From our first conversation everything went so smoothly. Culinary Excellence are so easy to work with, they have lots of options for dietary needs, lots of options for rentals. The food was great and everyone there on the day was so nice and helpful. Sierra helped us make a last minute rain plan and everyone on their team kept things running smoothly. Everyone we've worked with was so down to earth and easy to talk to

Where do we begin? We met the extraordinary team of Jessica and Chris at an open house in the Brazilian Room back in 2019 for an April 2020 wedding. And then the pandemic hit. Little did we know we’d wait THREE and a half long years to finally have the event, and it was so perfect, I don’t think we could have done it without them. I especially developed a close relationship with Jess as she is my sister witch (we are both Potterheads) and I am convinced she has magical powers.

Firstly, the food. CE was an excellent partner in making our vision come to life. Food was my number one priority, so it was key to have a vendor that excelled in this. Since we were going to have a daytime wedding, we worked together to create a great brunch menu. Chris knocked it out of the park and made this flavorful, juicy, crunchy, bone-in, non-greasy fried chicken, and delicious waffles with freshly made pumpkin butter–perfect for the fall! We also had a tater tot bar, a mimosa bar, their delicious red banana and papaya salad, and many more. The passed hors d’oeuvres were *outstanding,* too. My guests continue to rave about the food to this day.

Second, the decor and coordination. Honestly, if we had the budget, I would have let Jess handle everything from wedding prep. But because we didn’t, we did the day-of ala carte service where Jess would handle our day-of vendor coordination and make sure everything ran on time. I highly recommend getting CE to coordinate for you. If Jess had a magic wand, it would be a maestro’s baton, because she orchestrated everything for us from the ceremony to the very end and I didn’t have to worry about a thing. She is worth her weight in gold. For our prep, Jess provided me with honest feedback on the best ways to do things on a budget, answered all of my questions, and made a comfortable space in which I could provide feedback, too. In the end, everything was set up so beautifully and exceeded my expectations. Despite my one priority being food, the setup and decorations were simply stunning, especially considering our budget.

Thirdly, I have to sing (more) praises about Jess. Her years of experience shone and it was fantastic seeing her in her element the day of the wedding. But more than that, she’s become my friend. Not only did she earn our trust during the process, but she went above and beyond in working with us to achieve a perfect day for our family and friends. CE will now be my local go-to for any catering needs or milestone celebrations.

Should you (be fortunate enough to) work with them, my advice is to make sure to give them honest feedback as early as possible, ask for *their* feedback and approach it like a collaborative partnership, ask as many questions as you need to, and trust the process. They know what they’re doing.

We had our wedding August 4th at the Brazilian Room. We reached out to Culinary Excellence because they were a preferred vendor at this venue. We are so happy we did. Right off the bat Sierra was super helpful and responsive. She scheduled a tasting with us and right away we knew that we wanted to work with her and the rest of the staff. Our big day couldn’t have been pulled off without them. The food was excellent! The staff was attentive, and Sierra was the best. She set everything up just the way we wanted it. If our guests had a question or needed something she took care of it right away. The prices are more then competitive. If you are looking for a caterer I highly recommend Culinary Excellence, you won’t be disappointed.

We are so happy that we worked with Culinary Excellence for the catering and floral arrangements for our wedding at the Brazil Room. They took the suggestions we gave them at our initial meeting and made them even better. On the day of our wedding we were able to relax and know that we were in good hands. The staff were friendly and easy to work with (especially Sierra) and made sure that we had everything we needed for our wedding to go off without a hitch.

The day of, the food was delicious, the dinner and venue staging was beautiful, and the floral arrangements were gorgeous. Everyone was very impressed by the service, and so were we. Our dinner was a buffet, but they served the two of us at our table and one of the staff members even found us after we came back from photos and made sure we got a tray of the appetizers.

We hired Culinary Excellence for our March 2023 wedding at the Brazil Room. The team there was so professional and helped the big day go smoothly.
In particular, Jessica was a rockstar. She answered all my questions very quickly and provided the right information for me to make decisions confidently. Culinary Excellence's food was delicious and offered a variety of options that allowed us to have a delicious buffet wedding complete with vegan/vegetarian/gluten free options that were a delight rather than a cop-out. Several of our guests complemented the quality food and scrumptious dessert bar.
The staff day-of was very familiar with the venue space and set up/break down was entirely handled by their team. Lastly, Culinary Excellence has rental options. We were able to get all of our flat ware, table ware, linens, cocktail tables, and even easels without having to find another vendor for rentals. In retrospect, this made logistics so much easier for my wedding day. Thanks so much to the Culinary Excellence team for their hard work and diligence.

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.

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!

Culinary Excellence was an absolute godsend for us when my daughter and her now husband were insistent on getting married a few weeks ago…in the middle of a global pandemic. We had the ceremony covered, as it was outdoors, but since indoor dining was still prohibited, we needed to come up with a safe alternative for the reception. With a month notice, we decided to shift the reception location to the backyard, and with the help of Culinary Excellence (CE), we were able to make it happen and in the safest manner possible. Jessica of CE is so good at what she does. She visited the backyard and helped us conceptualize where everything could go. Jessica is a dream to work with. She is so responsive and suggested ways to make the event comfortable and safer for all. CE is a one stop shop—they provided us with all different sizes of tables to accommodate different size social bubbles, chairs, linens, lighting, AV equipment, and of course the most AMAZING food EVER! Chefs Christian and Chris can cook! CE has a super extensive menu and our guests were raving about the food for days! They even have delicious prepared meals that can be delivered to your home twice a week. The entire CE team from delivery to set up to take down followed all COVID precautions. Thank you Jessica and Culinary Excellence for making our kids’ dreams into a reality. :)

From beginning to end, Jessica was a pleasure to work with. She was on top of everything we requested and was thoroughly organized.

She, Chris (the head chef), and the lovely staff helped put together the most amazing and unforgettable experience during our wedding at the Brazilian Room in Berkeley.

Guests were raving so much about the food!! The avocado toast, sliders, salad, salmon, chicken, veggies, steak, donuts, and BISCUITS. Omg those biscuits were a HIT. My husband and I are still dreaming of them.

They also made the most beautiful cutter cake ever. I requested a smeared/naked pumpkin spice cake that was dairy-free, it was heavenly!

We can't thank them enough. Everyone said so many good things and left with full bellies.

We knew we were getting something good when we hired Culinary Excelence for our wedding when we first met Jess, then we tasted the food, then they made our cookies for our dessert table, then they made our flowers. They made our lives so much easier, I really felt like all the planning I had been putting was matched and just as much love and attention to detail was involved on their end. Everything was top notch - service on the day, working with their team over the year of planning, the esthetic and attention to detail used in decorating the Brazilian Room (our reception venue in Tilden Park), and the food! It was better than we even remembered it and we are still getting so many comments from friends and family about how tasty everything was. Honestly loved CE and can't say more nice things about them. Definitely recommend, would give them more stars if I could!