the drink service was atrocious! There were two bartenders, one of whom had the worst attitude I’ve seen in some time, that could not keep up with the crowd. As I sat and watched the bar saga start, I observed them pouring drinks with hardly any alcohol in them. Mike, the owner, actually admitted that he instructed his bartenders to do so when he met with the bride two days later.
At some point, Mike made the decision to throw the wedding party out about an hour before the venue was booked until. At no point during the evening did Mike come to any of the family and say he was having a problem with anything. He just decided that the party was over and we were all going to have to leave. The bride did meet with him on Monday and rather that give her some of her money back, Mike decided that he would tell her that he would throw her a free party to make it up to her, but only if she convinced her friends to write Mike some “five-star reviews”, the more reviews the better he would treat her! Look at the reviews for this place. The ones with five stars and nothing to say are probably the previous parties he is extorting! This might be alright with some people, but this bride does not live in Minnesota any more.
Mike, if you read this I’d like to tell you that you are a horrible person and that the way you conduct business is even worse. You can make any statement you want on here and I guarantee I’ll have a cogent response. Folks, if you read this, I’d highly suggest you run for the hills and find another venue for what is supposed to be one of the happiest days of your life.