Embassy Suites by Hilton Pittsburgh Downtown Reviews

WOW! What an underrated venue the Embassy Suites is! I wasn’t even going to look at it when we were touring venues, but the coordinator, Lori, is a family friend so I agreed and I’m so happy that we did! From start to finish, Lori and her team at the Embassy were absolutely incredible! Lori answered all of my crazy questions throughout the wedding planning process. The week of the wedding I sent her a 6 page document outlining exactly how I wanted our decor set up and she exceeded our expectations! I was stunned at how beautiful the venue looked when we walked in. The building itself has so many unique touches, from the ornate gold elevators to the white marble floor. We had about 130 guests and the ballroom felt like the perfect size. The food was incredible! We did a plated meal of salmon, chicken and filet, and people were raving about how delicious it was. The servers and bartenders were so kind and attentive to our needs. We also hosted an after party at the hotel bar afterwards and it was so convenient for our guests! I cannot recommend the Embassy Suites enough! It was the perfect space for our wedding!

We had my daughter's wedding at the Embassy Suites on May 13, 2023, and it was AMAZING. They had had a 250-person prom the night before, so Saturday morning things looked a little rough... but within a few hours they had addressed our concerns (and were very receptive and professional) and everything went off without a hitch. From Friday night's check-in and giving out our pre-made guest bags to our out of town guests, to the wonderfully friendly Gastropub bar staff later assisting us with entertaining our guests! Then Saturday, they cleaned up the prom mess (can you say glitter!!) and let us fully enjoy our day, we rented an additional conference room as our ladies get ready room - it worked out great!! We (7 bridesmaids, bride and 2 Moms plus 4 professionals) had plenty of room to relax, get ready and we moms could answer any questions for the reception room set-up down the hall, that came up. All of the support staff were so friendly and seemed just as excited for our big day as we were! Lori the event coordinator and her assistant Rebecca had everything under control, the cocktail hour was set up as we wanted, our cookie table crew was able to come in and set up and the florist came in and set up the reception area as well (the florist is wonderful and was through the venue - One Happy Flower Shop - amazing flowers that still look great 5 days later!).
After the ceremony at the church, they had a private cocktail area for the bridal party which was great and very appreciated! The regular cocktail area is a big "L" and was enough room for the 165 guest to mingle, get drinks from the 2 bars and gets snacks while warm appetizers were serviced by roaming servers. Then Lori got everyone into the reception and the bridal party came in and was announced by the DJ. The room was just the right size for a wedding of 165. I wouldn't recommend over 175 in the big ballroom. You had room to move about, but it was full. Dinner was served and it was amazing! The potato soup was really one of the best I've ever had. The steak melted in your mouth, very tender and full of flavor. My daughter loved the veggie option. I was told the chicken was "OK". The cake was provided by the venue, the couple had chosen a chocolate and vanilla with a raspberry filling - it was excellent.
They cleared the tables, and the rest of the night was a filled dance floor and amazing memories! The waitstaff asked you often if you needed anything, even after dinner. The 2 bars remained open until 10:30 and the bartenders were so efficient, and the drinks were good, not watered down!
I would recommend the Embassy Suites to anyone looking for a wedding venue. My daughter picked them for the all-inclusive cost, room, catering, florist, cake. The facilities are very well maintained, and the staff go above and beyond to meet your needs. From the valet parking to the event coordinator, they take care of you! And Lori was wonderful work with through the whole planning process, always very responsive to emails etc.

Our wedding was September 28th at the Embassy Suites, and wow it was even better than we could have imagined. We began the planning process in October/November and through that entire 10 month process Nicole Cooper, the event coordinator, was so helpful and patient with us! We had many, many meetings with her to see the space again, talk through ideas and timelines, and she was all for it every time. The food and beverage coordinator Eric also hit it out of the park with his expertise and patience as well. The whole team was very accommodating from special requests with alcohol and food. He made sure we had exactly what we wanted for our big day! Not only was the service exceptional, but the venue space is gorgeous! I was so drawn to it initially because of it’s clean and simple lines, it’s modern, but doesn’t take away from your wedding decor or theme. I have received so many compliments since the wedding to tell me how beautiful the reception space was! I would 100% recommend the Embassy Suites in Pittsburgh to anyone I know who is planning a wedding!! Thank you again for everything Nicole and Eric!

I would definetely recommend this venue. It is beautiful and elegant. The wedding coordinator was very wonderful and made my time much less stressful.

Our venue was absolutely stunning and fit what we needed for what we wanted. We wanted a downtown wedding and definitely where this hotel is located is exactly that. All the staff especially Nicole was so wash to work with and accommodating and it turned out better then we could’ve ever imagined.

The Embassy Suites downtown was an amazing hotel to host our wedding guests for the weekend! Our ceremony and reception were in Oakland, and the hotel's downtown location was perfect. They have gorgeous meeting rooms on the second floor with tons of natural light for hair/makeup the morning of the wedding, and the bar on the 25th floor was perfect for our after party, featuring incredible views of downtown and the stadiums. The hotel chef even designed a taco and pierogi bar for our after party! Our guests also loved the hotel's free happy hour and free hot breakfast every day - it took so much pressure off of us because we knew our out of town guests were well taken care of. The hotel is new too, so all of the rooms are gorgeous and beautifully decorated. Kimmie in their events staff was absolutely wonderful to work with, and helps make everything so easy and customized.

From start to finish, our wedding weekend events were perfect!
Even though we started planning with Shawniece over a year ago, she never tired of our constant requests, questions, and emails. Every time we met, she welcomed us with a smile and a willingness make sure our visions became reality. There was comfort in knowing we could also count on her for the details that were new or unknown to us.
When THE weekend finally came, valet service helped cart the many boxes we needed to decorate for the weekend events and were always there to clean up after us. If we needed anything, all we had to do was ask. The Welcome Reception and Wedding were truly amazing events! Shawniece (and all staff) went above and beyond serving us and our guests. She has that unique ability to connect with people while overseeing every little detail. We were free to enjoy the romantic upscale ambiance, delicious food, and impeccable service. This staff knows customer service!
Regarding cost: We paid $99.00 plus tax and service for the wedding. They customized their restaurant and catering menus for us. They also provided a sangria bar at a very reasonable cost per person.

Our experience with the Embassy Suites was fantastic! We booked the room for our wedding reception before it was even finished so we took a leap of faith and they really followed through. Shawniece was so helpful and was always there to answer my many questions. She never made me feel like I was bothering her or asking too many questions (which I'm sure I did:). Everyone I encountered at the Embassy was very kind and helpful! The venue itself is gorgeous. The Henry Oliver building has such a beautiful grand entrance with marble floors and rows of elevators. One thing I loved about the reception area was that the guests had their own space to mingle before they went into the dinner area, and they had a great view of the Mellon Square. The decor of the rooms are great, they are far above normal hotel decorations. Also, their food was exceptional! We choose salmon and steak and they were delicious. I was worried that the food would be less than great because they are making it for so many people, but they really did a great job. The only problems we encountered were the valet parking and coffee. The valet parking was really overloaded when we arrived and guests had to wait a really long time to get their cars back. Coffee was supposed to be served or set out at some point during the reception but it wasn't. By the time they actually had coffee people were leaving. Overall, I loved how everything turned out at the Embassy, they did a great job. We really enjoyed our reception.

We had so much fun at our wedding! Lori was great!

The good:
* Overall very nice event. Cool venue, located conveniently downtown, it was great for our older relatives and large nummber of guests joining us downtown. The building itself is also very cool with its guilded foirer and top-floor lobby/restaurant/breakfast space with a view.
* Food was excellent (steak/sea bass)
* Everything looked very elegant
* Our day-of contact, Nicole was above-and-beyond helpful
* Venue was flexible with sole requests during planning
* Ceremony room was nicely arranged

The bad:
* Execution of event was off
* According to our contract (written agreement prior to contract, verified week before event), were to be 2 bartenders/bars at cocktail hour. ?nstead there was 1 bar/ bartender, for 120 guests.
* Bride/groom not served wine during dinner (wedding party served once and was without wine for a while). multiple requests to get wine. Also heard staff was instructed to cut down on wine they were serving during dinner to limit expense.
* Things like not all candles being lit, dinner requests for immediate family served to wrong person, cookies for cookie table being forgotten, cake being delivered way early and not put in fridge, etc.
* Mentioned negatives to coordinator following event and received a reply explaining away everything. Again, we had a very nice event overall, and not like we were looking for a huge apology, but something along the lines of "thank you for the feedback and helping us improve" would have been professional.

Just a fair warning is that they don’t deliver what they say they can. If good customer service and having a pleasant planning experience are high on your list this is not the venue for you.
The good:
The decor and setup of the Oliver Ballroom is amazing and perfect for a cocktail hour and wedding reception. The hotel bar at the top of the hotel is really cool and has a beautiful view. The hotel did reserve large parts of it earlier in the evenings the whole time our guests were there but luckily our group is flexible. The bartenders up there were amazing and took care of the large group. The suites for rooms are nice and good for families. They provided us a room the day before to tray cookies.
The vendors they have teamed up with are professionals and very nice. Carrie the florist is amazing and brought everything I wanted to fruition. You can go with Bethel Bakery which is awesome (beware Embassy leaves your cake out so the buttercream isn’t as good by the time your wedding happens). They can provide linens through a company but be warned the 2 receptions I got to see set up all had wrinkled linens on the tables. The second time I saw it I mentioned to Nicole that as a bride I’d be horrified to see those when I walked in given how much they charge. Our DJ and Photobooth found it easy to get in and out of the place
The bad:
The hotel staff leave a lot to be desired. My fiancé didn’t want to speak to our coordinator by the time the wedding happened. I would say make sure you get everything in writing but with this venue they don’t care. They simply say we misspoke. We scheduled a tour with Nicole and she showed us the ballroom and cocktail hour site and then sat down with us in a room in the elevator bank where we’d have our wedding party reception to discuss what they offer. We explained the MAJOR deciding factor for our venue was availability of hotel rooms since the majority of our guests were out of town/state. We knew we’d need close to 40 rooms. She sold us a great story of them being able to accommodate us and how they’d love to host our wedding. It was all coming together so nicely and we bought it. Once the contract was signed and decisions started to be made the misery of dealing with this venue started to happen. We repeatedly caught them in lies and they didn’t care.
Room Blocks: we had guests in town from Thursday to Monday. They told us we would start with 20 king rooms only in a block and get more after those were gone. When were getting close to our 20 room block being booked we asked for additional rooms. They told us we couldn’t get anymore because they sold the additional room blocks to a convention in town. They told me they never promised us additional rooms despite emails we have where they said the would be able to. Furthermore a convention took priority over a customer that was holding a reception, blocked 20 rooms and going to bring in bar revenue!! My fiancé at this point said cancel and we will lose our $3k deposit. That’s how fed up he was. I conveyed the message and a they gave us and additional 10 rooms at a higher rate. The repeatedly told me the hotel was selling out for the night and they couldn’t get additional rooms. The day after our block and the other wedding block expired the published room rate dropped to the same rate as our block rate. A guest happened to see it and alerted me. I called the hotel to say I have guests that have multiple nights at a higher rate than the current rate. They fed me a line of ooh we were going to go in and adjust their rates to the $189 a night. I had to email my guest with the higher rates to say check your reservations. We had some guests go to our other hotel block because of the ridiculousness of dealing with the Embassy staff in reservations. Not all guests received their welcome bags. Upon check out multiple guests had issues with their bills including additional nights being charged and wrong rates. I was charged for my brother’s room and bar tab despite him putting his credit card on file when he checked in. I had to call the general manager to get it fixed 2 weeks later.
Reception: We were told when we signed a contract there was another wedding in the other ballroom and they would be having their wedding in the lobby. The day before the wedding the coordinator told me that their ceremony would be in the elevator bank area we all come through during our reception because they unexpectedly upped their headcount. My fiancé and I both 6 months before heard her tell us it was going to be in the lobby but she wasn’t forthcoming with the lobby was the elevator bank and was trying to cover it up. She told me there would be chairs in the elevator bank when our guests got off the elevator and that the only men’s bathroom was on the other side of the floor so until the ceremony was over our male guests had to leave our room, go down stairs across the main floor and then go back up stairs. We had older gentleman that we had to let them know if they couldn’t make the stairs they couldn’t go to the bathroom during that time.
When we had an in person planning session with Nicole she told us if you had over 100 guests they would provide 2 bars. My fiancé, my stepchildren and I all heard he say it. She then emailed that it was 115 guests. When our final headcount were in it became 115 guests over 21 years old. I agreed to the $150 charge us for the additional bar because we felt we needed it and we didn’t meet their new criteria because we only had 105 guest over 21. During our reception multiple guests went to the bar hours before the reception was over to get red wine to be told they took all of it to the other wedding down the hall because they ran out at that reception. My best friend watched them load the bottles on a cart and take them out. Reading another review from earlier that year it seems to be the way they do business to save cost. FYI we paid for the executive bar to get premium liquors so it wasn’t like we were being cheap!
The food was amazing when we did our tasting and then it was okay at the wedding. The cocktail hour food was very good. The steaks weren’t the same cut of meat as the tasting. We paid for ribeye and were given a sirloin cut (my family is from Texas and can tell a cut of steak) and my chicken was dry but tasty.
As the bride and groom our “free” room although ready very early the day before was on a low floor with a horrible view and on the smaller side. I went in 5 different rooms of my guests and all of those were better!
Valet is also a nightmare getting out of if your guests are going to a different wedding site. One guest waited for 45 minutes to get their car and was almost late to the wedding. Thankfully they went down early.
Our guests had a fantastic time and enjoyed being together at one place which was the important thing. I’ve planned large events for work previously and unfortunately the Embassy Suites Pittsburgh isn’t equipped to handle weddings and all the items that go with it. Their customer service is below poor and they don’t get that details matter. Your wedding and reception already have enough stress around planning it, do yourself a favor and find another venue!