Skip to main content
Weddings

Great Blue Heron Catering Reviews

Great Blue Heron Catering

Great Blue Heron Catering

Vienna, VA
4.8 out of 5 rating, 144 Reviews
View more information

Reviews

4.8 out of 5 rating
4.8 out of 5 rating
144 Reviews
95% recommend it
  • Quality of service
    4.8 out of 5 rating
  • Average response time
    4.7 out of 5 rating
  • Professionalism
    4.8 out of 5 rating
  • Value
    4.8 out of 5 rating
  • Flexibility
    4.8 out of 5 rating

Awards

144
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2023 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2018 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2016 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2015 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2014 Winner
  • Alex
    Alex H. Sent on 04/18/2023
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Amazing quality!

    We had to use GBH since we were getting married at at venue that required them HOWEVER we were so happy with their services we would’ve chosen them anyways. So many of our guest told us the food was so incredible! Absolutely would recommend
  • Erin
    Erin N. Sent on 06/26/2023
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Delicious Wedding Food at the Atrium at Meadowlark

    Great Blue Heron did a fabulous job at our Meadowlark wedding! The food, drinks, and service were all amazing - as was the catering team. We worked with Brianna at our venue's walk-through meeting and she was incredibly helpful, especially with regard to determining the number of rental items needed based on final headcount. On the day of the wedding, everything went smoothly and the food was delicious.
  • A
    Audrey M. Sent on 07/06/2022
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Yummy food!

    The food was amazing!! Everything was well seasoned and tasted delicious. All our guests loved the food. They catered our wedding at the River View at Occoquan. The food was served in a timely manner and was hot.

    Emails was answered in a timely fashion and our questions was answered. They worked well with the rest of the hired vendors.
    Thank you for help making our wedding special.
  • illustration stars

    Are you interested?

    Send a message
  • J
    Jessica Sent on 08/12/2022
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Delicious food and great service

    We and our guests can’t stop and won’t stop raving about the service and food provided by Great Blue Heron (GBH) catering company. We’ll be honest that we thought GBH would have the usual lackluster or boring type of wedding food, but GBH does not stick to that generalization of wedding food. Everyone was impressed by the quality of food for 250 guests. The taste, flavor, service, and perfection of all the hors d'oeuvres and entrees that came out of the kitchen were unmatched. We decided to go with the filet of beef at an upcharge and the chef did not disappoint. All of our guests said that they came out at the perfect medium rare, as requested. The staff and chef were very flexible and understanding of the allergies and accommodations we requested as well.
  • J
    Jordan M. Sent on 06/05/2022
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Exceeded Our Expectations!

    Great Blue Heron catering fully exceeded our expectations! You hear stories of other weddings where the tasting was great but the food on the actual day was sub-par. For Great Blue Heron, they knocked it out of the park for both the tasting and reception!

    Our guests are still raving about the food and service. We ended up going with braised beef, miso salmon, and bruschetta chicken for our entrees which all turned out phenomenal. All of the appetizers were delicious too. We highly recommend using Great Blue Heron.
  • C
    Carlin B. Sent on 03/12/2022
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Delicious Food

    All our guests raved about about delicious the food was at our reception. GBH was really safe and flexible about food allergies.
  • Will
    Will P. Sent on 05/31/2019
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Great food and service!

    Great Blue Heron was great to work with and the food was SO GOOD. Liz was very receptive and helpful to any changes to the menu and linen order. We particular enjoyed our tasting and everybody enjoyed their dinner at our wedding. Our favorites were actually the appetizers - some of our guests loved the appetizers so much they couldn’t believe they were also getting dinner! The bacon-wrapped dates are to die for. Service at the wedding was also prompt and courteous. Thanks, Great Blue Heron Catering!
  • Rachel
    Rachel Sent on 11/27/2020
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    NOVA Parks Catering

    We used GBH since they are the in-house caterer for all of the NOVA Parks (our reception was at the Atrium at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens) and had a wonderful experience. The tasting was easy to schedule and I would say that the food tasted just as good on the day of the wedding as it did during the tasting. They have a fantastic selection to choose from and were super flexible to work with - new covid restrictions were announced the week before our wedding and we were able to change our stationary displays to passed hors d'oeuvres, buffet dinner to plated, and full bar to beer & wine, all with a guest list that was reduced from 65 to 22! The catering staff were polite and considerate and we had no issues come up!
  • K
    Kerry H. Sent on 10/27/2020
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Wonderful wedding experience!

    We booked our wedding reception at The Woodlands at Algonkian Park, which is part of the Northern Virginia Park Authority facilities. Great Blue Heron is dedicated caterer. I found this to be convienent since I did not want to research different catering vendors.

    Since COVID hit in the middle of planning our October 2020 wedding, the tasting was curbside pick up. Instructions were given on how to reheat the entrees and how to communicate our choices to the catering admin afterwards. Not the same as eating at the venue but we had no choice. All the food we tasted was delicious. We had a hard time choosing! Liz Gearhart answered all my questions about guests with food allergies, special drink requests (like adding hard cider), etc. Very responsive!

    On the day of our wedding, the catering staff was accommodating and wonderful. The Catering Captain, DJ, made sure we got to eat during the cocktail hour and we had our meals and drinks refilled at the reception. We got a "to-go" box at the end of the night. Great to have leftovers the next day!

    A note about the administrative fee: this is NOT the tips for the wait staff, chef, etc. You should actually give your cash tips in labeled envelopes to your Events Manager prior to the event. The Woodlands gave us a sheet with suggested ranges for tips for each catering team member. Very helpful!

  • L
    Lori R. Sent on 05/27/2020
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Awesome in all ways

    From start to finish an awesome experience! They worked with us on allergies and restrictions. Price was reasonable ant the food was terrific!
  • A
    Joyce M. Sent on 10/28/2019
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Guests couldn't stop talking about the food

    Great Blue Heron catered our wedding and the appetizers and dinner were raved about by our guests. They provided terrific and responsive service!
  • J
    Jackie Sent on 10/20/2019
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Amazing Food, Amazing Service on our Wedding Day!

    e chose GBH because they were our venue's preferred catering, and, to our great delight, we fell in love with the food they made during our tasting session! The chefs are professional and were able to fully customize our menu to include special platters that were meaningful to us. They worked with us on cost without compromising the delicious food, and they made sure everything was to our liking the day of our wedding. The service staff were also excellent, and they were flexible enough to accommodate any guests who were held up due to talking with the bride or groom. They managed the chaos of food service with the utmost professionalism and efficiency, and we are very grateful to have had them on our wedding day. They made sure that we had our own platters ready and waiting for us while we talked with our guests, as well as making sure our glasses were full of whatever we needed at the time. We hope to be able to experience their amazing service again should we have need for a catering company.
  • J
    John D. Sent on 11/30/2019
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    great food and service

    Blue Heron Catering had lots of delicious food options. We thoroughly enjoyed our food. And the great staff did a lot to help make our special day great.
  • Ariel
    Ariel R. Sent on 07/31/2019
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    They were so great!

    For the cost, we received 2 stationary appetizers, 5 passed appetizers, and 3 amazing meal choices. They also provided bar service & our own signature cocktail. Their catering team was also incredible. We were a little hesitant about using them - when caterers are required by venues they can decline in service and quality with no repercussions - but the catering tasting eased all our worries and made us SO excited for the wedding. We would recommend them to anyone!
  • C
    Catherine F. Sent on 07/12/2019
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Wonderful food and great service!

    I loved all the food! I highly recommend the coconut shrimp and raspberry brie phyllo bites (spectacular)! Kelli is an amazing coordinator and so easy to work with! They were flexible and accommodating with dietary needs and special drink requests! I highly recommend them! And the day of staff were great!!
  • Jewel
    Jewel T. Sent on 06/15/2019
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Delicious!

    Great Blue Heron is the exclusive caterer for the Northern Virginia Parks wedding and event venues. We did the tasting with them at our venue, the Woodlands at Algonkian. They're really experienced and they know what food makes a good event. They also managed the open bar. They are pretty flexible with options and price points. They give a buffet option and a plated option, with several options to cut/add options within those two. We chose plated meals and worked it to $60 per person. All of the staff were wonderful.

    One nice perk they offer is that as the bride and groom, we could choose *any* meal we wanted, at no upcharge! Our guests chose between sliced steak, chicken, and salmon, but I had crab cake and my husband had a filet steak.

    They also take care of ordering the table cloths and napkins, and set up and clean up at the venue.
  • Sarah
    Sarah Sent on 05/26/2019
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Delicious!

    Started at our tasting - which was amazing - their food is truly really good. They were super flexible with how we wanted to do our menu, any dietary restrictions, everything. They were very amicable about pricing, and on the day of the wedding everything went smoothly and was delicious. Everybody loved the food!
  • A
    Alexandra Sent on 06/18/2019
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Amazing food!

    We got married April 2019 and used them as our caterer. The food, drinks, and service were all amazing! Bianca the catering manager was there the day and night of the wedding to ensure everything went smoothly. We went with the buffet and full bar and our guests raved about it. Would definitely use them again for another event.
  • M
    Michelle Sent on 04/15/2019
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Well Worth It

    My guests were blown away with the food overall! Both the appetizers and main dish were amazing! I especially liked that the company has a policy where no matter what you serve your guests, the bride and groom can have whatever we wanted (the guests had chicken and beef options with the buffet, we had salmon). Many people came up to us saying how they plan to keep our venue in mind just because they were catered by Great Blue Heron!
  • Reign1701A
    David Sent on 10/12/2019
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Great Food, Amazing Staff

    We got married at Woodlands at Algonkian, which contracts with Blue Heron. We repeatedly got compliments about how good the food was. We enjoyed our tasting and because there were so many delicious selections, we had a tough time narrowing down our menu. The catering crew on our wedding day was totally professional and were SUPER attentive to my wife and I the whole evening.
  • Heidi
    Heidi Sent on 02/26/2019
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Thank you, Liz!

    Wow! Our food was incredible! I have never seen so many steaks cooked to medium rare perfection at a wedding. We absolutely loved working with Great Blue Heron and the food couldn't have turned out better. Between our cocktail hour reception snacks, delicious main courses, and the flowing bar, I can't decide what my favorite part was. Some hidden perks to working with Great Blue Heron is that the venue coordinator Cori and the catering coordinator Liz work really well together. I can't tell you how relieved we were to be able to easily coordinate with everyone involved. We worked together at the tasting to build our menu, were able to coordinate special meals for a few guests including my husband and my sister, and were able to communicate about day of timeline using a google doc. Our meals were perfectly timed, high quality, and left our guests happy. Thank you, Great Blue Heron!
  • L
    Lindsay Sent on 12/10/2018
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Everyone complimented the food!

    It’s rare that food on a buffet for 150 actually tastes good but GBH made that happen and our guests loved the meal! GBH is Meadowlark’s in-house catering company and if you’re looking at Meadowlark for a vendor, highly recommend GBH! The tasting went on for forever and there are so many options!
  • H
    Hilary Sent on 11/14/2018
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Food was wonderful

    Everyone at the wedding said how wonderful the food was! The staff was amazing!
  • Wendy
    Wendy Sent on 11/06/2018
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    amazing taste & nothing was dry!

    We booked our wedding venue with River View at Occoquan, which is one of the Nova parks. They partner with Blue Heron so they automatically became our caterer for the wedding and... it was a great experience having them cooking for my wedding!

    Everything from the cocktail food to the actual dinner was AMAZINGGGGG!! We did buffet and the food was very much not dry and absolutely splendid in taste! All of our guests raved about the salmon and the beef tenderloin. And on point service!!
  • Gloria
    Gloria Sent on 10/16/2018
    5 out of 5 rating
    • Quality of service
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Average response time
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Professionalism
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Value
      5.0 out of 5 rating
    • Flexibility
      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Everything was incredible!

    Their whole team was on point and the chef is clearly an artist. Food, drinks and service at our wedding were all fantastic :) THANK YOU!
illustration stars

Are you interested?

Send a message