Caterers

aleznoff

I am trying to chose a caterer for my wedding at the Lake Mary Events Center. 

I have narrowed it down to Puff N' Stuff, Big City and John Michaels Catering.

I went to a tasting at Puff N' Stuff several months ago, and wasn't quite sold on the food. In fact, when it came down to it, I was only set on two out of six items that I had sampled.  Yet, I was still set on almost using them.  However, lately my contact has had issues with responding to my requests. 

I revisited Big City Catering, who I had originally contacted. The contact there gives amazing service, but the pricing is quite high.  Therefore, I decided originally to go with Puff N' Stuff over them.  I haven't done a tasting yet with Big City.

I also recently contacted John Michael Catering.  They host public tastings every couple of months at Leu Gardens.  I am going to the one this Sunday.  

Please let me know your thoughts on these caterers.  Also, please give me food item recommendations if you have tried any with these caterers.

Thanks! Amy 

eso16208

Im using Puff n Stuff. Heidi is my contact and shes been fabulous. A little slow to respond this past week (shes just back from maternity leave, so its understandable) but overall wonderful. I'd worked with them previously for multiple functions and have always been thrilled with their food and service. 

tbianco

John Michael Catering has been awesome with responding, answering questions, etc. We're most likely going to use them. We've gone to three tastings this year -- and each one has a few different things, so you can try everything!

Haven't used Big City. Not a fan of Puff n' Stuff. They're so slow to respond. It took me nearly a month just to get someone on the phone -- after leaving a message each week. And after finally hearing from Heidi, she stopped responding to me. That pretty much killed the idea of using them for me.

x3Harmony534

I don't want to put down John Michael because he was great to work with. But when we went to one of his tastings we were totally underwhelmed by the food. Could have been an off day though, because I've heard lots of great reviews of him on here. We are having a LMEC wedding & using Levan's. There food was EXCELLENT. I honestly didn't contact any others because of our budget. Any reason you knocked off Levans? Just curious. Good lucK!

chiokevan

I'm using puff n stuff and I've never had a problem with Darby responding in a timely manner.

aleznoff

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_florida-central-florida_caterers-2?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:66Discussion:aee0ea7d-890b-4521-aa41-76da5c855325Post:4a1c75cd-bcba-4416-93b3-51631e7f7b25">Re: Caterers</a>:
[QUOTE]I don't want to put down John Michael because he was great to work with. But when we went to one of his tastings we were totally underwhelmed by the food. :/ Could have been an off day though, because I've heard lots of great reviews of him on here. We are having a LMEC wedding & using Levan's. There food was EXCELLENT. I honestly didn't contact any others because of our budget. Any reason you knocked off Levans? Just curious. :) Good lucK!
Posted by x3Harmony534[/QUOTE]

Thanks for your feedback about your experience with the tasting with John Michael.  Each time I call there though, he sounds like he is quick to get me off the phone.  I have called there 3 - 4 times.

I should revisit Levan's.  The reason why I knocked them off the list is that I called there twice and some angry, rushed sounding guy answered the phone.  It freaked me out a bit.  How does Levan's do their tastings? 

Amy

x3Harmony534

They were awesome about their tasting, one of the big reasons I liked them. They didn't waste my time. They do your initial consultation & tasting in 1 appointment. They pulled out all the stops, TONS of menu options (which you can preselect) and they even let us come in a second time after our initial tasting to try other options. Their first quote was a bit high for us, but he matched our quote from John Michael & even added to it, rather than asking us to remove things from our menu to bring down the price. I would be put off if that was my experience with them as well, but hopefully it was just a fluke. I did most of my corresponding via email and they were polite and quick to respond. If you do call, ask for Tonya. She is who we've been working with & she's great. Duane, the owner, is great too. He's hard of hearing though so I don't think he answers the phone much. Good luck!

aleznoff

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_florida-central-florida_caterers-2?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:66Discussion:aee0ea7d-890b-4521-aa41-76da5c855325Post:43bea9dc-d756-49fa-955a-e5cdd1fb828d">Re: Caterers</a>:
[QUOTE]They were awesome about their tasting, one of the big reasons I liked them. They didn't waste my time. They do your initial consultation & tasting in 1 appointment. They pulled out all the stops, TONS of menu options (which you can preselect) and they even let us come in a second time after our initial tasting to try other options. Their first quote was a bit high for us, but he matched our quote from John Michael & even added to it, rather than asking us to remove things from our menu to bring down the price. I would be put off if that was my experience with them as well, but hopefully it was just a fluke. I did most of my corresponding via email and they were polite and quick to respond. If you do call, ask for Tonya. She is who we've been working with & she's great. Duane, the owner, is great too. He's hard of hearing though so I don't think he answers the phone much. Good luck! :)
Posted by x3Harmony534[/QUOTE]

Thank you so much! I will contact Tonya. :-)

Amy