Whitby Castle

We got married at Whitby Castle on June 18^th and it was truly a dream wedding. The whole day was perfect! The beautiful bridal and groom suites were so great to have and made our getting ready experience so wonderful. We didn’t have to worry about a thing, as the incredible staff made sure we were taken care of with food, drinks, and had everything under control with perfect timing. The ceremony was breathtaking! Walking out from the willow tree as my grand entrance, along with our bridal party, was absolutely magical. The staff directed everything with ease and paid attention to every detail. Our reception was so great. Aside from the gorgeous venue, we really can’t say enough about the staff members. In particular, Ralph and Will were amazing!!! Every single staff member was wonderful, and they worked closely with us that day to ensure we were happy and taken care of every single step of the way. We really could not be more impressed with this venue and the staff. It was everything we could have ever dreamed of and more!!! We can’t wait to return for dinner and reminisce about our magical day. THANK YOU to everyone at Whitby for making our wedding a dream come true.

We held our wedding reception this past weekend (June 10^th) at Whitby Castle and can say this venue threw us a party nothing short of spectacular. From signing our initial contract almost a year and a half ago to food/​cake tasting to our final meeting the week of the wedding, the staff at this venue were so attentive, responsive and organized. We mainly communicated with the maitre ‘d, Ralph, who assured us that the day would run smoothly– and everything went off without a hitch! The ballroom is beautiful with its large windows overlooking the golf course, uniquely shaped room and dark wood floors and the outdoor deck for the cocktail hour is setup beautifully for guests to enjoy on a nice day. Part of the cocktail hour space is enclosed with a tent, which was a nice feature for guests who wanted to stay out of the sun. Ralph was amazing to work with, especially the week and day of the wedding. He personally called all of my vendors to confirm delivery times of the reception flowers as well as determine an appropriate time for the DJ to setup to ensure that the room would be clean/​ready in time for vendor arrival. Ralph and his team worked extremely closely with our DJ and photographers to make sure that each vendor’s timeline for the day did not overlap with each other. I was provided a bridal assistant, Jasmine, who was so attentive and at my side for the entire evening, whether it was to re-​fill a drink or to fluff my dress. The food was outstanding. We received numerous complements on the abundance and tastiness of the cocktail hour and reception food as well as the synchronized dinner service for the main course from our guests– hats off to the chef and staff! If you want a venue where the staff truly take care of you, your guests and vendors, look no further! After months of planning, it was a relief to be able to enjoy our reception and not have to worry about a thing! To Ralph and the staff at Whitby, Bill and I can’t thank you enough for a great day!

My wife and I were married here on April 30, 2016, and it was an amazing experience from start to finish. The staff was attentive and thoughtful, and Ralph did an excellent job making sure that everything ran smoothly. Linda was a great help with the planning and preparation.
The food was terrific, and drew rave reviews from my guests. The transitions from the ceremony in front of the castle, to the cocktail hour on the patio, to the dinner in the ballroom, were seamless.
The view from in front of the castle for a wedding is one that simply cannot be beat, and the staff’s overall performance really makes the experience a special one.

We got married in February of 2016 at the Whitby Castle. My wife and I selected this location because it wasn’t something either of us had heard of before and we love the mix of old and new at the venue. The castle has a tremendous amount of character and the ballroom is elegant, new and beautiful. We loved the idea of having the ceremony in the ballroom with those big bright windows looking out on the golf course and sound inlet.
Pre-​wedding planning, via Linda, was easy. She laid out all of the details we needed to coordinate with her early on and was always very responsive via phone or email. She took care of venue tours, the menu, vendors, tasting, etc. It was all well organized and easy to choose from. As we got closer to the wedding Ralph got involved as our day-​of maître d’. He went over, in fine detail, every piece of the wedding from layout, to ceremony, to music, speeches, etc. He always listened to any tiny thing we wanted to add or subtract from the plan and updated the schedule of events dozens of times without complaint.
Day of, the wedding went off without a hitch. I can honestly say I’ve never been treated so well by a wait staff in my entire life, and all our guests have said the same thing. For anything we asked for, (from a drink, or a lost shoe), Ralph would jump into action as if someone’s life was on the line. The next day when we went back for our cake toppers, Ralph had leftover food for us to take home as well! That is the type of service you want from a maître d’!
Two months later all I can say is that Whitby exceeded all of our expectations and there wasn’t a single thing that didn’t go as planned. Linda and Ralph, as well as the wait staff, are all amazingly professional and accommodating people. The food, atmosphere and execution were all top notch and I would recommend this place ten times over. I hope we get to go to another wedding there some time soon.

My family went here for Easter Brunch. Even though it is on the Rye Country Club grounds, we found out the Whitby is open to the public for Lunch and Dinner. It seems most of the reviews here are for weddings. It is an amazing building and so it the property and the views toward Long Island Sound.
Our brunch was great with plenty to eat and a wide amount of choices. Bagels, muffins, eggs Benedict, and bacon were some of the breakfast choices. There was also salad, shrimp, chicken, sole and a carving station with three types of meat.
Brunch also included dessert which included cookies, cakes, and fresh fruit. Coffee and tea were also available. The dining hall is quite elegant with numerous windows facing out over the golf course to the water. There is also an outside dining deck but it was too cold the day we went except to go out and snap some photos. Beautiful place and would love to come back for dinner.

Words cannot express the gratitude, respect and appreciation I have for Linda, Ralph, Sean, Chef and the whole staff at Whitby Castle. My husband and I recently had our wedding here and the venue, staff, food and view were an absolute dream.
Linda was so lovely to work with leading up to our special day and spent several afternoons with us customizing a menu that suited our Irish Countryside-​themed wedding vision.
We were truly floored by Ralph’s attentiveness, hospitality, kindness, organization and attention to detail on our wedding day and everyday throughout the entire wedding process. He was so kind to assist us in carrying out every detail and request that we had — from organizing the details of a surprise dance performance, assembling a custom photo booth, creating a custom playlist for our cocktail hour, ensuring the delivery of our last minute keg requests, configuring an ideal layout for our large guest count and so much more.
The bridal attendant, Katie was such a doll! She had an effortless ability to predict what my husband and I needed and was always by my side lending a helping hand. We had everything we could ever need or want whether it was a glass water or champagne or an open door to cool off after dancing the night away!
And I can’t say enough about how absolutely delicious the food was! All of the food was ridiculously exceptional and what a treat to have plates full of food delivered to our daïs table despite having a station-​style reception. They really thought of everything! The turkey with cranberry sauce was to die for, the mini pot pies and shepherds pies were phenomenal and our customized seafood station was a hit thanks to Linda’s guiding hand.
Everything completely exceeded all of our hopes and expectations. The castle looked beautiful, guests thoroughly enjoyed themselves and everything was absolute perfection from start to end thanks to the staff’s time, energy and accommodations.

There are not enough great things I can say about our wedding at the Whitby Castle. From the moment we saw the venue, we knew this was where we wanted to say our «I do’s».
Everything, I repeat everything, was amazing while working with the Whitby Castle.
From the planning, to the execution, the team did an amazing job making us feel comfortable, happy and at ease. They worked within our budget and provided us with the most amazing experience we could have ever imagined.
The venue is beautiful, the food was delicious, the cost was affordable, and the team was professional and helpful from start to finish.
Look no further, the Whitby Castle is the best.
Thank you Linda and Ralph, working with you two was an absolute pleasure!

Getting psyched for my wedding coming up soon at Whitby Castle because Linda has been so incredibly amazing, meeting my every request and making sure that I was completely happy every time I have visited the castle. She goes out of her way to take any worries away, which is priceless, just like she is! Haven’t had my wedding there yet but Linda has me so excited/​stress free for the big day. She rocks.

I recently had my wedding at Whitby Castle. Seeing many negative reviews leading up to the day, I brought this to Linda’s attention. She put me at ease and let me know there was nothing to worry about. I simply asked the best way to handle Ralph who was receiving terrible reviews… Maybe because I brought it to light, Ralph was really wonderful day of.
As far as I was concerned Ralph had everything under control and was very pleasant to work with. He went above and beyond his call of duty by acquiring a golf cart for the pictures (my mom is disabled and couldn’t make the trip to the back of the castle where pictures were), although we couldn’t find anyone to drive us at the time, so mom didn’t make the pictures, the thought was there.
Jasmine was also wonderful, she gave me complete peace of mind and was very calm, a huge plus.
All of our guests loved the food and we had quite a bit of NYC high-​end foodies in our crowd, so I was extremely worried about that. They loved it! I do wish I was able to have food during cocktail hour, make sure you ask! Everyone was blown away by the amount of food served at cocktail hour. The cake was bad (but looked pretty), I’ve never been a cake person and no one eats it anyway.
There wasn’t a single thing I would change about the wedding. Thank you Whitby for a lovely night. My wedding exceeded any expectations I had. The room was decorated beautifully and everyone complimented the appearance of the castle.
Linda, Ralph, Jasmine: Thank you so very much!

AMENDED — Please note that I was recently contact by Whitby reps who nicely asked me if I would remove my reviews as they were resonating with viewers. I politely declined. I think people have a right to know what kind of service to expect and honest experiences from others. While I hope my experience there has improved their service and way of doing things (and I hope it has), it still does not change how we we’re treated on, and well after my Wedding day. We had over 200 guests and spent quite a lot of money to let bygones be bygones. I would have expected better treatment considering.
I know my review is quite long, but if you want details of all of the issues (there were a ton!) and THEFT — please continue reading.
All is fine in the initial discussions, where they seem like they will bend over backwards in order to accommodate you. Our initial contact was with Linda, their Sales Manager. She is nice enough over the phone and usually responsive over email. All was smooth sailing up until our initial food tasting about 3 months before our wedding. The tasting was DISGUSTING. I know what to expect when someone is cooking for this many people, I previously worked for a catering hall in Putnam County. It will never be restaurant quality. Whitby Castle was providing us with appetizers at our tasting that weren’t event available for us to choose from at our wedding. I reached out to Linda about a week after the tasting and mentioned that we were really unhappy with everything that we had. She was very accommodating & set up another tasting for just my husband & I. We walked away from that at ease & had asked if we could swap the Salmon for Halibut instead because we really didn’t like it at all.
Following our cake tasting we met the Maître D’ — Ralph. TO LESSINGS MANAGEMENT — PLEASE NOTE THAT 90% OF ALL NEGATIVE REVIEWS FOR WHITBY CASTLE ARE IN SOME WAY OR ANOTHER RELATED TO HIM.
Little things that most venues have down pat are just overlooked by the staff at Whitby — like having cutlery and napkins at all of the various cocktail hour stations, and running out of beer. They miraculously managed to serve guests the wrong fish (salmon instead of halibut) and did not come forward with the mixup. Later on, I find out that Whitby Castle only had enough halibut for 10 people and had served Salmon to the rest of the guests and had not told us. Before I found this out, I was told by the GM that, «some» of the waiters were uninformed and had provided both halibut and salmon as options to our guests. He indicated he was annoyed because the Salmon cost him more money. I’m sorry Sean, I could care less that it cost you more money — it’s not what we agreed upon. Why would guests be confused by receiving salmon if it’s what they ordered? I had asked multiple people from different tables, all of which confirmed a dual section was not mentioned by the waiters & they had ordered halibut. So there goes that LIE.
Earlier that day, Ralph managed to royally screw up the seating chart which left my parents, brothers and grandparents in a dark corner far away from us by the exit. I was LIVID. I immediately brought this up to Ralph who wouldn’t even apologize. After my encounter, I didn’t see Ralph the rest of the wedding. I was late to my father daughter dance and bouquet– toss because he didn’t coordinate the timing. He was just a DUD hanging in the door entryway monitoring from afar — when he is supposed to be my shadow. And Ralph, if you didn’t know that, I know a great venue up north that can show you a thing or five hundred because it’s obvious you have no freaking idea what you’re doing.
The staff didn’t do a good job guiding guests to the larger bathrooms downstairs, and because of that there were ridiculous lines on the main floor. The staff was telling people that there was an additional bathroom upstairs (it is connected the bridal suite).
This is where we get to the really good part. Whitby Castle, I hope you named that Bridal Suite after me. Before my wedding this SORRY EXCUSE FOR AN ESTABLISHMENT didn’t feel the need to lock the bridal suite because they DIDN’T HAVE A LOCK. They left the door wide open & because of their negligence, two of my bridesmaids had their envelopes (wedding gifts) & cash stolen from their purses. How they do not put measures in place to PREVENT this is beyond me, especially after Ralph had TOLD my bridesmaid that a theft had occurred 6 months prior in the bridal suite (AND this place is open to the public during events). Instead of a genuine apology from these guys, I was directed to the Liabilities section in our contract. Steve, the regional GM, did an ok job handling the situation but the rest of them are good for nothing.

I have to split this review up into a few parts.
Booking consultant — 5 stars. Linda was helpful, cheerful, positive, efficient, and responsive through every step of the booking process. I got a meeting quickly, contract was painless, and balances were calculated accurately. No surprises. It was a pleasure working with her.
Maitre d’ — 3 stars. During our first meeting, Ralph seemed to be very detail-​oriented with all his comprehensive checklists. He then sent me an erroneously calculated invoice (Linda had already sent me the correct invoice days earlier) and was unable or unwilling to comprehend my corrections. He was a no-​show on the Tuesday before the wedding when I was supposed to drop off my wedding stuff and was completely unapologetic about it. I had driven two hours to get there and all he said was «Can you come back a few hours later?» He realized literally 10 minutes before the ceremony that he did not have the processional list, something that he should have figured out days beforehand (probably needs another comprehensive checklist for himself eh?). He told the florists he would have someone bring me my bouquets, but no one did. As a result, I completely forgot about my flowers for pre-​wedding pictures (my number one regret!!!) and I had to have a bridesmaid go hunting for them 10 minutes before the ceremony. He did not have enough towels on hand to wipe off the chairs in case of rain, which I warned him was forecasted the entire week. A few of my guests even took things into their own hands and wiped with rags from their cars. The one positive thing I can say is that he is excellent at keeping calm and not making a big deal of things. When the florists were being difficult and refusing to help the team move my arch indoors because it was raining, he told the bridesmaids not to tell me about it so I wouldn’t stress out, which I appreciated looking back. Overall, I would say the wedding went smoothly as could be expected despite the rain and all my frustrations with Ralph. When the call was finally made to move the ceremony inside (my husband had already been running around frantically for about 20 minutes trying to figure out what’s what), the amazing team at Whitby moved the ceremony indoors in record time and it was beautiful.
Bridal attendant — 3.5 stars. She was friendly, but probably could have done more than she did. She did get me some food from downstairs but just the easy-​to-​get stuff, like from the pasta and carving stations. It would have been nice to try even one of the passed hors d’oeuvres.
Grounds and venue appearance — 4.5 stars. The castle is grand-​looking and the golf course provides a lovely backdrop to cocktail hour, which takes place on a recently renovated and well-​maintained patio. The ballroom is pretty, but the setup is a bit awkward because there are two connected rooms so some tables have obstructed views of the dance floor. The bridal suite is decorated nicely and the meeting room with the long table in it is gorgeous, especially when the light is streaming into the windows.
Food — 5 stars. I didn’t try much of the food, but what I did try was yummy. Pasta was good and al dente. The hot soup appetizer (carrot ginger) was hot and delicious. The salmon was tender and flavorful. Prime rib portions were the size of my head. I heard good feedback from my guests about the food, and there was more than enough to stuff everyone’s tummies.

My best friend held her wedding here last month. The venue was beautiful! The staff was great! While the vendors were getting set up, the flower girl craved chocolate. Will the bartender came to our rescue! I couldn’t find a vending machine but he found a chocolate bar and handfuls of chocolate kisses for us.
The food was really tasty! Almost every time I order fish it’s always dry the salmon was super moist and flavorful. The veggies were delicious as well!
The wedding was such a blast I forgot my shoes. I called a few times and Ralph called me back! He sent me my shoes all the way to California! Five stars for service, venue and food!

Went to Whitby Castle on a beautiful sunny no-​humidity afternoon. The setting was lovely and peaceful, with the lush golf course spreading out from the patio. Perfect! Can’t say as much for the food! Our server was a pleasant and friendly young man, so I would rather blame the kitchen for the long wait to get our lunch. I ordered salad and a sandwich, and my friend ordered soup and a sandwich. It was all delivered at the same time. Salad was excellent, but the rest was just mediocre — overdone, dry, not much flavor. For the price, we expected a better meal. This is our first visit to the Castle this year. Food was better last year. New chef?

Went to the Caste many times over the past few years. My mom loves it so making a decision to take her to the Mother’s Day brunch was a no brainer. How disappointing, the selection was limited and and the food subpar. They served bagels and cream cheese but lox was nowhere to be found. The scrambled eggs tasted grainy and the dessert selection, such that it was, underwhelmed the palate. For almost 50.00 I could have gotten better fare at my local diner. I think it’s time to find a new Mother’s Day locale. The ambiance, as always, was nice and the servers were polite and professional.

Attending a wedding here. The grounds are beautiful as well as the outdoor view of the castle. I would say the exterior really make this venue. There are great views at the front as well as at the back. The back provides a nice backdrop scenery of the golf course. The interior of the venue did not live up to the exterior. The floor plan of the reception room did not flow so great as it seem that it just two rooms where they had opened up a wall to create one long room. The food was okay, nothing impressive nor memorable.