We cannot say enough wonderful things about our wedding chef. From the very beginning, they went above and beyond to make our day unforgettable. The food was absolutely amazing, and beautifully presented. But what truly set them apart was how easy they were to work with. My fiancé/wife had our wedding with them, which was obviously a stressful day to make sure everything went to plan. They were attentive, flexible, and incredibly thoughtful throughout the entire process, stepping in to help with details we didn't even think to consider. THANK YOU CHEF TOM!! read more

If you've been to Polihale Beach, you know it's as gorgeous yet inhospitable as Kauai gets. We asked Chef Tom to create a beach picnic for 4 that we could transport (ourselves) to this remote beach. We had a beautiful charcuterie tray with fresh fruits, prosciutto, Parma ham, seasoned cheeses, tapenade, etc. It was as enticing to look at as its lovely flavors were to behold. Additionally Chef Tom prepared a sashimi grade tuna Niçoise salad tray with jammy eggs, seasoned red potatoes, and a myriad of other complimentary items that we drizzled with his amazing dressing. Ooo la la!!! And to top it off desserts that make your eyes roll back into your head! . I'm googling trying to find a way to recreate! Thank you, Chef Tom, for an exquisite picnic in a heavenly corner of Kauai read more

Kauai Custom Catering - Tuna Niçoise salad - Caterers Near Me - Kalaheo, Hawaii

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Chef Tom is amazing!! We worked with him when we visited Kaua'i on spring break. He cooked dinner for our family of 5 for two nights. He was easy to communicate with ahead of our trip. He came to our rental house prepared and quickly figured out his way around the kitchen. He was very accommodating to our requests and early schedule for our young kids. The food was delicious and highlighted local flavors and ingredients. It was a highlight of our trip - great meals that we could enjoy at our own pace in a low-key, environment for us and our kids. Would highly recommend!!! read more

Chef did a picnic for our group of four. We had enough to enjoy a few meals. It was beautifully prepared and absolutely delicious. The fresh fruit and the salad dressing along with fresh tuna made this meal very special. Highly recommend. read more

Pros: Tom's food was delicious and creative. His vivacity and passion for flavor extended beyond our expectations. He not only helped create a celebration at each meal, he also brought his flare to every detail leaving us with special and unforgettable memories. We are grateful. Cons: First, we had an admittedly long list of dietary requirements. Tom said he'd be able to accommodate our requests, but the first meal had multiple ingredients that were on our "no" list. He clearly had not paid attention. Second, we got a price for Tom's time and agreed we'd pay for food. We made the mistake of paying him before getting an invoice. He repeatedly promised to send it, but it wasn't until our Air BnB host contacted him did we receive a uselessly general invoice. On top of the professional fee, he charged us **$500 for food for three meals for two people** (plus some items we couldn't eat because of our health needs) and never provided receipts. Be more careful in your business agreement than we were, and you'll have a lovely experience! read more

Thomas catered our wedding in July and not only was the food phenomenal but he was so kind, helpful, and responsive throughout the entire process! After the wedding so many guests were telling my husband and I how delicious the food was- both dinner and the appetizers. I can't express how grateful we are to have had Thomas help make our day so incredible! read more

The chef and staff at Custom Catering Hawaii were professional, helpful, friendly and prepared outstanding food for our party. Thomas was so easy and fun to work with in coming up with a menu. He used fresh over the top fresh ingredients like sushi grade ahi, mongchong, crab, local veggies and herbs. Our guests were thrilled with the food, service and felt special and honored to have been present. This was not the first time we had hired Custom Catering Hawaii and it would be the last! read more

Kauai Custom Catering - Caterers Near Me - Kalaheo, Hawaii

Chef Thomas and his team were hired last month for my wedding reception. They did a fantastic job! We had the event at a beach house on the east side of Kauai and they took care of everything. Very professional, excellent service, Ono food, and very clean. They cleaned up everything after the party and it looked like they were never there. They also left behind the leftover food for us to enjoy later :) I would definitely recommend Custom Catering / Chef Thomas. Note to Chef Thomas: If you ever open up that restaurant on the island, please let me know so I can visit when I come back on vacation! read more

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Chef Tom is an amazing Chef. I've had the opportunity to have many of his wonderful creations and they have all exceeded my expectations. In addition to his fabulous dinners, I've attended some private parties where Chef Tom prepared all the food from appetizers, multiple entries and fabulous desserts. I was blown away with his creative talents and solid fundamentals of cooking. Truly a first class Chef. In addition to his cooking skills you will love his warm and outgoing personality. He makes everyone feel right at home and he cleans up after himself. What a treat. I would highly recommend Chef Tom for any event you may be planning on Kauai, you will not be disappointed. Carol & Tom , Harbor Springs, read more

Tommy catered our wedding anniversary party in our home last night for about 40 people. He started with three different passed pupus that included fresh ahi, a delicious mushroom spread and crab won tons that melted in your mouth. A small plates dinner followed with Niçoise salad, lightly fried Monchong and lamb lollipops. Every morsel was delicious. The bonus to this wonderful meal were Tommy, his wife and delightful staff. What a great team and a joy to be around. There can't be a better caterer on Kauai. read more

Booking a caterer was a last minute deal for our daughter's wedding. The menu I got did not inspire confidence, but you have to work with what you have. I made a plan for 'boosting' the catering with extra so we would be ok if doing the wedding was just too big a job for Thomas. With around 120 to feed a misfire from the caterer would be a big dilemma and I was worried! Until I met him a week and a half before the wedding. I have personal business experience in catering, event planning and weddings in particular in San Francisco, where expectations are very high. Only a few short minutes into the conversation I could feel the knot in my tummy begin to loosen. Clearly Thomas was going to be able to deliver a solid product. He was creative and cooperative about brainstorming with me how we could 'up' the event and didn't bat an eye when I asked if his people could manage the additional buffet items I had planned. There was no attitude at all, and he just noted that he might need one more person to help manage the additional appetizers. When I found out he had china available, (gold rimmed ivory Noritaki) I was beyond happy that I would be able to leave the plastic I had been planning on in the boxes. (Kauai has not got party rentals available in the way you do on the Mainland. Tents, tables, stages and chairs, yes. China, linens, silver, serving pieces, not at all. If you don't get china thru your caterer, or have your own, disposable is pretty much it.) The info that he had china available had not been passed to me when he was booked, but he just made a note and said 'no problem.' The day of the wedding Thomas arrived early with his team and set up his kitchen and got cooking. The location we had it at (Kekaha Harbor House) does not have a set up for a caterer so he turned the car port into full service kitchen. I said hi and moved on to all the other things I had to tend to. When the wedding rolled around the buffet was set up and ready for the food to come out, and looked beautiful. The decorations, flowers, linens, candles, etc had been attractively used, as nicely as if I had done it myself. And those are not words you hear from me every day! The reception launched and the appetizer buffet was great. The passed pupus were delicious. He had taken what I had provided, mostly cheeses, charcuterie and antipasta, added it to what he was providing, and made it all look great. And he had even found the six pound bag of shrimp that were marinating in olive oil and garlic among all the other stuff in the fridge. And cooked it and put it out. I had totally forgotten about it and had not done it that afternoon as I had planned. Thomas just made it happen, and he totally did NOT have to do that! The dinner buffet appeared in a timely fashion; right about when I looked around to check on it I saw him putting on the finishing touches. Seamless! The appetizers were cleared during dinner and the dessert buffet flipped in. Again, everything looked lovely, and tasted great. Thomas and his crew were so on top of everything that I never had to follow up on anything. They had taken care of it almost before I even noticed anything and were already moving on to next task. I can not tell you how rare that is. Or how grateful I was. His clean up was quick, thorough and invisible. Before I knew it he was checking in with me to see if there was anything else I needed before they left. But they had everything covered, as usual and all I could do was thank him for making it so I had time to enjoy the party along with all the rest of the friends and family. I had not expected such a gift! There are a few things that would be useful to know about working with Thomas; He normally is pretty busy, and while he is happy to take a late booking, don't count on it. Earlier is better. He does not take credit cards, or PayPal. Plan on using checques. That was a minor nuisance for me, but such a tiny one! Just know it going in. His food is good. Really tasty. Be forewarned that he tends to prepare things a bit on the spicy side. If that works for your palate, cool. If not let him know to tone it down a bit. Thomas is super professional without being rigid, and is easy to work with. I made a lot of last minute changes to the contract and his increase to cover them was beyond fair. Ask for what you want and then figure out what you can have. He is great at working with a budget. And don't worry if you have a crowd, Thomas can handle a big party just as well as a smaller event. All I can say is Mahalo Nui!! read more

My wife and I planned our Kauai wedding from California, and we were somewhat uneasy about picking our caterer by surfing the internet. However, we really lucked out by hiring Chef Thomas for the job. Tom was very helpful and flexible as we selected the food to be served at our wedding reception and banquet, allowing us to give our guests a variety of choices. The food itself was simply spectacular! Tom prepared an amazing set of hors d'oeuvres and dinner entrées, and many of our guests told us it was the best food they have ever had at a wedding. My wife and I also appreciated Tom's warm and effervescent personality, and it was a real pleasure to work with him. Tom should open his own restaurant. We would travel again to Kauai just to eat there. read more

Chef Tom is awesome! My wife and I visited Kauai on our honeymoon and Chef Tom served us a private dinner one evening. He and Jeannine arranged a lovely spot for us on the beach and Tom prepared us a delicious meal that was hands down the best dinner we had on the island!! They even picked up a couple bottles of my wife's favorite wine. Tom is a genuinely friendly guy that truly cares about his clients and ensuring that they have a great experience. I couldn't have asked for a better evening. read more

Wow, Wow, Wow!! Wanted to surprise my wife with a private dinner for our 33rd anniversary. The concierge at the resort we were staying recommended Chef Thomas. We were fortunate that he had an open date for a beach front dinner. Everything was above and beyond my expectations. Our table was set right next to waves crashing on lava rocks, tiki torches lit for a little more ambiance!! A nice Prosecco to start the evening along with Ahi crustini's and mushroom crustini's. Chef Ryan and Jeanine were very attentive and you could tell they enjoyed preparing the food as much as we enjoyed eating it! A nice bottle of red came out (ok it was two bottles) for our main course. My wife had a beautiful Seared Ahi with Mango Salsa and I had a huge Rib Eye with fresh asparagus. Our meal was topped off with a Creme Brulee caramelized right at our table. Oh, I almost forgot. The sunset was better than our meal (sorry Chef). Truly a remarkable evening. read more

Chef Thomas will always have a special place in our memory. Our wedding food was AMAZING! Many months after our wedding, when we meet up with friends, they still bring up and talk about how spectacular the food was. Tom far exceeded our expectations (we are humble foodies - while trying to avoid sounding like a food snob, we live in the Bay Area, have lived in LA and Boston, and also explored the NY food scenes). Aside from his food, Tom was also a pleasure to work with - he has a big bright personality that always made us smile. He was open and accommodating to our changing food preferences and requests, and delivered an unforgettable meal. When we visit Kauai again, we're hoping to experience more of Tom's creations. read more

I wish I could give him zero stars. While planning our wedding on Kauai, I called Chef Ryan and spoke to him on the phone. I told him that we had gotten a quote for $100 per person and were looking for something more like $50. We have lots of friends and family on the island who told us to look around and not pay such a high price. We weren't very picky, but wanted a fair price and to know about all of the extra fees up front. He was very nice and told me he could put something together for me. He then sent me a quote for over $100 per person. I emailed back and reminded him that we were looking for something less expensive and asked for any suggestions to bring down the price so that we could work together. His response literally made my jaw drop!!! This is a direct quote from his email: "Good luck with finding a top notch wedding for $50.00 per person. I think your friends and family on the island are thinking of maybe killing a wild pig and making some rice witch is fine if you want that. What I could do for that price is just drop off some food for you guys. Also no one is going to just give you tables, plates, glasses, silverware, chafing dishes, linens, buffet set-up for free good luck in finding that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" By the way, I had not asked for any of this for free, I simply asked for him to be transparent about all of his fees so that there would be no surprises on our wedding day. I responded with telling him how unprofessional he was and how happy I was that he showed his true colors now because it would have been a tragedy to find out who he really is on our wedding day. read more