The food is HORRIBLE.

omgitscasey · June 2010

When we booked our reception hall we were only allowed to go to a tasting after it was already booked. Now the reception hall is perfect, great location, decorations included, etc.. But we recently went to the food tasting and it was horrible, (atleast it was in my FI and my opinion).. Our parents weren't disgusted, but they weren't impressed either.. So what should we do? Back out of the reception hall and cut our losses, or suck it up and deal with it. I know its not the most important thing, but it is still important. I don't want my wedding to be known as the one with the horrible food.

kaesha · June 2010

Well, if it was me, I`d back out... `cause I think food IS really important. I wouldn`t throw a dinner party at a restaurant I knew was bad, you know?

tldh · June 2010

No clause in the contract that will let you use outside caterers? Before you bolt, I'd also check the contract to see how much money you'd be losing if you break it. There might be additional fees in addition to losing the deposit.

vsgal · June 2010

Look at your contract and see what the stipulations say about outside caterers and losing deposits.

You may want to try another tasting. See if they had an off day or if the food is truly icky.

aprovencher21 · June 2010

I'm sorry that sucks. I agree I'd go back for another tasting and see if they were having a bad day. If its as bad, or still bad, the second time look at your contract about your options.

CrystalAdrian · June 2010

Sorry to hear about your experience. I'd probably be honest with your venue that you really didn't care for the food and are thinking about relocating your wedding. Maybe they will offer another tasting with different food. Ask them to prepare you their best dish - there has to be one dish they are good at. Good Luck!

AmyIanC · June 2010

what reception hall are you using?

omgitscasey · June 2010

Thanks for your input ladies!

I'm using the Gateway Center outside of St. Louis in Illinois. We are only allowed to use their caterer and they only offer two tastings a year.. (There were over 200 of us there for the last one).. I think I am just going to suck it up and use them. I'm just going to choose entrees that I found tolerable.. Or maybe have like a taco bar/pasta bar.. That way there are numerous options.

FI's dad is footing the bill for the reception and he thought the food was tolerable so I'm not going to let him be out a $1200 deposit because of it. This place gets booked up every weekend so I just have to hope it was a fluke.

topchef33 · June 2010

I'd rather be out $1200 then spend wayyy more on the entire wedding and being disappointed in the whole thing b/c the food sucked.

IMO food is extremely important.

Did you try all of the food options?

RNLurker · June 2010

Could you do a heavy app reception- veggie trays, shrimp cocktail, fruit platter, etc. It is kinda hard to mess up those basics.

drkswifey2b · June 2010

I would be honest with them and tell them you were very unhappy with the food and see if maybe they know if they were having an off day. Of course during the tasting they wont tell you if the head chef was out due to illness or whatever and some intern was handling it. So I woudl call and be honest with what you are feeling. I wouldn't tell them you are going just to suck it up and deal with it. Let them offer you something, or maybe a special dish or maybe a discount for the trouble.

M

janedoe1113a · June 2010

Personally, food is the one thing I normally remember from a wedding. If it sucks, I'll definitely remember it. I would definitely not be happy using a venue where the food was only tolerable.

mica178 · June 2010

Can you work with them on the menu at all? Can you be more specific about what made the food horrible?

One of my friends found herself in a similar situation as you. She contacted the chef, and he was able to do a different sauce for the chicken, modify another sauce for the steak, simplify the sides (it's hard to screw up mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables), and the food went from tolerable to good (mind you, not great).

kaesha · June 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_food-cakes_food-horrible?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:23Discussion:94d973b2-0032-4d74-9663-a1b7c56f97d2Post:a05eb2b2-8fad-4ce1-ab90-545a383d5d2d">Re: The food is HORRIBLE.</a>:
[QUOTE]Personally, food is the one thing I normally remember from a wedding. If it sucks, I'll definitely remember it. I would definitely not be happy using a venue where the food was only tolerable.
Posted by navybaby1113[/QUOTE]

Ditto. People don't remember how awesome your dress looked on your or your flowers or your invites, they do remember crappy (and amazing) meals.

ehathewa · July 2010

Haha. We are in the same situation. I absolutely loved everything about our venue... until we were allowed to taste the food after giving them our heft down payment. Some of the food at the tasting was so bad I would have spit it out if I didn't have any manners. Neither of us are picky eaters and we were both very dissapointed.

We were able to find an entree that we liked and they allowed us to mix and match the sides (the entree we liked came with inedible potatos). It was also a set tasting, so we only got to try a few things on the menu. We are hoping that before choosing appetizers they let us have a second tasting with more of the options.

Talk to the venue and see how flexible they will be. Good luck!

kfrisbee · July 2010

Honestly try to get another tasting by saying the food was horrible. I always remember food at a reception if nothing else. My FBIL and FSIL had bad food at their wedding reception and my FI and i remember that and so we knew we wanted our foo dot be good. If we hadn't liked our tasting we would ahve gone to a different reception hall, our hall onyl allows them to cater it.

The food is HORRIBLE.

Re: The food is HORRIBLE.

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