The Royal Sonesta Minneapolis Downtown Reviews

I have nothing, but absolutely wonderful things to say about having our wedding reception at the Radisson Blu and highly recommend to anyone. The hotel rooms were wonderfully updated and our guests all had easy reservations and check-ins. We initially worked with Amy when we booked the venue, who was wonderful and extremely responsive, but she was later promoted so we then worked with Rick. Not only was the transition flawless, but Rick was absolutely spectacular! He was very accommodating and concerned about making sure that all of our needs were met. He responded to emails immediately and paid attention to every little detail. We were very concerned about having the beef cooked medium rare for 370 guests and it could not have been more perfect the day of! We also got married on my parent’s wedding anniversary and he congratulated them with a sweet card and some bubbly/treats in their hotel room. Rick was onsite and available, checking in, all weekend. All of the food was cooked onsite and absolutely fantastic and significantly better than your standard “banquet” meal. The service throughout the cocktail hour and the dinner was wonderful. The hotel staff as a whole was extremely pleasant to work with. We are still receiving compliments from guests. After our wedding we realized the most important thing to look for in your vendors is good people. Rick and the staff at the Radisson Blu truly care about you and are wonderful people with big hearts. I cannot say enough positive things about our experience. They always say to be prepared for something to go wrong the day of your wedding, but nothing went wrong with the Radisson Blu and we are so grateful for all that they did for us! Thank you Rick, Amy and everyone at the Radisson Blu for making our big day so special and spectacular!

We loved, loved, loved working with Michael Foster at the Radisson Plaza. He was absolutely wonderful! He was very responsive to my questions and suggestions and was very professional, in addition to being lot of fun. We were the only wedding booked for the evening, so we had their undivided attention. The food was fabulous. The layout of the venue provides a separate area for cocktial hour before dinner. We were VERY pleased with the entire evening and would recommend this site/coordinator without any hesitation.

The catering manager, Gina was helpful from day one. We walked in without an appointment and was able to view the ceremony and wedding rooms right then and there. We booked right away! However, having a winter wedding right before the holidays was a bit challenging to find a date due to holiday business parties that were able to book before us so we did have to work around their schedule.

Gina constantly kept in touch with us and always answered our questions. There were a few times that answers would go unanswered for a few days. Gina did a great job of always clarifying what the packages entailed and letting us know who booked rooms and when they were full.

The day of our wedding was a bit of a challenge since it happened to be a major blizzard! Despite half of our guests not showing, Gina was flexible to allow us to start at a later time due to snow and extended the cocktail hour to guests for an hour longer. Each guest was allowed to have extra meals for the meals that were already paid for.

It was a bit alarming to know that we were stuck with 198 plates of food when 96 people attended. The Radisson definitely would not budge on us getting a refund.

Overall, it was a great experience and the staff was great. A lot of our guests said it was a nice place they would come back to.

Radisson Blu downtown Minneapolis has some unique touches that set it apart from other hotels. The large picture screen was a huge hit with our guests and really made the hotel feel like our own. Rick and staff were attentive, responsive and able to help us with all of our needs. Highly recommend this modern venue for an elegant, modern and formal wedding!

Overall, we loved the end product of our wedding and it will provide us with years of good memories. The hall was beautiful, the food fabulous and service staff, wonderful. I did experience a few bumps, however. The catering director, Tracy, was a little flaky and not responsive to telephone calls or e-mails. She seemed distracted the two times we stopped in for our tasting and to finalize details days before our event. I have been in the hospitality business for years, so I know days are hectic and to do lists are miles long, but for the price you pay, it would be reassuring to know the person in charge is listening. We dropped some items off a day in advance to decorate the room. I was told they would be kept in storage. When my friends went to decorate the day of, several items were missing. After inquiring about them, they were not found until weeks AFTER the event. I was overcharged a significant amount and after playing telephone and e-mail tag with our coordinator it wasn't until 10 days after that the financial matter was cleared up and I was refunded. (She never returned phone calls until I called her manager, twice.) One of the bartenders that night had a horrible attitude and was swearing within earshot of our guests. Our suite was nice, but stuffy and a little smelly. Sarah, the person in charge of booking our room block was awesome. And the service staff that night was incredible. So, as I said before I try to block out the few bumps and remember what a great evening we had. I would recommend this venue, it is great for downtown, but be hesitant when dealing with the planner.

Oh where do I begin... my fiance and I booked this site about nine months prior to our wedding. We had been to a reception there a few years earlier and loved everything about it. It is a beautiful venue in the heart of downtown Minneapolis. The chandeliers and decor were beautiful and the food was lovely. Everything was very memorable.

The entire planning process was simple and enjoyable. Our planner had many great ideas and was wonderful at recommending other venders to use for our day. He had so many good ideas I assumed these were things that had been done at the hotel before. I thought we had everything squared away; all I's dotted and T's crossed.
It wasn't until the day of the festivities that my many fears were realized.

That's where my favorable comments end. It was next to impossible to reach our banquet manager the day of our wedding, and messages left were not returned. I had reserved a large suite the night before the wedding. When I checked in, it was not ready and they had shampooed the carpets prior to my arrival. The floors were wet and they had to have fans going for a few hours. People were coming and going from my room that entire time.

I was told that ceremony music on an ipod was adequate and would be played to my specifications while the guests arrived and during our ceremony. Originally I had told the banquet manager I was looking for musicians to use during the ceremony, but he thought that was an area to save money and I could just hook it up and he would play the music for me. I had music outlined for the time where guests arrived and while the wedding party entered and so on and so forth. All the music was just played without any concern for the order or playlists. He began to play the end of the Wedding March rather than Here Comes the Bride as my father and I entered the hall. Everyone began to laugh, and yes, a small snafu - but then he admitted to me that he had never used an ipod before and so he didn't know what he was doing.

Our ceremony took place in one of the smaller banquet rooms at the hotel with the reception being held in the main ballroom. A cocktail hour was hosted between the the ceremony and dance. The music for our ceremony was botched to the point of laughter, twice. All I could do was laugh when I really wanted to cry.

A champagne toast was to conclude our ceremony as we weren't sure when would be best to do this as we did not have a sit down dinner. This again was suggested by our planner at the hotel and so we assumed that they handled situations like this in the past. At the end of our ceremony, my new husband and I walked up the aisle through the doors where the wait staff was to serve all of our guests the champagne immediately and we would toast. There was no one to be found, no glasses poured, etc. Our ushers had to get their attention and let them know that the ceremony was over and then go back ten minutes later to let them know that all the guests had not been served. It took a half hour for less than 120 guests to be served. All this time we were "hosting" open bar. We paid up front for all of the liquor costs including 75 bottles of champagne to be used towards the toast and for consumption throughout the evening. 30 minutes of our open bar was wasted while everyone continued to sit until everyone was served. It was uncomfortable to say the least standing there with everyone staring in wonder of how much longer they would need to stay seated.

Our bartender was rude and swore at many points throughout the evening. She would not make change for people during our host bar, when all our guests wanted to do was make change for her tip. She also let me know that a couple of my guests had been b*tchy to her and that she didn't think she needed to put up with it. While that may be, 30% of our guests work in the service industry either as servers or bartenders themselves and know how to handle a situation, especially an expensive wedding. When I asked for the bar tab to see how many bottles were consumed, I was told that they didn't have it but I wasn't close to finishing them.

Dozens of people have expressed their dislike for our reception venue and have said they couldn't believe the prices we paid and how they were treated and things were handled. We had a wonderful server who came to me at the beginning of the night and assured that my glass of champagne was never empty and that I had everything I needed. Not another soul so much as asked if I needed anything. The staff cleared plates before people were finished eating, the platters were never refilled with food - our "berry platter" contained 12 strawberries - TOTAL and then nothing more than pineapple, melons and grapes. I didn't even get a piece of my own wedding cake as it was cleared before I sat down.

All in all the evening was a disaster. And when my husband and I retired to our room we were greeted with a bottle of the champagne we requested which had clearly been sitting at room temperature and then re-chilled. It tasted horrible.

The event staff was to have personal belongings boxed up and ready to go for us the following morning. When I went to gather them, some of the items were missing and we never received them back. Three bouquets were taken off of tables by the staff and were found in the parking attendants area in vases on display as we left the next morning.

Then we got another gift while out of the country on our honeymoon. An additional bill for items that were put on the "Bride's tab" throughout the night, which was never OK'd by me. My mother had started a tab for us so we could just enjoy our evening, but 80% of the items on the bill were not consumed by either of us. They charged our account without indicating that they would. Since everything was paid in advance and was estimated on the high side we were told to expect a refund, not additional charges.

Although this is a beautiful space, I would think twice or even three times before ever considering it for your event. My husband and our parents spent thousands of dollars on this only to be greatly disappointed. I regret every day that we did not choose another location and it's been eight months!