Meghan H. Sent on 06/29/2022

5 out of 5 rating

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Attentive & helpful through & through!

Amazing service & food! Sus along with her team catered both our 6/3/22 welcome party & our 6/4/22 wedding & did a fantastic job. Sus was the first vendor I hired for our wedding & we began working together about a year in advance. From the beginning, she was attentive, friendly & helpful. She made a custom menu for us after speaking on the phone to my fiancé & I about our favorite foods & dietary restrictions. We were free to make our menu changes & had a wonderful tasting in December of 2021. In the new year, we signed our contract & waited patiently to eat her delicious food again. All throughout our wedding planning process, Sus was available to talk with me on the phone or via email. She is very communicative & all members of her team are competent, fast, & friendly. I hope to work with her again in the future for any other parties we need catered! Thank you Sus & the entire staff at Maison Culinaire :) Love, Meghan & Finley

Colleen Sent on 12/18/2018

5 out of 5 rating

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Excellent job all around, made our day/night memorable

Sus and her team are extremely professional and competent. From our first meeting with Sus, we knew that Maison Culinaire would be the right choice for our wedding. Sus worked very close with me to map out the floor plan, go over any/all back up plans, and of course providing stellar food and service to all of our guests. She was very flexible with meeting times and was also very responsive to emails as well as calls. My husband and I were very happy with how our day turned out, and I would certainly recommend Sus to anyone looking for a caterer.

+14 photos

Kristen Sent on 07/01/2013

5 out of 5 rating

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Everything was so beautifully arranged, Cocktail in the formal garden was a great idea. Your staffs were all so helpful and professional. Most of all our seated dinner was so organized and timely, no one waited and all the courses were delicious. Thank you so much. I am glad my mom found you”

“We love what you did with the action station. Everyone had a great time going around. The table settings were beautiful. Thank you for your help in keeping our budget. I will not hesitate to recommend you to our friends. Fabulous”

“It was such a short notice but you turned our backyard to a wonderland for our daughter’s wedding. Thank you for helping me organize everything”

“Bravo Sus. Thank you for your hard work in designing, arranging and executing our wonderful wedding. You have gone above and beyond. Everything so beautiful and the food was so delicious that everyone is still talking about it”

“I love what you did with the floating candles on the tables and even on the buffet. Everything glittered, the lights and arrangements under the buffet tables was a great centerpiece. I would not have imagined how beautiful it was. Thank you so much”

“Thank you tante Sus for accommodating both the Indonesian and the Iranian food, Pinky was right when she said that you could prepare any dishes from anywhere. It made both sides of our families so happy”

“Thank you, thank you, and thank you. We are on our way to Cayman Island for our honeymoon and I wanted to tell you how thrilled we are having you helped us with our reception. It was so great” I will tell all my college friends to call you”

“I am not sure how you pulled it off with the budget we gave you. We never thought we would be able to have such a wonderful wedding reception. Thank you for your help”

User1161768 Sent on 05/14/2013

5 out of 5 rating

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Maison Culinaire did a wonderful job! Our guests were very impressed with the variety of international cuisine beautifully presented. Among our quests were vegetarians and some have food related allergies. But Sus created dishes to meet all our needs! The wedding cake not only looked elegant, but refreshingly delicious with fresh fruits inside.

Sonya Sent on 05/22/2013

5 out of 5 rating

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Sus and her staff were exceptional!

June Sent on 10/22/2012

5 out of 5 rating

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This is the second time that I have used Maison Culinaire. The first time was in September of last year when MC catered a surprise 60th birthday party that I directed. That experience caused me to recommend MC to my son and his fiance when they were planning their wedding. They had already gotten a couple of proposals from other caterers when they contacted MC. They were impressed with the menu and details, and we had a tasting. They were so impressed that they did not have tasting with any other caterers, and they engaged MC's services.
We wanted food that people would like that would serve a crowd with diverse tastes. The food was excellent. Many of the guests have complimented on the food that was served. In addition to being tasty, the presentation was excellent.
In addition the service was excellent. It was seamless, and requests were efficiently accomodated.
Sus worked within our budget, and what we got was a tremendous value for the price that we paid. I would recommend MC, and I have already done so.

User979628 Sent on 10/18/2012

5 out of 5 rating

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Sus and her team were a pleasure to work with. She always answered my calls right away and made me feel like I was her only client. I received so many complements on the appetizers, dinner and the cake. Sus is very expereinced and educated in the culinary arts and she is willing to prepare just about anything for you, and at unbeatable prices. I highly recommend the cake she made me. It was dark choclate and vanilla layers with fresh whipped cream filling folded into fresh friut and the whole thing was covered with fresh buttercream icing. It was out of this world!

My ceremony and cocktail hour were supposed to be outside until a storm came creeping in right beforehand. Sus and her team worked around it by moving the tables at the last minute and ensuring that I still had lovely reception, despite the non-stop rain. I cannot thank Sus enough for all of her efforts in helping me make my day so special.

User613102 Sent on 08/30/2011

5 out of 5 rating

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I could not say enough about Sus and her staff. When I first reached to her she told that she could make a fabulous menu with any budget. The reason initially picked her was because she did not roll the gratuity into the cost automatically. I am so glad we chose them as our caterer because everyone that attended our wedding said it was the best wedding food they have ever had! She also provided the cake, beer, wine and chocolates after the cake was served. Her staff was extremely hospitable- at one point my mom had to come inside with my baby niece during the cocktail hour because the baby was fussy and one of her staff members brought appetizers and something to drink for my mom. Sus is a wonderful person- when we tasted the food we had minor tweaks to some of the dishes and she executed everything according to our instructions precisely. The wedding cake was to die for. At the end of the night they packed up the rest of the food and gave it to our families which I think was nice touch because the day after the wedding no one wants to cook. If there is any question regarding Maison Culinaire I would be more than ecstatic to vouch for them! They made my wedding truly memorable!

User1679605 Sent on 06/25/2014

4.9 out of 5 rating

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We were searching all over for a caterer that could do Asian fusion cuisine and Sus was exactly what we were looking for. She was responsive, organized, professional and such a wonderful person to talk to. She knew exactly what we had in mind and was there for us the whole way. With other vendors it was all about money, but with Sus - making the wedding day the best for us was her goal. She's a really good chef and is willing to work with you, I definitely recommend Sus and her team!

Tracy Sent on 05/14/2013

4.9 out of 5 rating

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I cannot begin to list all of the wonderful things there are to say about Sus and her team. From the minute we started talking she made me feel as though I was her only client. She was always available to answer all of my questions, and I had many, with the utpmost professioanlism. Sus has years of culinary experience in several cuisines. My guests raved about food from the amazing lemon grass skewers during the cocktail reception to the filet with burgundy demi glaze, and the topper was the most delicious wedding cake I've ever tasted. Please, please have her make her signature vanilla cake with fresh fruit and cream filling. It was so decadent and moist my husband and I couldn't wait a year to eat the top. It was gone the next day. When you sign on with Maison you will get a 5 star reception at unbeatable prices. Sus worked within my budget and helped us have a flawless wedding, despite the tornado that day, yes there was a tornado which arrived right before our scheduled and arranged outdoor ceremony. We had to move the ceremony under the tent which was the intended space for the cocktail reception. Sus and her crew worked around this problem and helped move chairs and tables right before the ceremony was sety to begin so that we could still have a lovely ceremony and cocktail reception under the tent. You are going to love Sus! Congratuations! Tracy and Tom, Washington D.C.

Kaylynn Sent on 11/02/2018

4.8 out of 5 rating

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Fantastic!

Sus and her team were wonderful. The food was fantastic! We actually used Sus for all elements of our wedding: tent, chairs, tables, food, etc. We just had to find our own DJ. Great experience working with one person for all elements. The staff was amazing! They waited on my guests perfectly but they were also so attentive to me (the bride). Great experience. highly recommend.

Maison Culinaire, Inc.'s reply:

Hi Kaylynn and Juan,
I wanted to reach out to say Thank You!! I hope you are settled down happy as husband and wife. It was my great pleasure to be a part of your very important day. The ceremony was beautiful and you are beautiful. I can't thank you enough for giving me the opportunity to cater your wedding reception
I wish you both happiness health and success
Send your friends over when they need catering for engagement and wedding reception. I will take good care of them too.
Grateful as always
Sus
at Maison Culinaire

Darrin Sent on 11/25/2018

2.2 out of 5 rating

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Great food, poor communication & details

We hired Maison Culinaire (Sus) to cater our October 2018 wedding. We did lots of research and saw she had wonderful reviews. In the beginning of planning, we were excited to work with her and felt that she understood our vision for our wedding. She had responded quickly to emails and calls during our first few planning conversations (about 8-9 months before the wedding).

In the months leading up to our wedding, we had several questions (as is to be expected leading up to a wedding) and we had lots of difficulty getting a response from her by either phone or email. Typically we had to call or email her 3-4 times before getting a response, and sometimes weeks would pass before we heard back. We understand that different times of the year are busier for caterers, but going weeks without responding was concerning. We were hoping to have a walk-through with her at our venue which she had recommended that we do weeks before the wedding. We tried to set up a walk-through and couldn't get a hold of her until timing was too late to set something up. When we finally heard back from her, she told us she "knew the venue" and a walk-through was not necessary.

In the final week prior to the wedding, she finally became responsive to many of our questions about the food, linens, timing, and venue layout/logistics. We became concerned that were discussing important details (that should've been discussed weeks before) in the final week leading up to our wedding. The day before the wedding, she had a question for us about equipment at the venue (which would've been covered if we had a walk-through).

On the day of our wedding, there were many mistakes made by Sus and her staff. We had discussed (via emails) colors of linens & napkins, but the ones she brought to our venue were both incorrect. We were told that everything on our buffet would be labeled (especially GF for gluten free and ingredients for allergies), but very little was labeled, and we had our guests asking us (the bride and groom) what they were and weren't able to eat. A number of items ran out quickly and were not replenished for a while (or at all, because they ran out). There were not enough serving utensils for all dishes on the buffet, so the line got long, and people ended up mixing serving utensils (meat mixing with vegetarian). We (the bride and groom) had to track down her staff to get additional serving utensils. Some of the beverages we had requested (and were mentioned in our contract) were not supplied the day of.

We hired a day-of coordinator that Sus knew about beforehand and had her contact information. After our wedding was over, we were told many of these mishaps from our coordinator (we were not aware of some of these during the event). Our coordinator (who has been in the business for many years) broke it to us how unprofessional and with poor attitude Sus and the catering staff was. Our coordinator also told us that the catering staff had a bad attitude towards the venue staff as well.

Near the end of our event, Sus left and told us we were in "good hands" with her staff. We had been told (prior to the event) they needed an hour for breakdown of the equipment after our event, but they ended up needing longer, and we got charged by the venue for the extra time. We were told that shortly before our initial rental time was up, a number of her staff said they were "on a break" despite time running out before we had to be out.

Even with all of these mishaps and frustrations, we are able to put them aside and look at the bright side. The food was delicious, many of our guests raved about the taste of the food, and the cake was delicious and was exactly what we had asked for.

A few days after our wedding, we emailed Sus about our frustrations and outlined specific things that were concerning. We thought she would want to be aware of these to avoid future dissatisfactions with customers. Unfortunately, we never heard back from her.

OUR RECOMMENDATION: If you do work with Sus and Maison Culinaire, make sure to get everything in writing (contract or email). Be aware that you may not hear back from her for weeks at a time. She doesn't have an office staff, so she does everything herself (cooking, planning), so when she is busy it is difficult to communicate with her.

Ian W. Sent on 09/20/2023

1.4 out of 5 rating

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Disorganized/Rude

Despite all of these decent reviews, I don’t know if service has degraded as of late. Sus, while pleasant at our first meeting, was terrible to us as we got closer to the event—ignoring previous contract agreements, and refusing to even open attachments showing evidence of those agreements. On the wedding day, while the food was good, we had many complaints about Sus’s attitude, and their service was not very good. The bar was a mess, they refused to serve people, etc. But honestly, I place this blame on Sus—I certainly wouldn’t want to work for her seeing her attitude. Showing rudeness by the owner, for which we were conveyed of such by our guests during an event is unacceptable (she ripped a drink away from the bride’s sister for no reason, even though we provided the alcohol and liquor license. She was observably rude to her staff in front of guests). Also, just getting a contract right was a terrible experience. Sus was not a good listener and seemed to never write things down. It was so unorganized that we would have way too many meetings going over the exact same things, getting contracts that didn’t reflect our discussions, having to rehash again to get things right…then again, only to have agreements reneged 2-weeks before the event, where she was threatening that we should just go with someone else if we didn’t agree to her late price adds that went against the contract. Again, the food is the only highlight here. Not recommended.

Maison Culinaire, Inc.'s reply:

Dear Ashley and Ian,
When you called me at your dinner table on your special day, you said everything was beautiful, the food delicious and you thanked me for my help. Yes, we did go through ups and downs and many changes planning your wedding reception. Unfortunately, a caterer can't be for everyone. For the past 26 years in business, we have earned trust from our customers.
At the end of the reception, I overheard a conversation your sister had with two of my servers regarding a request for a bartender for your after party. I interjected that a bartender was not scheduled. These two servers are not bartenders. Bartenders are required to refuse service to inebriated guests.
I apologize if you seem to see there were shortcomings, but when you and your guests thanked me, everything was wonderful, I am now puzzled.
I sincerely wish both of you a happy, healthy and successful life together.
Sus

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