Ventana Grill Reviews
Reviews
We're all about trust. Our community relies on honest reviews to help you make those big decisions with ease.
-
![Jaimie]()
Jaimie Sent on 11/16/2012This has to be the absolute most beautiful place to have a wedding!!! The scenery is out of this world!!! We made the 2 hr trip and so did 32 of our guest to be married here and we would do it a million times over! We were married at the gazebo on a cliff over the Pacific Ocean and then had our reception in the Sunset Room in the Ventana Grill where our guest got to watch the sunset as we had dinner. Our cordinaters Lindsey and Chantel did an amazing job putting everything together and were so helpful with giving us a prefered vendors list since we were from out of town. Our Waiters and Hosts that night treated us so great! The waiter kept saying it was my day and would help me first and was there for whatever I needed! The food is out of this world delicious! One of our starters was Clam Chowder and it was the best clam chowder I have ever tasted! All of our guest are still talking about how beautiful our wedding was and how smooth and perfect everything went. Having the best possible weather you ask for that weekend did help out alot as well! Ventana Grill definitely made our wedding a day we will never forget, nor will our Guest! Thank you Ventana Grill for making my day so perfect! -
![Marissa]()
Marissa Sent on 03/08/2024A lovely venue and great service!
We worked with Lauren, who helped us create our dream wedding. She was so easy to work with and helped answer all of the questions we had. She even gave us suggestions for different bar options, decor, and the setup of the reception room and ceremony. Everything ended up being perfect and the reception service was seamless, everything was delicious! -
-
![Ali]()
Ali J. Sent on 07/08/2020Intimate Beach Wedding
We loved working with Hannah and the staff at Ventana Grill! They were professional, detail oriented, accomodating, and attentive to our ceremony and dinner reception. The location was special to us prior to our engagement, but the staff made the day flawless for us and our guests. -
-
![Ellen]()
Ellen Sent on 08/27/2021Very succesfull Wedding ceremony, great hotel grounds and Ventana support was valuable
We had our Big Day in August 2021, We worked first with Rachel and then with Lauren, all of our requests were fulfilled which made prep just before the ceremony easy. We felt supported by both Shore Cliff Hotel manager Barbara and by Ventana Grill restaurant for lovely celebratory meal. All of the guests stayed in the hotel and we all had a great time before the wedding , we enjoyed the ceremony and explored nature around the hotel a day after the wedding. Now we have a place to gather for years to come. Heated pool and Jacuzzi were very inviting and hotel breakfast was very good.
-
Rick Sent on 07/04/2022
Wedding DJ
I got the great opportunity to DJ a Friday evening Same Sex wedding. The two brides always wanted to have a beach front wedding and they just loved the ceremony site. Right after the wedding the entire group got to move over to the Ventana Grill where the staff helped out with everything. As a DJ I loved how easy it was to load in my equipment and how easy it was to break down my set up. The staff was amazing and I am looking forward to working at this location in the future. Please think of me as your dj www.DjSlix.com -
-
![Brittany]()
Brittany Sent on 09/15/2025Would definitely recommend this venue and Lauren as a coordinator
We had our wedding here September 2025 and everything turned out amazing. The day went by seamlessly with no mishaps. Lauren was our coordinator and we can't say enough wonderful things about her. She ensured everything was set up beautifully and created the perfect timeline. Her communication from before we even toured the venue to the very end was quick, thorough and kind. She helped create a stress free day for us as bride and groom. We were truly able to enjoy every part of our day without feeling rushed which we applaud her for. The venue is gorgeous and we got a bunch of compliments on the food. -
Teri Sent on 03/10/2024
Seamless Wedding Day
Lauren and all the staff at Ventana Grill worked hard to create a smooth and seamless wedding day for my daughter and her husband. Everyone was kind, courteous, and professional. The room has stunning views of the ocean by day and at night with the addition of the ceiling drapery and lights the room was magical. -
-
Emily Sent on 10/09/2024
Perfect Wedding at Ventana
We had our September wedding at Shorecliff Hotel and had the reception at Ventana Grill, and we absolutely loved it! From the beginning, we corresponded with Lauren from Ventana grill and worked out all of the details and such with her. She was always very responsive, gave recommendations when I needed them, was flexible, and always so friendly and helpful. Once we met in person I decided to hire her for the day-of coordinator which was such a good decision. With her years of experience she took care of everything and I didn’t have to stress about a single thing.
Ventana Grill was was perfect for our reception. Our guests enjoyed cocktail hour onsite and enjoyed the view from indoors as well as the patio. The food was delicious and the drinks as well! We really had zero complaints and our guests were in awe of the beautiful venue and ocean views.
I highly recommend this venue and Lauren as a coordinator. -
-
A. Sachweh Sent on 11/11/2025
Perfect Wedding Day on Oct. 17th
We had a perfect dinner at Ventana Bar & Grill. It was our wedding day and we enjoyed being guests at this lovely location. Our friends Kathee & Kevin took us out to this beautiful place. We love zo come back here any time. Thank you very much! -
-
![Micaela]()
Micaela Sent on 02/15/2024The Perfect Day!
The second I stepped foot on the property for a tour, I knew this was the venue for me! The view of the ocean and the bluffs in Pismo is unmatched and was the main selling point for me in making my decision to book here.
From the beginning, Lauren Uhl (the event manager for the property) was super professional, helpful, and responsive in all of the correspondence that we shared. One of the main things that I really appreciated when expressing my interest in the venue was Lauren sent me an interest form to fill out with tentative details about my wedding, including dates that I was considering. As part of submitting the form with the date that I wanted, she put a 2 week hold on my desired wedding date in order to give me time to explore other venues and make a final decision! This way, if someone else contacted her about wanting their event on the same day, she would notify the other party that that date has a hold on it! I've never experienced this with other venues, but I greatly appreciated it as it gave me time to consider my options without the anxiety that another bride would book my desired date at the venue before me!
Starting with the ceremony venue on the lawn (Ventana & Shore Cliff are not owned by the same people, but they have a shared partnership for weddings) in front of the Shore Cliff Hotel, the lawn itself is beautiful and, of course, has an incredible view of the ocean - the plants and greenery are always upkept and the hotel staff was super helpful and supportive throughout the planning and event process. They were considerate of what was going on the day of the wedding, and they were the same at the rehearsal the day before. The only negative that I observed from my wedding ceremony was that there were definitely some looky-loo's and people walking around the ceremony site to take pictures and get a view of the ocean during my wedding ceremony (it is a public lawn space, so it's kind of to be expected) - for the most part, people were considerate and took a quick picture of the water and walked away without disturbing the wedding itself, BUT there were some Cal Poly parents and students who were taking pictures after graduation that became a slight nuisance as they were disrupting the processional of the wedding by trying to take pictures near the lawn and were inconsiderate of the fact that there was a wedding actively going on. This is something to keep in mind as this cliff is popular among locals and tourists alike as a photo-op area. We had the same problem when it came to the reception as the venue will not "close off" the stairs that lead down to the reception room. They will put a sign up in front of the stairs that state there is a private event going on, but that doesn't do much in terms of mitigating people going down the stairs to be a disruption - so you chance inconsiderate looky-loo's walking down the stairs, standing in front of the windows that surround the reception hall to look at the water, and getting in the way of photo sessions and videos.
If you are having your wedding here, I STRONGLY suggest booking a room at the Shore Cliff for the day before, day of, and day after the wedding - trust me YOU WON'T regret it. The hotel room and accommodations were beautiful and luxurious. The only issue I had with the hotel was on my wedding night - the AC unit in the room was apparently very loud and disturbing other guests (it didn't bother me or my husband) but the concierge called us twice late into the night to tell us we needed to turn the AC off and they gave us a fan as a replacement (which didn't even work), but I digress.
The reception venue was beautifully put together for the wedding, and Lauren did her best to communicate with me when we would be able to enter the venue the day before to decorate or put together anything we needed the day before. The day of the wedding went as perfectly as can be expected and the venue blew my guests away! Something to keep in mind - the venue looks fairly spacious without all the tables and chairs set up, but do take the overall building capacity into account when thinking about booking. A 100 person wedding at this venue will definitely be cramped. I would say this venue is more aligned with small, intimate weddings to events with maximum 80-90 people.
Now...there were a couple of things that went wrong, as can be expected for any wedding. First, I was told that myself and my family would have access to the reception hall the day before the wedding around 4:00 PM after our rehearsal had concluded to drop off decorations and supplies, but I wasn't able to go inside the reception room and decorate until closer to 5-5:30 PM due to a conflict in scheduling from what I remember. However, Lauren communicated with me about it the whole day so she gave plenty of notice, and the decorations got done nevertheless. Second, there were 2 things that I put on my event order that I communicated to Lauren about that did not end up getting done - 1) I wanted the ceremony chair setup to be slightly curved towards the altar so that all guests would have an unobstructed view of the ceremony, but the day of the wedding, the chairs were set up in straight rows 2) I explicitly expressed in my event order and to Lauren in multiple emails that I only wanted the bar to serve liquor from 4:-6:30 PM and not throughout the entirety of the reception (with beer and wine being the exception to be served throughout the night). However, the liquor was served all though out the night, and this definitely resulted in some party fowls that my husband and I had hoped to avoid. In retrospect, these were minor details that I didn't even notice until the wedding had basically ended, but I can understand how others could see these as a big deal and how someone could be highly disappointed at the inconsistencies.
The only other notable negative from the night was that my guests expressed that some of the servers were a little rude to them (I give them some grace because they were likely overwhelmed or trying to handle a lot at the time) and the wait staff took an UNUSUALLY long time cutting the cake and serving cake to the guests which caused confusion not only for me but for the other guests as well as the cake seemed to disappear after my husband and I had done our cake-cutting pictures. Lastly, I don't know if it was the air circulation of the reception room or just the 75 full bodied adults in the room, but towards the middle of the event the room got VERY warm and guests would begin taking turns stepping outside to get some fresh air.
Overall, would I recommend this venue to a friend or another bride...Yes! I definitely think this venue is worth the amount they charge for the services (for my wedding of about 75-80 people, venue rental cost, food cost, and additional add-ons added up to about $18.5 thousand dollars. This does NOT include additional vendors like photography, DJ, or florist - in my opinion, this amount is on the more affordable side for the Central Coast!). Schedule a tour here and take a look for yourself. I promise, you won't regret it! -
-
![Vanessa]()
Vanessa Sent on 10/21/2011I actually didn't have my event at the Ventana Grill but used their events department for our ceremony site which is at the Shore Cliffs Best Western. I checked out A LOT of venues on the coast of California for our wedding and this spot is the most INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL place ever!!! It is this amazing cliff over the ocean, with a gazebo and grass area that will blow your mind. My guests could not believe where we were. The Ventana Grill will set the ceremony up, reserve the site assist with running the ceremony itself. If you you want to get married on the ocean, then this is the place!!! The photos are amazing and I cannot say enough about the view!!! INCREDIBLE!!!
Are you interested?
Are you interested?