Culinary Excellence

Culinary Excellence and their team were one of the best aspects of our wedding day at the Brazilian Room at Tilden Park in Berkeley. The team was incredibly professional, kind, courteous, and obviously invested in making this a special day for us, our friends, and our family. On the day of, the team was friendly and took great care to make sure the venue looked beautiful. We never had to ask for service or wait for basic needs. They went above and beyond to ensure that our guests had what they needed. Jess, our Day-Of Coordinator, was absolutely phenomenal. Seriously. I have been a wedding/event planner and coordinator for years, and I can say honestly that she is the best of the best. She has a high attention to detail, a kind and fun demeanor, an immense amount of knowledge about the industry, the venue, and her team. I always felt incredibly supported and cared about. She was quick to respond via email when she could, and it is so clear that she invests time, energy, and effort into every event that she oversees. She is a true professional, and I could never share enough to feel like I've adequately explained what a treasure she is. If I could offer one piece of advice to brides, add the day-of coordination package on for your event. You won't regret it - worth every penny and more. Lastly, the FOOD. The team absolutely knocked it out of the park. The food was delicious at the tasting, and even more delicious at the wedding itself. It was presented beautifully, had great flavor, and the family style dinner service was executed perfectly. One of the most special parts of our wedding was that the chef at CE was able to recreate a treasured family recipe for a groom's cake, and it tasted exactly like his grandmother's would have. It was a perfect surprise and so unique.
We can't thank Culinary Excellence and Jess enough for what they contributed for our wedding day. I could continue on and on about their fantastic service, professionalism, and care. They are the best of the best, and we would recommend them time and time again!

We were so glad that we chose to work with Culinary Excellence for our wedding in May 2021. The food was amazing and all of our guests commented on how delicious the appetizers and food were. We also had them supply some of our furniture and beautiful drapes for the wedding. Samantha was so great to work with. She was our primary contact point and our day of coordinator. She really helped us stay on task during the wedding and helped as we planned. We had booked them pre COVID and there were lots of changes along the way, but they were very flexible during all the up and downs and reassuring as we went. The serving staff and bartenders were really friendly and did a great job. I would highly recommend them for your wedding!

We cannot recommend Culinary Excellence more! I intentionally left "Catering" off that last sentence because they are so much more than just a catering company. For starters, they include linens for NO additional cost. They have anything else you could possibly need for rental at a very reasonable cost. And most importantly the food was delicious - we received many compliments from our guests. We worked with Jessica Murphy, Senior Event Coordinator - she is AMAZING! Jessica is professional, responsive, efficient and wonderful to work with. She worked with us to keep our needs within budget, made the most beautiful floral bouquets and provided day-of coordination help which kept things moving to keep within our venue timeline. I don't know how we would have gotten through the stress of a COVID wedding without her.