Turtle's 1890 Social Centre Reviews

Staff were great, atmosphere was so unique, and the food was amazing. The price was less than we expected it would be as well. We would highly recommend working with this venue as we loved it so much!

I cannot express enough how impressed I am with Turtle’s. We had both our rehearsal dinner as well as ceremony and reception all at Turtle’s 1890 Social Centre. Bryan was so helpful during the whole planning process, and Barb allowed for the day-of to go off without a hitch. The space is beautiful and we received so many compliments on not only the venue but also on how amazing the food was. Would highly recommend Turtles to anyone who is budget conscious, without sacrificing quality!

I had my wedding reception at Turtle's in August, and I honestly cannot say enough good things about this venue and the staff that work there! Bryan and Barb were incredibly organized, timely, and easy to work with. They were straightforward and I knew exactly what to expect when my wedding day arrived. I truly enjoyed working with them both! The venue itself is beautiful! It has a lot of charm and character, and I got a lot of comments from my wedding guests on how beautiful and unique the venue was. Finally, the food was AMAZING! We had the herb-roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans, and I got so many compliments on the food from my guests! I would recommend Turtle's to anyone looking to get married in the Shakopee area! Wedding planning was much less stressful with Bryan, Barb, and the staff at Turtle's on my team!

Turtle's 1890 Social Centre was an absolute bargain with none of the drawbacks! Working with Bryan and his other staff was absolutely painless; they wanted to help us make our day unique, beautiful, and run seamlessly! Some of our guests are in the service industry and had not one single critique. They have a basement full of decorations that we were free to use, although the space doesn't need anything to look beautiful. If I have another occasion where I can rent Turtle's, I will in a heartbeat!

Turtle's 1890 Social Centre was an amazing venue to have our ceremony and reception! Bryan Turtle was great to work with, he made the whole process easy and answered any and all of my questions. I would book an event at this venue again in a heartbeat. The entire staff was amazing to work with, the food turned out great and all of the guests commented on how much food there was, how good it was and that they received it warm. I can't say enough about the venue, the staff and the food. If you are looking for a wonderful venue at a great price, with a charm all its own Turtle's 1890 is for you!

Can't recommend this place enough! A great budget choice that gets you out of the "hotel conference room" venue. The brick, mahagony bar and other assets made it feel very comfortable. The venue and chef are very flexible with meeting your specific needs, much more so than other "packages" i found for other venues where it felt like a cookie-cutter plan you had to follow, or you would be charged to deviate. Their food is AMAZING, just be sure to stick to your timeline so you food doesn't sit in the warmers. They also have a fun option of serving pizza as a late-night snack, we got rave reviews on that! All in all a great venue.

I have been more than impressed with my experience working with Brian Turtle at Turtle's 1890 Social Centre in Shakopee, MN. My fiance and I stumbled upon Turtle's and were hooked by the vintage charm, great location, and affordable price. It was easy to set up an initial meeting with Brian, and we knew right away that Turtle's was the venue that we were going to use--we didn't even tour anywhere else! Of course, if you have a large budget, over-the-top decorating ideas, and a lot of guests (over 190 guests or so), you might consider another venue. We loved it, however, and have not regretted our decision to book. Brian is ultra helpful and knowledgeable, and he has not tried to get us to spend more money than necessary. We are getting a great deal on food and beverages and have had all of our questions answered in a very timely and informative fashion. We loved getting to sample craft beers for the kegs, and I greatly appreciate the flexibility of the chefs/catering staff. Turtle's also does not charge an extra cake cutting fee, and we have access to vases, votive candle holders, etc. to use free of charge. I highly recommend Turtle's 1890 Social Centre for a minimally stressful wedding planning experience!

We used Turtle's 1890 social Centre for our wedding in June 2014 and cannot reccomend it highly enough. We searched for venues forever trying to find something both (a) affordable and (b) beautiful (we didn't want to spend a ton of money on jazzing up a less-than-picturesque venue). We stumbled upon Turtles, contacted Bryan, the manager in charge of weddings, and we were set from there. Bryan was extremely helpful, honest, and knowledgeable, and did everything to accommodate our wants along with our budget. He's a really nice, honest guy, and put our needs first (rather than making it easier or more profitable for himself). As for the venue, Turtle's is absolutely gorgeous! It has an old-world feel (beautiful ceilings, exposed brick walls, mohagony bar/pillars, etc.) that made decorating really unnecessary. The day-of staff at Turtles were EXTREMELY helpful and flexible as well- it was raining so we had to move our wedding indoors, and the staff made a ceremony area with chairs and an aisle with only a few hours notice. They handled everything throughout the night (food, drinks, setting up, communicating with our DJ, etc.) so that we could just relax and enjoy our wedding/reception. Can't recommend Turtle's enough!!

I loved having our reception here! nice and open place and the staff were so helpful with getting drinks for people, cleaning up after dinner and after the night. The food was so good and thanks for the late night pizza bar! It was a nice little addition to the night and got lots of complements on it! Thanks for everything you did and making this day that much better!

This was a fabulous place for our reception. Brian Turtle was great to work with. Very flexible and handled everything. Beautiful location, great price. Brought in our own dessert and midnight snacks, no issues. Love them.

Everything was extremely straightforward. Bryan was so clear and direct with how things were going to go, payment was clear and easy, my only complaint is that prices went up at the turn of the year, even though we had already signed a contract with old prices. Still a great price for it's location, though. Food was AMAZING. DEFINITELY get the late night pizza if you book. Its was seriously the hit of the night. I almost wish I had just done the pizza for the main meal. Pre-planning was so easy. I had zero worries on whether or not things would be ready for us. Such a beautiful location, it doesn't even need decorations (which saves so much money). I don't know what else to say other than I would hire them again in a heartbeat.

Our reception was not exactly traditional; Our wedding was at sunset in Huber Park so our reception would be starting late, therefore we chose to serve heavy hor'dourves verses a sit down dinner. We wanted to bring in high-top tables to limit our guests from sitting all night, start our music right away, provide an open bar and hor'dourves all night. This was all made very clear right away. Brian assured us he could accommodate our 275 guest along with our request for appetizers vs dinner. The day of the wedding, there were WAY too many tables set out limiting the standing room for our guests. The high-top tables we rented using Brian's suggestion (Prior Lake Rental) did not show up. (This was easily solved with a phone call, though it made me late for my hair appointment waiting for them to come and place them where i wanted them.) We did not set a food budget because we wanted the hor'dourves served all night and Brian stated "I've been doing this for 13 years" and assured us he knew how much food to order and would "keep the food coming." Two hours into our reception I noticed the food stations were taken down! No one in the wedding party had eaten ANYTHING yet, including my husband and I! I found the event coordinator that was provided and she told us that "appetizers are only served for two hours." BUT THEY WERE NOT JUST "APPETIZERS" IT WAS TAKING THE PLACE OF DINNER!! We expected ENDLESS appetizers to be served, all night, plus pizza to be added at 10:00pm. (We had a lot of drunk people due to lack of food and lots of booze :) Which made for an interesting dance floor!) This issue was addressed with a text the next morning form Brian, which was appreciated. Another big thing that bothered me was-There were glasses STACKED on all our tables all night and no one clearing plates so it was crowed and messy.
All in all, it was still fun. It was SO reasonably priced and an Incredible venue. We would chose to have it there again.. which some changes!