Hudson Portuguese American Club

We had our 30^th class reunion here on September 12, 2015. The hall (Frias) we had the dinner in was dirty. The carpet was dirty, the chairs had awful stains on them and there was what appeared to be a leak in the ceiling that started to drip. Their solution to the drip was to move one of the tables! They did come and take a look at the leak and then said they would take care of it but never came back.
I was at the club early to set up the centerpieces and was stunned when I walked in and the carpet was dirty from the previous event. I asked if they had a vacuum I could use to clean up and they said no. I proceed to walk around and pick up what I could.
Our contract stated we had the hall from 7 pm to midnight. At around 10:30 the bartender who was a very curt girl went to the DJ to have him announce «last call». The DJ was a friend of mine and came over to me to make sure that was correct as he was hired until midnight. I approached the bartender and she said it was 11 because she had done the contract. I told her that in fact I had the contract with me and went to get it to show her.
I brought the contract back to her and it clearly stated 7 pm to midnight. Her response was an «okay». No apology. nothing. She had already turned the bar lights out at 10:30 and never did turn them back on.
The other issue was supposedly we were not to use confetti. Again the very, very curt bartender approached me to let me know this. For this she was able to find the contract and show me where it stated that no confetti was allowed. My issue with this is she let us know this at 11:00 pm and never mentioned it until then. She made us take all the tablecloths off the tables and shake them off on one of the tablecloths.
There were a few of good things, they did work with us regarding the payment because a lot of people paid at the door, the food was quite delicious and Sandra one of the servers was very friendly and understanding.
I would NEVER recommend this place to anyone. I am Portuguese and I realize that Portuguese people can be stubborn and a bit curt but this was beyond that, this was just pure lack of any type of customer service.

My family and I have frequented the Club a few times for dinners and other events, including events that required tickets for entry. This past Friday night, however, the Club completely lost all common sense and control over a process that should be pretty straight forward. The show was The Portuguese Kids. An improv group of 4 Portuguese American performers. Naturally, given the venue and the subject matter, the audience on Friday night was made up of mostly Portuguese people, the populace least likely to take shit from anyone.
The event was billed at starting at 8pm, doors at 7pm. When my family and I arrived at 6:25pm, there was a long line, down the hallway, down the stairs and to the front door. In another 15 minutes the line was out the door and down the parking lot. By the time doors opened at 7pm, the lobby was packed and the line was winding up and down hallways, following almost no order whatsoever.
As people started to move up the stairs and through the check-​in line, we were told to have our IDs out and our tickets. Some people had tickets they bought online and printed and some had hard tickets they had purchased at the Club. An announcement was made that two lines should form, with online tickets on the left and hard tickets on the right. The people with hard tickets were being let in with no delay. The people with online tickets had to have their tickets checked against IDs, for no reason I can discern at all. I also didn’t get a good explanation from the person supervising the check in table. People who had been waiting with online tickets for far longer than some with hard tickets got in after them. Because seating was first-​come first-​served, the best seats were filled with people with hard tickets and their friends. People in groups with online tickets only got the worst seats.
When I got to the check in table, I could see no reason why someone with an online ticket would be delayed any more than a hard ticket holder. For some reason, the event coordinators thought they needed to check online tickets against a list of purchased tix and then against the ID of the ticket holder. But in the event of someone buying a ticket off someone else, like my sister did, her ID and ticket didn’t have to match. So there wasn’t really a need to check IDs. The tickets had scannable bar codes, impossible to fake.
When people in line complained (loudly and unrelentingly), the coordinators insisted the process was fair to everyone, but when you see people at the back of the line move past you up the stairs just because they have a hard ticket, it’s difficult to see how it’s fair.
What’s more, the online ticket holders paid processing fees the hard ticket holders didn’t, so their tickets were more expensive. It created a bitter taste in the mouth of many of the audience members, and I know quite a bit of the group vowed to never return to the Club.
As for my non-​entry related review:
The chairs in the venue are very old and stained. The food available at the venue was delicious Portuguese fare, and the drinks were delightfully boozy. Prices are very reasonable. Bring cash!

Where else can you find a local non-​profit restaurant, bar, gymnasium, and function hall all under one roof. This place has a great atmosphere, comfortable and sporty downstairs with Portuguese and American options for food. Classy and large upstairs in the function halls. The patio is a cool place to hang out, and they are always having all sorts of events like feasts, bands, and comedy shows. They offer different sporting leagues, children’s folklore dancing, and even Portuguese school. Its an all around family place that you can become a member of at a very reasonable price and get discounts or just walk on in because its open to the public and you don’t have to be a member, although I would say the discounts are totally worth the inexpensive membership cost. I’ve had my wedding there, and just about every other family party there over the past 5 years and have never had any issues. In the lounge they have Dj’s sometimes and there is never a problem with parking because they have a huge parking lot. And you just simply can’t beat the prices! In a word — GREAT

If ever there were a question that the Portuguese public of Hudson were going to rise up and overtake the town, the Hudson Portuguese American Club (HPAC) would be their Alamo.
With a large formal dining hall, gym with multiple sport league games, smaller restaurant, full bar, expansive football pitch, prayer house, auxiliary function house and much more, there is little HPAC doesn’t offer. It could be a self-​sustaining city state.
Aesthetically, it is a pleasure to the eye, but at closer, nearly all aspects (save for the grand marble and chandelier entranceway) could have been built with more precision. The gymnasium may have the lowest ceiling I’ve seen. This makes volleyball a joy.