Pine Knob Mansion

UPDATE: Unilocal user Michelle W. (the troll who I was complaining about) just sent me a harassing message on Unilocal!Thought I would share it with everyone (as well as the BBB and whoever her Manager is):
«Has your mother never taught you that when you have nothing nice to say about someone and their NATURALLY curly hair, you dont say anything at all. Your behavior was that of a spoiled little brat! Which KARMA came back to bit you in your ass when you fell and hurt yourself and spent hours in the bathroom crying!!! NO it was not MY JOB to get anyone drinks. It was my job to be behind the bar making the drinks. I DID NOT snap at you to get a ‘fellow’ bridesmaid a drink. I asked you in a hurried tone if you would take your fellow bridesmaid a drink as I needed to stop you from walking away w/​out getting your „fellow“ bridesmaid a drink. An observate person would have seen that we had 300 guests we were serving drinks to and taken a drink to their fellow bridesmaid no questions asked. It never pays to be mean, inconsiderate & selfish! KARMA always bites!!!»
Michelle W’s Unilocal user profile:

I attended a wedding here over the weekend and if it wasn’t at least a pretty spot I would have felt horrible for the bride and groom. The short hefty troll of a manager must be working for the fun police too. She was just wretched and treated everyone horribly. Please don’t smile at the mansion or she will get you! She actually followed people around outside and drove her rusting out white van right up to prime customer parking and told people she was gonna shut the party down early! Wow. People were just arriving and having fun. No one was loud or rowdy. Ugh what a troll.
She continued throughout the night… Snotty to everyone and just a downer for the whole party.
Waitstaff, bartenders and food were all decent.
DJ was stuck in the past… Very outdated play lists, even the old people thought so. He managed to clear the dance floor for most of the night.
I would not recommend ruining a special occasion by using the mansion.

The Sunday brunch is only on days when they do not have a wedding but it is well worth a call to see when it is available.
Yes, I know that there are better Sunday Brunches in the USA such as the Four Seasons Chicago but in the metro Detroit area it is hard to find anything brunch-​wise other than on a Holiday so… you should go to here.
The food is very good… no, not spectacular or as good as the old Ritz Carlton in Dearborn at $ 69.95 but at $ 19.95 per person at the Knob you will not find a better value
Great picture taking on sunny days, one of the highest hills in Oakland County, friendly staff and a beautiful old home to eat in.

Had the pleasure of eating brunch today at the Pine Knob Mansion for Father’s Day. It was absolutely one of the best displays, variety and quality of food that I’ve experienced at a brunch buffet. Our server was very attentive and made us feel welcome.

We just had a wedding here, just the reception. Cannot say enough good things about this venue.
Lisa was amazing helping us to coordinate all the details. the staff was very warm, friendly and always ready to help. all of our guests raved about the food, the atmosphere was magical. If you are looking for an event venue check out the Mansion you won’t be sorry

Really beautiful location. Fell in love with it right away! Such a nice location to have a wedding ceremony. We choose not to have our reception there, just our ceremony. The pleasantness ended after we signed the contract. We worked with a general manager. They were terrible to work with! Numerous calls that I made, ended with me feeling unwelcome and that I was taking up their time. I really felt like just a profit to them. They were concerned with business, not brides.
On the day of our rehearsal, it was cold and we were waiting for all people to arrive. We stepped in the building to stay warm, and they asked us to leave the building because they set up a room for tomorrow’s wedding. We were nowhere near that room so I don’t see what the problem was. They were being stand off’ish and a little stern by not letting us use the building for our time reserved. Also on the rehearsal, we needed to use the outdoor plugs to time out our ceremony music with the coordinator. They said the would not turn on the power for us, we can only use power on the wedding day. So our rehearsal was cut short. They were not flexible or helpful at all. Quite terrible to work with.
It gets worse! On the day of the wedding, I arrived at the Mansion no one was around. The hallway to our room was blocked off by purposefully placed chairs. Finally, someone came up to us and told us we couldn’t use our room I reserved for us and pointed us elsewhere down dark hallways and dark stair cases. They had no explanation for that. They also messed up what room I had reserved, even though I had called their facility nearly a dozen times in a year. (Yet again, we’re greeted with another uncalled for «no»!) The staff should have escorted us to to our new location to be helpful, especially after they said we couldn’t have the room we reserved. They might be familiar with the layout, but we had no idea where to go. Staff was not helpful. As we went to the room, no lights were on, and when we got to the room, it was freezing and no lights were on (the rooms should have been lit and ready for us! A true warm welcoming for the special day!!), After guessing where else we needed to be Diane the manager then noticed I was there, and came up to me and said, «Now, you must leave the ground by 2… okay? Everyone off of the grounds by 2pm!» It would have been nice if she said, ‘Hello, you must be Miss Blank, how are you today? Let me show you your dressing room. can I get you a water…’ She was very rude by not even greeting any of us with a proper «Hello» and instead immediately telling me when I needed to be off their grounds. Once again, my bridal party, and mother commented that they felt very un-​welcomed in their establishment.
Another concern for other brides to be aware of. They didn’t want guests to walk through the Mansion (even though I paid $ 300 for valet, partially, so guests could walk through the Mansion to experience it’s beauty. They also didn’t let us to use the library to sign our marriage license, even though I paid for my time in the Mansion.
I paid a large sum of money and essentially their only service to be preformed was for them to set up chairs, and they didn’t even do that right. We were 10 minutes away from the ceremony starting, and they’re still setting up chairs! My guests were standing on the patio, waiting for them to finish. Setting up the chairs should have been completed well before the ceremony. They
Expect the woman to say, I’ve worked here 15+ years, we don’t ever do that, or can’t do this, or have never received that kind of request… Again, belittling you for your thoughts and questions. Just because someone has worked there 15+ years, doesn’t mean they are any good at representing your business with class and respect of others. Perhaps a bit jaded.
Pine Knob gets away with treating their clients like this, because they can. they have a beautiful location, but the worst customer service. Expect to feel like you are unwanted and wasting their time.

I got married at the mansion (not the carriage house) back in July of ’09 (sorry a bit behind on my Unilocaling!). For weddings this place is perfect. The scenery is gorgeous and I give it extra points for being unique. The mansion only holds about 150 people but the great thing about that is if the weather is nice (rarely in MI but sometimes) you can hold a lot of your wedding moments out of the patio and everyone can fit. There is a really nice room for the guys and a huge bridal suite overlooking the grounds for the ladies. We decided to feed the guests while we were taking pictures so they wouldn’t have to wait and then had our meal (the bridal party) served upstairs in the bridal suite. We chose Hors de Vours dining which we received countless compliments on and the staff was nice enough to provide a whole separate spread upstairs. I found it reasonable priced and the ambiance was so much better than your average banquet hall.

We had brunch at the Pine Knob Mansion a couple of weeks ago and, while the ambiance, view and building get five stars, I’m reluctant to give the food and service two stars.
The good: the mansion is, well… a mansion. It’s elegant and old and beautiful. I could imagine a grand wedding being held here. Especially if it were warmer out, because the view looked wonderful. Unfortunately, we weren’t lucky enough to step onto the terraces, due to snowy, cold weather (in April!!!).
The bad: First, the service was painful. The hostess spent most of her time walking around the dining area on her cell phone. The rest of the staff was noticeably young and inexperienced. They wandered, stood aimlessly and stared off into space for most of our brunch. The girl at the omelet station took an excruciatingly long time to make my dad’s omelet to order and completely ignored me for a good 3 minutes to finish a conversation with her girlfriend, only to turn around to me later, smile sheepishly and say, «Oops. Girl talk!» The waitress we had was decent (polite, but not always around and in the midst of training while waiting on us).
The service may have been overlooked had we been subjected to outstanding food. Sadly, this wasn’t the case. Most of the brunch food was cold or lukewarm. The pork loin was dry and room temperature, the make-​your-​own waffle station was constantly out of commission, the salad selection was limited and the breakfast foods and entrees were dull and, again, not hot. The only saving grace was the pile of crab legs for the taking. My mom and I spent most of our time there.
The pricing for adults was reasonable (if the food would have been decent) at $ 19.99 per person. Actually, a deal compared to other brunch spots that we’ve been to, but not so much once you’ve had the food. The prices for children 5 and up were steep at $ 12.99 per child. My daughters are little eaters and they barely ate enough for one person, let alone two, but we knew the prices going in.