Midwest Conference Center

Our reception was in the skyline ballroom. The space was great and everyone loved the view of the city from way up on the 16th floor.

Wow! I have read the reviews below and I had similar issues with them. I felt everything was rushed for us. From looking at the venue, to the tasting, which we didn't get a proper tasting because we were traveling from Southern Illinois to Northlake, our wedding rehearsal was rushed, and our wedding day was too. I know Zoila has many things to do but if we are spending like 7,000 dollars at your venue, treat us like royalty.

We changed the sauce on our chicken because it left an after taste and they still put it on our chicken. As a bride I couldn't eat there because I was socializing with my guests and I asked to take my food to go and they wouldn't let us. Zoila let us take our tasting food to go but my food that I paid 47.39 per plate for. RIP OFF!

Also, we had money stolen out of our purses in the bridal suite. So if you have any valueables or money.......KEEP THEM IN THE CAR!!!! Everyone that works there has the access code to the bridal suite so anyone could have stolen our money.

Also keep up with how much money you give them and make sure you get your damage deposit back because apparently our got waived and 2 weeks after the wedding, I received nothing. So make sure you are getting it back before you expect a check in the mail and be horribly surprised.

WATCH OUT FOR HIDDEN COSTS BECAUSE THEY WILL ADD UP!!! (like the 50.00 cake cutting fee)

There were many previous reviews suggesting poor professionalism and quality of food. However, we had a great experience with Zoila (director of sales and catering). She was accommodating to all our needs. The food was great. The cake was amazing. She also pulled a lot of strings to get us discounts and free upgrades. I did receive consistent feedback from my guests suggesting that the servers were rude and would not serve vegetarian plates to my guests. I will bring this up to them.

Overall, we had a great experience with the Midwest Conference Center. Zoila was wonderful to work with as the Catering Manager, and she was just so helpful through all of the planning.

There were a few issues and mistakes made on the night of our wedding, but she took care of them very quickly, which was appreciated.

We had our wedding reception at the Midwest Conference Center on the 16th Floor Skyline Ballroom, which offers floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides of the room and a nice view of the Chicago skyline. This is a good way to get the downtown feel without the downtown price. The guests rave about the venue, if only for that. Note, though, that there are support beams in the middle of the room which make table placement tricky. We were unable to arrange the tables in a way where everyone had a good view of the head table.

Our original reception coordinator was replaced about halfway through the planning process. Both of them seem very receptive to e-mail questions, and tended to get back to me within a reasonable timeframe.

When planning the reception, they were able to work with us with some specific needs, specifically a severe food allergy in our bridal party. We appreciated their help with that, and there was no issue there.

The problem with this location is the food. What you gain in scenic views and decent service service, you lose in food (with the exception of the appetizers, which are wonderful). When we did our tasting, we vividly remember trying and selecting an entree in a red wine sauce. We were startled to receive an entree in a gray mushroom sauce that neither looked nor tasted good. - We were fairly embarrassed, and would never have served that to our guests (-we are not picky eaters, btw). When we spoke with the coordinator about it, she insisted that they don't have anything in a red wine sauce, which is somewhat insulting. Either she was saying that we were remembering wrong/lying, or she's being honest, and God knows what we were served at our tasting. It was fairly distressing. Additionally, the green beans were way, way, way undercooked.

The guests, however, when we asked had no complaints about the food. We are a little dubious about this, thinking maybe they're just being good guests by saying that, or were so dazzled by the views, they didn't care. But enough people said it that we decided not to push this issue further with the Midwest Conference Center.

When I wrote a fair, calm and professional e-mail to the coordinator after the wedding saying that we would not pursue a further complaint, we never received a response back. It's been a week since I sent that e-mail, and I feel that a further apology or offer of compensation would have been nice. They evidently don't care.

This whole situation leaves us feeling very uneasy about the Midwest Conference Center, and I can't say for certain whether I would host my reception there again if I could turn back time and do it all over, knowing what I know.

But here's the bottom line: If you are looking for an appetizer-only event, or if you are willing to sacrifice food for scenery, midwest conference center is a great place to go, and I would fully-heartedly recommend it. It you are looking for a flawless reception, however, go elsewhere. And certainly only hold your event in the Skyline ballroom. The others make the experience not worth it.

I wouldn't have picked a better place to have our reception.
Great view from thier 16th floor Skyline Ballroom and thier floor to celling windows of the downtown chicago skyline.

this is the best place to get your food, drinks, and cake all in one. Everything turned out fabulous, exactly they way I wanted.

My reception venue was beautiful! Although I had the wedding of my dreams, there still were a few bumps in the road. I paid for a four hour open preimium bar which I was told that my favorite drink was included in, but the night of my wedding I was told that there wasn't any. A few days after the wedding when I talked to the venue I was told that my drink was availiable, although I know for a fact that there was none. I tried talking to them about giving me some money back considering that it was a premium open bar but there wasn't any premium liquor available. To this day I haven't had any money returned. Other then the liquor incident, everything else turned out great! The food was good, and the service of those working that night was good! The cake turned out beautiful and was exactly what I ordered!

I loved the food, we had prime rib and sushi. I wish the machitsa (sp?) was not so big and bulky, i would have rented a different one if i had known. Also, the base price is really good, but their are so many add ons in order to make it more than basic (ie-dance floor fee was $500). It also sucks that the retirement home is attached, weird for guests who come in the wrong entrance. It would have also been nice to have the wedding in a hotel, so our guests, and us, could stay overnight. Hard to get to.

The business ethics of the owner (a nose/throat doctor) leave much to be desired.