Olympic Club Review

A dear friend of mine is getting married in SF in the next year and we're researching venues.  I was reminded of my experience at the Olympic Club and thus inspired to write this review - it is only for the "wedding reception hall" thing (whatever it's called).

I have to preface this by saying that big (as in anything over 150 people), formal, glitzy, expensive weddings are just NOT something that makes me swoon.  In fact, just the thought of them makes me a little uncomfortable.  I'm the kind of gal who dreams of jetting off to Hawaii, renting a beach house and getting "Mauied" luau-style with a pig in the ground and free-flowing mai tais - just an awesome party with my closest loved ones. You following me? So needless to say, my style is not exactly the sort of wedding you'll find at what those in-the-know apparently call "Oly." Oh no. And before my experience here, I would have turned my nose up at an Olympic Club "wedding experience." Didn't sound like my idea of a good time. Oh, the irony.

I was a gal pal's "hot date" to an old college friend's wedding back in May.  I missed one of the last ski days of the year for this total-stranger's event, and lemmetellya... even with a long arse Catholic mass (Note to self: Yep, definitely getting Mauied. No mass.) in the city and what felt like an even longer chartered bus ride out of the city to the club, it was well worth it.  These people - the Olympic Club, that is - really know how to put a damn good party together... so good that as a *literal* wedding crasher, a stranger amidst 400 other guests (no joke), I had the best time at a wedding I've EVER had.

The grounds and building? GORGEOUS. I actually said something like, "Oooohhh..." as we drove up. The food? To quote myself in the middle of dinner, three times: "These rolls are A-mazing." The cocktails? In abundance and strong, albeit with slightly grouchy bartenders (apparently my request for some grenadine in my champagne is tacky! Gasp!). The atrium-like dance floor?  Small enough to be intimate and big enough to really get your groove on. It was dream like, like something out of your favorite 80's movie (and I'm not saying that because of the 80's cover band that played all night long). The service? Top notch and without even a hint of pretension (which I appreciated, feeling mighty out of place because I left my non-existent Louboutins and Herve Leger at home). The cake? Thank gawd I'm not diabetic, because I ate my date's too. And the best touch? The put out GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES at last call, and had a line of taxis waiting outside. And all of this was all coordinated and handled by OC. Brilliantly.

So yeah, I hope I get invited to another wedding at OC, although with my crowd it's unlikely, so I'll have to go back to golf 9 holes.  In any event, I'd highly recommend OC to any bride wanting to one-up Kim Kardashian's celebrity wedding.

599 Skyline Blvd
San Francisco, CA 94015

(415) 404-4300