In one word ... "Flabulous!" The description of the wine-and-dine event hosted in the kitchen of a…read morePark District facility mentioned assisting with food preparation, but we participants were more inclined to pull up stools to the counter so we could view the process. Chef Rob was just fine with this. He is friendly and passionate about his work; it was fun to chat and hear about how he transitioned from the corporate world to his own catering biz. Our menu featured Caesar salad, roasted vegetables, grilled boneless chicken thighs, couscous, and homemade frozen custard with lemon crumbles. For the non-cheese eaters in our group, Rob prepared a separate salad with olive oil vinaigrette. The chicken and veggies were very tasty, seasoned with nothing more exotic than salt, pepper and dehydrated garlic. There were practically no leftovers. The custard was richer and more velvety than Culver's. The only dud was the bland and mushy couscous. Before the meal was over, we were already contemplating a future event with Rob.

We worked with Babito's Bites to cater a Hawaiian-themed lunch for a celebration of life luau in…read moreJune 2023. Rob was excellent to work with, extremely communicative, responsive and flexible in designing a custom menu including Kalua Pork, Shoyu Chicken with Rice, Pineapple and Meatball Skewers, Pineapple and Tofu Skewers, Hawaiian Coleslaw, Macaroni Salad, Hawaiian Rolls, and a beautiful Fruit Tree including pineapple, watermelon, grapes, melon. Rob and his team of two others arrived an hour before the event started to get everything set up well. The food was delicious, and the guests were raving about the variety and flavors. It seems like Rob has a great range as a chef and is especially accommodating of any dietary restrictions or preferences; in fact, we asked him to work around some specific unique food sensitivities for our event and he did a wonderful job navigating that. The pricing was very reasonable for such high quality, and I can't recommend Babito's Bites enough based on the incredible food and phenomenal service we experienced at our event.

Applauze Catering gets a standing ovation! Chef Dave was very easy to work with and he and his team…read moremade our wedding day dinner one of many great memories from that evening. They were incredibly accommodating and catered (see what I did there?) to our needs. The address listed for the business is an assisted/independent living community where David Marino is the Executive Chef. Don't feel you've been mislead or that this is a shady deal if you try to go there and find this instead of a stand alone banquet hall. The best way to reach them is by calling or emailing if you need something delivered to you. Their delivery, setup, and service fees aren't bad, either. We had our reception at the Park Ridge VFW and Applauze came on time and prepared with chafing dishes, Sterno fuel, plates, napkins, and flatware. It wasn't elegant, but it was all included in the total cost and a few steps up from the cheap plastic utensils that I was thinking they'd have. They set up the buffet line, manned it for 3 hours, and took it apart when they were done. We estimated we'd have 120 guests (and we nearly did), so we ordered Spinach Salad (2), House Salad (2), Garlic Bread (2 Full), Chicken Vesuvio (2 Full), Italian Beef with Hot Peppers (2 Full), Italian Beef with Sweet Peppers (2 Full), Vegetable Lasagna (3 Full), Lyonnaise Potatoes (3 Full), Vegetable Medley (3 Full), Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms (2 Full) and a Crudités Tray (1 Large). The Full servings say they can feed 20-30 and Half servings are intended for 10-15, but be advised that the portions are huge! We had a lot of food left over and could have easily gotten away with half the salad, half the Italian Beef, and at least 1 less Full order of the Vegetable Lasagna. I figured better safe than sorry and it gave us the opportunity to send guests home with flavorful party favors. We gave some to the VFW employees and took some ourselves. Some of the food went to waste and I am really bummed about that. But what can you do? Start to finish, Applauze took care of us. We were emailed in a timely manner when we had questions or updates and they let us add or subtract from our order up to 5 days before the big event. We mentioned some guests had dietary restrictions and Chef Dave said we should let him know so he could adjust the recipes if needed. I thought the whole exchange, particularly the customer service aspect, was likely the breeziest part of all the wedding planning. The only issue we ran into, and we take equal parts responsibility for this since I don't think we went into specifics about the dietary restrictions (most just couldn't eat pork), was that we had 2 guests with seafood allergies (the menu does list some items with tuna, salmon and/or shrimp, which we avoided) and hadn't been informed that the Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms had crab or imitation crab (fish) and we honestly didn't question it since it was listed under Pasta & Vegetables. The older menu that I believe is still currently on their website doesn't even list this item and the newer menu doesn't say what it's stuffed with. I guess we assumed it would be cheese and something other than seafood since it didn't specify. Oops! My maid of honor mentioned something about crab while eating it and I made my husband hunt down someone who could answer what was in them. We were told it was crab and we quickly alerted those with allergies. Luckily, our friends have learned to let be anything that's questionable, so they had skipped this altogether. Crisis averted, and hopefully they'll disclose this ingredient in future menus or when taking orders. As I said, I think the older menu is what's currently on the website and it has a coupon for 10% off for new customers. I think the newer menu offers 15% off and it has a few more items on it, like the mushrooms. You'll need to contact Chef Dave by email to receive the correct version and can ask him if any of these discount are applicable at this time. We used the 15% off coupon and it saved us a good chunk of money. Each meal provided by Applauze was well under $15 per person (including delivery, setup, service, tax, and tip). We could have easily gotten away with $10 per plate if we'd known how much excess there'd be. And the best part of it all was that we didn't have to sacrifice quality for quantity! Everything was a hit! People raved about the Italian Beef and the Vegetable Medley was tender. We were told by multiple people that the food was fantastic and we've received compliments months later saying how it was some of the best wedding food they've ever had. I would not hesitate to recommend them for your feast!

Applauze Catering was recommended to me by a family member and it was amazing. The setup of service…read morewas very easy to work with and that's always a plus when planning any sort of event. Highly recommended!

Magnificent, professional service with exquisite presentation…read more Ambassador Catering prepared an outdoor extravaganza for 50+ people, and did so on a rainy June day. Despite the weather (everything was tented), the presentation, quality and variety of the menu was appreciated by everyone -- many compared it to a wedding reception! Roderick and his team were a delight to work with, from the planning and budgeting process through on-site food preparation and presentation. He was also very budget-conscious, recommending more economical selections whenever appropriate. Finally, Roderick's efficient, professional team managed every detail -- from impeccable presentation to attentive clean-up; even refilling wine glasses, although beverage service was not a request. I think our guests took more pictures of the food than of each other -- the presentation was breathtaking, and every morsel was delicious.

From start to finish we are absolutely satisfied. I can not rave enough about the catering and…read morecoordination. Everything was perfect! Roderick sent me the entire menu and didn't push me to do anything differently, and it was delicious. Not to mention reasonably priced. Ambassador Catering really helped make our special day perfect. I highly recommend them

We booked them for 3 servers for my wife's 50th Birthday, the pricing was fair. The service and…read moreservers they provided were amazing. Arrived early, took care of serving guest, clean up and tend to guest needs all night. Thank you JM

We used Chic Chef Catering for our Wedding…read more Planning a wedding remotely (at the time in California) for a Northwest Indiana location, it was challenging to find a catering service that checked all of our boxes, until finding Chic Chef. I found them on a Google search trying to find somewhere that would accommodate vegan options, as I (and several of my guests) are plant -based. I was thrilled reading reviews from others experience with Chef Ravi and The Chic Chef Team and decided to reach out. Their website is every easy to navigate and their food options were exactly what we were looking for. They were so accommodating while I started the planning process 100% remotely while living in California, and experienced some delays with the pandemic era. We had to scale down quite a bit from our original plan, make necessary adjustments and they were able to reconfigure our menu and options to fit our final needs. The email communication and assurance Chic Chef provided to my groom and I was excellent, and eased our minds while having to delay and rest assured being able to utilize Chic Chef after postponing. We did a tasting the week before our Big Day, and we were so glad we made the drive for it! Having a chance to meet Chef Ravi and see the creations in person and chat on our vision was such a great experience. I was so happy to be able to have quality food for our wedding for all of our guests with different preferences. The cheesecake bites was the talk of the night!! We would definitely utilize Chic Chef Catering again for a future event. Thank you for providing an amazing meal for our Wedding Day

After receiving many quotes from other caterers, we chose to go with Ted based on his pricing and…read morethe quality of ingredients that he uses. He was so thorough during our discussions on the phone and asked all the right questions. He wanted to know the demographics of the guests at our party. He really wanted to have a good feel of the people he would be catering to. After deciding on a menu on very short notice, Ted went to work and got me a quote the same day. We tweaked everything and were ready to go...the party was just a few days away. The day of the party, he arrived 15 minutes early with everything we had ordered. The presentation was beautiful! We ordered these amazing sliders (beef, chicken & caprese), cheese & cracker trays, veggies & fruit. Everything was of the highest quality and was perfectly fresh. The quests really enjoyed the food & the favorite of the night were the beef sliders (Skirt Steak, Blue Cheese Horseradish Aioli & a Brioche Bun). They flew off the platters like hotcakes! Overall we were very pleased by Ted's work and would use him again in a heartbeat. His professionalism and love of his work is very evident. His passion shines through in his amazing food.

Ted was recommended to me by the owner of Girl and the Goat to cater my new year's eve house party…read morefor 125 people. Not only was the food amazing, the attention to detail, service, and presentation were unmatched. I would recommend Ted for any large catered events.

Working with Cate and Ricky from Jordan's for our wedding was a dream. So many of our guests said…read moreour food was excellent including - the gluten free rolls, the charcuterie, the steak, the salmon. From our tasting to the big day, Cate was so supportive and helpful in thinking about our menu, while Ricky was a coordinating extraordinaire. The layout and room flip from our ceremony to reception worked perfectly with our vision. Food was so tasty and beautifully presented, we 100% recommend working with them! In addition to great food, they are great people- responsive and receptive to our ideas. They were so instrumental to making our wedding the best day of our lives!

Many thanks to JFOD for honoring their commitment to us, even when it meant accommodating our…read morechange in plans. Pam was a pleasure to work with, flexible, and kind. Every detail was attended to, ensuring a successful event! A true class act!

very freak fun and fast service! best pasta in all of lincoln park! I can't wait for my next…read morereservation in a few weeks

this was THE WORST experience of my life. I had to sit on the grass and the pasta was cold. on top…read moreof this the stupid pepper boy put too much salt on my spaghetti and there was no gluten free option for my fat son. after waiting for a compensation meal for what felt like forever, the hostess straight up came by and snatched up my baby and placed him in a pot, praise god the pasta was cold because he could've suffered MAJOR burns to his skin!! i am convinced they stole my child in an attempt to turn him into meatballs!!! UGLY EVIL ABOUNDS!!!! -anonymous

Linda and the Field to Table team were nothing less than amazing…read more I held a corporate event at The Field Museum (Stanley Field Hall) for about 250 people. This is a very important VIP customer event we hold every year and the venue changes annually. Since I don't have year over year consistency, and am challenged to outdo the year before, I am pretty critical of the venue, the food/drinks and the entertainment. Not only was the food the BEST I have every had in an event setting like this but Linda did an amazing job with the station displays. They were gorgeous and inviting and did I mention DELICIOUS! We had an Asian street food station with pot stickers, noodle boxes (served in super cute Chinese food takeout boxes with chopsticks); an antipasto station with yummy cheeses and meats; a Spanish station with killer paella and AMAZING bacon wrapped dates (I'm still dreaming about those little guys); a Mediterranean station with Greek inspired goodies; and rounded out with a dessert station with little individual cakes and pie shooters. Linda also went above in beyond to help me lay out a floor plan that would work with my vision. She was a liaison between myself and the decor company to help translate what I wanted into "catering language". She also very calmly :) fielded last minute requests to bump up the headcount as I had a lot of last minute RSVPs. The Field to Table team knows the event space, has great food and service and, quite simply, made my job easier. Thank you all!!