Elks Lodge 248: Wausau's Heart of Brotherhood

"I went for a fish fry tonight ! I had great experience and time and a great fish fry!"

"Went to the Lodge last evening, June 2, 2018 and enjoyed a GREAT meal. I had the Cranberry/Walnut pork chops. They were fantastic. If you haven't been here and are a member, why not? The food was fantastic and Sean was great mixing the great cocktails as always. If are not a member, message me and I will get you an application. Flag Day is a special celebration time for the Elks and we celebrate our great Flag at the 400 Block. Come Join us."

"Great place for the wedding reception!"

"I had a wedding reception there recently and had a horrible experience. I will say the hall was absolutely gorgeous and worked well with my decor but had many things go wrong. For starters they were going through a lot of staffing changes and our wedding reception wasn't even on the books. It took me two weeks a month and a half before my reception to even get a hold of the person I was supposed to talk to. I was explained that it could be done and there was enough time to still put it together. I had talked over the phone what I was wanting as for food and drinks. I had met with the Wedding coordinator Two weeks before the wedding to finalize detail as decorating Friday, champagne at the head table, open bar, food and style options etc. I was told I could be there Friday at noon to decorate but if I would like to come early it would be ready or almost complete by the time I had got there. I had gotten there at 10:30 am to see a 400 person set up still up, food on the floor, bingo chips on the floor and nothing cleaned or put away or set up. Which I had gotten notice that a janitor was there that morning but totally bypassed our reception area. I was also told if I wanted it done I would have to do it. In the process of taking tables down I had gotten injured... Just what a bride wants the day before her wedding. Had a bruised lung, big cut on my knee, a scratch down my leg and bruises. It took us until 2:30 pm to finish what we could and still had to come back later to check and make sure when their staffing was able to come clean the floors and finish it was done correctly. When we had come back there was an extra table set up and we had to adjust and finish decorating. Saturday when my guests had arrived the bartender was rude and did not put a smile on his face until later in the evening. Many of my guests had complained about his attitude for the first couple hours but later said he got better about 7pm on. They had run out of big cups within the hour which strictly says in their contract that they will have adequate supplies plus 5% more of the final amount of guests. That did not happen. My champagne I had wanted for the head table was NOT on our table nor were the glasses until we had gotten to our main course in which my brother had to go to the bar and walk the bottles up to us himself. Not his job. I also requested a couple bottles of white wine set aside for myself so I could enjoy what I like to drink for the evening and that did not happen as well. The food had good flavor but was luke warm at best. The worst of it all was the roast beef. The gravy on top was like jello and the beef was very tough. All the groom and I had eaten was the mashed potatoes and green beans as that's all we could stomach and from the comments of our guests they ate because they were hungry but did NOT enjoy the temperature of the food. I also had a group of friends at the extra table they had set up with them thinking they could sit there and had the wait staff ask them to move to open spots and fill in. Not acceptable as it made them feel unwelcome and uncomfortable. After dinner I have to say if it wasn't for my DJ our wedding would have been ruined. He got the party started and made sure everyone was out dancing and having a great time! So a big thank you to him. Their facility is beautiful but I feel as though we were left out on a lot of details. Guest had gotten yelled at about smoking and drinking outside because they had a spot for that but no one was ever informed. I didn't even know there was a specific area for that. If it was such a big deal make an announcement, don't argue with my guests who are tipping you with a rude attitude. Regardless I had a good day but wish I didn't have to think or stress about all these things that went wrong during our day. It definitely put a damper on the beginning of our night. We had heard such AMAZING things about food, atmosphere, hospitality and beauty in this lodge and all we got was the beautiful room."

"We have been here for some meetings in what I believe was The Grand Ballroom. The building is older with a classic feel. The Grand Hall is beautiful & perfect for a medium-size wedding. Check their website for available dates & further info."