YoChef's Catering Company

it where it is deserved: Elizabeth was wonderful throughout our experience, and the serving staff worked incredibly hard under circumstances that were clearly not their fault. We had previously used this company for our welcome party/rehearsal dinner of approximately 25 people, and that experience was excellent. The food was beautiful and everything went smoothly. Unfortunately, our experience with our 130-person wedding was drastically different. For a plated dinner—not a buffet—we were staffed at approximately one server per 30 guests despite paying more than $7,000 for catering services. The staffing level became painfully apparent as the evening progressed. Dinner service ended up running approximately an hour and a half behind schedule. Despite providing our final guest count a month before the wedding—and ultimately having approximately five fewer guests attend than expected—there were not enough salads prepared. Additionally, a special dressing required for guests with dietary needs had been left approximately 45 minutes away at their facility, requiring someone to drive back and retrieve it. These issues contributed significantly to the delay. Our steak entrée was also served without steak knives. On top of that, the steak was supposed to be prepared medium but many portions were served closer to rare or medium-rare. Prior to the wedding, I had also provided a table-priority list for dinner service. That list was essentially disregarded. My own father, seated directly across from me at Table 1, was never served dinner, along with several other guests. We were later told this was because some guests were "not in their seats" when servers came around. In reality, some had simply stepped up to the bar to get a drink during what had already become an extremely delayed dinner service. The delays affected far more than dinner. Our reception timeline was pushed back so severely that our videographers captured **none of the dancing portion of our wedding**. Dancing did not begin until well after 8:00 p.m., and eventually I personally began dismissing guests from dinner because, at the rate service was progressing, we were approaching 8:30p.m. before dancing would even begin. Our event ended at 11:00 p.m. due to local noise restrictions. Because of these delays, an entire portion of our wedding that we paid professional videographers to document simply was not captured. That is something we can never recreate or get back. These were not minor inconveniences. They materially affected the timeline, experience, and memories of a wedding we spent a significant amount of money and time planning. Following the wedding, after extensive communication regarding the service failures, the company agreed to provide us with a 20% refund. We have now spent approximately three months trying to obtain that agreed-upon refund. We ultimately involved legal counsel. Despite repeated follow-ups and multiple discussions regarding payment, we still have **not** received the refund that was agreed to.