Boka Catering did an exceptional job for our wedding this past May. Our venue, The Ivy Room, requires that you choose a caterer from their 'preferred' list and luckily for us, Boka was one of them. Out of 7 catering choices, we narrowed down to 3 possibilities. However, after making a round of first meetings and tastings, it was easy to select Boka because they met our top priorities: EXCELLENT CLIENT SERVICE and OUTSTANDING FOOD.
We enjoyed a very positive client experience with Boka Catering throughout our event planning. At our first meeting with Abby Kritzler and Chef GuiseppeTentorri, we felt confident they were not only committed to creating for us a delicious wedding menu, but one that would be customized to our specific taste preferences and needs. It was less important to me that Chef Tentorri is a Michelin rated chef; besides having a spectacular culinary background (and we have also dined at his restaurant GT Fish& Oyster and love it!), the fact is he is also a smart and gracious person who focuses not on the talented chef he is, but on us, the customer. He asked thoughtful questions and gave us his honest input and ideas to help develop our ideal wedding menu, starting with a Tasting menu that incorporated many of our food preferences, and introduced new and interesting flavors to try.
Throughout our rather long planning period (we contracted Boka 8 months in advance), Abby stayed on top of our proposal and coordinated all ongoing details, and menu adjustments with the kitchen team. She was consistently professional and reliable in following up, and communicating input from Chef Tentorri or their pastry chef on adapting new menu ideas to our needs. Since my daughter has a severe nut allergy they took extra precautions to create a totally nut-free menu; every item, from the hors deurves, to the entrees, and desserts tasted amazing (without nuts!). At Boka, I never felt like they were just giving us a sales pitch (which is the feeling I got from a couple other caterers I contacted; one caterer even suggested I better contract early..in 2013, because by 2014 the price of beef would be going up! What?! I grocery shop often and feed a family of four every day so I'm well aware of meat prices. no thank you.). From start to finish, Abby was kind, considerate and respectful, and never pushy.
Of the caterers we considered, Boka had by far the BEST tasting food, combining the most seasonally fresh and flavorful ingredients. You may want to photograph it before savoring every last bite; it looks as good as it tastes! Categorizing them with other traditional caterers does not seem fair since Boka Catering provides finer restaurant style cuisine, and uses their own trained restaurant staff for catered events. In comparing Boka's food quality to another large and popular Chicago caterer, we saw no competition; the other caterer actually served us some items at their tasting that were similar to commercially packaged foods, a big disappointment, especially because from a cost standpoint, they were in the same ballpark as Boka.
On wedding day Boka delivered five-star food and service. Immediately following our ceremony, we were brought to a private room, where Abby appeared with a tray of scrumptuous canapes for us to quietly enjoy before joining our guests. There were 6 canape selections during cocktail hour; for dinner, Spring salad w/greens/roasted beets, 3 entree choices (Beef tenderloin w/red wine sauce,crispy asparagus and potato truffle gratin, a Seared black cod w/shrimp brandade,fennel sauce and grilled broccolini, spinach gnocchi, and a Crispy Vegetarian Cannelloni w/celery root puree); and a fabulous dessert station with 7 choices, many of them customized just for us, like the zeppoli italian doughnuts, creamy mango jello w/chantilly cream, and fried strawberry rhubarb pie. Their own in-house pastry chef did a wonderful job ensuring all our desserts were tasty and nut-free. So many of our guests praised the food. If our food selections don't sound like your style, don't worry; Boka has both the committment and culinary skills to create your own special menu for your event.
All our entrees were prepared to perfection, and served hot; portion sizes were just right; everything presented beautifully, and most importantly, tasted so fresh and flavorful. I am a devout meat lover, however, our black cod and cannelloni entree were absolutely delicious! My husband and I were so excited about our menu that we decided to each have two entrees, because we wanted to eat everything! But by the end of our busy evening, I did not have a chance to finish my meal, so I asked our server (who had been attentive all night) if I could bring the rest home. I was experiencing such incredible restaurant quality food AND service that I momentarily responded as I do in a restaurant!! Without hesitation, she found a way to box it up for me. I'm happy to say even my 'leftovers' tasted great! read more