JOSEPH CATERING

I attended a wedding catered by Joseph and was extremely disappointed by the service provided.The wedding and the dinner were held in the same area which required that the wedding guests move to a vestibule area for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres while Joseph Catering brought in tables and set the tables for dining. It was supposed to be a weight of about an hour between the wedding and the beginning of the dinner but in actuality ended up being nearly 2 hours because Joseph catering had forgotten the seating chart as well as the place cards. Someone had to be sent back to the office to retrieve the seating chart and place cards which delayed dinner by almost an hour. once we were seated the servers did not use the place cards to determine who should receive which meal instead they called out who gets the vegetarian plate. approximately 20 minutes later they came around and asked who gets the beef plate and another 20 minutes later they came around and asked who was still waiting to receive a chicken plate. by the time the diners who would order chicken received their meal the vegetarian plaited people had finished their meal and the beef plated people were more than halfway through. On a couple of tables there were no water glasses and when I asked for water glasses for our table they brought the glasses but still no water we requested water and received it as they were clearing the dinner plates off the table. From what I unders tand the catering service was understaffed and I feel that the host and hostess of the wedding should receive at attended a wedding catered by Joseph and was extremely disappointed by the service provided.The wedding and the dinner were held in the same area which required that the wedding guests move to a vestibule area for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres while Joseph Catering brought in tables and set the tables for dining. It was supposed to be a weight of about an hour between the wedding and the beginning of the dinner but in actuality ended up being nearly 2 hours because Joseph catering had forgotten the seating chart as well as the place cards. Someone had to be sent back to the office to retrieve the seating chart and place cards which delayed dinner by almost an hour. once we were seated the servers did not use the place cards to determine who should receive which meal instead they called out who gets the vegetarian plate. approximately 20 minutes later they came around and asked who gets the beef plate and another 20 minutes later they came around and asked who was still waiting to receive a chicken plate. by the time the diners who would order chicken received their meal the vegetarian plaited people had finished their meal and the beef plated people were more than halfway through. On a couple of tables there were no water glasses and when I asked for water glasses for our table they brought the glasses but still no water we requested water and received it as they were clearing the dinner plates off the table. From what I unders tand the catering service was understaffed and I feel that the host and hostess of the wedding should receive at lattended a wedding catered by Joseph and was extremely disappointed by the service provided.The wedding and the dinner were held in the same area which required that the wedding guests move to a vestibule area for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres while Joseph Catering brought in tables and set the tables for dining. It was supposed to be a weight of about an hour between the wedding and the beginning of the dinner but in actuality ended up being nearly 2 hours because Joseph catering had forgotten the seating chart as well as the place cards. Someone had to be sent back to the office to retrieve the seating chart and place cards which delayed dinner by almost an hour. once we were seated the servers did not use the place cards to determine who should receive which meal instead they called out who gets the vegetarian plate. approximately 20 minutes later they came around and asked who gets the beef plate and another 20 minutes later they came around and asked who was still waiting to receive a chicken plate. by the time the diners who would order chicken received their meal the vegetarian plaited people had finished their meal and the beef plated people were more than halfway through. On a couple of tables there were no water glasses and when I asked for water glasses for our table they brought the glasses but still no water we requested water and received it as they were clearing the dinner plates off the table. From what I understand the catering service was understaffed and I feel that the host and hostess of the wedding should receive at least a partial refund for the very poor service. I would not recommend using this caterer for any occasioneast a partial refund for the very poor service. I would not recommend using this caterer for any occasionleast a partial refund for the very poor service. I would not recommend using this caterer for any occasion

Upon first contact, everything seemed quite professional. Debbie, the sales representative, did a good job of helping me figure out what to serve and how much I would need. I ordered cookies, mini-cheesecakes, fruit displays and brownies for 50 people. We agreed to a delivery time of 5:30 p.m. as the shiva started at 7. When the contract was e-mailed to me, the delivery time on the contract said 11:00 a.m. I called Debbie and she said that they didn't have anyone to deliver at 5:30 p.m. and the latest they could deliver was 11:00 a.m.. I said I didn't have room to store fruit trays and mini-cheesecakes for 50 in my refrigerator. She asked me if I had a neighbor who could help. I said I didn't have time to deal with this as I was trying to get the funeral planned. She then suggested that they could bring dry ice but said they didn't provide the coolers and I would have to find receptacles to put the dry ice in. At this point, I said I was going to hire someone else. She put me on hold for a moment. She came back on the line and informed me that the owner was going to come back from his cabin early so he could do the delivery at 5:30 p.m.. I didn't need the guilt trip or the explanation to be honest. . I was also asked if I wanted to have hard boiled eggs served as this is traditional and I stated I didn't. Debbie told me that the owner said that the last shiva he catered didn't have hard boiled eggs and he got "like 7 phone calls about it". I said no again and was very clear. At 5:15 p.m. on the date of the shiva, the food arrived. As the food was brought in, I noticed two problems. One, there was a huge bowl of hard boiled eggs. Two, the fruit displays I had ordered had miraculously become bowls of fruit salad. I handed the bowl of eggs back to George, the owner, and he said he knows I said not to bring them but he "got phone calls last time I did I shiva". I looked at him and said I didn't want them. He took them back. Then I pointed out that I hadn't ordered fruit salad but instead fruit displays. He looked at me and said he isn't the one who wrote up the order. He went back out to bring another tray in and said that yes, he looked at the contract and I had, in fact, ordered fruit trays. I tried to give him the bowls of fruit salad saying I wasn't paying for them but he said he couldn't take them right now. I'm not sure why he could take the eggs but not the fruit but I wasn't going to quibble. The brownies and mini-cheesecakes were quite good but the cookies were pretty sad looking. The fruit salad was not pleasant in appearance and some of the fruit seemed to have been cut earlier than today. The honeydew was transparent, the watermelon somewhat wrinkly and the strawberries were mushy. I called Debbie on Monday morning and informed her of what had happened and how I wanted a refund. She said she would have to talk to the owner and the chef. She said she might not get back to me today as they didn't have a chef in on Monday. I said that I really would prefer to have this addressed today and she said she understood. I got a call back later Monday afternoon letting me know that the money for the fruit displays would be refunded. Debbie quoted me the price on the contract but didn't include the sales tax. When I asked about that, she said she would have to write the entire contract up again and it would be a lot of work. I paused and frankly, wasn't quite sure what to say. I then suggested that she take the price quoted on the contract and multiply it by the sales tax rate if that was easier. She laughed and said that would work too. I was told there would be a check out to me in the next few days. As you can tell by this long review, I was very unhappy with this experience. My mother had just died and I hired a caterer hoping to simplify things and reduce my stress. This is not what happened. I regret choosing Joseph catering for the shiva and if I were to do it again, I would do it myself.