Intro image on the home page at AyvaCenter.com
Let’s start with this:
2.5 stars average on Yelp
Ayva Center at 3971 Richmond Ave. in Houston, Texas (the EXACT same address as 101 Poker Richmond) promotes itself as an events venue.
Let’s look at some reviews. From Yelp, there are as many one-star reviews as there are five-star reviews. It’s interesting to note that the five-star reviews come from Yelpers who live in Houston. Highly suspicious. Real accounts? Or are these people trying to do a “favor” for Ayva? Also interesting to note were a bunch of one-star reviews from Houstonians.
When you have such a discrepancy — either one-star or five-star reviews, nothing in between — it’s pretty apparent that the five-star reviews are not legit. The five-star reviewers were pretty vague and non-specific about why they were giving Ayva a high rating; no detail. The one-star reviews were very specific in why they gave one-star reviews. Further clues about legit vs. non-legit reviewers. Here are a few of the one-star reviews, notably (except one) from visitors to the Houston area:
Vera S from Villanova, Pennsylvania says: “ … we went to leave to see that all the cars had been towed out of the parking lot. We were customers who paid to attend an event and yet the cars were towed. DO NOT HAVE AN EVENT HERE. Imagine your wedding guests being towed away.”
Mohammed S from Washington, DC says: “Worst event in my life. … I will not go to Ayva center ever again and highly NOT recommend anyone to go. … such a waste of money. To me, it is very insulting. I will not go to Ayva center ever again and highly NOT recommend anyone to go.”
Larai M says: “It’s really too bad that the Ayva Center couldn’t live up to its full potential. For a wedding that was attended by roughly 400 guests (most of which were restaurateurs & other prominent business owners), the center could have had a lot of return clients for business meetings and social events. Instead, most everyone will remember NOT to use this facility due to the un-imaginably slow & unprofessional service they provided that night. … Perhaps the lesson of the story is this: if you do use this facility, do NOT use their food/catering service!!! Although their website states they provide full service for weddings/events, go ahead and bring your own outside caterers. Use this ONLY for the large space that they can provide.”
Also, the place looks and smells like a dump when it’s not all gussied up with streamers, decorations, tables set up and arranged with table cloths, place settings and centerpieces in our opinion.