Working with Mizuna was a mixed experience - but if food is super important to you or your guests, you may be able to overlook the less than fabulous aspects. Read on for details:
THE GOOD:
Tommy Marshall coordinated the catering for our wedding day and he was great to work with - he has a good personality, is able to read people well, and was great about designing the perfect day for us in terms of catering needs. He ensured that we stuck with our established budget and he provided us with a variety of options at our food tasting so that we could make informed decisions. (By the way, every single thing we tried was out-of-this-world delicious - truly amazing!).
Some of our guests only drink non-caffeinated beverages, and he was so great about obtaining beverages that would suit a variety of wedding-goers. (Other caterers we had interviewed were only willing to provide a "one size fits all" package that would not have taken our non-caffeinated beverage guests into account.
Mizuna provides outstanding food. To this day (almost a year later), our guests still comment about the food at our wedding. It was SO SO SO SO SO GOOD - and presented so beautifully. I cannot say enough good things about the outstanding food!!!
Tommy did a great job with the display and coordinating the flow so that people went through the buffet line as quickly as possible. We did NOT have a situation in which Table 1 was finished eating before Table 15 had even seen the buffet line...and we were thrilled about this. Guests commented on it, too.
THE NOT SO GREAT
We were under the impression that Mizuna would help with orchestrating all aspects of the husband/wife cake cutting moment...while they did put a nice knife by our cake, they neglected to put plates or forks nearby...not a huge deal - but certainly a detail we thought the caterer would remember and not something we would have thought to request ahead of time amid all of the other details we were considering.
THE BAD
We provided Mizuna with the place cards, place card holders, and a detailed seating arrangement. However, when we arrived at the wedding reception, we found that while our guests were seated by table (as we had assigned) they were seated by table alphabetically based on last name. It wasn't until after the wedding that I realized this -- and why so many of my married female friends (who've kept their maiden names) were not seated next to their spouses the way I had assigned things...
THE UGLY
Derek, the then-owner of Mizuna, is an "artiste" and has a bit of an ego (to say the least) when it comes to his edible "masterpieces." I do not know if he is still part of the Mizuna leadership team. If you work with Mizuna and Derek is still involved with the company, be forewarned that he creates outstanding, exquisite food - but he definitely needs to work on his customer service skills (to say the least!). If it were not for Tommy's involvement with the planning process, we would have found another caterer. (My now-husband and I had to call Tommy to confirm that we would no longer have to interact with Derek...and Tommy was super apologetic and super helpful in keeping things afloat - and easy - for the remainder of our planning process with Mizuna.)
Recommendation: I'd use them again - but I would NOT work with Derek during any part of the planning process.
