Relish Catering was featured by SDSC Gaithersburg for the second time. I missed the first time. It was a wonderful and smooth experience from ordering to curbside contactless pickup. It was a pre-set menu: peach salad, choice of seafood or veggie cannelloni, and choice of strawberry pretzel pie or chocolate ganache cake for $22. There was an optional add on of the pina colada sangria for $10. The peach salad with candied walnuts and balsamic vinegar was wonderful start. Next, I choose the seafood cannelloni. It came with heating instruction. The cannelloni was filled with plenty of seafood. It was divine. Lastly I choose the strawberry pretzel pie. At initial look, it didn't look like anything special, however after the first bite, I realized how wrong I was. I did ended up ordering the sangria - it was strong and plenty. Overall, the experience, food and service were excellent! read more

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Ordered rosh hoshanah catering from relish. Alison was very friendly, responsive, and easy to work with. She brought the meal out to our trunk when we were parked on Nebel street. We enjoyed all of the dishes and they were all well prepared. The chicken should have been cooked a bit longer but otherwise everything was good. I would order from them again but would also be curious to try other caterers in the area. read more

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My husband and I hired Relish last night to cater a New Years Eve dinner for 16 at our home. Prior to our event I worked with Kim on the menu and details. She came early the week of and did a quick walk through so we could go over the evening and or needs. Our chef was Germaine and attendant was Val. The evening was beautiful, the food was delicious, and the staff was extremely professional and helpful. Our party started at 8 and dinner was supposed to start at 8:30 so we opted to just have a cheese display we would do ourselves with passed cocktails. I was running a bit behind and both Germaine and Val set up the cheese display for me and it was spectacular. Germaine cooked the roast at our home and cut it to serve while the rest of the food was beautifully displayed on our island in the kitchen. Val was on top of everything from coats to drink refills to dishes. Before they left they put all the food away for us and cleaned up our kitchen and dining rooms. I was a bit hesitant to use a catering company that I hadn't heard of before and there didn't seem to be many reviews online. I am so happy we took the leap and gave them a try. We will definitely recommend Relish to others and use them again ourselves for future events. I wish I had taken pictures of the buffet they set up but alas was too busy enjoying the delicious food. read more

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I would highly recommend Relish Catering to any bride! We worked with Alison + Chef Ed for our wedding and we were so impressed by how kind, accommodating, and detail-oriented the whole team was! All our guests were so impressed - including our day-of coordinator - we couldn't have asked for a better experience. A few highlights: - Not only was our event manager Alison engaged from the start, but Chef Ed was engaged as well. We're awfully particular about food - and we also come from specific ethnic backgrounds and wanted to incorporate that into our menu - and the entire Relish team was thoughtful, helpful, and jazzed about our ideas. - The food was delicious - even more delicious than during our tasting! We had great feedback from our guests, which pleased us to no end. - The service was exceptional. I was surprised only in that I hadn't given the service very much thought - but the staff was incredibly professional, warm, and thorough. Every so often we would have a server come find us to make sure we had a drink and/or glass of water, which was an expected treat. Our thanks to the entire Relish team for making our wedding so lovely and seamless! read more

HUGE wow. Blown away! Relish brought their catering food truck to Flower Valley Elementary School where we picked up our chicken pot pies and cheesecake deserts. A+++++ food quality....super friendly at the truck too. My wife and I absolutely enjoy fine dining (to a fault) and it's obvious the Relish team has some serious skills in this area. Can't wait for our next order. GREAT! read more

My husband surprised me with a private evening for my birthday, catered by Relish. The menu choices were exquisite, the food the best I have had in any restaurant, and Chef Ed was a pleasure to have in our home. Thank you so very much, Chef Ed, for making this indulgence available, safely, in our homes. This meal will go down as one of my favorite culinary adventures of all time! read more

relish Catering is a Rockville-based boutique catering company that serves the DC metro area. Owned by Chef Ed Jiloca (who has consulted with the White House correspondents, State Department, and the National Opera), they are focused on using local ingredients and partnering up with local farmers, chefs, and servers. They offer wedding/private dinners/corporate event services, and even cooking classes to the public. For a recent work function, I was able to taste some of their bites: poached pear and prosciutto (skewers of pear spheres, wrapped in prosciutto), Peking duck wraps with hoisin and scallions (tender duck, wrapped in a cucumber, with a good amount of hoisin sauce), mini potatoes stuffed with creamed spinach (bowled in a mini mushroom, I thought these were pretty okay); champagne poached North Carolina shrimp with avocado, red onions, and grapefruit (on little spoons, the shrimp were super fresh); grilled chicken morsels, skewered and presented with avocado crema (the chicken was tender and flavorful); tenderloin canape with gorgonzola, caramelized onions, and arugula (mini roast beef slices on a crispy chip; I just wished there were more gorgonzola and a bit more seasoning); sushi rice with rare ahi tuna and pink salt (these were little balls of rice; I could taste the pink salt, but hardly of any of the rare ahi tuna that was supposedly the filling?); caprese skewers with a red cherry tomato, buffalo mozzarella, and basil - I would love a bit more of the balsamic glaze or a bit of salt); carrot roulade piped with Firefly goat cheese and tarragon (the tarragon was extremely subtle, but I'm always a fan of goat-cheese anything!); a tray of housemade jams, seasonal fruit, artisan crackers, and baguette slices; fig and francesca finishing sauce for various crudite. I'd love to see the bites to be of proper temperature, as all seemed to be lukewarm (the caprese skewers should be nice and cold, and the mini potatoes would have been more divine being warm). I think that there should be more availability of some type of a utensil (such as skewers or toothpicks), as some of the bites were a bit too fragile or too small to grab with the fingers. On a side note, everything was wonderfully-presented in a minimalist fashion - clean and very small-bite sized portions. The attention to detail for the event's theme was also taken into account, which was impressive to see! +Rockville-based boutique catering company +mini potatoes stuffed with creamed spinach bites +champagne poached NC shrimp +Firefly goat cheese +offers services in weddings, private dinners, and corporate events read more

I recently found out that Relish Catering offers a weekly "Family Meal" menu where each night they have a different meal for 4 people (usually have leftovers for a lunch or two). All the meals come with two sides and dessert. I've tried the BBQ beef brisket, beef stew, and fried chicken and they all exceeded my expectations. The meals are absolutely delicious! You would have a hard time finding a better quality meal for the price. Perfect for a family dinner or date night, I would highly recommend these meals to anyone. read more

We used Relish catering for an elopement party and I cannot say enough good things! They were so easy to work with and came through on every detail we had imagined. The night of the event was so stress free and the food was exceptional. Highly recommend!! read more

AMAZING!!!! As a surprise for my birthday, my husband hired Chef Ed to cook a private dinner in our home. Using the recommendations of my husband, Chef Ed created a 9 (actually 10, he threw in an extra one) course Asian tasting meal. We sat and watched him create all the amazing dishes. He chatted with us and answered all our questions as he buzzed around the kitchen. He even allowed our 6 year old to step in and be his sous chef. It was an amazing treat, wonderful food and creative gift idea!!!! read more

We chose Relish to cater our small (14 people total) wedding dinner this past fall, and from start to finish we were blown away. From the very first phone call, we knew that our event would be in great hands with Alison, Chef Ed and the entire Relish team. Since our wedding was so small, we emphasized that we wanted the meal to be a knockout, and Relish went above and beyond to deliver! Alison took time to ask us questions about foods we enjoy, restaurants we frequent, etc. She was communicative and accessible through the entire planning process. From there, four phenomenal menus were curated for us from which to pick and choose the courses. Most importantly, the food didn't just sound good on paper. It truly exceeded our high expectations. Each course (including the beautiful cake) was divine! The servers were attentive and professional, and the presentation of the courses was unparalleled. We were so very thrilled that Chef Ed came out and introduced each dish and chatted with us throughout the evening. It felt special and exciting to us and to our families. We're biased, of course, but we keep saying how we hope more couples will choose evenings like ours to celebrate their weddings and give Relish the chance to delight them with their exquisite service. read more

I can't thank Relish enough. Everyone at our party was wowed. The food was so delicious and the displays were artistic marvels. The seafood buffet with oysters, mini crab cakes, and shrimp was spectacular. We really liked the mignonette for the oysters. The efficiency of the operation was almost magical. Plates and serving trays were refilled with no one seeing it happen. I discovered that food was actually being made in the kitchen without any fuss. Yet, Ed and Agrafina were open to conversation. We are so grateful to know about Relish. They create a foodie heaven of a party that is also aesthetically pleasing. read more

First things first, the food was delicious! And the service was friendly, accommodating, and not overbearing. Lastly, it didn't break the bank. If you stop reading here, just know the rest of this post is glowing. I don't usually trust reviews that are too perfect, but I really don't have anything bad to say about Relish Catering. My husband and I used them for our September 2016 wedding. They were recommended by a friend in the event business. I was impressed from our first phone call. Laura treated me like an old friend and made me feel comfortable from the start. She was up front about the whole process and crafted a menu that met everything my husband and I wanted without busting our budget. I appreciated most that she offered ideas that were cost effective. For instance, she suggested buying alcohol myself rather than charging me for it. She helped me find rentals that fit the feel of the wedding at lower costs. Her servers were fantastic and so nice to our guests. Most importantly, the food was amazing. And it was not run of the mill chicken and potatoes either. We had short ribs and catfish and a to die for peach salad with a melt in your mouth white chocolate and blueberry pastry. The food tasted the same on my wedding day as it did at our tasting, which never happens. My wedding cake was beautiful and the grooms cake was exactly as I described. My guests still talk about the food months after the wedding. Allison helped to coordinate the day, helping with a rain plan, the seating chart, set up and breakdown. She even took a few great photos for me. With the stress of the wedding and my job, I forgot to make the first payment! It just slipped my mind! But Laura sent me a nice, non-pushy note making sure everything was ok and agreed to meet me near my home to receive the payment. Laura and her team were by far the easiest part of my wedding. I will absolutely use Relish again for family events and professional opportunities. I highly recommend Relish. read more

We hired Relish Catering for my mother's 60th birthday party and it was INCREDIBLE! Ed's menu was exactly what my mother asked for while bringing her favorite dishes to a new level. He was easy going and created a sense of calm in the kitchen, all while he was creating culinary magic! Everyone at the party swooned (as did we) at the dishes. He made some of his "award winning: macaroons and they disappeared in a flash. Everything was delicious, delivered on time and on budget. I'd recommend them every day of the week and twice on Sunday! read more

Chef Laura Calderone recently cooked a private dinner for our family celebration in Upper Chevy Chase. While we were not a large group, Chef Laura was eager to please and was extremely accommodating during the menu planning, considering among the group we have several challenging dietary restrictions! She was an absolute pro with her workarounds. On the day of the dinner, she was prompt, respectful of the house, unobtrusive to our family time and delighted us with the menu she had prepped. Everything was truly delicious, fresh and seasonal and we enjoyed every last bite. Chef Laura gave us quick descriptions and background on the inspiration which was a nice touch. At the end of the evening, she quietly cleaned/packed up her things and we got to "Relish" in a wonderful evening with no one from the group having had to lift a finger. Merci Chef! - The Tierneys (Liz, David, Lauren, Patrick, KT, Pace, Kelly) read more