McLean Gardens Ballroom

We discovered McLean Gardens Ballroom in a random Google search, looking for venues for our wedding day. We became interested in the Ballroom first based on price and availability, but the more time we spent planning, talking with the staff, and preparing for our wedding day, the more we realized just how perfect our reception venue was for us. They were incredibly professional, thoughtful, gracious, and accommodating to our every need. They worked with us on a menu that was sensitive to various food allergies and sensitivities among the guests; they cared for our elderly grandmother with grace and gentleness; they were efficient in set-​up and clean-​up; and were willing to bend over backwards, if necessary, to give us what we wanted, to help us stay at/​under our budget, and still provide an elegant atmosphere and experience. I would highly recommend them to anyone marrying in the DC area.

Phil and his colleagues at Washington Parties made our March 2 wedding a truly memorable event. They were wonderful to work with and helped us put together an event that will be talked about among our friends and family for years to come. The Ballroom is beautiful — a real grand dame — elegant but not stuffy. I would use them again and would recommend them without reservation!

In all honesty i was not sure i would use Mc Lean Ballroom because of one of the review below. Then a friend of mine introduced me to Jessica a friend of hers who had her wedding there. She loved it and recommended the place.
Next thing i did was to actually call and ask for a tour. The manager was awesome, patient with my 100 questions and witty, which helps in moments like deciding where to have your wedding.
The room is pretty big and bright, i would describe it as elegant. There is a big with a dance floor, few fireplaces and high ceilings.
I visited other places, and once i compared the location, the prices and the meny offered i knew i’d go with Philippe’s. We first thought to go with our own caterer but Washington Parties menu was pretty awesome.
We had a tasting menu beforehand, and he did not flinch a bit when i asked for one item to be replaced with something else. I was not sure that everyone invited would like the salmon mouse.
The day off we arrived a little earlier than expected but Philippe did not seem to mind, i found him quite helpful and funny.
It was the most beautiful day, yes stressful, but i am glad and thank the staff at Mc LGB to have contributed to our wonderful day.
It was in June 2012.

We used McLean Gardens Ballroom for our wedding reception with 120 guests. It was perfect and Phil and Stewart were fantastic to work with! They are fun, flexible and professional and the food was delicious. The venue and the reception more than surpassed our wildest expectations. The location is perfect and the old style ballroom in a DC neighborhood just north of National Cathedral was very convenient. If your families love to dance like ours do, this is a great setting for your reception! Best of all, Phil and Stewart don’t nickel and dime you to death — from the beginning the negotiations were simple and reasonable. Loved it!

So I’ve thought a long time about how I want to do this review (what with all these businesses suing for bad review lately) but I just have to do it.
We had our wedding reception here in October. I’ll start with the positives:
+ The food is fantastic
+ The venue is gorgeous
+ The prices are reasonable
This would seriously be a five star review if I could overlook the service issues. I was so excited about our wedding and I seriously thought McLean Gardens Ballroom was going to throw the best event ever until about a month before the wedding.
Washington Parties, the exclusive caterers at this venue, and specifically the owner, Philippe, put a pretty big damper on our big day. And not in some sort of Bridezilla «omg why aren’t there sugar cubes with the coffee instead of regular sugar» kind of way. More of a «this organization didn’t keep their size of the contract» kind of way.
About a month before the wedding, Philippe began to be difficult to get a hold of. And when we did talk, it was like we had the same conversation over and over again (it didn’t seem like he remembered anything we had talked about in previous conversations or emailed about). And when I would get him on the phone, he would just tell me what I wanted to hear to get me off the phone. He promised me just about anything I asked for. I should have realized it was a sign.
So here’s everything that specifically went down:
— To start off with, they had another event there the day of our wedding. This, in itself, is not unusual or bad. What was bad was the timing. According to our contract, we were supposed to have the room two hours before the event to get set up. Our reception started at 6:00. Their party ended at 5:00. In the end, they worked it out but I found out about this conflict the day before my wedding. I feel like I should also note that we booked the room in April of 2010. When it came time to send out the invitations, I confirmed with Philippe that the time would be ok. He mentioned nothing of the conflict at that time. Stress? Yes. Stress.
— We selected three types of DC Brau to be served at our reception, Heiniken, and left it up to the venue to select a couple of domestic beers to serve. They chose Milwaukee’s Best and Steel Reserve. Malt. Frikkin. Liquor. At the time, I thought it was funny but after everything that transpired later in the night, it’s just one more thing that was screwed up.
— According to our contract, they were supposed to serve «mini desserts» with the cake. They were never served.
Ok, so any of the above I could have just laughed off. But what happened at the end of the night really soured me on the service for this place:
— So Philippe let the Bridesmaids and I keep our stuff in his office (when we actually booked the venue, there was an unused room that we were told we could use while we were there but by the time we had our event it had been rented so Philippe let us use his office). Unfortunately, the door would lock if you pulled it shut behind you so we had to keep it propped open. One of my ‘maids accidentally pulled it shut behind her at the end of the evening. Oh crap, well Philippe has the key, right?
OH, Philippe left 20 minutes ago. Well crap. Let’s ask the assistant he left in charge to call him. Wait, why is the assistant trying to jimmy the door open with a butter knife? Oh, Philippe isn’t coming back? But my ID and telephone are inside and I’m flying out for my honeymoon tomorrow morning and I need the ID to get on the plane…
So a couple of my drunk guests are starting to talk about breaking down the door (we were obviously not letting them). The assistant turned around and yelled at everyone to just get away from the door and disappears. Did not ask politely, yelled. Doesn’t tell us what he’s going to do. Doesn’t say he’s going to try to keep fixing it. From what I understand, he just left and kept going about the business of cleaning up (I didn’t see myself so I have no idea).
It basically took me calling Philippe up myself on one of my guests phones and begging him to come back. He showed up almost an hour later, unlocked the door (without saying a word to me sitting right there in my wedding dress or even looking at me), and just walked away.
From what I understand, he actually yelled at my mother in law and my florist because they were having a glass of wine while they were cleaning up (his exact words were «PARTY’S OVER» as he snatched their glasses away). If that wasn’t allowed, fine but he yelled at them. The caterers had shooed everyone out the door by 10:30 (we, contractually, had until 11:00 to clean up).
In conclusion, I would not recommend this venue unless Philippe hires someone to manage the events or to assist him. He is a fantastic cook but disorganized and his people skills suck when he’s stressed out.

Ahh! This place is gorgeous! So elegant, I love it! Beautiful décor, dance floor, perfect for a formal event:)