Donovan's Reef

I had been to Donovan's for bridal showers, New Year's Eve, and to eat numerous times, and had great food, drinks, and service. However, having them as a wedding vendor was an absolute nightmare. I booked them in December of 2020 when we got engaged. I worked with Eliza, who provided me with a written contract after a 20 minute phone conversation about what I wanted for the menu and cost. We went back and forth about a few details via email, and I paid a $1500 deposit to lock it in. For the next year and a half (our wedding was 9/17/22), I did not hear from Donovan's at all, which initially was fine and normal. However, in the 4 months leading up to the wedding, I attempted to contact them numerous times via email, Eliza's phone contact, (both of which I had used successfully before), and the main restaurant number. After a few weeks, I grew so concerned that I came up from Philly where I live and physically went to the restaurant to see if I could speak with someone. After I physically went to the restaurant and spoke with servers (who were serving lunch that day), I got a call from Dale, explaining that she was the catering contact and would be taking over my event. We went over my contract, and she assured me that she could fulfill the contract, but added that the prices had been raised. I didn't think that was fair given that we had a countersigned contract already, but understood that inflation has boosted food prices, so I was willing to accept the new pricing. While in town, I had visited another vendor, where I heard a rumor that Donovan's was going out of business. So, when I was talking to Dale on the phone, I asked her point blank if they were closing. She denied that Donovan's was closing and hurled insults at the source of the rumor. 3 weeks later, with only 6 weeks to go until my wedding, Dale reached out to my planner saying that Donovan's was out of business effective immediately and would not be my wedding caterer anymore. We scheduled a call for that evening, where Dale said she had no idea they were closing prior to this moment and that they were not sure when they'd get my deposit back to me. Thankfully, someone at Donovan's had arranged for La Cucina to take over our contract. I will be reviewing them also, they were great. This was the one saving grace of the whole experience and we are thankful for that. We did eventually get our deposit back. I am not someone who finds joy in writing a bad review, but I felt like it was really important to warn people of the shady business that went on here.