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Hilton Los Angeles / Universal City Reviews

Hilton Los Angeles / Universal City

Hilton Los Angeles / Universal City

Universal City, CA
4.3 out of 5 rating, 18 Reviews
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Reviews

4.3 out of 5 rating
18 Reviews
  • Quality of service
    4.4 out of 5 rating
  • Average response time
    4.3 out of 5 rating
  • Professionalism
    4.3 out of 5 rating
  • Value
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94% Recommended by couples

Awards

18
  • R
    Romina A. Sent on 02/20/2024
    5 out of 5 rating
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    THE Best venue

    HILTON UNIVERSAL is such a beautiful venue, perfect for our wedding. The staff were easy to work with, always available, and happy to walk us through any detail, no matter how small. They were able to accommodate so many of our needs .and Claudia is the great manager ,nice and always avalaible to help us ..I highly recommend this place for who ever wants to have nice place for wedding and peace of mind .


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    Gail Sent on 10/21/2017
    5 out of 5 rating
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    We recently had our wedding here. We needed a hotel that has a chinese family style banquet. I wasn't able to taste any of the food beforehand just because we thought the wedding food tasting was a little but pricey. I would still recommend trying the food so you have an idea of what you will be getting. Guests loved the food.. even the cocktail hour snacks.. we had some stuffed mushrooms and skewers.. Elbe was the one helping us with the wedding and was very accomodating. I only had 140 guests and 1 ballroom was perfect. The ceremony area is nice too.. unless you want a long aisle to walk at.. then this area I had was a little short.. but enough seats for my guest... The only complain I had was during my ceremony.. we were saying vows.. when a loud buzzer was heard.. i think it was from the parking structure.. all in all it was a perfect day and a happy wedding.
  • User2059285 Sent on 03/05/2015
    5 out of 5 rating
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    My hubby and I want to have Chinese food on our wedding reception. There are only very few choices in LA and Universal Hilton is the best for their food I believe. We both amazed on their menu tasting. The food was so delicious and the quantity can feed up to 4 people. We had to pack to go. The coordinator Tammy was so helpful. She let us store our wines and decoration stuff a week before the wedding in their storage room which save us a lot of trouble. She's very helpful to customized the menu to fit our need. She even offered us a very nice presidential parlor room as a wedding complimentary. The wedding turn out great!! All my guests were happy and enjoy the food so much!! Good service and good food!! Highly recommended!!
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  • J
    Joyce Sent on 01/06/2011
    4.9 out of 5 rating
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    If you want a Chinese wedding banquet, good food and a great value, the Hilton Universal City delivers. We were directed to this venue based on a number of family friends' recommendations.

    While you aren't able to taste the food prior to the wedding (this made me very nervous), I relied upon the excellent taste buds of several friends who had been to Chinese wedding banquets here in the past. We were not disappointed. The food was excellent and plentiful. Exactly what a Chinese wedding banquet should be.

    We had an Americanized version of the wedding banquet because most of our guests would not have appreciated sea cucumber or abalone. The chef was able to provide additional dishes the day of due to picky eaters and he was able to make delicious vegetarian Asian dishes for the vegetarians of the group.

    In terms of value, the Hilton was extremely flexible in figuring out which plan and what types of food you wanted (up to 3 days prior to the event). We had originally planned to have over 150 guests and ended up with closer to 100 - the minimum bill is 10K so to meet that we ended up with the platinum plan for food which included 4 hours of open bar (with upgraded alcohol), appetizers, valet parking if needed, wine with dinner, champagne toast and 10 courses. Quite a good value if you consider that many other places would charge 99/person just for the food and add drinks on top.

    Service - no hiccups. Our wedding coordinator was responsive and helpful (she gave me the name of my hair/makeup stylist who did an AMAZING job). Always available when I needed her.

    All in all, great job.

    Hilton Los Angeles / Universal City's reply:

    Thank you for taking the time aside to write a review regarding your reception here at Hilton Universal in such glowing terms!
    All of the Hilton Universal team are happy to read that we exceeded your expectations with the hotel and the service received. It’s our top priority to go above and beyond and we’re glad that our team could be so helpful and attentive.
    I am so happy that we managed to contribute to a memorable experience in our hotel and that you enjoyed all aspects of your day with us.

  • User2394574 Sent on 10/27/2015
    4.8 out of 5 rating
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    My husband and I wanted a Chinese banquet but he did not want to host it at a Chinese restaurant. There are different hotels that would allow you to bring an outside caterer but I believe there are only 2 that have in-house Chinese catering in SoCal. We contacted both of them and Hilton Universal City was the one that stood out.

    Tammy is the real star - she is always very responsive, polite, and easy to work with. Also the pricing (wedding packages) was not too expensive if you consider what you can get. The banquet captain and staff serving our reception were also very professional and many of them spoke Cantonese (huge plus for guests who might not be fluent in English nor Mandarin). They are very easy to work with and definitely relieved a lot of stress from us. The food was good as well. I definitely recommend this hotel to anyone who is looking to host a Chinese sit-down style reception!

    Hilton Los Angeles / Universal City's reply:

    Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your special day! Our team will be thrilled to see your review and we are so happy to hear that your enjoyed the service and food. We wish you a lifetime of happiness and hope that we can welcome you back for future celebrations. Best regards, Cynthia Ordyke, Director of Sales and Marketing.
  • M
    M Sent on 06/28/2015
    4.8 out of 5 rating
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    Universal Hilton was a great combination of location for all of our guests and the need for 10 course dinner. Above all, their catering sales manager Tammy Su was the **real super star** who made the experience stress free during all of the wedding planning chaos. She worked so hard from beginning to end, I couldn't have asked for more. The Hilton is lucky to have someone so exceptional on their side :)
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    Carmen Sent on 10/11/2011
    4.8 out of 5 rating
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    Good price, good Chinese food, and good service. However, I wish our catering manager was more responsive on emails because it was hard to get a hold of her. I really like the atmosphere as well.
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    Jin Sent on 08/14/2008
    4.5 out of 5 rating
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    We were able to book our reception here 6 months prior to our wedding with no problem. Their chinese style banquet dinner was exceptional. Unlike other places, they gave us way too much quality food! Our guests were extremely pleased with the amount of food (were able to go home full for the first time from weddings) and they even took the rest home! The services were excellent! Highly recommended!
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    Rebecca Sent on 08/25/2014
    4.4 out of 5 rating
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    We chose Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City mainly due to our parents' wishes for a Chinese banquet and the fact that we were against doing our banquet at a seafood restaurant. Our Hilton coordinator, Tammy, was great and very easy to work with. She was always quick to respond to my questions, very flexible, and willing to work with us on any requests we had. The hotel staff on the wedding day were extremely patient and professional, and were also flexible as the night went on. The price for the banquet is a little on the higher side, more expensive than what my husband and I had originally planned for. However, it did fit the amount of guests we had, fit the desires of our parents, and it was still a classy, elegant place rather than a cramped seafood restaurant. Overall, very happy with how everything turned out and the process of it.
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    Roslyn Sent on 10/13/2011
    4.4 out of 5 rating
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    After going around to the local restaurants, we decided we didn't want to be married in a restaurant. The local hotels were expensive. Our contacts were either unresponsive or snobs (especially at PP). About to give up, I remember attending a Xmas party at the Universal Hilton and sought out my friend who helped get in contact with Tammy.

    Tammy is very friendly and helpful. I can always reach her via email. As the day of coordinator, she was organized. She tried to accommodate us as much as possible within the strict bounds of the hotel.

    The Chinese food was good. The portions were good too. My coworkers took home the food and had it for lunch at work. I heard the shark fin soup was awesome. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to drink it because I was heavily corseted. Lol! The lobster was succulent. Even the vegetarian table turn out good. Their packages are very straight forward. Loy, the banquet hall manager, was super nice.

    We had a problem with the party next door. They were complaining that we were too loud. The catering manager from next door kept coming over and bothering my DJ. He was rude and obnoxious. We would have obliged to turn it down for the speech but his attitude was just too bad. Hey buddy, either put up better sound proof walls or don't put a wedding next to an awards dinner. My apologies to the attendees of the Stuntman Associate of Motion Pictures if you missed Harrison Ford's speech.
  • J
    Joyce Sent on 10/02/2012
    4.3 out of 5 rating
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    My husband and I got married earlier in the year at S.F. City Hall and held a Chinese banquet reception for family and friends at the Hilton. This review is for the reception banquet only, which was planned in 3 months and done remotely from northern CA.

    We decided to choose the Hilton based on other's reviews of their food, which was important to us. We weren't disappointed, and received lots of comments from guests (almost all Chinese) about the quality of food. Also important to note was that the quantity of food was also good. I don't believe anyone left hungry, and I had to squeeze 11 people per table.

    I worked with Tammy Su, Manager of Catering/Sales, who was always ready to answer any question I had, and always got back to me quickly. She was able to accommodate our customization requests for the menu and put up with my last minute changes and additions throughout the process.

    Because my event dealt mainly with the banquet, I didn't need to utilize many other services at the Hilton. However, I'll say that it was pretty easy to work with the Hilton staff on room blocks for guests, but it was difficult to even coordinate a time to talk to the Convention Services Manager who contacted me to let me know she was to help with the overall planning of the event, so when I did finally reach her, I figured it wasn't worth trying to develop that relationship and just worked with Tammy instead.

    There were two other, much larger events going on simultaneously, and I never felt like our smaller event suffered for it. The wait staff for my reception was super busy, but always took the time to do what I asked and assisted when I requested it, even after the event was over and they were busy cleaning up.

    The Club Room looked great with my minimal decoration and I'd say that all who attended left satisfied. I certainly was very happy with how everything turned out!
  • W
    William Sent on 05/14/2011
    4.3 out of 5 rating
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    We had looked at the Hilton, and were originally going to do something at a more standard restaurant instead. After our first venue screwed us over, we took another look at the Hilton. I liked that they had a separate vegetarian menu (a full 10 course banquet menu) available as one of their Chinese catering options, and their standard fare was a little more diverse than your usual Cantonese seafood restaurant.

    We had a good experience with Tammy, our primary contact for the venue. She was very organized and helpful, and worked well with our day-of coordinator and other vendors. While flexibility is not necessarily the strong suit of a large hotel, she did do her best to try and accommodate special requests within reason.

    Their prices are not too crazy, and the packages are convenient and provide the kind of things most people will probably want, but sales tax and a built in tip / service charge is tacked on to virtually *every* charge from the hotel (even things like adding extra power boxes that you wouldn't think require either sales tax or service fees), and this does add to the cost. While they did give us a free hotel room the night of the event, they charged us $18 for overnight parking (the free parking only applies to non-overnight wedding guests). Given the amount of money our wedding gave them, between our fees and all the business from guests, etc., you'd think free overnight parking is something they could manage.

    Booking group blocks at the hotel was kind of a pain - in this area, the Hilton wasn't very helpful, and reservations go to their centralized (and, I think, outsourced to another country) reservations system. The coordinator we had for group sales within the hotel was not that helpful or on top of things.

    The banquet and ceremony facilities are Ok - they look a little dated, but they're well taken care of and are serviceable enough. Once things were decorated and setup for the event, our guests and family seemed happy enough with how things looked. There are probably nicer looking venues / ceremony locations, but overall, not too bad.

    The night of our event, there were several other events going on, and we did have some music bleeding through from a wedding next door.

    Food - we were worried about this, since the Hilton doesn't have a way for you to try their Chinese banquet food without booking a table for 10 at close to full cost. We had heard mostly good things, but not from many people we knew or trusted. I'm vegetarian, and of course the bride and groom don't get to eat that much anyway, but we heard almost entirely good things about the food from our guests, and my wife, who's a pretty discerning food critic, said all the food she tried was good. Both the Asian and non-Asian guests universally seemed to enjoy the food. The lobster and the roast chicken seemed to be two of the favorites, and apparently the fish was perfectly cooked. Quantity was also not a problem - I don't think anyone went home hungry. The service was good - unobtrusive, but helpful.
  • Serina
    Serina Sent on 06/29/2013
    4.2 out of 5 rating
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    Gloria was our catering manager and she was one of the main reasons I booked here instead of at the Pacific Palms which was the other venue I was considering. Gloria was extremely responsive and on top of everything while the lady at pacific palms took forever to reply to my questions. Basically these plus the San Gabriel Hilton are the only few choices if you want to do a 10 course Chinese banquet wedding at a hotel instead of a restaurant. One of my friends had just gotten married at the San Gabriel Hilton though so we decided to rule that out.

    While I liked the ceremony site at Pacific palms much more, the universal Hilton has better more affordable packages. For $928/table you get 10 courses with lobster, shark fin soup, etc, 3 hours of open bar, cake cutting, dance floor, chair covers, self parking, 2 bottles of wine at each table, champagne toast, and 3 hor'doeurves. There's a $10k minimum for Saturday nights and tax of 9% and service charge of 19%.

    The food was absolutely delicious! Everyone was raving about how good it was and the portions were very decent too. The service was very good and everything worked like clockwork. They are experienced doing weddings and it shows. My few complaints were that one...they charged us for parking for the rehearsal which was $11 and for $24 for overnight parking. When you are spending so much it would've been nice to comp us this especially when most venues have free parking. Second...we decided to extend our open bar tab to $1000 after the 3 hours. We don't think we actually hit this but they said we did and charged us for the whole thing plus the 19% service and 9% tax too. I would recommend just going to a cash bar after the 3 hours or just paying as you go.
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    Maggie Sent on 07/29/2008
    3.9 out of 5 rating
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    A good place if you require a chinese style wedding. The food is excellent. Service is great.
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    Katherine Sent on 02/27/2010
    3.4 out of 5 rating
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    This place kind of made me nervous when I first met with their Director of Catering. He made us wait an hour and a half for our appointment. He was also hard to get a hold of. We loved the location and the comparable prices for chinese banquet catering, but the initial service...questionable.

    The day of was fabulous. They really came through for mostly everything. The banquet captain was the best person out of the whole team. He made me feel comfortable even the day before the wedding. My friends and family told me later, but my supposed "wedding coordinator" one of the Hilton's staff showed up on the day of exceptionally late. I even called her earlier that day on her cell phone and she sounded like she just woke up (and it was close to noon).

    I loved my wedding, but did not completely love Universal's service.
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    Lola Sent on 09/04/2008
    3.1 out of 5 rating
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    We liked that it was cheap to rent for the night, but I wish it had a more magical vibe. It is, and feels like, a hotel.
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    Paula Sent on 05/24/2012
    3 out of 5 rating
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    We ended up choosing the Hilton since it was one of the few hotels in Southern California that served a Chinese menu. The hotel and food was pretty decent and overall our night went well. However something was just off with our experience. They were not very flexible with us and we felt that we were fighting them on a lot of things that other venues were willing to throw in with no issue. Overall our catering manager were nice but we felt that she was getting a little annoyed with all our questions as our date approached. That wasn't a good feeling as a customer. The banquet staff was good overall but what we didn't like was that they started breaking down the room early. We had guests that had their cakes taken away when they stepped away from their tables for a few minutes.
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    Connie Sent on 01/27/2010
    3 out of 5 rating
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    My contact at the hotel changed twice by the time my wedding happened.
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