Crowne Plaza Annapolis

of the country and my catering director would now be the chef. He assured me all would be well and probably better. His boss would cover the floor in his absence to handle any problems. The reception kicks off at 5pm with cocktails and appetizers and within 15 minutes, the one bartender for 171 guests is out of the signature drink ingredients, turns the sign down and that’s all for the evening! The drinks were a Moscow mule and a Paloma no wild ingredients at all. Done. Finished. No attempt to bring out more ingredients just done! After going to the front desk to get help with the enormous line for the bar, I find out they’re running out of beer. I had unlimited bar service with all major beers on the list. They’re running out! We drank them out of Miller Lite. They started serving warm beer. And, no one on the floor to help with the disastrous bar situation because they were in back playing the food. And, the food was sub par and not what we were given at our tasting. Most filets looked like they were cut in half, some were inedible - 2 of our guests could not eat their steaks and left the reception to walk to Uncle Julio’s for dinner then came back for dancing. Guests were served chicken parts that should’ve been thrown away instead of a good chicken breast with their chicken Annapolitan. The crab imperial was mostly mayo mush. The seasonal vegetables were so hard it was difficult to bite through the rind. It wasn’t until later in the evening I was hearing about the food. I was hoping my dish was the exception, but it ended up being the norm for about half the room. You cannot offer and unlimited bar package with signature drinks and run out of alcohol and expect everything to be fine. We picked this hotel so our guests could have fun at the reception and walk to their rooms. The Crowne must believe the fun part is only 15 minutes! The food was not great at all. I understand feeding 171 is a lot at one time and I expect some items to be possibly cold. However, feed everyone consistently. You can’t offer a nice filet to one and half pounded down to another. Medium should be medium and never well done. Chicken parts that should be thrown away should never be served to guests. The food served at the actual reception should have looked like what we were served at the tasting. That’s what I was expecting and we didn’t get anything near that. The ballroom itself was nice. The passed appetizers were good when they finally were served during the cocktail hour. The rooms were great and the hotel was very accommodating for room blocks and offers. We were well taken care of until the actual reception. The Crowne not only has my daughter’s wedding reception going on but also 2 family reunions. To find out the sales and catering managers were no where to be found on the floor during my event because they were plating food for the event, means they were severely overwhelmed and understaffed! And my daughter’s wedding reception suffered. Buyer beware!