I am thrilled that Blue Heron Catering catered my wedding at the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden. The food was delicious and beautiful. We had so many compliments. We LOVED it! The appetizers were awesome, the salad, delicious, the white seabass, duck breast with pear and shaved fennel, the asparagus and lemon risotto... Just so wonderful! The staff was so warm and personable. I felt like we were making new friends. On top of providing us with delicious food and service, Debbie is so experienced and calm! She walked us through all kinds of questions about what we wanted to see at our wedding and basically guided us to make this the wedding we wanted. Her relaxed affect kept me calm as we made all kinds of choices. I am so grateful to her. She is like a magical project manager who seems to be guiding an afternoon stroll when actually making important things happen, and nothing slipped. She also knows the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden's policies and people, so she can navigate their expectations easily. There were no surprises. Everything was smooth, delicious and upbeat. Thank you to the whole team at Blue Heron! You are the best! read more

Thank you very much to Debbie and everyone on her team at Blue Heron including Anne Marie and Dawn. Everyone was so helpful and friendly. And everything looked wonderful and tasted so good especially the crispy eggplant stack and garlic mashed potatoes. The presentation of the food and appetizers was awesome! All this really made for a great graduation dinner for us. I didn't have to worry about anything. Thank you so much again!! read more

Debbie and team were so awesome at a wedding we did video for. All the staff were friendly and accommodating. Their food was delicious! Highly recommend! read more

Blue Heron is absolutely the best catering experience I have had. EVER! Their food is absolutely superb (I had compliments from many guests), surprisingly reasonable prices, for numerous, interesting menu options, and outstanding communication and flexibility. I worked with them on a wedding reception for my son and daughter in law, and Debbie Pfisterer and her wonderful team worked with us to stay within budget, design an indoor outdoor floor plan for our space, and plan for weather contingencies (ie rain). They are a local, independent business in the East Bay, with kind and patient staff. Every staff member at the event went above and beyond with customer service. Special shout outs to Junior, Humberto, and Liz. I cannot recommend Blue Heron more highly for your event. read more

Blue Heron is AWESOME. Blue Heron catered my wedding and provided fantastic service. The Korean food truck taco appetizers were a major hit. Our wedding being the first time having a catered event, Debbie was great to work with and answered all my questions and concerns. On the day of the wedding, Brenda and the team were highly professional, courteous to the guests, and made certain everything ran smoothly from the table set up to the food & drinks being brought out to guests. They even thought ahead by bringing an extra wedding cake knife :) I recommend Blue Heron to everyone. Debbie, Brenda, and the rest of the Blue Heron team provide the best service and are great to work with read more

It would be impossible to put into words how great it was to work with Debbie and her Blue Heron team for our wedding. They were prompt in their responses, accomodating of our various dietary needs, kind, loving, and incredible on the day of our wedding when it rained and we had to pivot at the last second and move our wedding inside. And oh the food! Our 115 guests all raved about every single thing! Highly recommend on every level! read more

Blue Heron catered our wedding, and they were fantastic at every step along the way (thank you so much Anne Marie!). The food was exceptional, and guests with dietary restrictions felt very cared for. We overheard multiple guests raving about the food, and we're so happy that we went with Blue Heron! We would absolutely recommend them for any event. read more

We loved working with Debbie and AnneMarie for our wedding. Biggest shout-out to Chef Umberto for crafting such an amazing menu. A little about my guests - I have a really big Vietnamese family and we are all used to huge fancy banquets with Chinese food. They were a little bit skeptical about a Western style menu but were BLOWN away with how good the food was. They all raved about the paella, steak, cheesy polenta, and dessert. They all had seconds or thirds of the food which is a testament to Chef Umberto's skill. I appreciated Debbie's patience and guidance on our menu. We probably changed our menu tons of times and she was willing to accommodate all of our wishes. AnneMarie ran the show day of. She set up all of our tables, centerpieces, etc. she made sure everything was seamless and smooth. Also shout-out to our bartenders and servers - our guests loved them and they kept the drinks coming! All in all we loved working with Blue Heron and cannot recommend them enough. read more

We used Blue Heron for our wedding at the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden. Several guests told us it was the best wedding meal they've had, and we agree! Blue Heron provided wonderful quality food and was able to guide us along the way on things like our floorplan and alcohol selections. When we ran into some hiccups with other vendors around dessert and alcohol deliveries, they were willing to work with us on a solution and were extremely pleasant throughout. Tony was a great resource and we enjoyed working with him. We found Blue Heron to be competitively priced compared to the other preferred caterers allowed at our venue (or at least the ones who got back to us with a quote). read more

Debbie and her crew catered our third big family event and it was wonderful! The food was delicious, the service was impeccable, and everything looked beautiful. When I am fortunate enough to host a catered party, I don't even call anyone else. I go straight to Blue Heron. read more

We were so glad to have chosen Blue Heron for catering our wedding. The food was truly excellent and that was the least notable thing about our experience! Our communications from the very first time with Debbie, to our tasting, throughout all the rest of our planning and the wedding itself, all exceptional and made everything so much easier for us. Cannot imagine a better experience. Big thanks to every single person there! Oh and the food was really, really good. read more

We were so glad to have chosen Blue Heron for catering our wedding. The food was truly excellent and that was the least notable thing about our experience! Our communications from the very first time with Debbie, to our tasting, throughout all the rest of our planning and the wedding itself, all exceptional and made everything so much easier for us. Cannot imagine a better experience. Big thanks to every single person there! Oh and the food was really, really good! read more

Blue Heron knows what they're doing. When we chose the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens as our wedding venue, we were a bit disappointed to discover that our catering options were limited to only a handful. Little did we know that this was the biggest blessing and we had stumbled upon some of the greatest food we'd ever had. Early in our wedding planning process, Tony of Blue Heron set us up with a tasting at their store. Being a family that is afflicted by Celiac Disease, we were keen on finding a caterer that catered to our needs. The menu that was presented at our tasting was impeccable. The entree options were stuffed chicken, tritip, and eggplant puttanesca. It was near to impossible for us to even decide which item was best. The starter courses were fantastic, the wine pairings incredible, the cocktail appetizers just immaculate. On the actual wedding day, Blue Heron's staff were fantastic. All of the food was highly praised by attendees and the service was well provided. Although we were wildly distracted by the whole getting married aspect of the day, the food stood out and left a lasting imprint that we will be discussing for the rest of our happy days. read more

Blue Heron catered our wedding and so many guests told us it was the best wedding food they'd ever had. We had primarily Indian, Mexican, and Latin American food. It was all great. Especially the tamales. Amazingly, some of the food was actually even better at the wedding than at the tasting. They also did a great job catering to vegetarians and vegans. Compared to other caterers we explored, we found that Blue Heron had more interesting food and a larger variety. They were also happy to do a bunch of different dishes on the buffet instead of just a few main ones. They were also quite reasonably priced. They didn't have quite as many employees at the event as some other caterers quoted, which kept the cost down, but it didn't cause any problems for service quality. We got married at Chabot Space and Science Center, and Blue Heron was responsible for setting up all the furniture for the event in addition to catering food and tending the bar. They were clearly very experienced working at the venue and did a perfect job setting up the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception as well. They even figured out how to set up the chuppah for us. Tony, Debbie, Humberto, and everyone else we interacted with was very helpful and organized. Tony even brought us (the bride and groom) a special plate of appetizers at cocktail hour to make sure we were well-fed. They also brought the groom a special extra large plate for dinner at his request :-) Our menu: Passed appetizers: Sweet potato, leek and kale, tomatillo salsa empanadas Potato and pea samosas with peach chutney Memphis hot fried chicken slider, cole slaw, pickles, caper aioli Buffet Dinner: Chana masala Aloo gobi Paneer tikka masala Grilled tri tip with chimichurri Berto's Tamales Salad with cucumbers, rainbow carrots, radish, napa cabbage, cashews and cherry tomatoes in a yogurt dill dressing Jeweled basmati rice Grilled Mexican-spiced vegetables and tofu Oakland bread and creamery butter Dessert: Humphrey Slocombe ice cream read more

Hands down the best food I've ever had at a wedding. All 180 guests had hot, delicious food (scallops, steak, salad, potatoes and rosemary carrots) and the service was spectacular. The folks at Blue Heron were great to work with and made our wedding perfect. read more

Thank you so much Debbie for everything you and your wonderful crew did to make our event a success. Your team went above and beyond for the setup, breakdown, and retrieval of left behind items. Most importantly they were kind, attentive, not intrusive and yet available. The food was delicious -- lots of great feedback from our guests -- enjoyed the leftovers for a couple meals (thought there would be more but everyone went back for seconds I think) ... I only wish we had squirreled away some of the lemon bars ... I heard they were amazing. Big props to Brenda for everything she did and a very special acknowledgement for the young woman with the orange hair -- she was so kind and lovely -- and I cant believe she came to work the event with everything that was going on -- please send our most sincere thanks. If you are thinking of a catering company for an event here are the main points -- details - buffet lunch for 70, BH did all the setup and breakdown and a bunch of extra moving of tables/chairs etc. to make it right, they kept cost reasonable, the food options were many and we were really happy with our choices (salmon, chicken, and eggplant stack). Debbie was great communicator throughout the process, didnt get flustered (or if she did we couldnt tell) when we changed our minds, menu, numbers, or asked for this and that .... We were able to do a tasting before hand which was great to meet the team, talk about options with regard to food and event. It was clear from that meeting that Debbie loves what she does and wants every event to be great. Day of event, the staff was super professional, efficient, attentive, and kind. Thank you Debbie and everyone at Blue Heron. read more

My husband and I hired Blue Heron Catering for our wedding and we are so happy we did! AnneMarie is so wonderful and helpful with great advice and attention to detail! They were able to make delightful meals for our guests with different dietary needs, and still made the food feel special! It was a delicious meal for a celebratory day! Thank you read more

We hired Blue Heron to cater our 65-person wedding in Oakland on Oct. 15, 2022, and they were amazing. All of our guests raved about the food, with several saying it was the best catered food they'd ever had, and one guest saying his steak was the best he'd ever eaten, period. Debbie was awesome and fun to work with, and went above and beyond to design the menu to our specifications, including providing two tastings at her restaurant, the Cannery Kitchen and Tap in Castro Valley, CA (which we also recommend!). Her service staff and her chef, Humberto, were professional, friendly, and gave everyone great service. Debbie was flexible and made several adjustments to the menu as our ideas changed and evolved, and was always an absolute pleasure to work with. We were totally happy with our wedding meal and cannot recommend them highly enough! read more

Caveat: We only tried Blue Heron at a catering tasting, so I can't really say how they'd do at a big event. We're getting married at the Brazilian Room, and Blue Heron is on the list of 12 or so approved caterers. Of the four caterers we saw (I chose among the six least expensive on the list), Blue Heron was the most expensive. They seemed very professional, and one big plus is that for a wedding they provide you with your own event coordinator who starts coordinating a week before. They're the only caterer we saw that does this (Ann Walker kind of does this if requested). They're located across the street from a really scruffy park in West Oakland. Our tasting included: Apps -Bastilla (too much flaky pastry and not enough filling; it's good if you've never had it before, but if you're Moroccan/Mediterranean food lovers like we are, you know that there are much better renditions at restaurants out there) -Potato and zucchini latkes with sweet onion relish or applesauce (LOVE!) Salad -Asian long bean salad (we'd rather have tried their heirloom tomato salad but it was out of season; this was good but way too oily) Entrees I like that they didn't skimp on letting us try entrees like other caterers (I'm looking at you, Shai's). -Salmon with soy, sherry, and ginger (okay, but bland compared to similar preparations we've had elsewhere) -NY strip steak with onion Zinfandel sauce (I was surprised they served this as the steak wasn't very good quality at all) -Chicken with mushrooms (very good; we would have kept this dish) Overall Catering Ranking: 1) Ann Walker 2) Shai's 3) BLUE HERON (second best in taste but most expensive so that brought it down to #3) 4) Schumann's Four Seasons read more

Blue Heron Catering is fantastic to work with! Tony and Debbie were very communicative and kept in contact with my partner and I constantly. When we had to postpone our wedding in 2020 to 2021 (cough pandemic cough), Debbie contacted us and graciously agreed to the postponed date. Hands down the some of the best food that my partner and I have ever tasted. Chief Humberto knocked it out of the park! At the wedding the catering team was on it, Tony who the point of contact was so sweet and enthusiastic through out the process. If you are thinking about having Blue Heron cater your next event, please don't hesitate. They are a fun and professional, and the food is amazing. read more

Blue Heron turned out to be a disappointing choice for our dinner party. We should have vetted them more thoroughly. High cost, skimpy portions and food quality average at best. read more

My company ordered from Blue Heron for our weekly company luncheon. They were running a bit behind schedule, but Gail contacted our organizer to inform her of the delay. Once the orders arrived, her team of two quickly set the food up and brought everything, down to the tongs and ladles for serving. The food from Blue Heron was superb and I received many compliments on everything. The roast was fall apart tender, the black-eyed pea salad had just enough bite, and the bread pudding was a smash! I am giving them 4 stars because of the food arriving late. read more

My biggest disappointment is that I can't leave 6 stars! Elizabeth catered our wedding yesterday. But that doesn't tell the whole story or give the full perspective. Elizabeth choreographed out wedding reception. My wife and I could literally sit back and enjoy our special evening while Elizabeth knew precisely what to do and when to do it, from when to pass the appetizers to when to introduce us to when to start the meal to when to come cut the cake, and so on. And she is the consummate professional and makes you feel that your wedding is special to her. The food was simply amazing. The chef is so talented and versatile that he can carry out everything on the menu with near perfection. The bottom line is that if you are at all contemplating hiring Blue Heron, just do it and suspend your search. You cannot possibly do any better! read more

My experience with Blue Heron perhaps wasn't quite a perfect 5-star rating but they really came through for me big time in the end. Picture it: San Francisco, December 28th, 2017. I was chairing my agency's all staff retreat and we found ourselves without a caterer with just a week and a half to go. I posted on fb asking if anyone had any suggestions and a friend from high school suggested Blue Heron. I contacted them through their website and I heard back from them within an hour. Customer service was 4.5 stars: very prompt responses via email and they rolled with my numerous questions and changes. They also allowed my agency to pay later with a check even though that meant they wouldn't get any sort of security deposit, just my word or actually my electronic signature. (Paying with credit card will cost you a 3% additional fee). I was also impressed that their events coordinator reached out to our venue to get details about the space rather than asking me to do that. They only lose a half star because their events person wasn't quite as polite on the phone as she was on email. Their menu said "please ask about vegan and gluten free options." When I did I was told "oh gosh it's obvious." Turns out only a portion of their menu was labeled, the weekday events menu did not have their gluten free and vegan items labeled. But minor issue and by no means does that little blip taint the overall great service we got. The day of the event, their staff got us set up for breakfast well before start time. Everyone was really impressed with the spread. My favorites were the zucchini breakfast sandwich and the egg and sausage scramble. Lunch was also really good. My faves were the Mac 'n cheese, steak and strawberry shortcake. In the end I got major props for the food, which was a relief because food is very important to my agency. Couldn't please EVERYONE of course but lots of people took food home with the to go boxes they graciously provided so all in all it was a resounding success. read more

Blue Heron Catering did a beautiful job at our wedding. Our guests raved about the food. Tony and Anne Marie worked with us to put together an interesting and delicious menu. Anne Marie was a splendid coordinator, and her staff were warm, accommodating, pleasant and helpful all the way to the end of the event. I highly recommend Blue Heron! read more

Excellent food- we had the Caesar and Caprese salads with homemade potato chips and homemade pickles...yum! The pickles are bread and butter pickles and the chips..so crunchy... read more

Have had the pleasure of trying their food at a number of bay area events large and small, especially in the Sonoma and East Bay regions. While many of the caterers we've had to deal with have very specific menus they rarely stray from ( and those that do have exorbitant additional fees ), Blue Heron is not afraid to take on menu challenges...they also have the chef connections to be masterful with it. An extra star for the last statement. California cuisine flavors with a heavy lean into the Asian / South Asian and Latin spice realm. A standout feature are the small plate / tapas / Mediterranean menu...and their family style dinners are especially enjoyable. Don't be afraid to ask them for large events...they have a far-reaching network of staff that can take on even the most formal of events. read more

Debbie and the Blue Heron team did such a fantastic job catering my recent wedding at the Piedmont Community Hall. From the moment my husband and I had our tasting, we knew Blue Heron would be the right team for us. But I had no idea how wonderful Debbie would be -- she coordinated everything from linens to lighting to security to heat lamps to lounge furniture for me, and the result was fantastic. The wedding went off without a hitch, and I couldn't be more happy with how it all came together. Oh, and the food :) I have never had better food at a wedding in my life -- a sentiment that many of my guests echoed. But even more, Blue Heron served some of the best food I've ever had PERIOD. We wanted something non-traditional and a bit exotic, so Debbie and the Blue Heron team put together a beautiful and flavorful menu of mediterranean and middle eastern dishes. I wish that Blue Heron had a restaurant. I would eat there all the time. Thank you Debbie and your team!! read more

As I was planning my wedding from abroad, my initial contact with all of my vendors was over the phone. From my first phone call with Blue Heron, I knew they were the ones I wanted. As I am half Chinese/half Caucasian and my (now) husband is Sri Lankan, we wanted food that would reflect our respective heritages. As it turns out, this is something that Blue Heron almost seems to specialize in. They gave us a list of dishes and recommendations given our cultural requirements and even though each dish was very different, they all seemed to compliment one another perfectly. The event coordinator service they provide is priceless, really, and more than makes up for them being one of the more expensive caterers we looked into. Again, having planned my wedding from so far away, it was so reassuring and stress-relieving to know that on the day of, I didn't have to double check to make sure that everything was going smoothly. The staff they had on hand for my wedding was professional without being intrusive or stuffy. As I chose to have simple, non-floral centerpieces, they set them up for us. Nicki was our original coordinator but left the company two weeks or so before my wedding. You'd think that could end in a complete disaster, but to be honest, we hardly noticed! Elizabeth, one of the owners, took over and almost literally walked us through every step on our wedding day - it was as if I had had the consultations with her the whole time. Everyone told me I wouldn't have time to eat on my wedding day. Well, with Blue Heron's food, I made the time! Everything tasted fresh and delicious. Lots of people went back for seconds, which is always a good sign. If ever I had another event that I needed catered, I would not hesitate to contact Blue Heron again! read more

We hired Blue Heron for my daughters wedding at the Brazil bldg at Tilden Park. Trish was our contact and event planner. Trish is a total pro! From our 1st visit to the event, she was helpful, smiling and completely accommodating. We had some special requests, some at last minute, all were handled with a smile and complied with quickly and efficiently. The staff at the event was wonderful, service excellent. Like dining in a fine restaurant. The appetizers were amazing! Communication was excellent, phone calls and emails returned promptly. You will not be disappointed, and ask for Trish! read more

Blue Heron catered my best friend's wedding last weekend, and they were absolutely incredible! The staff was attentive and caring, helping me with a giant cake fiasco, and the food was just scrumptious. There was plenty of it, too. As the Maid of Honor, I was the one to do most of the interfacing with Blue Heron on the day of the wedding, and I really felt SO taken care of. They sent not only extremely capable and competent servers, but Nickie the coordinator was always there with a great suggestion and a smile. They meshed just beautifully with the site staff, making everything seem absolutely seamless. They packed up a little box of every item that was served that night and put it all together in a pretty wedding bag for the bride and groom to take home and eat later. Just in case they were too ga-ga over each other to remember the beautiful spread! It was a really impressive touch. Thoughtful, beautiful, and extremely delicious. That's Blue Heron! read more

Caveat: We tried them at a tasting only and did not hire them. Minus 1 star for location. If you do not mind driving down into the dregs of West Oakland this place is for you. I honestly didn't want to get out of the car for our first meeting! However I felt obligated since we had made the appt and Trish was expecting us. Trish is a lovely person. We had a first cosultation with her went over what we envisioned. My concern about the neighborhood waned. We could taste 6 of the dozen or so items we would enjoy. So we chose 3 apps and the three entrees. I figure you can't screw up veggies too badly so we skipped that. We found the appetizers to be a tad bland. But to their credit we offered suggestions of what we would like and they made it right there on the spot! That was impressive. They also left us alone so we could taste and discuss without interruption or feeling like we were rude to make comments. I liked that. We really enjoyed the entrees and out of all the caterers they nailed them (even with my recipe I provided!) If food were the only choice we needed to make we probably would have hired them. But unfortunately we have a unique lighting need - it isn't such a job that a lighting company would be appropriate and big enough so that it requires a couple people. Trish heard this need and offered to call a lighting company for us. We had already gone down that road and were really looking for her to say "we can provide extra people to do the set up as you envision" We are talking about setting out uplights and stringing lanterns. The other two needs that we solved in one stop with the caterer we did choose was cake and flowers. So it reduced our overall touches with vendors from 4 to 1. It will cost us a bit more but I feel it is well worth it. Given the above needs we had that didn't have anything to do with food - the choice to not use Blue Heron was clear. However if I didn't have those needs and just needed a good caterer I would absolutely use Blue Heron and recommend them to others. read more

The entire Blue Heron team was incredible to work with, and made our wedding at the Brazilian Room so special. Jessica Brown was our events manager, and from day one she was responsive, understanding, efficient, and accommodating every step of the way. She is also a joy to work with, which definitely helps! On the day-of, the catering staff and bartenders were really friendly and very professional. The food at our wedding was SO SO GOOD. All of our guests kept commenting on how amazing it was, and most everyone went back for seconds (and probably some thirds, knowing our friends). We of course knew this would be the case, because at our tasting Chef Humberto completely blew us away with the dishes he made. In my opinion, good food is such an important aspect of a wedding or event, and Blue Heron exceeded our expectations with the taste of the food and the ease with which they worked at our venue. I can't recommend Blue Heron enough, especially if you're getting married at the Brazilian Room or one of the East Bay Regional Park District venues. They're one of the EBRPD's approved caterers, and the staff know that venue like the back of their hand. Not only does Blue Heron do a great job with the food but they also act as coordinators and manage the day-of happenings at the venue. read more

Blue Heron catered our wedding . . . and they were amazing! From the online reviews I knew the food would be good . . . it was great! But the service was even better. From our initial meeting with Trish we were very comfortable with our choice. With little time to pull the entire event together, Trish helped us through selecting the food, linens, staffing and even giving us tips on how to make best use of our site, which she knew well and had used many times in past. I could go on and on telling how Blue Heron did an INCREDIBLE job for us, but one simple act sums it up . . . at the end of our ceremony we were walking down the aisle and I spotted Trish waiting for us, with a huge smile and two flutes of champagne! That goes beyond service, that is genuine heartfelt caring . . . and that's exactly what EVERYONE needs on their wedding day!!! Trish, we could not possibly thank you and your staff enough for all you did. It made for a perfect event. You are the best. read more

Trish is awesome!!! Can't say enough about the level of customer service she gave us. She is very responsive, knowledgeable and friendly. Their food is very good and they are willing to work within your budget. read more

Blue Heron catered our wedding at the Art Deco theater in Alameda (Auctions By The Bay). We went in and demanded a "Italian-Japanese-California-Fusion Menu with no beef." Rather than throw our asses on the street like they probably should have, they were very excited at the opportunity. They brainstormed some pretty crazy pieces and we chose a few to try. Our tasting was lovely and completely awesome-- they aced the test and got the gig. We were not disappointed by our reception- the food was great and plentiful. And, for the curious: Our cake was a four-tier Art Deco cake in two different flavors, by Bewitching Elegance in Burlingame Our favors were custom-made were by Preston's Candy & Ice Cream in Burlingame (in our custom colors) Our rings were custom-made Art Nouveau by Wormgear Designs in Oakland and finally, our photographers were from Dawson Studios read more

Blue Heron was an easy choice for me to hire for my daughter's bat mitzvah. I had used them for my wedding 15 years ago and had a great experience. I did get bids from other full-service caterers and Blue Heron seemed to be similarly priced. I really liked Jessica and the tasting went well. All of the negotiations leading up to the event were fine, although I found their online system frustrating...every change I requested would automatically change the quote, so it was impossible to compare between menus. Unfortunately, the execution was pretty disappointing. First thing I noticed was that the bartender did not have the specialty drink menus up. When I asked her about it, she told me that no one had told her about the specialty drinks. Jessica then told me that I had never finalized the drinks with her, which simply wasn't true...we had had numerous e-mails about it, the final one which she told me exactly what alcohol and mixers for me to purchase for the specialty drinks. They then threw together the drink menus while a line was forming. Needless to say, I was pretty upset at having to deal with this after having paid for such a high-end caterer. We went with a buffet to keep costs "reasonable." However, at no point had Jessica told me that there would be no utensils, napkins or glasses on the table. The tables looked sparse without those things. When my event planner asked Jessica about this, she was told that there weren't enough water glasses to put them out for every guest!!! People therefore had to leave the table to get their water as there seemed to be no service people available to make sure that the guests had what they needed at the table. I realize that the buffet requires a certain amount of DIY, but this lack of service was really unacceptable. The two main dishes - Korean Fried Chicken and Miso Salmon - were quite good, although not warm. However, the noodles were tasteless and I had to tell the buffet people that there needed to be sauce added. Again, I should not have to be managing this. The most annoying issue was that there were stir-fried string beans which we added to the menu in order to have a vegetable at the kids' buffet. I like spicy food, but was surprised at how overly spicy these were. So these were originally intended for children and yet were too spicy for the adults...of course none of the kids could eat them!! We chose chocolate fondue for the dessert and then brought in our own doughnuts from Dick's Donuts on High Street. At $5 per person the chocolate fondue was so underwhelming, I wish I had just stuck with the doughnuts alone, which were amazing (as always). The next day my kids also told me that the kids soda bar was not good, but I didn't get much more details out of them on that. When I used Blue Heron for my wedding, we were sent home with a fair amount of leftovers and the contract does say that we would be given the leftovers. However, despite there being a ton of green beans left over for sure, and probably other food also, I was told that there was nothing left over. Weird. Finally, the next morning I received a request for feedback from Blue Heron. When I gave them the feedback above, I received not a word back. You would think that at these prices they would apologize or say something...anything... I went back through earlier Yelp reviews and realized that Blue Heron had changed ownership from when we used them for our wedding. This was quite obvious and I wish I had done more homework prior. If it weren't for their high prices, I would have given them three stars, but at these prices, I just expect more. You should get what you pay for. read more

NIckie at Blue Heron was extremely helpful and comforting to work with. She carefully walked us through the entire process step by step to make she everything was the way we wanted. And the food was superb, organic and local. I love that they have a zero waste policy, left over food (if there is any) is donated to local homeless shelters. Highly recommend Blue Heron! read more

Fabulous food and service! Blue Heron catered a Big Birthday event in backyard with style and amazing food. Third time we've used them (wedding and another Big Birthday) and always to raves from friends and family. Punctual, efficient, super food, and clean-up. Friends were asking when we're having another party. read more

Yesterday Blue Heron catered our Berkeley wedding reception. Not only was the food delicious, their extra effort in providing service added to my enjoyment at the wedding. We had selected an afternoon buffet menu that included an orzo salad with Shitake mushrooms and spinach that was wonderful. Their appetizers such as salmon in puff pastry, sun-dried tomato mix on polenta and another sun-dried tomato appetizer on toast point were extra yummy. But their service was beyond amazing. Their manager, Debbie, acted somewhat as a wedding coordinator, since we did not have one. She appeared several times to relieve me of handling presents, she brought an extra little table that the facility didn't have, they picked up rented umbrellas for us and even ordered us a whole-wheat challah. As a videographer I have been to lots of weddings. Frequently glasses are not filled prior to toasting, or forks and napkins are not supplied for the cake cutting. Blue Heron had that all taken care of, and so much more. They had two buffet stations with room on both sides, so the guests could quickly move through and load up their plates. Sparkling wine and soft drinks flowed throughout the afternoon. They even quickly set up the room for the reception after we had a brief ceremony in it, and guests retired to the outdoor patio as they re-set the room for the meal. I'm not getting married again, but the next time I need a caterer I'll choose Blue Heron without hesitation. read more