Cafe Soleil Reviews
Cafe Soleil
El Sobrante, CAReviews
5.0 out of 5 rating
5.0 out of 5 rating
66 Reviews
100% recommend it
Awards
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![Julie]()
Julie Sent on 01/14/2024Culinary Bliss and Personal Touch: Café Soleil's Unforgettable Contribution to Our Dream Wedding!
We got married in November 2023 at the Brazilian Room in Berkeley, CA, and our decision to choose Café Soleil as our wedding caterer turned out to be one of the best decisions we made throughout the entire planning process.
Our journey with Café Soleil began when we discovered them at an open house for the Brazilian Room. As soon as we tried their porcini raviolis, we realized we found something amazing. The flavors were fantastic, and we were hooked right away. Excited to try more, we set up a tasting at Café Soleil, where Jennifer, the Owner and Chef, impressed us with a variety of delicious dishes.
Jennifer's attention to detail and thoroughness stood out during our tasting. She took the time to walk us through the entire process, presenting us with a diverse selection of options. Her passion for her craft and commitment to making our wedding special truly made us feel like we were in capable hands.
As we moved forward with the wedding planning, Cecy, the Event Manager at Café Soleil, became our main point of contact. Her customer service was impeccable, and her extensive knowledge made the planning process smooth and stress-free. Cecy's prompt responses and commitment to quality truly set the tone for our entire experience.
On the wedding day, Candance, the Lead at Café Soleil, took charge of ensuring everything ran seamlessly. From checking in with us throughout the event to keeping us informed of the timeline, Candance went above and beyond. Her attention to detail and genuine concern for our well-being added a personal touch to the entire experience.
The highlight of our wedding, according to both us and our guests, was undoubtedly the food. Café Soleil offered an impressive variety, accommodating both meat eaters and vegetarians. The porcini raviolis, which initially stole our hearts, continued to be the star of the show!
To sweeten the deal, we opted for Café Soleil's dessert bar, featuring a delightful assortment of mini fruit tarts, cupcakes, cheesecakes, chocolate-covered strawberries, brownies, and cookies. Our guests raved about the variety, and it added the perfect finishing touch to our celebration.
Café Soleil's pricing was fair and transparent, including a complimentary food tasting, event planning, serving staff, china, glassware, flatware, chargers, choice of entrees and sides, salad, sautéed veggies, bread/butter, spa water, lemonade, coffee, cake cutting, full setup, and teardown. Their BYO Alcohol option allowed us to provide our own drinks while Café Soleil took care of serving our guests.
A truly memorable and heartwarming moment during our wedding was when my sister got a couple of the Café Soleil staff members joined us on the dance floor. It went beyond the usual client-vendor relationship – their willingness to share in the joyous celebration made us feel a genuine connection, turning the event into a shared experience rather than just a service provided. It added a personal touch that we will forever cherish.
Café Soleil played a pivotal role in making our wedding truly amazing. Their culinary expertise, attentive staff, and commitment to excellence ensured that our special day exceeded all expectations. We wholeheartedly recommend Café Soleil to anyone looking to elevate their wedding experience with exceptional catering services. Without a doubt, they contributed significantly to the unforgettable memories we created on our big day. -
![Hilary]()
Hilary F. Sent on 11/06/2022Fantastic!
Cafe Soleil was the best caterer we could have asked for. Not only was the food incredible but Jen & Cecy were SO easy to work with. What could have been a very stressful process--was smooth sailing. Cecy was super responsive, attentive & accommodating to our needs. Our guests were thrilled with the food. Even a few weeks after the wedding, our guests are still bringing up their favorite apps (bacon wrapped filet mignon) and food (mushroom raviolis). We couldn't recommend Cafe Soleil enough! We are very happy with how everything turned out. -
![Olivia]()
Olivia Sent on 03/10/2022Best caterer for the Brazilian Room
If you're looking for a caterer for the Brazilian Room, Cafe Soleil is the best. I would recommend them to any friend, family, acquaintance, or business.
We contracted with them a year in advance for an April 2022 wedding, and they have been NOTHING short of spectacular. They are truly special because we decided to self-plan our wedding, and I did not come across another caterer so willing help me make it happen!
It wasn't just advice and years of wisdom they provided. Jen and Cecy offered extra supplies like beautiful chargers, vases, table number holders, candle holders - all at no charge because they have the items on-hand and do wedding so often! The other caterers I talked to were so transactional and would charge for any thing or service you needed from them. That wasn't the case with Jen/Cecy. There's such a human touch with them.
The food is amazing, that's a given. But my favorite part was when Jen let us come in and create our tablescape together. She let us play with different utensils, charger colors, vases, and put them on the table! Through that process, we transformed our vague vision of a reception into a reality.
Cecy, the event manager, responds basically immediately. You can call, email her, and she'll remind you when you've forgotten something. Jen, the owner, has been in the food biz for many years making her exceptionally adept at doing weddings, and Cecy has been a wedding planner for many years prior to Soleil.
I haven't even had my wedding yet, but I know it'll be nothing short of perfect from seeing how Cafe Soleil works its magic. Happy to be a reference for them any time. -
![Megan]()
Megan T. Sent on 10/07/2021The absolute best!
Jen and her team are the absolute best! Cafe Soleil recently catered our wedding at the Brazilian Room last week and I cannot recommend them enough. We originally had our tasting in 2019 planning on a 2020 date, and we were sold immediately. Jen put together a huge array of food for the tasting since I had ZERO idea where to start, and if my indecisiveness bothered her, it never once showed. She was so kind and accommodating, and the food was AMAZING. On top of that, they included so many things in their pricing that other caterers charged extra for (no charge for the tasting, their plated pricing is the same as buffet, they include chargers for the table settings, their menu is super customizable, they do it all! Bonus: they even let us borrow lawn games for our outdoor reception at no extra charge!). We booked them asap!
Then of course, we needed to postpone due to COVID. Jen and Cecy, their event coordinator, were so patient and collected throughout the whole postponing process and answered every question I shot their way up to our 2021 date. (And I had A LOT of questions!) Cecy is super on top of sending gentle reminders for important due dates leading up to the big day, and especially if you're having your event at the Brazilian Room where there is no venue staff, this was so important to feel like you had a guide.
Finally, on the actual day, the food and set up was fantastic! Jen's team had a plate of snacks and champagne brought to myself and the groom after the ceremony so that we could sneak a few bites in private before joining the reception. They also served us huge plates of the main courses before serving our guests. I've heard from so many other weddings that the couple doesn't get to eat much, but definitely not the case here! Our guests loved the food as well, and the servers were attentive, sweet, and quick. And the lawn games were a huge hit!
Absolutely loved working with Cafe Soleil and will definitely want to stop by the restaurant to have more of their excellent food! Definitely hire them for your special event! -
![Jillian]()
Jillian Sent on 12/23/2019THE BEST and easiest vendor we had
To get married in the Brazilian room, we had to choose from their 'preferred vendors' list and we could not have been luckier to land on Cafe Soleil. The team behind Cafe Soleil were outstanding. From the food tasting lead by Jennifer to the final food that were served on our wedding day, the quality and service were excellent. Wide variety of meals and dietary options, they really made sure to provide top notch food and kind/welcoming service.
And Cecy.... honestly made our wedding planning effortless. Cecy did everything in terms of organizing, seat arrangements, ordering linens, and everything else. She would respond to all my questions so quick, and she NEVER EVER made me feel like I was being annoying or I was asking too many questions. I could not be more thankful for her guidance throughout the year of planning. She was amazing.
With the excellent food, great menu, awesome vegan options, reasonable prices, quality service from all staff on the day-of (everyone was kind and helped us set up beautifully), and the above-and-beyond service from Cecy, my husband and I can not recommend them enough. -
![Michelle]()
Michelle L. Sent on 10/27/2019Great food, service, and communication!
Cecy and Jen were absolutely amazing to work with, and so so accommodating! Cecy was always so responsive to all of our questions over email, and we are still hearing from our guests about how great the food was. The lemon butter salmon was one of the favorites - we’ve been to weddings where the salmon was overcooked and too dry, but this was not the case at all with Cafe Soleil. We don’t know how they did it but the fish was so buttery and delicious. You can just tell that Jen and Cecy really care about helping their couples throw together a beautiful event and having a great time. You hear so much about couples who barely got to eat at their own weddings, but they made sure that we (as the bride and groom) got a full plate at the beginning of the reception and frequently checked in with us to get us more food/drinks etc. Jen even has lawn games and dessert stands that we were able to borrow for our event. Overall the service was A++ and I would recommend Cafe Soleil to all future couples for their weddings, or any event that they need catering for. -
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![Kirin]()
Kirin W. Sent on 11/13/2019Amazing to work with!
Cecy and Jen are a power team and such a joy to work with! As a planner I look for not only great quality, value, great work ethic, responsiveness and professionalism, although they knock all the above way out of the park; I look for good humans and people that are a joy to be around, fun and team players to work with. Cecy, Jen and the Cafe Soleil team were a 10 out of 10 in all areas. We had the privilege to work with them on a wedding and not only was the food amazing, the schedule on time, everything just as so, they all had smiles on their faces, ready and willing to help with whatever we needed. I was really impressed and can't wait to work with them again. A must contact when looking for your catering team. -
![Tracy]()
Tracy Sent on 10/23/2018Cafe Soleil rocked my wedding! :)
There are so many reasons I loved going with Cafe Soleil catering for my wedding a couple weeks ago. It was a long relationship, over a year of planning pieces of the event. I love how inclusive the wedding package is! Bar service - WOW that made it easy to only have one vendor for both food and beverages, gratuity - nice to know everyone is taken care of ahead of time, plus so many beautiful decorations included that other caterers don't offer. I was my own coordinator and new to the world of wedding norms, so I really appreciated Jen and Cecy coaching me through options for all the details... and there are so many details. Everything went just as planned, couldn't have been happier! Get the porcini mushroom raviolis omg. Appetizers were great too. Lastly, they dealt with my rather untraditional ways and accommodated things like a cheese wheel wedding cake and getting extra linens for my green screen photobooth. Do the tasting, ask everything you're curious about, and you will be thrilled! -
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Daisy Sent on 11/13/2017We decided to choose Cafe Soleil as our wedding caterer after the first meeting with Jennifer. She is a very nice, responsible and patient lady. After the first food taste, Cecy, the event manager, contacted me by emails and she also forwarded every email to Jen.
Both Jen and Cecy helped me a lot and I even didn't have to hire a wedding planner. Since my guests are a very small group, Jen assisted to rent chiavari chairs from rental company and delivered chairs and arch to my wedding venue! My guests still talked about Cafe Soleil's staffs' beautiful smile, it made everyone feel warm and happy.
I would say my wedding cannot be so perfect without Cafe Soleil's perfect service! And another important thing is the COST, Cafe Soleil is very affordable and reasonable in bay area and the quality is awesome!
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Lmar Sent on 10/02/2017We can't fully express how wonderful the Cafe Soleil team is. We hired them to cater our wedding in Berkeley, CA at Tilden Park. Jen is a great caterer but in addition she is an amazing human being. Not only did she provide great food, and attentive service during the reception but she bent over backwards to help us execute a wonderful wedding. The staff are great people who will work extra hard so that they provide great service. There was an unexpected thunderstorm and Jen and the staff were quick acting and flexible. I can't fully express how great it was to work with Jen especially since I had no clear idea on how to plan for a large wedding. Thank you Jen & Todd. I had an wonderful wedding. I recommend Cafe Soleil to anyone who wants to stay within their budget, eat great food, receive attentive service, work with a amazing caterer.
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![Abigail]()
Abigail Sent on 08/28/2017Cafe Soleil did an amazing job. Jen was so attentive to what we needed and always communicated to us how her top priority was to make sure my day went smoothly so not just I but my family could celebrate. I always recommend this cafe for food everyday and the catering to any bride who is looking for amazing prices with also AMAZING food!
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