We just had a major milestone event in our backyard, and had a wonderful experience with Chef Margaret Riesen's Vegetarian Gourmet Catering service. Not only did we enjoy planning and working with Chef Margaret and one of her staff, Soledad, the food was exceptional! Guests were raving about the appetizers (they included veggie samosas, tortellini skewers and baba ganoush), the side dishes - King Solomon Salad and quinoa tabbouleh with mint (and more), and the main dishes -- a curry, tamari, coconut milk tofu stew and a luscious lasagna! Friends contributed desserts, but Chef Riesen's dessert selections look delicious as well! We also felt that the pricing of Vegetarian Gourmet was reasonable and there was plenty of food and leftovers! We thank Chef Riesen sincerely for helping to contribute to a very successful party! read more

I hired the vegetarian gourmet to help me cater a Chanukah party of 30 people. She made lovely mashed potatoes with parsnips and an hors d'oeuvre called mushroom & cheese Gallette. Everything was a big hit! I definitely recommend this vender. read more

Hiring Margaret to cater our wedding was the biggest mistake of our entire event. She showed up late and left early despite our wedding coordinator asking her to stay and finish the job. She recommended an entirely insufficient amount of appetizers, which were gone just minutes into our cocktail hour despite being served cold. Our coordinator had to scramble to create other food options to get us through until dinner. Dinner itself was nowhere near as good as the tasting she prepared for us before we hired her. Our coordinator who is typically very sweet and positive reported that Margaret was terrible to work with and that there were numerous problems even getting through the event with her. Furthermore, leading up to the event she was very difficult to communicate with. Had we not already locked ourselves into a contract with a deposit we would have gone elsewhere at this point. She missed a planning zoom call with no notice, and afterward informed us that she had been taking a nap (at 6pm!) and offered no apology for wasting our time. She changed the price of our appetizers without telling us or updating prices on her website--we found out when the final contract came through with all new prices. She continually tried to up-sell us on more expensive food even though we were clear about what we were looking for. We had to continually contact her asking for follow up materials like a menu and contract after calls with her. She is disorganized, dishonest, and all around very unprofessional. Finally, she overcharged us for labor and has thus far refused to issue a refund. Look elsewhere, on no level is Margaret worth the expense or hassle of working with. read more

These folks are so good. Margaret and Rita handled two events for me, one of 40 people, the other a 13-person formal dinner. They made it so easy. The food was delicious, and they were just fun to work with. We will definitely be asking them to cater other events. read more

The Vegetarian Gourmet provides elegant catering for all occasions, Their food is inspired by many different nations. It's healthy and tasty and presented so well. Call them up if you want your event to go swell. Margaret is kind & has some serious kitchen skills. Her cuisine will give your party guests a thrill! read more

Margaret was fabulous to work with. We had our private event catered by her company and it was amazing! She made great recommendations and tailored the food to fit a wide range of diets. Everyone loved the food - especially the Mexican flan, polenta and egg tarts. And the portions were more than generous. Currently, during the pandemic, she is offering weekly meals with a changing menu and delivery throughout the East Bay and Marin. read more

I've worked alongside Margaret at a drag party in the Castro for a client we share. I usually stay away from catered food because of all the oils it leaves on my camera. However, Margaret's diverse, worldly dishes enticed and eventually won me over. Her food is delicious. read more

The Vegetarian Gourmet - Caterers Near Me - Oakland, California

Lovely catering for an afternoon tea party from The Vegetarian Gourmet. Margaret answered my questions promptly, provided a proposal that matched our budget & tailored the menu for vegetarian and gluten-free diets. Three types of tea sandwiches & GF tortilla española were a hit! Plus the delivery service made it easy to focus on hosting. Thanks, Margaret! read more

The Vegetarian Gourmet - Caterers Near Me - Oakland, California

Margaret was great to work with! She patiently helped me plan a menu for my wedding reception, and she was very flexible and accomodating. She worked seamlessly with the servers and other staff working at the reception. She has a sweet energy, and the food she prepared was delicious and artfully presented. read more

Margaret at The Vegetarian Gourmet is so easy to work with and her food is super yummy! She focuses on plant based, mostly organic foods. We had her make appetizer platters for us: Crackers and dips: white bean and olive tapenade Caprese with tomato, mozzarella, and watermelon Mediterranean platter Quesadilla Bar We complemented what she brought by getting a shrimp cocktail platter and (for us) it rounded it all out! Highly recommend read more

Margaret catered our wedding reception, making delicious hors de' oeuvres, salads & main dishes (the paella was amazing!) as well as superb light and afternoon appropriate white wine (alcoholic) & non-alcoholic red sangrias that satisfied all tastes and appetites. All the ingredients were real, fresh and of the best quality. The staff she hired to help us out was absolutely top notch & professional. We put the greatest chunk of our wedding budget into the catering and it was well worth every penny. Margaret is professional, easy to work with and knows how to get the most out of your budget, large or small. She is knowledgeable about local resources and knows the catering business inside and out. I would highly recommend Margaret and "The Vegetarian Gourmet" for any future catering needs. read more

Margaret catered our wedding. What I remember getting to taste of her food was quite delicious, and considering we had such an "odd-ball" menu for the guests we invited, we heard great things. I am vegan and my husband is... anything but. She did a great job making sure I was able to eat everything served except the few things we requested to have meat and/or cheese in them. My only (minor) complaint is that I felt somewhat pressured into the Paella (which, apparently, is very good), but it wasn't really a dish that I wanted. She seemed so into it that I couldn't say no because she is so nice!! I also heard from many people that there was a lot of starch involved in our menu, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Who doesn't love carbs?! Anyway. Margaret was genuine and kept in touch with me the whole way along the planning process. She even met with us midway to do a tasting and modified many of her dishes to make them vegan. I was very pleased. Her staff was also very kind. Luckily we had leftovers to take home because I got about 3 bites of food the whole night at the reception and had to settle for Denny's afterward. Not stoked since we "splurged" on food for the wedding. It was still tasty the next day. :) Margaret is awesome, especially if you're looking for something different, satisfying, and literally catered to your dining expectations. Thank you, Margaret!! read more

Margaret just catered our wedding over Labor day 2014. She did an AMAZING job. If you are a foodie and don't like getting ripped off by the wedding industry you should check her out. We spent months looking at caterers in late 2013 and early 2014. Her prices were reasonable, her menu options were plentiful and all our guests complimented us so much that for a week after our wedding we were being asked for contact info. Once you meet her you will see she is relaxed, attentive, communicative, patient, responsive, and most importantly seasoned. This was not her first rodeo by any means this woman knows what she is doing and working with her was a sheer pleasure. Thanks Margaret! read more

I was disappointed in my experience with Vegetarian Gourmet, and would not recommend hiring Margaret. First off, for what I paid, the quality of the food was just not what I had hoped. The dishes -- which were flavorful and well-executed at our tasting -- were much blander at the wedding, and they weren't presented well either. One of our main dishes was vegetable paella which was supposed to come with seared vegetables, but there were almost no vegetables to be found and instead of the broad beans she described it came with chickpeas and tasted quite flavorless; it also lacked the typical paella texture, making it basically a bland pilaf. Similarly, we had vegetable kabobs, and they tasted unseasoned and dry. For the sides, we requested patatas bravas to keep with our Spanish theme, and instead we got a lackluster side of what looked similar to crumbly home fries, presented without any dips (I requested an aioli and a spicy tomato sauce, the traditional sauces for patatas bravas), and the bean salad had mushy overcooked and under-seasoned beans. I was also very dismayed by Margaret's lack of professionalism -- she was often slow to respond to emails, to the point that sometimes a few weeks would go by before I followed up and finally got a response. If that had happened only once I would give it a pass, but Margaret often took a week or so to respond to emails, which was very frustrating. I had to hound her to get her to update our rental orders with additional items I requested before the deadline to edit the order, and in one case she waited so long to do so that only 6 heat lamps were left when I wanted 8. Lastly, Margaret also overcharged us by ~$650, calculating meals for about 12 people more than were in our final count. She did end up refunding us. But she got very defensive and claimed that our coordinator had told her the wrong number, which I found very odd because I had clearly confirmed the total with her and the DOC in multiple emails. It was the last thing I wanted to have to deal with the day after our wedding when I realized we'd been overcharged! Overall, a disappointing experience. read more

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Margaret's Vegetarian Gourmet is simply the most impressive cuisine for anyone - vegetarian or not! I've been to many parties she has catered - from bank openings to musical events to holistic infused oil samplings - and every time I'm more impressed with her creative palette of food combinations, scrumptous flavors, ideal mix of healthful products and beautiful presentations. Margaret loves a challenge: from weddings for hundreds to small dinner parties, I've learned of her clever and adaptive menus to fit each person's taste and budget. She is an absolute delight to work with and an amazingly kind, intelligent, talented, fun human being besides! Even during the busy holiday season, Margaret generously took her valuable time to create (and deliver!!) a complete meal for an orchestra that I support so they could be fed after rehearsal and before performance. As a singer herself, she didn't even blink when I asked at this time, but came up with the perfect delicious and healthy dish. Highly recommended. I'd never even THINK to ask another caterer for any type of event. read more

I hired Margaret to provide food and beverage service for a home concert event I was hosting for about 40 people. Margaret worked within my budget and provided a wonderful selection of savory and sweet treats for my guests. Many of the attendees reached out to me to offer their compliments and thanks for such a delectable menu and outstanding service. I'd hire Margaret and her team again in a heartbeat! read more

The Vegetarian Gourmet is great. I did not know that eating right could be so much fun and delicious. Jain and I have used The VG over a dozen times at our home. They do a great job of creating great meals and combination of non-meat items that are out of this world. For you meat eaters (like me) they will do a chicken or beef dish upon request. I recommend the VG for your next event or family dinner. read more

I have been to several events where Margaret Riesen- The Vegetarian Gourmet has been the caterer. Always outstanding- fresh, creative and most importantly- YUMMY! If there was a sixth star to rate her I would have chosen that. If you decide to have her cater your next event, please invite me! read more

We've worked with Margaret on several occasions, mostly for parties. Her food stands out as excellent, and in very reasonable quantities for the quality and price. She also does the catering for a regular training meeting that I help out with. That training has had several caterers, and they are all paid the same. It's amazing what Margaret can do compared to the other caterers. It seems like the others don't really care and the food is often sub-par. Vegetarian Gourmet compares to a fine restaurant and it's a treat for the attendees. read more

We hired Margaret to cater our wedding. She and her staff far exceeded our expectations. Every dish was delicious, beautiful, and impressed every one of our guests. I was nervous that our families would be put off by a completely vegetarian brunch (btw, brunch wedding was one of the best decisions we made!!), but even my uncle who is a butcher loved the food. Truly, the food was spectacular. Margaret also managed all the staffing, dishes and linens, etc, and it all went off without a hitch. I cannot recommend the Vegetarian Gourmet enough. Top notch food and top notch staff! Also, they were so kind throughout the event, made sure that we had a plate prepared (because they knew we would likely me mingling and forget to eat), checked in to ensure we had a beverage, were hydrated, having fun, etc. Also, this was a gay wedding. I was nervous about how vendors would treat us, but Margaret and her staff were so kind and genuinely seemed happy for us. We even hugged when the event was over. Seriously fantastic caterer and human beings! read more

Margaret was great -- flexible, professional, resourceful for our off site retreat. The food was delicious, the quantities appropriate, and the variety inspiring. Would definitely use Vegetarian Gourmet again and recommend to others. read more

The Vegetarian Gourmet catered my wife's birthday picnic and it was a huge success. Margaret helped plan all the details and created a wonderfully delicious menu that everyone loved and that was beautifully presented. She was easy to work with and took care of everything, right down to the containers, cutlery, and other pesky details required for a picnic. Highly highly highly recommended! read more

I can't even begin to say what a gift it is to eat the Vegetarian Gourmet's food. I have use this company for private and public events. When I have used the for my company events, the feedback from everyone who has tasted this food is nothing but positive. People didn't even notice that it was vegetarian. The service and support is warm, simple and professional. The variety is unique and interesting. I can taste the freshness and care that is put into the food. I am thrilled that I stumbled on to this gem of a catering company. read more

Margaret and her team prepared delicious, inventive, beautiful vegetarian food for our 125 person event in our home. She's very professional, competent, calm, reliable, versatile and great to work with. I highly recommend The Vegetarian Gourmet. read more

I have enjoyed Margaret's cuisine on several occasions recently and both experiences are worth raving about. I am in the process of adjusting my diet from mostly red meat and as few veggies as possible, did I mention vastly over-sized quantities? Margaret's dishes are so tasty and thoughtfully presented even this die-hard carnivore is satiated. Thank you Margaret for helping me see I can actually feel good (and not stuffed) after I eat! read more

Margaret's catering is so delicious that I keep coming up with parties just so I can eat her food!!! She's so creative and fun to work with. I say, "Let's have a mermaid party" and she thinks of all the foods mermaids would eat! She makes everything so easy. What a delight!!!! I had the privilege of spending time with her recently for a week in Hawaii and learned some amazing new recipes and cooking tips from her. She's so generous and I'm so grateful! read more

Margaret from The Vegetarian Gourmet is my go to caterer for my personal and club events. Reliable, fair, enthusiastic and EXCEPTIONAL food! read more

Margaret catered my company's holiday party and it was superb. The food was set up promptly and beautifully, and everything was delicious. The menu had been decided upon ahead of time and so everyone in the office got to eat something they had requested. The time allotted for the party was only about an hour, and the space was indoors and small, and so the prompt set-up and clean-up was much appreciated. The service was so great and the food so original and yummy, I hired the Vegetarian Gourmet a few months later, for an entirely different kind of party--this time outdoors and running for hours--and we enjoyed the same prompt service and delicious food. Margaret and her staff make eating wholesome and healthy food an elegant experience. read more

We had The Vegetarian Gourmet cater our wedding of 90 guests, and Margaret and her staff did a fantastic job! The food was delicious, and well presented. We had a lot of great comments from so many of our guests. Everything went seamlessly, which was not surprising, given how professional, communicative, and well-prepared Margaret was. We wouldn't hesitate to hire The Vegetarian Gourmet for our next event. read more

Wonderful catering from Margaret and the Vegetarian Gourmet! I had to coordinate catering for an event in San Francisco despite living in Los Angeles, and Margaret was very helpful and communicative throughout the whole process, making my job very easy. I really appreciated her ability to jump in and accommodate a few last minute changes, as well as have everything so well organized that I could be sure the event ran smoothly despite the fact that I was not there. Lots of options for dietary restrictions and any kind of event need! read more

We frequently use The Vegetarian Gourmet for our events and it's always fantastic and affordable. Margaret does an excellent job working within our budget and everyone always raves about the food. read more

We hired Vegetarian Gourmet to cater our annual Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley's Wingin' It at the Winery event. This was our first time having the event be completely vegetarian and Margaret did a amazing job with coming up with a great menu- her cooking has so many wonderful flavors and even our non-vegetarian guests really enjoyed the food. Margaret was wonderful to work with and even came by our Center to provide tasting samples of the dishes she was preparing for us! read more

We recently hired Margaret to provide food for our wedding of 40 people. There was a lot of back and forth on my part, but Margaret was patient and communicative, and offered a lot of really wonderful suggestions to help us come up with a good menu. The menu we finally decided on was diverse, delicious and plentiful, and had a homemade quality about it that is often missing from these kinds of events (IMHO). Would absolutely recommend Margaret, and hope to work with her again in the future. read more

Margaret catered lunch for 400+ people at our conference organized by non-profits with a very limited budget. Everything went perfectly, the set up was prompt, the service was great, and the food was outstanding - nutritious, healthy, beautifully presented, and delicious. Many attendees said it was the best conference lunch they'd ever had. I also found Margaret very easy to work with, and she was very appreciative and helpful in finding what would work with our limited means, and with the dietary restrictions that some of our attendees had listed. We would definitely use her again. read more

Margaret at Vegetarian Gourmet is a wizard in the kitchen. The moment my then-fiancee and I sampled her cooking we knew we were going with her as caterer for our wedding. Very fresh ingredients, very flavourful dishes. Though she does specialize in vegetarian dishes, she accommodates meat eaters. We had her add lamb to her tangine dish and it was marvelous. All of our (non-veg) guests raved about it, several asking for the contact information of the caterer during the wedding. There were a few logistical slip-ups day-of; we think the sheer size of our wedding (200 guests) was more than Margaret was used to. A dish was forgotten at the restaurant/kitchen, but was later retrieved with apologies. A combined mixup with the (separate) provider of our glassware resulted in not-filled champagne flutes for the toasts (the flutes were never delivered, but we ended up having the catering staff fill our wine glasses instead. Minor issues, really, in the grand scheme of things. It could have been much worse, but it wasn't perfect either. Margaret was extremely apologetic, never defensive, and overall a pleasure to work with. Now that she has dealt with such a large party, I'm sure her and her staff will be better equipped to handle another one. Highly recommended read more

We hired Margaret to cater our wedding in May and we were completely thrilled with the outcome. My husband and I are both vegan and didn't do a full meal but decided to serve a variety of appetizers and a dessert bar. She let us come and taste several dishes and helped us pick out the perfect appetizers. Everyone, vegetarians and carnivores alike, commented on how good the food was, and it was all vegan. She uses interesting flavors and fresh produce, and even brought some specialty vegan cheeses that we love! In addition to bringing the food, she stayed the entire reception and served everyone and generally helped to keep the food going smoothly. We were both very impressed by that. Margaret herself was great to work with too. She was very easy to contact and quick to respond, and I never had a problem trying to reach her. She also was flexible and took any changes and adapted our menu quickly. She is such a nice person and makes great food, a win all around! read more

Margaret is a complete delight to work with and her food is delicious! She has catered many events for my workplace and we are always happy with her dishes. I trust her so much that I asked her to cater my 50th birthday party, and she created generous and beautiful platters and totally worked with my budget - and she delivered to my house in SF! I wholeheartedly recommend the Vegetarian Gourmet. read more

Margaret catered our wedding, and it was delicious. For main courses, we had a yummy vegan jambalaya for me and other vegan folks, and fish stew for my omni hubby and non-vegans. Then there was a variety of vegan and non-vegan appetizers. They were all great, and we got lots of compliments from our guests. Margaret was also easy to work with and spent extra time on helping us prep everything for the reception, which was in our backyard. read more

We were acquainted with Margaret thru a professional contact and decided to contact her to cater our annual Labor Day fiesta. She was so gracious and creative with the menu and worked within our budget. The food was outstanding and it was a pleasure to work with her. read more