World Cafe Live Philadelphia Reviews
Reviews
4.9 out of 5 rating
4.9 out of 5 rating
22 Reviews
98% recommend it
Awards
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![Britt]()
Britt F. Sent on 10/25/2021A Fantastic Experience
Working with World Café Live was a dream! From the very beginning Bridget was incredibly kind and knowledgeable. They were extremely accommodating with my request for a completely gluten free menu because of my dietary restrictions. We unfortunately had to postpone our 2020 wedding, but Bridget stayed in contact with us and ultimately we were able to have the magical event we envisioned. We really appreciate the entire staff at WCL because they were so pleasant. All of our guests raved about the food and our epic party. I know I’ll still be dreaming about those garlic mashed potatoes years from now. -
Becca Sent on 12/27/2021
the perfect venue
I cannot recommend World Cafe Live highly enough. We were originally scheduled for 10/10/20, and obviously had to reschedule, and WCL was SO unbelievably supportive and accommodating. We ultimately were able to have our celebration on 10/9/21 and loved every minute of it. Bridget Stearns, who was the coordinator that we worked with, was AMAZING. She was super responsive, flexible, and patient throughout all of the stress and anxiety that came with planning a pandemic wedding. The wedding went off without a hitch, everything from the food, the set up, even down to the friendly security staff, all of it was fabulous! WCL offered a fun, unique venue that really wowed our guests and made my husband and I feel so special. -
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Hannah K. Sent on 06/13/2019
What an amazing experience
From my first call with Bridget through the days after the reception, we felt nothing but support in planning a reception that was beautiful and so uniquely us. We've loved World Cafe for years, but our experience celebrating our marriage here exceeded all expectations Thank you for everything! -
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User2288342 Sent on 08/27/2015My husband and I really didn't want a cookie-cutter wedding. We are both singers and love music, so were thrilled to find that World Cafe Live can do weddings! During our ceremony, we sang to each other on-stage, fulfilling a big dream of ours, and my husband even sang with the band later in the evening. The venue, although more fun than hotels and ballrooms, looked classy. It is conveniently located. And it also has a great layout. Our guests could be out in the lobby with the photobooth, taking photos of one another by several beautiful murals in the building, by the bar talking, eating at their tables, or out on the dance floor. Maureen, the event coordinator made sure that she had all the details set even when we had odd requests, like "performing" our own ceremony. What I really appreciate is that she never tried to talk me into something more expensive. She is very supportive and flexible. We had around 140 guests, which fit perfectly in the space with a dance floor and dinner buffet. The guests raved about the food, drinks, and band, which Maureen recommended to me! When you buy a wedding package, it also includes tech. support staff in addition to the kitchen staff and bar tenders. And, you can use the large projection screen over the stage, which we used for family slide-shows. We could not have asked for a better celebration, and even the next day, several guests told us it was the best wedding they had ever attended! We were so grateful we could tailor make our wedding to our desires! Much more fun for everyone! -
User2192991 Sent on 06/23/2015World Cafe Live was a fantastic choice for us for our welcome reception/cocktail hour in lieu of a rehearsal dinner. We worked with Maureen. World Cafe Live is a great venue for so many reasons:
-Very responsive and accommodating (Maureen and the head chef helped us craft a vegetarian/pescatarian menu that also accommodated groom's food allergies)
-interested in helping you work within your budget (offered many different bar options, including wine/beer package plus consumption tab, or "well bar" package. We ended up choosing well bar package with a switch to a consumption tab towards the end of our event)
-great vibe, beautiful presentation of the food. good space for combination of seated/ standing, and of course great A/V for toasts and speeches
-walking distance from 30th street station and from many University City hotels, plus street parking is available
-connected to a non-profit (WXPN radio)
We're so glad we kicked off our wedding weekend at World Cafe Live! -
User1759256 Sent on 08/11/2014World Cafe Live did such a great job on our Rehearsal Dinner and my family could not say enough nice things. Morgan was our event liaison and took care of all the little details and the food was AMAZING! I've been to World Cafe before for both Happy Hour and for a performance and I can say that you wont be disappointed in picking them for your private event! -
![Lyndsey]()
Lyndsey P. Sent on 12/29/2018We loved our affordable, flexible, and personalized wedding at WCL!
When we first looked at WCL for our wedding venue it was because we weren't finding anything within our budget for indoor/outdoor venues in the Philly area, and had come across WCL via the 'Offbeat Bride' website. During our initial email & meeting, the then-coordinator Paige said "yes" to basically every single one of our (very personalized and often unique) requests, and we knew then we had found our venue! As a professional performing artist based in Philly, I actually couldn't believe we hadn't found it sooner.
Unfortunately the next couple of months with Paige were less-than-ideal in terms of communication, timeline, & logistics, but luckily Maureen became our new coordinator about 6 months before the date and WOW did she save the day. She was responsive, flexible, accommodating, and continued to say "yes" to nearly every one of our requests. I can't say enough about how much Maureen did to prepare for our big day, and she genuinely cared about our vision and goals.
The food was amazing (we did both a food & cocktail tasting which were both SUPER fun) and our guests complimented the several dinner stations and many apps we chose. They also loved that we had our cocktail hour before the ceremony, something that WCL was VERY happy to accommodate (and MANY other venues we looked at were not). That was huge for us! We also love drinking beer, wine, and cocktails in our daily lives so we were pleased that we were able to customize a drink package that had tons of variety and met our financial needs. The "icing on the cake" was how amazing it was that we were able to bring in our own desserts, allowing us to bring our favorite Philly dessert traditions (Isgro Cannolis, Federal Donuts, and Coldstone Ice Cream Cakes) to our big day. Our guests absolutely LOVED the variety we were able to provide, and it was all because of WCL's flexibility.
We were very happy with the production team too! Jorgan and his staff made my long, involved, and personalized ceremony with many moving parts seem like just another day in the office, and never once commented or complained about how much I was throwing at them! As a professional artist, this TOTALLY made my big day even better, and nearly ALL of the wedding guests commented on how great the "production" was :) The only constructive feedback I have in this area was that it was VERY hard to hear our pianist during the cocktail hour in upstairs live. I wish there had been someone checking on the sound in that room after guests had filled it, because we were unable to hear the great jazz arrangements my friend had orchestrated just for our special cocktail hour!
The only day-of bumps in the road we encountered were some service issues. For example, my partner and I were never served the passed appetizers during the cocktail hour. They delivered some to the downstairs green room (and I guess though that meant they didn't need to come up to us during the hour?), but the delivery was much later than we had asked for, and by that time we were already upstairs at the cocktail hour with the guests. In addition, my father was charged for one of our signature cocktails during the cocktail hour (a drink that was supposed to be part of our consumption package all night) and it turned him off so much that he didn't ask for another drink the rest of the evening. Also, while I was happy that my partner and I didn't have to go through the dinner station line (we were served big plates of food), the food we were served was cold, as if it had been plated 15-20 minutes before it was brought to us. Unfortunately, the servers weren't super attentive with coming back and checking on us throughout the night, and there were at least 2 times where I had to go to the bar and wait to order a drink for myself.
I want to underline, though, that the exceptional service Maureen showed to me, my partner, and our family leading up to the big day and during the big day ALL overshadow these small day-of-issues. I simply write them in the spirit of transparency and genuine care that I have for WCL to continue striving to be an exceptional wedding/event venue. Many guests said it was the best wedding they had ever attended, and we are already contemplating having a 5-year anniversary party there to recreate some of the magic! All in all, we were thrilled and would recommend this venue to anyone looking for an affordable, flexible, and personalized wedding event in Philly! -- Lyndsey and Kevin McCormick
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User2139440 Sent on 05/19/2015My partner and I had our "Wedding" at World Cafe Live Downstairs on May 9, 2015. There were 150 guests total. I honestly don't even know where to begin with this review. For nearly 18 months, I had been communicating with the staff at WCL about out event. The venue was the main reason that we decided to go with WCL (we needed stage production equipment and crew), but the staff, food, drinks, EVERYTHING else about it was extraordinary.
I (groom #1) gave the staff hell - not because I'm rude, but because we were trying to pull off a VERY unique ceremony and event. Everything exceeded our expectations, and I honestly don't think that if we got married at a 'normal' venue that we would have had such an amazing time.
I could not recommend WCL more highly - do yourself a favor and speak with Maureen the Events Coordinator. She is an angel and really understands what her role is and then some. We have made a friend for life.
The important stuff - like food - was outstanding too. All of our guests are still talking about the fun they had, and they have never been to a wedding so unique and different. It was a dream come true.
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