Visited their Chef's Market at their new Herbertsville location. This grab and go market offers excellently prepared dishes at reasonable prices with great creativity. I certainly will become a regular as it is an easy place to pick up a quality dinner when running late coming home. read more

I attended a wedding at Bonnet Island Estate this past weekend and had a fantastic time with my family! It was a lovely ceremony set up in the barn chapel and had a great cocktail hour overlooking the bay with a good variety of food options from oysters to lobster bisque and more. The banquet hall was very open and spacious and had plenty of room to dance and take in all of the festivities. Merri Makers did a great job catering the event and the Chateaubriand was exquisite! My server at the table was Sean and he did a great job always ensuring we had water and drinks served to our table as well as clearing the plates to make more room. The staff was very friendly and willing to help, and I am happy I had such a good server in Sean to make the event even more enjoyable. He was telling jokes to lighten the mood and was constantly available if needed. i would definitely use Merri-Makers for my events going forward because from everything I saw as an attendee it was a well-run operation with a staff that seemed to be enjoying what they were doing! read more

The fried chicken is The ribs are ok, more of a North Carolina vinegary style. I haven't tried anything else yet, but I plan to do so. Everything is cooked to order, nothing is sitting around. They also have frozen prepared meals if you're into that. read more

Fantastic evening. We met Barry Thatcher during a wedding. Great guy. We were visiting from Texas for the evening and he gave great advice for the area. Made the evening special. Highly recommend. read more

I would say that the food is 5 stars. I have tried several different meals and each one was excellent. The reason for the 3 stars is their lack of honesty with their web site. Last week we tried the chicken and rib dinner. It was delicious. Lots to eat. Their web site listed it as $13.95. I called in the order expected to pay the price from their own web site. But when I arrived the price was $18.95 per dinner. I told the woman in the shop that the owners needed to update their own web site. Today I order their 24 piece chicken bucket and their 24 piece rib bucket. Both listed on their site as $40 a piece. Well those prices aren't correct either. I added fries and two kids meals. $160 While the food is delicious I suggest that you confirm the prices before you order. In this day and age updating a web site is easy so not sure why the price differences when they just opened. PS. Check your order too. I didn't get my cole slaw on 2 meals. read more

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I did not wind up using Merri-Makers Catering with my wedding, but before I decided on another venue, I spoke at length with Gianna, the wedding coordinator for the Taylor Pavilion in Belmar. At the time of writing this review (July 2017), the Taylor Pavilion is just beginning to host weddings after a grand opening in May. My fiancé and I were interested in booking the venue and learned from the township that all dates had been pre-reserved by Merri-Makers Catering. If you want the Pavilion, you need to use Merri-Makers. At first, we were a little disappointed that Merri-Makers had immediately sharked all of the prime-season wedding weekends from the township (in that, we could not rent the venue ourselves directly from the township). However, we had a really positive experience interacting with Gianna. Gianna was honest, forthright, and up-front about pricing, quality, and her/her company's role. We were thrilled that she responded within a few hours, provided highly detailed responses, and was willing to meet in person within a week. When we had questions or concerns, she answered them quickly and honestly. Even when she had bad news to deliver, she delivered it in a straightforward way that I think is very important. Unlike other manipulative wedding coordinators who have the same sales tactics as used car salespeople, Gianna made me feel very comfortable. I knew what she could deliver, what to expect, and at what price I would be paying overall. I didn't feel as though she would tack on hidden fees or that there would be discrepancies between what I was expecting and what she would deliver. Unfortunately, being that the Taylor Pavilion is a new venue, Gianna often had to tell us that she was unsure exactly how certain scenarios would play out on the wedding day. Questions like "How much space on the beach is offered?", "Will we need to pay more to hire someone to man the bonfire?", and "What exactly will you do in the event of rain?" were questions which she could not guarantee a tried-and-true approach. If you have the opportunity to work with Merri-Makers Catering and Gianna at a location besides the Taylor Pavilion in Belmar, do it! If you're considering Gianna and Taylor, just be aware that they're ironing out details as they go. read more

We attended a wedding here last weekend. The service was excellent. The servers were very friendly and seemed on top of everything. The cocktail hour was fantastic. The pasta bar contained an interesting array of pastas and none of them were soggy or undercooked. The cold bar contained cheeses, Italian cold cuts, fruit, vegetables, garlic bread, and shrimp. The shrimp were gigantic and absolutely delicious. At the bar, the bartenders moved quickly but fulfilled your drink order correctly (even when you were ordering four or five items.) The main course, however, was somewhat disappointing. The food was edible but it wasn't great. My fiance had filet mignon that was more like chuck meat. My stuffed tilapia tasted a little to fishy that I was afraid to eat it. The bread tasted like it had been stale, reheated in the oven, and then sat out for a few hours. It wasn't great--though I recognize that cooking for 250 people is no easy feat. Again, the service and cocktail hour was great, but the quality of the main course prohibited me from giving Merri-Makers more stars. read more

Merri-makers at Taylor Pavilion made our dream wedding a reality, although this is a new venue for them (and a new venue for weddings in general) you can tell from the first meeting that the Merri-makers team are seasoned pros. Their willingness to accommodate all budgets, flexibility to allow and manage multiple vendors into the space, and their encouragement and support throughout the process will make your own custom wedding happen seamlessly. Patty, our event planner, is now a family friend for life. We believe she is actual magic, appearing just when the moment calls for it to offer a helping hand, a guiding word or a glass of champagne. We would be remiss to not mention the food, which Merri-makers is known for. Every bite was outstanding - fresh, on theme, hot and timely. Their added touches, from signage to advisement on the rentals, from help with décor to helping pack up as we were leaving will not be forgotten. There are few spaces on the shore that allow for a beach-front wedding, with all the personal touches, outstanding food and service - all for a conservative budget. I may go as far to say none other than Merri-makers at Taylor Pavilion. read more

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My wife and got married there last September, and we were very pleased with the location, food, and service...We worked with Rose, and she was wonderful in making this a great experience. We held the reception at the PNC Art Center Reception Hall. read more

Our non-profit theatre hired Merri-Makers to cater our annual fundraising event. Dinner stations for 135, lite fare for 100, a staff meal and hospitality for our performers. In addition to the food, Merri-Makers also handled the table & chair setup - including layout - and breakdown. Rick & Patty were extremely helpful and stayed in close communication every step of the way. Guests raved about the food (including the hot dog cart!). Cost was reasonable. Service was above and beyond expectation. read more

Hidden wedding spot! Didn't know they did weddings until I attended one and liked it so much I had my own there. It was a second wedding for me (first at Ramada in 2004) but this was top notch. Mary F. Helped plan it for us and forgot nothing! Every detail was accounted for. It was a Valentine's Day wedding and it was gorgeous! Affordable as far as wedding venues go and the service was perfect. I even got a thank you card from a guest of mine complimenting the waitress she had! read more

Deadbeat business. They cannot return a refund for a wedding at their location in Sea Bright after the location was demolished by Tropical Storm Sandy. I am very sorry for their loss but I suffered my own losses without postponing payment of any debt. The losses of Merri-Makers should not be made to be my problem. It has now been almost 60 days. read more

I'd love to say this is a review of the actual event that we booked HOWEVER, it isn't. We met with Merri-Maker's site manager over a several week period this spring to book a celebration at Neshanic Golf Course. Each time we spoke or met with them, we confirmed availability and only after agreeing to a price and going to contract, did they tell us the date was unavailable. It's not as if someone came in and took the date while were negotiating but rather it was NEVER available for us. There was a clerical error according to them and our only choice was to change the date. They offered nothing other than a slight apology for the confusion and sent us on our way. Perhaps a more thoughtful company would have offered another of their venues, offered to off-site cater the event if we wanted at our house, helped find us another place....Instead Merri-Makers did nothing and even when ignored us when I asked to speak with them. We thought there food was very good and we're looking forward to holding our affair there. I'd caution anyone looking at using them to get a signed contract quickly so that at least you'd have recourse if they made the same mistake as they did with us. From our perspective we're now scrambling around to find a place since this delay has put us behind and what should have been a joyous occasion is now overly stressful. BEWARE OF THEIR LACK OF PROFESSIONALISM read more