The Hound's Tale Kitchen

and welcome party about SEVEN MONTHS in advance for approximately 55 guests. Despite that, the entire evening was staffed by only an event coordinator, one bartender, and one waitress—and that waitress was also serving the restaurant’s three other occupied tables. I want to be fair and acknowledge that our group was not perfect. Some guests did move into the bar area instead of staying entirely in the private room. My issue was not that staff asked us to keep guests in the reserved space; it was how they handled it. As the bride, I was approached multiple times and told to get guests back into the private room. At one point, I went to the bar to order a drink for a friend who had been waiting about 30 minutes for service, and the waitress PUT HER HAND IN MY FACE and told me I needed to focus on getting people back inside. By that point, I was so worried about being scolded by staff again that I could not relax and enjoy my own welcome party. The drink service was also extremely disappointing. We had already paid per person for drinks, yet service was so slow that guests began purchasing their own drinks separately at the bar. More than 30 drinks were purchased separately, including drinks for the groom and parents of the bride, despite the fact that we had already paid for beverage service. Around 8:30 p.m., after being there since 5:30, I went to order what would have been only my fourth drink of the evening and was told that our group had essentially consumed all of their alcohol and there was nothing left. For a prepaid event booked seven months in advance, that was shocking. By the end of the night, I was so uncomfortable and anxious about another interaction with the staff that I LEFT MY OWN WELCOME PARTY EARLY. I had already stepped outside multiple times because I was overwhelmed, including once in tears. I understand that managing a group of 55 people is not always easy, but this was a private event they had known about for seven months, with only three other occupied tables in the restaurant. I should not have spent the night before my wedding worrying about being reprimanded by staff, managing guests, or whether people could get the drinks we had already paid for. We have enjoyed The Hound’s Tale in the past, but based on this experience, I would not recommend it for a rehearsal dinner, welcome party, or larger private event