The food was delicious, and Mark and his staff were absolutely amazing. Many of our guests commented on how friendly and accommodating they were. Mark was also a great communicator; he reached out a few times before the wedding to check for menu changes and confirm the guest count. Most of our guests went back for seconds, and there was plenty of food for everyone. I can't say enough good things about Affordable Chef Services--I highly recommend them! I rarely write reviews, but Mark truly helped make our wedding a success. read more

Mark and his team were professional and easy to communicate with. We hired them to do some a la carte catering for our wedding and he nailed it. The food was on point and the somewhat complicated order was easily handled by his team. He even threw in some extra cake pops for dessert which were a HUGE hit with the kids! read more

We had the most lovely wedding!!! Mark's group took care of everything. Our memories of that day are so very special!

Mark was an absolute delight to work with... he helped me plan an amazing cocktail party the evening before my daughter's wedding. The food was beautifully presented and delicious... he accommodated any allergies that people attending had with ease. Wonderful service and beautiful food... 10/10.. no notes! I would not hesitate to hire Mark and his team again! read more

Chef Mark Gallagher (Affordable Chef Services) donated this event to support a local elementary school and I had heard such great remarks about Mark and his fantastic food + hosting that I kept bidding on this auction item until I won - Yay! This was a wonderful evening where Mark donated all the food and service towards the school along with my donation, all supporting the school. Then, he showed up with everything to put on a great event for me and my friends. This was a wonderful evening with delicous appetizers, entrees, sides and dessert. I was thrilled with everything and recommend him without hesitation. Thank you Mark for being a great member of the community, wonderful chef and an all-around fun cool guy! read more

We had a fabulous dinner party for 8 in Aptos! Mark did multiple courses, each one interesting and unique. He also accommodated a couple of vegetarians in our group. End of the night our kitchen was spotless and guests happy. Going to do this again soon. read more

Beware! Mark Gallagher signs contracts, takes money and disappears. I wish I could report that my daughter and son in law also had "great communication" and that their wedding guests enjoyed delicious food and seamless service at their wedding Memorial Day weekend, but Mark didn't show up at all. He did not return any calls or texts on the day of the wedding, leaving us to scramble to find tables, dishes, food, bartending, servers, etc for 150 guests and venue staff. Thus, I cannot comment on the quality of the food or service because THERE WAS NONE. As for communication, two days after the wedding, he sent an email that actually begins "I'm sorry I flaked on your event." I'm afraid I find that communique a bit lacking. There have been several convoluted,, ungrammatical emails and texts sent since, but all fail to explain why, apparently, no one besides Mark expected to provide service, food or bartending for this wedding which was arranged and paid for months in advance. It seems that no one in his employ had access to an address, phone number, email, or vehicle to attempt provision of services. He has intimated that our family's 1 star reviews are somehow to blame for his inability to even attempt to make this right. I'm confused as to how many stars he feels are warranted in this situation. The families of the bride and groom were stressed and distracted during what should have been a joyous day, and that can't be recovered. In this case, the one star reviews matter far more than the fives. **Update: 8/3/26 Received the same cut and paste reply to this review that he sent to others whose events he also failed to go to stating that he'd like to take "full responsibility" for the problem. Start by refunding the thousands of dollars you took in advance of our May event! We haven't seen a cent. read more

Accepting "full responsibility" for ruining our wedding would require, at a minimum, full refund of our deposit. Thus far, over 2 months later, we have yet received only a partial refund. read more

Take substantial amount of money but doesn't show up on wedding day to cater the event. Shame on him. Oh and keeps deleting negative reviews read more

To be blunt, I do not recommend hiring this company for your event. They unfortunately completely flaked on our wedding & event and we have been unable to get in contact with them to receive our money back. Currently we are preparing to go to court. Be warned read more

Mark was very responsive and was able to accommodate our small dinner party. He brought everything he needed and he was really great with both of my young kids. The food was good. I think we enjoyed the appetizers and dessert the most! read more

TLDR: NO SHOW, rude, thief, 0/5 stars Hey, gang! Please do not book these "services" - he no showed my wedding (5/25/26) after being booked for food, beverages, desserts, bartending, and all of our rentals (tables, chairs, dinnerware, etc.). No call, text, email, or anything. He still has not even attempted to reimburse us, and has only supplied us with excuse after excuse. All of this was after he was non-communicative, and rude throughout the planning process, including with out other vendors, as well as requesting that we pay in full nearly two months before our final payment was due. He's also flagging any negative reviews so that they get taken down! Woohoo, Mark - good one, pal! I beg, plead, and implore you to reconsider if this is your current choice for catering. Mark - if you take this down, I will just keep posting. I have other words for you, but I'll keep them to myself for now. Not AI - just a real, disappointed, and upset bride :( read more

Mark catered my surprise birthday on May 2nd. He set up early, was accommodating, and professional. Everyone loved the food! Affordable and just right for my event. Definitely recommend him! read more

Mark is an outstanding chef and cater to your every need. He has tons of experience and is very personable as well. I would recommend his services to anyone! read more

Everything was fantastic and we could not have asked for more. We used them for a total of 5 family events over the years and everything was always flawless. Highly recommend Mark and his team! read more

Chef Mark is the most outstanding and easy to work with caterer you will find. From menu design to event day execution, Chef Mark provides excellent product (food) and customer service. Great communicator and excellent food and menu options. Whatever you are planning, know that working with Chef Mark is genuinely a pleasure. read more

Mark / Affordable Chef Services was great for my wedding! Prompt, professional, delicious food! They presented it beautifully and everything tasted great!! I did not get to taste the appetizers as most brides don't while taking photos, but I heard from guests they were awesome. The dinner was so good and let me just tell you about the VEGETARIAN LASAGNA!!! I am not a vegetarian, but that may have been the best thing I've ever tasted. I am still dreaming about it. Thanks Mark for an epic wedding feast! read more

Affordable Chef Services - Caterers Near Me - Capitola , California

Mark and his team catered our wedding this past weekend and we were very happy with his pricing and services! He was easy to communicate with and willing to adjust the menu to our liking. He provided linens, extra tables, place settings, and bar service in addition to the delicious food! I received lots of positive feedback from guests (more than one person said it was the best wedding meal they've ever had) and my husband and I are still enjoying leftovers Definitely would use again and recommend to friends/family!! Thank you Mark!! read more

We selected Chef Mark for our daughter's wedding in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Doing business long-distance can be tricky, but not with Chef Mark. He is personable, knowledgeable, and professional. He catered to our picky eaters' tastes and patiently accommodated several menu changes, creating the perfect summer luncheon. Impeccable service, great communication (as we did most arrangements online or via phone due to distance), 100% punctual, a delicious menu to please all, and professional, friendly staffers as well. Highly recommend. read more

I honestly cannot write and praise Chef Mark and his crew enough!! They made our day amazing. We did not have to worry about anything. They were so on their game, and went as far as sending one of the servers out to us while we were taking photos so we could try the apps. They ran on time, and the food was delicious! They made the dinner for us at our venue (OVY Camp - San Greogrio, CA)and then also made a brunch for us that Sunday. They were the best we could have gotten. I so appreciated the fact that it truly was affordable. When compared to other caterers - they don't even come close to the quality and the amazing deal that you can get through Mark. If your're planning a wedding -or just an event- I would hire Mark no doubt. He is extremely easy to work with, mellow, but will also reply very very fast. They went above and beyond our expectations. read more

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Chef Mark and his crew were great to work with and the buffet was fantastic. As an event planner, I will definitely be hiring affordable chef again! read more

I hired Mark from Affordable chefs for my Fathers 80th Birthday . I live in southern California and the party was in Felton CA. I had a budget and wanted good food. He was the guy! Mark, came early to set up. Brought extra tables and chair, He had a very nice bartender. They hand passed appetizers and the food was really good and fresh. What I like is that they didn't have to ask me a lot of questions. I could enjoy the party and they took care of everything. Everyone was very happy with catering. I would hire him again. read more

Chef Mark was amazing! Helpful in so many little ways that added up to make a big impact. He was kind and patient with my step daughter as she hung out in the kitchen with him talking about her experience in her high-school catering class and how she's decided to go to culinary school. He stood look out for me as I got ready to walk down the aisle and made sure that I ate something. He moved our wedding cake (something I was very nervous about) flawlessly and prepared a delicious meal for our 25 guests. He was a pleasure to work with and a real professional. read more

Chef Mark came to our house and prepared a gourmet dinner for a group of friends celebrating surviving surgery and a birthday. He started with hors d'oevuvres which were delicious. He then plated salads, removed the plates and plated our entrees, which were either salmon or beef filet. Everyone had a stress free and delicious meal. He made everyone feel at ease and because of his service, the evening was successful. read more

Mark catered a private family dinner for 12 for my mother in law's birthday. Everything was easy and smooth and the evening went wonderfully. The food was delicious and the portions were huge. We especially loved the dessert course. We'd absolutely recommend Mark for your gathering! read more

Just had Affordable Chef cater our first after COVID vaccination birthday party. It was outdoors among family and close friends. They did incredible job! Delicious food ! Professional service . They took care of every detail and cleaned up at the end. I can't recommend them highly enough! Thank you Mark Gallagher read more

I'm still not rating this any higher, but I will say that as of today - he reimbursed my payment to him. It took two years, but it suddenly showed up in my PayPal account today. Holy Sh*tsnacks. I did not believe it would happen. I'm still never going to use him again, and I would recommend some way to pace your payment of him - but he finally made right. Thank you for doing the right thing. read more

I had the great experience of working with Chef Mark and his outstanding team this last weekend.  I was asked to help with my friends' wedding, from planning to day-of.  Chef Mark was fast to reply to all emails, and made their actual wedding day seamless.  His team was there setting up the moment the venue opened to us, and they were all professional and kind.  The tables looked beautiful and the food was tasty.  Everyone I talked to throughout the night raved about the appetizers being the best they'd ever had at a wedding!  On a personal note- Chef Mark just came across as a genuine good guy who works incredibly hard to make your event run smoothly.  I would recommend him and his team to anyone planning an event where you want to be able to trust that everything will get done, and be done beautifully. read more

We hired Mark to cater brunch for our wedding, and we were very impressed! He replies in a timely manner to questions, requests, and concerns. From the moment he reached out in response to my project on Thumbtack, Mark worked hard to accommodate our needs. He made sure that we felt good about the menu before we booked him, and had us over for a tasting. Additionally, he noticed an item we didn't originally include on the menu and graciously added it to the meal (potatoes!). Many of our guests made comments to us about how much they enjoyed the food, and everyone (about 130 people) had as much to eat as they wanted with food left over. My only regret was that as the bride I didn't have the chance to eat as much of that AMAZING French toast as I wanted!  One thing to note is that Mark is direct in his communication style. He is very professional, but there's no fluff or BS, like people might be used to experiencing in the service industry. He truly is great at what he does and we would hire him again in the future. read more

Mark and his team were wonderful from the start. He was always prompt to respond, kind, and quickly provided any updates to the menu/guest count/linen color change/ etc. We felt so comfortable working with Chef Mark right from the start and that was even more confirmed when we were able to finally meet him on our special day. Mark was adaptable to our decision to move where we were hosting dinner with such a supportive response "It is your day, we are serving dinner where you would like to" with no complaint at all. He arrived a few minutes early to make sure he and his team knew the venue layout and quickly got to work! He was personable making many guests laugh and smile (and even gave them sneak peak tastes into dinner and dessert!). Chef Mark also came down while we were eating to make sure that all guests were satisfied and boy were their smiles on everyones faces! We started with an array of appetizers from olive tapenade to turkey meatballs (my fav!) to ceviche. Our dinner was delicious- chicken, salmon, rice, asparagus, salad, and for dessert, chocolate cake and cheesecake (we ate it all!). All of the food was so good that we were getting texts the next day about all the specifics to our menu from our guests. I would HIGHLY recommend booking with Chef Mark if you want comfortable, reliable, and good vibes on your wedding day! read more

Mark was ALWAYS responsive and more than willing to make sure he understood fully what it was we envisioned for my daughter's wedding and then made that come to life on her special day.  The food was key to what she wanted with her intimate wedding setting at Bargetto Winery, and he knocked it out of the park.  In putting together a personal menu for both the appetizers and buffet style dinner, Mark was the perfect balance of allowing us to choose options but gently guiding us on the "how" we could get there, so that our guests would get the best quality out of the rustic Italiano choices. Mark also allowed us to stay on budget and understood what we wanted to achieve in that department as well, which was more than appreciated by us. Mark and his staff killed it on the big day, it was seamless and our guests raved about the food.  Thank you Mark for everything you did, we appreciate you!!!!! read more

We used Mark and his staff for our wedding in May at Roaring Camp, THEY WERE AMAZING! Our guests LOVED their meals and I'm still hearing about how good the food was! My husband and I completely missed our cocktail hour due to taking photos. I was super bummed because we had chosen to serve these delicious meatballs as an appetizer during it. Mark came over to check on us during dinner and I had told him how sad I was to have missed them and 5 mins later he appeared with my very own bowl full!! From the great communication before the wedding, setting up a tasting that was convenient for us, beautiful table settings/flatwear/glasses, attentive/friendly/professional/FUN staff and the DELICIOUS FOOD!!! We can not recommend Affordable Chef Services enough!!! read more

Affordable Chef Services - Our wedding buffet - Caterers Near Me - Capitola , California

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As I come up on my 3 year wedding anniversary, I'm yet again reminded that Mark is still owes us thousands of dollars. After not liking our tasting, and being told we could have our money back if we were unhappy with the tasting, it's been an incredibly long frustrating journey of trying to be repaid the stolen money. Time and again Mark would tell us he would finally make it right and then always he would go silent. I guess he thinks I'll just forget about all the money he stole if enough time goes by, but he's wrong. Mark - please make this right, I'm begging you. read more

Please note: I have not actually used the services of this company. This review is based solely upon initial contacts. So, back when I was planning on getting married in Santa Cruz, I emailed a number of different catering companies hoping to find what we were looking for. I got a response fairly quickly from Chef Mark Gallagher, but it turned out that our budget was really too low to get what we wanted at that point. Okay, no problem. Several weeks later, I got an email from him saying that he was "clearing off his desk" and had found our inquiry, and were we still needing a caterer. I thought, okay, he follows up, neat. So I responded back saying that by this time we had decided to marry farther north and wouldn't be using him. No response. Several weeks later, and then every other week since then (it's been months), we got the EXACT SAME EMAIL, or at least I assume they were all the same, because I stopped opening them eventually and directed his emails to my junk folder. Geez, guy, give it a rest! read more

I recently worked together with Mark for a beautiful event in a classic beachfront property in Aptos. Beyond his experience, I was impressed by his willingness to help with work beyond his normal scope of duty His staff helped move tables before the event, assisted the other services staff during the event, and clean the kitchen until spotless after a lovely dinner. I think it's wonderful that he can provide full rental services in addition to his delicious catering. For the area and the industry, Mark's beyond the call of duty. read more

Mark Gallagher and staff provided excellent food and service at a very important event, my mother-in-law's 80th birthday party. I informed him of some dietary restrictions, and he was able to adjust his menu and provide great choices for everyone. Thanks, Mark! read more

4.5 stars Mark is a kick. He catered for our wedding two weeks ago and was one of our favorite vendors. We had our friend plan our wedding and she was in constant contact with Mark. Mark never failed to reply to e-mails and was always really accommodating to us in terms of what we wanted. He's very much about the couple and their wedding day and "anything you want". We had a tasting with him at his place with my parents and they absolutely loved his food. The only caveat I had with the food was that it didn't taste as good at our wedding as it did during our tasting with him. But, my husband and I did grab food later into dinner service and by that time, some of the food had gone cold (it was an outdoor venue). Also, it's just not realistic to expect food to taste the same when you're preparing for 120 people as opposed to 4 people. He had two servers and one bartender working with him and I was a bit skeptical that they'd be able to handle that many guests but they did a wonderful job! However, they didn't haul all the trash off the property before they left, leaving behind several bags of trash behind some trees. My poor friend had to drive in a car full of ~10 trash bags (not all of them from dinner service) up highway 17, back to Sunnyvale. Overall, we had a great experience with Mark. The little caveats I listed were small details but they didn't detract from our overall experience. He's a wonderful guy (I even asked him to be one of our witnesses to sign our marriage license) and I would recommend him to cater your next event. read more

We hired Mark back in January for our June 26th wedding in Monterey He was simply the best. Mark maintained contact with us leading up to the actual day of the wedding. He is incredibly personal, and his easy going attitude really relieved a lot of stress from my wife. He knew what he was doing and everything was delivered as promised. His staff was wonderful and the food was a big hit. He made sure we didn't have to worry about anything the actual day. Mark was essentially a caterer and wedding planner all wrapped up in one! If we ever need a caterer again, we will definitely be going with Mark. I would recommend him to anyone. He's simply a great caterer and a great guy. read more

We hired Affordable Chef Services to cater three meals at the 2017 California State Horsemen's Association Trail Trials State Championship Event at Santa Cruz. We hosted 70 horses and their riders along with nearly 50 volunteer staff members at the Graham Hill Showgrounds and Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. We enjoyed our catered meals outdoors at the Santa Cruz County Horsemen's Association Club House. Mark and Blanca were completely professional every step of the way and ensured that we had enough food even when our dining guest count exceeded our original estimate. Mark met his promise, "I do not run out of food." Our guests were delighted and gave great compliments about the food and food service. I recommend Affordable Chef Services to enhance your Santa Cruz Experience! -Andrew Turnbull Chair, 2017 CSHA Trail Trials State Championship Event at Santa Cruz September 23-24, 2017 read more

I really cannot express enough of how wonderful of a job Mark and his team did to make our day the best day ever! I felt bad about how stressed I was as the bride going into the process of getting the catering details down, I had never planned a wedding before and I felt as if I was going to forget a little detail. Mark made this process SO easy for us with his at hand communication and straight to the point service. I was really thrown off at how laid back and confident he was and to be honest I almost felt unsure at times, but he definitely backed his game up with every detail!! We were blown away with his service and also the affordable pricing. My family and I love ribs and we were getting compliments all night of how tasty they were! Great job guys and thank you again!! Love Sara and Kyle July 25th 2015 Memory Garden Monterey CA read more