not allowed to taste food for reception

kimandbillbike

I scheduled my food tasting at my reception site and told the manager which items I wanted to taste.  He responded and said they don't do tasings for the prime rib, crown roast or duck. I understand that they would have to make a whole roast but how is anyone supposed to taste it. I'm really frustrated because I can't spend $30pp on food if I dont' know what I'm paying for.
Am I overreacting?

Lasairiona

Tastings need to be done before you book a vendor. If they don't allow you to taste the food, they have something to hide. Forfeit any deposit if you have already booked them and look elsewhere asap. Otherwise since you are locked into them, there is nothing you can do at this point if the food is bad.

bellebride116

A tasting should most definitely be done!

pandasquishy

We weren't allowed tastings either.  Our reception site was a hotel though, so we ate in the hotel restaurant to get a sense of the food.  If that's the kind of venue you  have, give that a try.

mbcdefg

Ask if you can do the tastings on a day when they have another wedding/event going on. That way, they wouldn't be making a whole roast/duck/whatever just for you.

My venue offers tastings on days when they have another wedding, for the same reason.

banana468

Ditto malphabet.  That's exactly what we did.  We sampled the food downstairs in the 'clubhouse' area while there was a reception going on upstairs.

fallbride1109

Ditto pandasquishy.  Since we were having a buffet, we were only allowed to try the appetizers.  But the hotel was reputable and the food ended up being excellent.  

I might be concerned if:  the vendor does not have any reviews, there is NO other way to sample the food you will have (like the suggestions from PP), or you are looking at one of those all-inclusive wedding venue type places that provides their own catering--I have heard bad things about those.  If it's a hotel, a club, restaurant, etc. with a reputable caterer, you're fine.

duckie1905

We didn't taste them but there were a number of items that, had we wanted to, we would've only been able to sample on the day of an event serving that item.  While I recognize the importance of tasting you need to see it from their POV.  It really is a waste of money to make all of that expensive food for two people to try and then maybe not even decide to use for their event.

felicia220

Mbcdefg has the right idea, our venue was not going to let us do a food tasting before booking the site.  I have about 345 ppl invited and half of them are Italian, their lives revolve around food.  So the venue let us come when they were having another wedding and try it.  We just last week had a formal tasting of the food we chose.  I would never book a place without tasting the food no matter how highly recommended they were.  Fight for it.  And trust me even the most expensive dishes cost them very little, my family has been in the food industry for years and the cost verse retail is CRAZY! It is worth for them to do it if they want your business.