This was not the review I wanted to write.

TL;DR caterer’s 5 big lies
1 They never double book
2 Invoice estimate was misleading (cocktail hour)
3 Staff didn’t clean
4 Both Joe and the Captain promised staff would help set the table
5 Caterer will follow a strict timeline for when to bring out the food

6 They left the bride setting up alone. They left the bride and groom cleaning at the end of the event alone. Food came late, packed up early. Leftovers at cocktail hour even though the table was empty. Tons of left overs that they didn't even ask if we wanted.

I am a customer that made a down payment in 2019, right before getting hit with COVID, and our celebration did not happen until recently. When we went to the taste test event the food was delicious, we were impressed, but that wasn't the only reason I chose this caterer. This wedding wire choice award holder had review after review about how they helped with the wedding planning and were a best value candidate. From the get go, we were looking for a caterer that would work with our small budget, which at the time in 2019 was no more than 100 pp for 150 people. We were never trying to have anything super fancy, just a simple gathering with good food. Although we were blown away by the food, I wasn't ready to put a down payment until he made the clear promise to us that they NEVER double book events, that we will have their full attention that day. That was the 1st big lie.

From the day of the taste test, we told him we wanted 3 proteins for dinner and he already warned us that it would be pricey. When he gave us an estimate, he ignored this. We told him again that we wanted 3 proteins and he continued to push back that it would be pricey. We said that we would rather cut other items and budget for the three proteins so that our guests can enjoy more food. Our second invoice estimate continued to only show 2 proteins. I started to see that our caterer lacks listening skills, but I had no idea how far that extended.

I was asked to update a floorplan after seeing the space with our caterer. I did so on Aug 19. He asked me to send him this information over and over, and didn't explain to me that my floorplan was miscalculated until the 31st. Leaving me only 3 weeks until my big day to finalize item counts that I personally needed to purchase. Besides being thrown in circles and answering the same questions over and over like for example, about whether or not I was buying tablecloths (even though the draft Aug 30th invoice already said it would be provided by me), I was still harassed by the food captain up to the wedding day on Sep 23 about said tablecloths. These were inconveniences, but they weren't deal breakers - Joe may have been frequently preoccupied with bigger jobs, but he was cordial. It didn't feel nice to see through his long response times that even in the last two weeks of the most important day of our life, we were not even remotely his priority. Even near the end, he kept calling me Pia or Lia, when my name is in my email and all over the invoices.

Let's talk about the invoice, I tried to be proactive with my review of it. Here's the 2nd big lie. In 2019, when they provided an estimate for cocktail hour, they gave me an estimated pricing for 40 people, when the expected population was for 150 people. I caught that when I noticed a 60% increase from the original invoice estimate, far exceeding the past 4 years of inflation. I hope that that was an honest mistake, but if it wasn't, that's a sneaky way to get the invoice to match my budget for me to put a down payment.

I found that the invoice got fat fingered with a transposed error and asked for a revision, I later noticed that the subtotal used an Amex fee cc rate when we were going to use visa and asked for another revision, it seemed that my diligence started to annoy him, he even brought it up on my wedding day. We questioned why he didn't reduce the staff count when our RSVP list was reduced by 40 people (36 percent). Now here comes the 3rd big lie, he insisted that he needed this amount of staff for all the moving and cleaning. They didn't clean. My husband and I had to sweep the floors at 10pm because the Captain - Benson dismissed his staff already and was about to leave without consulting us at all. We asked where the brooms were and he didn't even know. I had to hold him and ask where the garbage bags were and why they didn't clean and he said I thought I didn't need to, you were just going to bring everything home as if my car was some kind of huge truck that could possibly carry multiple truckloads of leftovers, more on that later. Didn't even offer to clean himself, zero accountability. Also, since they don't clean, maybe wedding wire should review the bullet points that are shown on the website that I found them from. Between that and the verbal agreement, I was quite dumbfounded.

This transitions well to how I can just talk about the captain, Benson who failed and lied to me on the day of the event. There are only two people who are very clear on expectations of this event, Joe and me. We worked out the logistics together and I assured him I would get there no later than 3 and was available for any and all questions. The caterer hounded my husband who tried to reach me, since Joe was nowhere to be found (refer to lie #1). I arrived by about 1PM, I introduced myself and told him to direct any and all questions to me before the start of the event. Smugly, he says he has lots of questions (he had 2 questions) and I gave him all the answers. He assured me that he would allocate staff to set the tables for me and that I just needed to give them guidance on how we wanted it. We set the table and there was no sign of help. Anxiously, we set more tables waiting for staff to arrive to no avail. My MIL with arthritis took charge and set the remaining tables. Somewhere while we were putting utensils out, Benson had the nerve to direct my MIL with how to set the utensils. Still, not a single wait staff arrived. The girls were supposed to be in the bathroom getting ready but instead they dropped everything to help the struggling bride, me, to put all the wedding favors on the table. I still needed to set up the guest sign-in table, the seating arrangements, and the projector, and my husband did the decorations. The catering staff, according to my husband, were just playing on their phones while we were running around. Zero communication with me, zero craps to give as they see the bride doing everything. What caterer doesn't even help set up the table especially after promising to help? HUGE LIE number 4. I almost forgot to mention that they didn't even follow the floor plan and didn't set the correct number of tables, I had to bring Benson over and bring this to his attention and he said that everything was fine because I guess he doesn't know how to read a floorplan.

Well, Benson has set the tone now to go screw yourself. Clearly anything he offers, he won't deliver, there's no point in asking him anything. My FIL had questions for him about where to put the trash, and he responded that he couldn't handle being spoken to. This man cannot even be spoken to. He does not work well under stress, maybe he should reconsider management positions. Let's hope he can just handle the food.

The catering has their own timeline, and they are supposed to follow it strictly (big lie number 5). They know to serve the food after the show. The show ended, people took photos, the whole bridal party walked out, we gave 4 speeches. A whole 30 minutes late on schedule and the buffet was STILL NOT READY. Benson can't read floorplans OR timetables apparently.
People ate and tried to get seconds, they threw out huge amounts of food and didn't give people any time at all to come back for food.
Speaking of food. Cocktail hour was a disaster, why was the appetizer station empty and yet I have all these left over unopened bags of chips and dips at the end of the night that weren't put out?

I purposely bought a whiskey sour mix for one guest, it was in the itinerary and provided a week in advance. You literally just add the mix and whiskey per the instructions right there on the bottle. The bartender refused to make it for my guest and said it was too complicated to make. The mixer SAYS it is specifically a whiskey sour mix, it was even opened. I also hear that they were chintzy with pouring drinks. I have more than half my original purchased alcohol from that night. Why were they being chintzy? This catering service was frugal with giving out food and drinks even when it was plentiful.

I have written so much disappointment that I don't even want to keep writing. No one let me down more than the caterer. Benson did not speak to me about anything when so much was going wrong. Again the only people who know the logistics are Joe and myself. Joe wasn't there most of the time. Closing time was 11, the caterer was long gone and no follow up from Joe until the next morning.

If our business wasn't worth your while, I wish you could've just said so. It's so much harder to have had to deal with this go screw yourself attitude on the day of the event. I would have hired a local restaurant and called it a day. I thought this catering company was going to be dependable and become the main force of the event. The most reliable thing Joe did was take care of rentals, but what's the point of setting up food if no one gets to eat because the staff doesn't put food out with sufficient time. Put food out late and pack early. How irresponsible. And instead, I have endless leftovers that were tossed out or handed back to me to throw out ourselves.

I wouldn't recommend this company to my worst enemy.

Horrible from beginning to end. They ignored my onion allergy which I mentioned literally 1000 times and changed the menu day of. I didn’t even eat at my own wedding. Maybe they’ll be okay if you spend a lot, but if you want your day to be special - stay away.

WOW! From the first phone call with Joseph, to the last goodbye of the night, he was a pleasure to work with. He and his team executed perfectly. I could not have imagined the number of compliments we would receive on the food and service alone. We were floored and so were our guests. Our amazement began right away. After the ceremony, 2 huge trays of cocktail hour food were prepared for us to enjoy. And not just prepared. The platters were decorated, and presented beautifully which really warmed out hearts (and stomachs)We dove in as if we had never eaten before and enjoyed every last bit of food with huge smiles on our faces. Next thing we new, there was more food! We then made our way into the dining room for dinner. Everything was set up beautifully. Our venue has no kitchen and no true back of house for staff to do what they need to. But you would never have known. Glasses were filled before they were finished. Food was brought out HOT - actually hot. And it was all delicious. Jospeh and his staff are miracle workers and we could not be happier that we got the chance to work with them! THANK YOU!