Good Food Horrible Service No Professionalism
We booked Vinnie with Tandoor Catering for our two-day American/Indian multicultural wedding and working with Vinnie was a nightmare. When we first went to do a food tasting, he basically told my wife and I that he didn't care what we thought of the food and was only interested in what my parents had to say because "you won't be eating it anyway." That should have been a red flag for us but because the food was good, and since there weren't many other caterers who can do a good mix of Indian and American food we decided to book him. Throughout the process it was very difficult to get in touch with him and it would require multiple calls to get an answer. Anyway, fast forward to the Thursday before our two-day wedding (Friday and Saturday) and he finally sends me how much we owe him. Throughout the whole process he had said don't worry about paying me, and that we could pay him after the wedding and it wouldn't be an issue (clearly should have gotten that in writing).
Come Friday, the day of our Indian ceremony, he was supposed to have smoothies for our guests that they could grab as they came in. Guests are arriving and Vinnie nor his staff have even shown up yet. Luckily our venue coordinator was able to resolve the situation and served smoothies during the ceremony. Not what we wanted but its fine and it all worked out. After the ceremony, he goes to my dad and demands the remainder of the balance. I had all of the numbers, so my dad had no idea how much the balance was and this is where things got very shady. He decided that he wanted to tell my dad a higher price than what we had agreed upon. My dad paid him what he had and paid him the rest Saturday morning before the reception as he didn't want to have any issues with food not showing up that evening. This was not the end of our issues with Vinnie and his team. During the cocktail hour on Saturday, we had agreed upon a certain number of servers because my family is strictly vegetarian, and won't eat food if it’s been touched or cooked on the same plates as non-vegetarian food. For this reason, we had paid for additional servers to make sure there were different servers for the vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. When I show up at the cocktail hour, I see that they did not listen to our requests and are cooking things on the same pans. Luckily, our venue had extra equipment for this and with the help of some family we were able to get this sorted out.
Overall, the food was good and if that's all you're concerned about then Vinnie is a good caterer. However, if you're looking for someone who is professional I would highly recommend looking elsewhere. To corner someone or their family on their wedding day and ask to be paid right then and then up-charging them is very unprofessional and slimy. I tried following up with him numerous times after my wedding but never got a response. My suggestion for anyone who does go with him is to get EVERYTHING in writing. If you want a description of the food item on the place card get that in writing too (another thing he refused to do). This way, if he decides he doesn't want to do something last minute you have proof that this was agreed upon earlier and that him not providing that would be a breach of contract.
