Heritage Tavern Catering Reviews
Reviews
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3.7 out of 5 rating
3.7 out of 5 rating
4 Reviews
74% recommend it
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Kayta G. Sent on 08/03/2021
The absolute greatest food!
My husband and I value delicious food, and we knew we wanted this to be highlighted at our wedding. Heritage did not disappoint!! We had so many of our guests share with us that this was by far the best food they had ever had at a wedding, and we absolutely agree!
We had selected the braised pork shoulder, confit fjord trout, and mushroom and spinach gnocchi. All of the selections were heavenly!! The pork melted in your mouth, the trout was cooked to perfection and the gnocchi was dynamic and delicious! Heritage is on the higher end of cost in the Madison area catering, but I cannot emphasize enough that it was worth absolutely every penny. We were elated - and so were our guests.
Leading up to our wedding, Betsy did a great job coordinating with us and communicating directly with Chef Dan Fox to ensure that we knew exactly what to expect given what was in season and sourced locally. The team was also very well staffed the day of our wedding and served a plated dinner to ~150 guests in a professional, efficient and effective manner.
The display boards during happy hour were exquisite! We were so pleased with our experience with Heritage and would recommend them to any couple that values divine food. -
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![Natalie]()
Natalie Sent on 07/24/2021Quality local ingredients
Heritage was recommended to us for our wedding. We got 4 quotes for catering companies in Madison. 3 were around $77 per guest and Heritage was $116 per guest. The cost was over what we had allocated for catering as we had a lot of guests. You will find when you are wedding planning that Catering and your Venue are your biggest costs. We hired Heritage for our Rehearsal Dinner instead. Amanda, from Heritage, was really nice and worked with us on a menu that matched out budget for our Rehearsal Dinner. Dinner was Ham/ turkey sandwiches, cheese platter, pickled veggies, and berry tarts. Cost was $45 per guest. The sandwiches were very good and Heritage made sure we had almost 2 per guest and all the guests told us they loved the sandwiches. The food was good quality and was local ingredients.
Communication was a challenge when working with this vendor. Our event was in July. In April I emailed regarding an update in guest count and to double check if some materials were being supplied. I did not receive a response, even after several followup emails. I finally got ahold of them by May via call. They confirmed they had the email but did not give me any answers. 3 weeks before our rehearsal dinner I call again to get answers to my 2 simple questions. I’m told I am calling too early and that due to being busy and the low order size that they are not prioritizing my event until the week of. I was not able to get answers until 1 week before the event. When planning a wedding, many details need to be locked in at least several weeks before the event. Each wedding has many vendors that need to be managed. To leave someone without resolution until such short notice is a risk, in case there are logistics which fall through, adequate notice needs to be given in order to plan for contingencies. -
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![Jen]()
Jen J. Sent on 05/13/2020Do not book with them!
I began working with Heritage Catering over 18 months before my wedding date (June 2020). I went through two "coordinators" between initial contact in January of 2018 and the occurrence prompting this review, which occurred in January/February 2020. My first coordinator was great, she helped create an initial itemized proposal and set up a tasting for my fiance and I. It was at our tasting that we were informed we would be moving forward with a new coordinator. We met her that day. She was brand new to the company, so we tried to give her the benefit of the doubt, but I had concerns from day 1. She was flighty in our conversation and even flightier in e-mail communication. We went weeks without receiving our updated proposal after our tasting and there were countless errors. Again we moved forward, changing errors as they arose and trying to be patient... I out of the blue received an email from this coordinator January 24th stating "the 29th will be my last day" and that I would be connected with my new coordinators before then. I did not receive another email until February 18th. I set a phone call with the new coordinator for February 24th, I was under the impression this was to get to know my new coordinator. I was very wrong. I found out on this date, LESS THAN FOUR MONTHS BEFORE MY WEDDING, that my entire proposal was done incorrectly, processed and "approved" incorrectly, and "could not be executed as promised". By done incorrectly I'm talking about price per item, number of chefs needed, number of servers needed, the whole nine yards. Apparently the coordinator I had been working with wasn't doing her job correctly and was let go. Multiple proposals were found to be under-priced... just like mine. While the individual that called me was pleasant and apologetic, she did not budge on the fact that something would need to be changed. She told me our event was going to be severely understaffed and the food would be compromised. She said we needed another chef at least. She suggested changing our salad to family style. She also suggested changing our cocktail hour appetizers to stationary, rather than passed. She also suggested changing the structure of our entrees. I firmly stated we would not be giving the company another dollar. They were at the top of our budget and the changes they were suggesting totaled over $3,000. I also firmly stated I would not be compromising on service - we chose a plated dinner (including the salad) and we had already ordered our invitations and RSVP cards indicating meal choice (beef, chicken, or veggie). She discussed making changes to our selections, stating "we can't lose money on an event". I remained calm all the while thinking none of this is my fault and now I have to change my plans? I panicked knowing with less than four months to go the likelihood of finding another reputable caterer was slim. I was at a loss as to how to proceed.I gave the caterer a week to come up with changes to our proposal that would meet everyone's needs. I specifically offered an openness to changing how dishes were plated and the entire construction of our chicken dish, something we had not specifically tried during our tasting. I felt I was being very flexible when I could have been enraged and rigid throughout the conversation. We went forward with changing that and I was under the impression everything was all set. Next, COVID-19 struck and we ended up postponing to next year, June 2021, for everyone's health and safety. Heritage was our only vendor not timely in their response to postponement. It took 2 weeks for them to confirm they were available our new date. We finally got a response from our now 4th coordinator saying we were re-booked for our new date. We had an email exchange about adding linens to our proposal (something I had asked for 4 times with no avail) which she agreed to do. When I got the proposal back once again there were no linens added, but there were an extra $3000 worth of charges - an increase in the cost of bread, salad, one of our appetizers, an additional chef, and three additional servers. Also a new travel fee. I asked to speak with the manager/supervisor of the catering dept. I got an email response saying my contract would be terminated and my deposit would be returned because "we haven’t met your expectations. Also, it is very likely we will not, now nor in the future meet your expectations". We never even got an apology. This company put me through HELL for months and just dropped us to find a new caterer without ever having a real conversation with us. Long story short, DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY. This was the worst customer service I have ever experienced. They do not care about you or your day.. They do not take ownership of their own mistakes. They are poorly managed and rude.Heritage Tavern Catering's reply:
Jen,
I apologize for the way our contract to work together ended for your special day. It must be so frustrating as a bride to be dealing with so much uncertainty and to have plans unravel. We are upset that we can’t commit to your new wedding date at this time.
We’re a local, family run company with limited resources. When COVID-19 hit we were forced to lay off most of our staff & the remaining resources were poured into shifting our business model to keep our company going. We appreciate how patient you’ve been while working with us. Our team apologizes for dropping the ball on communication.
I appreciate the time you took to write this review. Our team is changing & your feedback will be taken as a lesson for planning, or unplanning, future events.
You’re a lovely couple & we wish the best of luck to you.
Sincerely,
🦊🦊🦊
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