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    Hott Catering

    4.8 (76 reviews)
    Closed 9:00 am - 9:00 pm

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    Kermit Z.

    I am not a San Diego native, but I was fortunate to have my dream wedding in San Diego earlier this month. Let me tell you that HOTT Catering provided me and my wife with the best wedding catering experience I could have asked for. They were professional, flexible, and kind throughout the entire process from when we first found them to the day of our wedding. Most importantly, their food was top notch. As someone who was raised in a Chinese household and my wife being Korean, both our families are quite particular about our respective cuisines. Through the whole process, Chef Tho and Alexus were kept working with us to help us get our dream menu for our guests and let me tell you, they absolutely raved about how delicious the food is. We are still hearing about it to this day. In addition, Ashleigh, our point person on the day of the wedding was beyond professional and warm. She independently handled the entire catering side of the service and set it up perfectly without any issue. I can't thank HOTT Catering enough for all their help in making my dream wedding come true, and I would recommend them in a heartbeat to anyone looking for a wedding or event caterer specializing in Asian cuisine. You will be in excellent hands from start to finish.

    Anna N.

    My husband and I were fortunate enough to have HOTT cater our wedding in San Diego! We both are Vietnamese and having good wedding food was super important to us and our families. The majority of our wedding guests were family and friends that flew from all over (Bay Area and Sacramento, Texas, Georgia, etc.) and the fact that all of our guests complimented the wedding dinner made us feel super accomplished! Alexus and Chef Tho are so friendly and they made the wedding planning process easy for us as well. We were also pleased with how the HOTT team presented themselves at our wedding and they made the table setting elegant with their dish ware! We highly recommend HOTT, you won't regret it!

    Rebecca H.

    So good, our guests literally APPLAUDED Chef Tho! We're so happy we found HOTT Catering for our wedding reception in January (belated review). We wanted a more traditional, family-style plated meal, and HOTT was the perfect blend of choosing our own venue and having Chinese banquet food. We had a mix of guests from all different backgrounds at our reception. Everyone was raving about how delicious the food was, even some guests who aren't as adventurous in their usual choice of cuisine. My picky Taiwanese relatives and foodie Hong Kong friends had only great things to say. I had a lot of questions about dietary restrictions, set-up, etc. and Ashleigh delivered on all of it. We had guests that had seafood allergies and others who were gluten-free. Chef Tho made sure that these portions were cooked separately and I got feedback from these guests that these dishes were also delicious - huge step up from the basic pasta dishes that those with dietary restrictions usually get at weddings. Since we were mindful of our budget, we did our research far and wide. HOTT was hands down the best bang for our buck. Prices were reasonable, clearly stated on their site, and included the plates and silverware. No crazy hidden fees or upcharges that others were pushing on us. HOTT Catering was even able to coordinate the cake cutting and placing our wedding favors out as part of the package. Ultimately, everyone has a few wedding regrets, but choosing HOTT Catering will never be one of them for us. Huge thanks to Chef Tho, Ashleigh, and the rest of the HOTT team!

    fried crab claws with minced shrimp
    Jillian W.

    This review is long overdue (I got married a year ago), but I have to rave about Hott Catering. My husband and I absolutely loved the food and one of the top comments that our guests made even to this day is that our wedding food was the best they ever had. Even people who aren't super familiar with Asian food loved it. The food tastes high quality and being made onsite means it's "hott" and fresh. Some of the standout dishes were the crab claws, lobster tail with garlic noodles, filet mignon cubes, fish maw soup, and baby clam in shrimp crackers hors d'oeuvre. The staff was very friendly, approachable, and professional throughout pre-wedding communication and day-of. The only thing I would say could be improved is that the mango sticky rice we requested as dessert (replacing the jackfruit sticky rice on their menu) had mangoes that weren't quite ripe enough. Hott originally warned us they may not be able to get ripe mangoes at the time of our wedding (May), but ultimately said they could. They do kindly welcome comments and requests for specific adjustments which we really appreciated. We're so happy we went with them knowing we wanted something different than the typical wedding food we see and Hott really delivered. Whenever we think of our wedding, we wish we could have the food again. Overall, we highly recommend!

    Table decorations
    Tammy P.

    We had a chance to host a wedding reception last weekend and work with HOTT CATTERING at one of their partner venues, The Bougainvillea Village in El Cajon City, truly a spectacular, cozy and romantic place. We provided the wedding reception with the entertainment program, sound set-up, and decorations. The villa is located in a hill top that offers a beautiful scenery with the mountains view. We were there during the golden hour and the sunset view was incredible! HOTT CATERING makes delicious tasty foods by Chef Tho Ho. They are very professional, on time, and the staff is amazing! It's such a pleasure to work with them. I highly recommend you all for their great foods and services. Here is their contact and a few photos from the wedding reception. Executive Chef Tho Ho: (858) 314-0321 Head Chef Toan Ho: (858) 952-3334 Website: www.hottcater.com

    5-Star Service! Hott Catering is the best wedding caterer in San Diego County - especially if you are looking for a traditional, family-style, multiple-course plated wedding meal. My spouse is the son of Vietnamese immigrants, and it was very important to him that we have a traditional, multiple course Vietnamese dinner at our wedding. We found Hott Catering online before we even found our venue. In fact, one of the main reasons that we chose our venue (Japanese Friendship Garden) was because Hott Catering was an approved vendor. For good reason! Their service is spectacular, and extremely professional. From first contact, Hott Catering treated us like family. I remember being nervous to contact them, as I was not sure how navigating a multi-cultural wedding would go. Alexus, the fantastic Event Coordinator I worked with, assured me that Hott Catering was very used to providing services for couples marrying from different backgrounds. For example, she had great suggestions for menu items that typically appeal to all preferences. We had a fantastic wedding dinner tasting and the Head Chef Tho was extremely receptive to any feedback we had. The menu on the day of was fantastic - I don't even have many photos to share because the food was so good we were all just eating it!! I've attached the few photos I have from the wedding and some photos from the wedding dinner tasting. Also, I want to compliment the staff on accommodating our guests with diet preferences. Specifically, we had one guest with extreme allergies (seafood, nuts, dairy) and she told us that she had never felt better attended by servers than at our wedding. Seriously, book this fantastic team! Whenever we talk to guests about our wedding, the first thing they always bring up how incredible the food was. Our Vietnamese guests loved its traditionality, and our guests from other backgrounds were so impressed by the grandeur and tastiness. This team made our wedding fantastic.

    Crispy Swai Fish Filet with Spicy & Sweet Passion Fruits Sauce

    Alexus and Chef Tho are very detail attentive and responsive! We did family style catering for our wedding and the guests loved all the dishes! We also loved all the dishes ( especially the lobster) during our tasting session with them! Thank you Hott Catering for making our day even more special! :)

    Tuan B.

    We just had Hott Catering in charge of the food for our wedding reception and can't be happier. If balancing the budget for the event causing you headache (choosing a great venue but must compromise your food selection, or vice versa), I highly recommend consider this catering business and their partner venue. Few remarks on our experience working with them 1. Service: Professional. We have an assigned event coordinator who not only keeps us on track with the deadline and pay attention to details to help us elevate the experience for our guests (napkin holder, candle holder, timing for outdoor event, etc.) 2. Foods: Excellent. I think pictures speak better than thousand words. And one comment from our guests "The quality of food at your reception really shows appreciation to the guests who travel long distance to be here today" 3. Venue: Romantic. If you like spending good time with your loved ones and friends in a cozy atmosphere (live music surrounding by string light) with an epic canyon/mountain view, you should consider their partner venue as well. 4. Budget: Flexible. Their package fee are posted on the website but again they are willing with your budget without compromising the food quality.

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    5 months ago

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    2 years ago

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    Thank you Tammy. We hope to see you again soon at the next event!!

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    9 months ago

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    Thank you Emily!!

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    2 years ago

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    Thank you Liz.

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    Thank you for your comment.

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    Thank you ANh! We are so happy that you enjoyed our food and services.

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    Page 1 of 2

    Ask the Community - Hott Catering

    Review Highlights - Hott Catering

    Chef Tho and Ashleigh were both very accommodating to us and we both couldn't be more appreciative to them.

    Mentioned in 25 reviews

    Read more highlights

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    I was looking for a caterer for a small {50 guests}wedding. After talking to 9 different…read morecompanies, I chose Flavor Chef. during my first call I could tell the owner was all about making my wedding perfect and serving the food my guests would love. Well he did not disappoint, from the appetizers to the desserts, each course was a hit. I am still getting compliments about the food served. I guess the best part of my experience with Perfect Chef was how easy they were to work with, nothing was too hard or complicated. Their staff were efficient and polite and did it all with a smile. Did I mention their cost was less then the other catering companies. I guess my experience was like the other reviewers....EXCELLENT. I would use them again and definitely recommend them to family and friends.

    I can't speak to the quality of the product from this organization however I was just driving home…read moreon Rancho Bernardo Road on Sunday, August 23 at 1:40 PM. A service truck with all of the advertising for Flavor Chef Catering was driving extremely erratically, well over the speed limit, and was tailgating me to the point that I was worried they would hit me. I was turning into my residential area with my signal on when the driver of this truck tried to split the lanes and almost caused an accident. When you have all of your advertising on a panel truck, you need to understand that that's just as important as having a good or bad product. I would never use this company and I would make sure that if I ever have the chance I would let people know not to use them either. Driving so erratically that they almost caused an accident is more damaging than a bad meal.

    Culinary Kitchen Catering and Events - Baby Shower Grazing Table

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    Writing this after our wedding this past weekend. The event was a total success and SO much of that…read morehad to do with the amazing food from JP at Culinary Kitchen! I had guests coming up to me telling me how they quite literally cleaned their plates and went back for seconds. JP really went above and beyond to provide us with the best service and experience. He even made sure we were fed pre-ceremony. An all around wonderful guy. He's communicative, detail oriented, and a wonderful partner in what can be a stressful planning process. Could not recommend him and his team enough.

    I hate to do this, as I understand what a bad review can do for a small business.. but after seeing…read morethe other reviewer who stated that JP backed out of their wedding (who, I'm not affiliated with in any way), I think my experienced needs to be shared, as I hope this will help other couples. I gave JP (owner) an incredible amount of grace throughout the process and yet, he still managed to screw us. It was not a single issue, but a failure on multiple levels. THE SHORT VERSION: 1) he was very unprofessional overall in his communication. 2) he backed out of bar service a few days before our wedding and ghosted us after the wedding without a refund, 3) without exaggeration, some of the food at the wedding was inedible THE LONGER VERSION: The tasting went amazing. Ashley (who no longer works there) was extremely communicative. They asked for 50% as a deposit (which is pretty high) but the food was really good so we accepted. However, the tasting was the only good thing about our experience... 1. He was unreachable for months leading up to our wedding. The company phone number was either not taking calls, or went straight to voicemail. No response to emails. He finally got back to me about one month before our wedding (we thought we got scammed at that point). I gave him the benefit of the doubt despite all of this 2. He backed out of providing bar services a week before the wedding. I knew something was off when he wouldn't provide us with an shopping lists for our cocktails, despite following up. A few days before our wedding, our coordinator told us that his bartenders did not have proper certification and without one, could not serve alcohol (note: this was merely an RBS certification... EVERY OTHER bar service that we spoke with met this requirement). I specifically asked at contract signing if they were certified. Also, JP did not inform us that he was dropping out. I had to text him myself for confirmation, as I was unsure if he was going to hire other bartenders, if they would obtain the certificate, or if he was dropping out. Only then did he tell me he would not provide bar service. Again, this was 7 days before the wedding. He also took 3 more days to clarify exactly what service he would no longer be providing, when we obviously needed to know asap as we were scrambling to secure another bar service Even though this certification is the minimum requirement for many venues, he tried to pass the blame onto the venue, stating that he never encountered this requirement before (how is this possible? As a wedding caterer, he should have been familiar with these requirement, whether or not he met them). Huge red flag. Despite this, I didn't make this an issue 3. He promised to refund us for the bar service but ghosted us after the wedding. I disputed the charge and he finally responded, threatening to sue. 4. He was unreachable on the morning of the wedding. Again, poor communication.. 5. The food failed to meet even our lowest standards. The 50% deposit really had our hands tied and we couldn't back out despite the red flags. As long as he showed up and served food that was remotely close to our tasting, we'd be happy. However, he totally skimped out on the quality and quantity. For example, our passed appetizers were smoked salmon bagels. I'm not sure if he used old bagels or what, but the bagels were stale and rock hard. My friend tried to bite down on one and immediately spit it out. My aunt had to warn guests not to eat them. He swapped out some of the items that we paid for with inferior options (ie: we paid for a fig and honey roll... he just added a basic dinner roll). Guests told us they were confused that our menu did not match the food. Some guests got half a dinner roll (meaning they didn't have enough) The main entrées did not match the quality or size of the original dish we were promised at the tasting. I understand that preparing a meal for 2 people is not the same as 100 people, and there is inherently a drop in quality on the wedding day. However, this was completely different. Many guests attested that the salmon entree was inedible as it was incredibly dry and overcooked. Look at the photo of the tri-tip I uploaded and the difference between what we were promised and what we received We asked for leftovers to be packed but never received them. All in all, I was super understanding and even allocated 15% as tip for his team despite his poor communication. Despite this, the fact that he never gave us a refund for the bar service is appalling.

    Hott Catering - catering - Updated August 2026

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