Michael and his team did a wonderful job with delicious food and drinks at a garden party for the Carmel Valley Association.

Wonderful food with local produce and spectacular chantrelles! Have used this caterer for board meetings, adult music events, and private parties. read more

Mr. Jones could use some better manners. Your customers pay your mortgage, Mr. Jones. Treating them like garbage when there is so much BETTER food, for so much BETTER prices literally EVERYWHERE else? Not smart. He is NOT dependable, so don't try to book him for anything because he's a dishonest liar who will just cancel at the last minute if he finds out you have ever written a negative review. The man is an internet stalker and a prima dona who thinks he's far better than he is, and thinks his tepid, greasy, bland food is "too good for" random customers. What a freaky business model, sure to drive this ridiculous bozo into the poor house because he's just not good enough to be getting away with treating woulda- been customers like crap. This is a crap business that should just be laughed out of existence and good riddance to bad garbage. read more

Michael and Amanda catered my wedding this last weekend and it was nothing short of fabulous! If you are throwing an event of the Central Coast, go with these guys. When it comes to arranging a menu, let Michael take the reins because he will not lead you astray. This guy was doing farm-to-table, before farm-to-table was a thing! Everything was fresh and local, my wedding guest were completely blown away by the quality of the food! read more

Rarely do I write a negative review on Yelp, instead I prefer to give positive reviews to places and people that are outstanding. After my experience with A Moveable Feast, I felt compelled. The dinner that Michael Jones provided at a very good friend's wedding I attended was FINE. It was not the meal that was the problem; I found him to be very rude and unprofessional. As a favor to two very good friends of mine, they asked me to be the go-to person the day before and of their wedding. I was absolutely happy to do it and glad I could help in any way. They gave me a list of things to do at the wedding venue starting a few hours prior to the wedding. Not a problem. Things started out fine and it seemed that Michael was fine to work with. Once I started to ask for a few things, the unwarranted ego and blatant rudeness unveiled itself. The chairs that they brought and set up were absolutely filthy, so much so that the florist and her mother strongly urged me to talk to Michael about it. I decided to put on hold the 10 other things that I had to do to clean the chairs. The chairs had been set up for about half an hour and the entire backs of them were covered in visible, dark dirt. I started wiping things down and then asked about half an hour prior to the guests arriving, if someone could help me... there were 110 guests after all. Michael seemed annoyed that I would ask for that, however, did have two guys come over for a couple of minutes. At ten til, the job still wasn't done since they went on to other things. This left me and the officiant to get wet paper towels to wipe things down. As far as the chair set-up, they created chairs and left an aisle down the middle. Great! The only problem: the aisle backed into the fountain so there was no viable way for the bride and the other 16 people (including parents) to walk down the aisle. Seriously, there was no way to enter the aisle. When I asked Michael about this he was now very annoyed about this and suggested that the entire bridal party meander its way between the large round tables that were set up for the reception. There was no way that would have worked. During the wedding, we watched the cake cutting and everyone toasted. Then, because of the incredible organization there was a huge amount of lag time. Several people in the bridal party asked whether people should sit down, do we stand, is the dessert brought to the tables, etc., etc.. I spotted Michael to find out the answer for them. I asked if I could interrupt his conversation for a second while he was talking to a group of my friends, I asked about the dessert. (That's my job, the messenger). He was very dismissive and later made comments to my friends that got back to me. Brilliant thinking, guy! Even though I had given the table seating chart to the staff, they had gotten the amount at different tables wrong. The officiant/ brother of the bride did not have a place setting. Someone in the family told me about this so I asked about the place setting. Frustrated, he shoved napkins/utensils my way and told me to put it on the table. He spoke so negatively about the other vendors ("the witch that runs this place", the dj who played horrible music, etc., etc.) that were there and guests, proving that any glimmer of professionalism he may have had went completely out the window. Knowing that you are on the peninsula and there are a variety of enticing catering choices, this place would be at the bottom of my list. Again, the food was fine and that part went well. Just keep in mind, you are dealing with someone who waxes and wanes between Mr. Dry Wit and Fun Life of the Party to a bipolar world-class jerk. read more

Tried to work with Mike, the chef, to cater our wedding. He made it extremely difficult to meet in person with him, not answering phone calls or emails, he eventually sent us a text message the night before we were hoping to meet. Drove all the way out to his headquarters (about 45 minutes into Carmel Valley) for our meet up. He was totally unprepared but was a good host and offered us some food and drink. We liked the food enough to ask for a proposal in writing the next day and he never responded. After multiple calls, emails and texts to him asking him for a rough quote and some sort of proposal he sent us back a nasty, long, rambling email basically saying he is too good a chef to be held to a budget of any kind and how dare we not trust him and want something on paper. He may be a decent chef but he's a horrible person to work with and doesn't have any sort of support staff so you have to deal directly with him. Stay away. read more

A magical catering company, great food and wine and a great staff lead by the uber talented Mike Jones. One of the best chefs I know! read more

See all

We LOVE Mike and his staff and the food was amazing! We had a small wedding of 75 people and Mike stood and cut the lamb personally for every guest. It was a small gesture but very cool. Everything ran great, our guests still talk about how awesome the caterers were! read more

Mike did our wedding a couple years back. The food was amazing, he is the best. He's a little of beat and you have to trust him but if you do he is the best! Amazing food amazing price amazing amazing amazing read more

Michael Jones left us high and dry. He had verbally committed to the event but two weeks before vanished, no call backs or emails. Proceed with extreme caution. read more

Although we don't know him, we attended the same wedding as Raymond (see the filtered review section) and saw the same behavior problems from the caterer, except for the bursting into someone's room, which we didn't personally observe. We wouldn't be surprised however at this as well, as the whole performance was really ugly, including the cursing at one of the middle aged women guests. Somehow we thought that the caterer was there to make the function a success, not make ugly scenes. You may like the food or not, but there is absolutely no excuse for this type of behavior from anyone, much less a hired caterer. read more

"Despicable." That is the word the judge in our court case used to describe Michael Jone's behaivor toward us. Despicable. My fiancee met and hired Michael Jones 6 months before our wedding. Admittedly, he was cute and charming in his black beret and white chefs jacket. He told us of all the wonderful choices we could choose from for our special day. Despicable. Then, about six weeks before our wedding, it was close to impossible getting in touch with him. And when we finally received a phone call -- thankyouthankyou -- he hung up on us when we asked for him to confirm a menu. Hung up on us!. Napolean would have been proud. Despicable. Over the next couple weeks, we e-mailed, phoned, and pleaded with him to affirm that he would cater our wedding. What was his response? Silence and a pompous text about how no one tells him what to cook: "Working for a former President right now...a party he threw together on 20 hrs notice based on a couple of parties we did for his daughter and her BFF in the last few days. Ordered cheeseburgers, we served roast organic chicken. Big hit. Prez: "Michael, I figured it out. You don't tell me how to run a country...I don't tell you what to cook." "Mr. President, a few years back I was perfectly willing to tell you how to run the country!" "Well, twelve hours ago I was thinking I could tell you how to cook a meal for my friends. I guess we both learned something!" I got an autographed memoir for my troubles." That was former President Bush. How comical is that? To us -- it was non-responsive and a slap in the face. Despicable. Now that we've won his appeal, he refuses to pay us and still holds on to our deposit (for over a year). Despicable. We are six-months in to our marriage, can not afford a honeymoon and yet, this man, refuses to respond to us. We are spending precious funds to collect what is rightly due us. Despicable. All great chefs have an ego -- I get that -- but they also understand that the client/customer should be treated with respect. Michael Jones is an example of an ego out of control. Despicable. Please don't make the same mistake we made. Michael Jones is rude and treats his customers like feudal vassals. Despicable. Please boycott him until he pays what an appellate judge (and is echoed by the filtered comments) called his conduct: Despicable. Scott and Jeni Brewster read more

I attended a private function in Carmel Valley - and the Moveable Feast was the only negative experience. The food was cold but acceptable by FDA standards - but there wasn't much. The thing is - act nasty and ugly and put that energy into your service - and the food is not good. It sours the very essence of what you do. The 'line cook/owner' Michael is a glaring and obvious wannabe chef... exhibiting the behavior of trite and ugly modern day 'chef's' seen on TV and movies. A weak, nasty little man who belittled his ALL female staff by slamming pots and pans, cussing, and more. He threw fits and condescended to each woman. The staff looked stressed out and absolutely unhappy. It was hard to watch a weak little sickly/ruddy man talk that way to a group of women that, frankly, individually could beat the snot out of him. Instead, they dutifully took his abuse for the money, I suppose. I truly felt bad for his staff. The owner deserves no compassion. Arrogant, rude and ugly - this is the type of nasty little man that continues to get away with this kind of behavior because he's too weak and small to be taught a lesson. You are weak sir. A pathetic little weakling who disgusted the entire group of people lining up in your badly displayed presentation. I found myself wishing that a militant feminist group would hire this moron and witness his treatment of his staff. Also - the positive reviews on this site were written by friends to balance his bad reviews. Do read the other reviews. Avoid this person. read more

I'm sorry to have to write a review here. It has taken me a nearly a year to decide to do so. Michael came so highly recommended through family friends who know food and have many wonderful occasions. I hired Michael Jones for my wedding based on this alone. We met with michael seemed fun and had already decided on our menu and told us all about the farm to table wonderful apps and entrees at the wedding itself and BBQ the night before. At the time he seemed wild and eccentric but nice and very capable. He told us to trust him and so we did. We did notice all of the bad reviews online- but he told us they were from jealous haters in Carmel. We assumed they were 'squares' who didn't understand food. I wish we had been right. Simply put he did the following... Did not bring any of the food we had discussed- it seemed thrown together slap dash. The expensive and beautiful wines we brought from the central coast mysteriously disappeared and were replaced by cheap garbage. The chocolates we had made by a master San Francisco chocolatier were also taken. It gets worse... He was laughing and dangerously whipping his long Chef's knife around threatening guests, as a joke?!! When it was time to cut the cake he started stabbing it (shouting and cursing), butchering it and flicking white chocolate roses off of it, before allowing us to cut a piece. During this display he feigned stabbing the photographer, nearly knifed my new husband while grabbing an envelope of gift money and stuffing along with the knife into my grooms pocket. Then the topper- he actually put the knife to my father's throat (sharp side pressing into his neck). Later I learned he had done the same thing with the dull side at my uncle's throat. Was he drunk? Insane? Drugged up? I have no idea. I couldn't make this up. It was a big wedding with a big band and strolling musician in a lovely location, so luckily not many noticed all of this. But those that did all have a story to tell. My stepmom was told to F*@&* off when asking for coffee. He was caught guest rooms 'looking for something'. His appetizers were a joke. He Definately stole everything not nailed down. Please save yourself the heartache. Believe the reviews. read more

Other reviews have told you some very negative information about Michael. While the food was OK the chef is highly unstable and made things very difficult. He acted in a threatening manner towards a wedding participant with his chef's knife, threw cake at another wedding guest, used profane language while children and adult guests were within ear shot, burst into a guest room without knocking and was generally arrogant and disrespectful. My advice: avoid at all costs! read more

Oh what to say about Michael at a moveable feast and is amazing staff??? If you are having an event in the Carmel or Monterey and you want to serve food people will talk about for years to come then hire Michael. My wedding was last week and every guest I talk to remembers only my food. I was not suprised as michael is a legend in the area. He is a true chef and artist, compete with the eccentric personality. He expects nothing less than relaxed perfection from his staff and boy do they deliver. My guests were treated like royalty. Michaels team kept the hors d'oeuvres flowing, guests couldn't wait to see what was going to come out next. Did I mention A moveable Feast has the most affordable pricing on the peninsula? Finding a caterer for a wedding in Monterey that will not rip you off at every turn and serve you chicken cordon bleu is no easy task. I am so grateful to have found Michael. If you dont believe me about the food, take the beautiful and a little scary drive through Carmel Valley to the cachaguastore for Sunday Brunch or Monday dinner. Dont expect fancy, this is a little country store where Michael serves two meals a week. People drive hours just to eat here. It's not just the food but the beautiful company and relaxed elegance that exists. O.K. so Michael comes with a disclaimer..... If you are looking for the typical wedding caterer, he may not be for you. Michael will give you honesty. If you want to do something that wont work or doesn't make sense, he will tell you. There is not alot of sugar coating which I happen to like. In addition, he is not the best communicator on the planet. Expect him to be slow on return phone calls and emails. It can be frustrating at times but I promise you that if you just trust him and give him creative freedom, he will go far beyond your expectations. Michael is a bit old fashioned. When I asked him if there was a contract to sign he said "those are to protect the caterer and I dont feel the need to be protected ". I asked him if he wanted a deposit and he said, "that would be nice". I dont think I ever did give him one. He does business with integrity and chooses clients he sees the same in. I had no idea what the menu was for the wedding. I sent him a list of foods I loved and those I hated and let him do his thing. I asked him about a menu and he said, " i can send you a stupid wedding menu if you want". I declined, no need to box the man in. He served Oysters and giant prawns, amazing Halibut...figs wrapped in prosectto and who could forget the Asiago cheese Fandangos? Yummmmm.... all for the price other crappy caterers in the area would have served my bread and cheese. He also gave us a lovely BBQ on the beach for our rehearsal dinner complete with Bonfire and alcohal. Did I mention that Michael has no mark up on Alcohal??? Seriously, he charges you the exact price he got for and does the same for your rentals. There are so called " wedding planners" in the area that charge $1,500 to put your flowers and chairs on the beach for your ceremony. Michael did this for just the cost of labor. He helped me plan my wedding every step of the way. I just cant stop raving...lets just say when it came time to throw the garter, I gave it to the caterer..... read more

As a follow up--we used Dovetail Events for our event in Big Sur. They were AMAZING! I can't say enough about this wonderful company, the food, the people. the service, it was all fantastic! Here is the link if you are looking for a wonderful company to partner with for your event: http://www.dovetailevents.com read more

Omg .. Do not miss it ! What a memorable experience! The food was to die for. It is what it is... Enjoy it read more

Micheal is the most talented, down-to-earth chief in the world. We attend his Monday night dinners and Sunday Brunch at the Cachagua General Storee whenever possible and recommend hm to everyone we know. He catered our 50-person wedding at a private home in Carmel Valley and managed to pull it all off with aplomb, even thought the oven broke! He took care of the bar, linens, tent, plates, everything. I let go and put it all in his hands and he did not let me down. His appetizer and deserts "spoons" were brilliant. I am honestly dumb-founded by the one-star reviews I have read below. Micheal treats everyone as family, and none like a prince/princess. If you want someone to put your trust into, chose Micheal, if you want to be a prima-donna and meddle in the kitchen, find someone else. read more

Awesome! Michael and A Moveable Feast created the best party experience I have ever had! In the past, I have spent days shopping and cooking and setting up tables and then cleaning up afterwards. With the wonderfulness of A Moveable Feast I found myself reading a book in the hour before people arrived, actually talking to my guests when they did arrive, and watching everyone enjoying the delicious food and drink that Michael and his crew made magically appear! Afterwards we were left with a sparkling kitchen and some yummy leftovers in the refrigerator! The whole thing cost about the same as I spent myself but without all the work. It's true that it's hard to get hold of Michael so if you want to talk to him, you should call the Cachagua General Store and explain your situation but fear not...he will check out your space, produce cool ideas, and then show up with great food! I'm ready to have another party!!! read more

Enough with all these horrendous reviewers! Michael is an extremely artistic chef...you will not get ordinary when you hire him! But you need to let go and trust him and not be all freaky Before your big event. Definitely tell him what you want ....but know that he and his fam are direct descendants of The Italiano and Spanish Cooking Gods and being so, they will hit the markets hard so you get only the best farm fresh ingredients. This man can make your wedding party lick their plates in public. We know. He did it for us. read more

Michael Jones gave me the wedding of my dreams.... As my only vendor (everything else was DIY) he made sure that every detail was perfect. He worked within my budget and ended up charging me less than he originally quoted. The food was amazing!!!! His staff was amazing!!! WARNING!!! Michael does not return calls or emails. He called me the Wednesday before my wedding to finalize details. While this caused a little bit of extra stress, it was completely worth it!!!! He is one of the premier caterers in the area and is extremely busy. Yes, he has a little bit of an ego, but most artists/craftsman do when they are THE BEST in town.... read more

No communication. Contacted him 7 months before the event. Lead us on to believe he would do a great job and was excited about the gig, then never returned phone calls or emails. Totally blew us off and left us stranded a month before the event. I'm writing this so others aren't surprise when he decides not to show up. read more

Michael Jones and A Moveable Feast have catered numerous events from a Roadhouse Dinner at the Cachagua Store to Dinner for 30 at a home in Carmel to Dinner on Carmel Beach to an evening event at the Monterey Art Museum - all amazing and memorable for all the right reasons. I have a client from New Jersey who attends a lot of events who told me that the Where the Hell are We Roadhouse Dinner was the best event he ever attended. The food is always incomparable, Michael is fun and gracious and real, and everyone who works for and with him are fantastic. He's now working out of Lokal in Carmel Valley and we intend to have A Moveable Feast cater our next event in April. I know it will be great. read more

Mr. Jones and his team did an *amazing* job catering for a Valentine's Day event. They built off their menu from the Cachagua General Store, made a unique and exceptionally delicious meal. The level of personal attention and care taken in preparation was outstanding. If you have a special occasion in the Monterey area, I cannot recommend them highly enough. read more

horrible service horrible food. showed up at venue with their 2 dogs left to run, helped themselves to my private wine cabinet, wihout permission. Used profanity to client concerning billing,threatening a lawsuit over a contract that was never signed, no set menu, no pricing. TOTALLY unprofessional. NEVER AGAIN read more