We chose our venue to be at the Spink Pavilion at Missouri Botanical Garden and were linked with the Catering St. Louis. We were absolutely thrilled with everything. Karen West, our coordinator, is kind, gracious and had some great additional suggestions. The event went perfectly thanks to the whole CSL team. The bar and service staff were professional and attentive. Our guests made comments on how meal service came out smoothly and perfectly. The food was amazing, it came out hot and was delicious. Many thanks to Karen and the CSL team! read more

We had our wedding in the Missouri Botanical Gardens in September through Catering St. Louis (the only way you can reserve an area in the botanical gardens). We regret this decision. The wedding itself was beautiful but the entire planning process and getting Catering St Louis to actually work with us was a NIGHTMARE. First of all, it's a full non-refundable deposit that you must supply to hold your spot. This is also rain or shine, no refunds. We knew this and accepted this, but then (after we paid) they sent the full package with other restrictions we were not expected. No signs, no glasses or anything breakable. The seats that day will be set up for the largest group of the day, so if you have a small guest list compared to the other weddings occurring that day, too bad. You have to pay an additional $300 for a golf cart if you want help transporting people to the wedding site (NOTE: this only applies to the wedding party! They don't want you to use it for all your guests). Additionally, if this golf cart breaks down, too bad, they only have one, there goes your money. For a $3000 non-refundable deposit, you think they would provide reserved parking for at least the Bride and Groom. NOPE. When we met with Catering St. Louis representative, she assured us since it was a wedding earlier in the day, that we would find parking, but nothing was reserved. When I arrived with my parents in my dress, there was NO parking. My dad had to drop us off, park somewhere a mile away, and then RUN to the ceremony site. This was absurd. We talked with the folks at the botanical gardens themselves after this, and they said they would have supplied us with reserved parking if Catering St. Louis would have talked to them. ALSO, the people with Catering St. Louis refused to meet and work with us/answer questions until a month before the wedding!!! It was incredibly frustrating not knowing what was going on and what else we had to do. The only support we actually got from them was the ONE meeting with the Catering St. Louis representative less than a month before the wedding (which wasn't even in the botanical gardens, they met us in a cafe), and during the rehearsal. We got an hour for our rehearsal time and that process was smooth, but nothing was set up, and there was no way to hook our music up and to coordinate that. During the day of, the rehearsal coordinator gave us our ques to walk and then left. We would NOT recommend having your wedding at the Botanical Gardens through Catering St. Louis. We are SO glad we didn't use them for our reception. read more

From the event coordinators, to the event staff, service was exceptional. The coordinators and chef worked with us to create a menu for our wedding guests started with our cocktail hour, seated dinner and dessert table. Our guests are still raving about the food. Catering St Louis was professional, flexible, and overall a joy to work with. 10/10. Highly recommend read more

I got married this weekend! And it was a great wedding, despite Catering St. Louis' best efforts to try and ruin it. I considered myself a pretty carefree bride. I wasn't orchestrating a pageant, or putting together something over the top. I am easy going, but organized. They are not. First of all, the staff is useless. One week before the wedding, my contact person sent me an email to tell me she had not received my vendor information and blamed it all on me. I gave her that information via email months ago. I had to re-send those emails and say--"Did you ever get this? Because GMail says you did!" She was sorta apologetic, and claimed that she gets emails after hours outside the office and never prints them off or saves the information. Subsequent emails she consistently loses or forgets information. Second email I received was titled "Good News!". The "good news" was she had quoted me a price for the reception, but charged me double--so I will be getting a sizable refund. How is this good news that you charged me double??? And you just noticed this because you managed to double check my file after the first scenario (listed above)?? The "activity coordinator" who assists with the rehearsal is pointless. She was late. She also had no direction and couldn't get her s*$% together. My Pastor took the reigns and we made it work. The reception at the wedding was poorly orchestrated. I wish I could have not hired them at all and give money to a different caterer, but they have a monopoly on many venues within St. Louis. My wedding and reception were both held at the Botanical Gardens. It was a lovely, memorable experience, and I am glad I only get married once and never have to go down that road again of hiring a caterer as disappointing as Catering STL. read more

Catering St. Louis is the company that runs the Whitmore House. As a previous home, it was re-engineered to become a banquet facility. This place is perfect for upscale banquets, or large meetings. If one is interested one can even get married here, and have the reception immediately following. The outside landscaping is spectacular, with a nice outside patio available. The actual facility is actually somewhat smaller, 150 max guest for dinner, 250 max for cocktail party. The catering company takes care of all the details, including lighting, flowers, etc. The only thing that is really necessary is picking the food from the menu, which is delicious. cateringstlouis.com read more

I am sad to see that Catering St. Louis only has 3 stars because they deserve 10 across the whole board. I got married a few weeks ago at City Cottage. Both the ceremony and the reception was there. My coordinator was Rhonda. My husband and I fell in love with City Cottage from the moment we stepped inside. All of our guest felt like they were at someone home. It was cozy and quaint and full of character and not to mention old charm beauty. All of our guests loved and appreciated the little details like the blankets, the fire pit, the heaters. Its the little things that actually do make a difference and do matter. The food was out of this world delicious. We had the cocktail dinner and everyone went up for thirds and fourths. I still get compliments about how delicious our food was. On top of this we had the brick oven pizza which was also mouth watering. At the end of the night we got to take the left over food home and that is what we did and that night I had 2nd dinner! Our coordinator, Rhonda was God send. She made everything happen. Not a single thing went wrong that day. The transitions were smooth and not delayed. The service was on point with catering to everyone needs and with great respect and professionalism at the same time. I am still blown away at how perfect everything was. I would not have changed a thing. They listen to you, cater to you, work with you and your needs. Will make your vision come true. They will put all of your pinterest ideas together and make it a reality. I know that price is also a factor for all brides when planning a wedding and I will say that Catering St. Louis is worth every penny and you get for what you pay for plus more. read more

In December 2011, my husband and I had an intimate, cozy, and beautiful ceremony and reception at City Cottage on Chouteau. The ceremony went off without a hitch, and the reception was such fun, we know our guests will never forget it. It was a perfect match for our personalities. We couldn't be happier with our choice. I thought it would prove difficult to plan our wedding out-of-state; however, the staff at Catering St. Louis was wonderful. They made excellent recommendations for outside vendors, such as the DJ and florist. And they were very helpful, professional, and prompt when contacting either my mom or me regarding wedding details. We chose the buffet/appetizer menu and guests were able to munch nearly all night long. The food was tended to promptly so that everything that was supposed to be hot was and replenished regularly. And the alcohol was poured until the very last minute of the reception. The price we were quoted in the beginning is what we ended up paying. The atmosphere was gorgeous with its fireplaces, candles, and decorations--leaving little for me bring in. The staff was calm and courteous (even when some of the wilder crowd was not quite ready to leave at the reception's end); they also kept my husband and me on schedule without being overbearing or even omnipresent. I was thoroughly impressed with Catering St. Louis, and if we were to do it all over again, we would do everything exactly the same. It was perfect! read more

My husband and I held our wedding ceremony and reception at the Whittemore House this past Labor Day weekend. What an amazing celebration. Wow...where do I begin? First, the Whittemore House itself (which has recently gone through a beautiful renovation where the old character has been maintained while things have been freshened up a bit, including a new beautiful bar). This house was meant to hold wonderful celebrations and parties - the flow and design of the entire building lends itself to guests mingling and moving from room to room. The majority of our guests were from out of town and we are still getting compliments on what a beautiful location it was for the wedding. The space upstairs was ideal for getting ready and the back lawn is a little oasis in the middle of a pretty busy part of town. Next, the staff. Every detail was attended to on the evening of our wedding as well as the entire time leading up to it. Art is amazing and so much fun to work with - it is no wonder every single person we interacted with was fantastic, with Art setting the tone. Everyone was always welcoming when I wanted to stop by with friends and family and they kept us updated throughout the renovation process, responded to all of my inquiries, and were extremely flexible to ensure that the evening was exactly what we wanted. The food, the drinks, and the details were all handled with such professionalism and attention to detail. Thank you for helping us to create celebration that we will never forget! read more

Totally unprofessional. Would not recommend at all (except to a sworn enemy)!

My new bride and I were just wed and held our reception at the Spink Pavilion in the St. Louis Botanical Gardens. This facility is managed by Catering St. Louis. We were paired with Cathy W, and Anna. We met with Cathy earlier this year at the Catering St. Louis office for our tasting appointment. We found them to be very professional, accommodating, and understanding as we made special requests with regards to the food and how it was prepared, as we wanted to best suite ours and our guests' particular needs. Cathy also explained that we had options as to the layout of the pavilion. Telling us that if weather accommodates we can have the dance floor outside on the patio, and if not, we had an extra room we could use. It being St. Louis, you never know (we're from California). Cathy also coordinated with our photographer, DJ, cake bakery, etc. to make sure that we had a wonderful and memorable evening. The night of the reception, the pavilion looked magnificent. Cathy checked with us to make sure we were okay with her placement of our party favors. I don't think I could have dreamed of a better reception. The night was one of the most fun and memorable nights of my life. We danced the night away and when it came to closing time, the staff was very polite. We had some senior guests who were waiting for their ride, and the staff was not rude or impolite at all. Thank you Catering St. Louis. read more

The absolute best!!!! Catering St. Louis catered both our wedding reception and rehearsal dinner and we could not be more thrilled with the experience! Alaynne was AMAZING! She was so incredibly sweet and went WAY above and beyond to take care of all of the special dietary requests we threw her way. The food was spectacular at both events, and St. Louis Catering made it all so easy! They could not have been more accommodating and easy to work with. Highly highly highly recommend!!! read more

My husband and I got married in Forest Park in January 2015. We live in Dallas but I (the bride) am from St. Louis and I wanted to hold the wedding in the city I grew up in. Within the first couple months of being engaged, my now husband and I made our way up to St. Louis to view some venues and the aesthetics of the Jewel Box and it being conveniently located near the Forest Park Visitor Center are what won us over. We put down a deposit and set a date. Our first point of contact was Leasa, who was great in answering all of our initial questions and working with me on planning until it was time to turn us over to our coordinator, Rhonda. Rhonda soon took over the reigns as our reception coordinator and I was certainly glad we had her. I found Rhonda to be very warm, helpful, yet direct... which is probably the best combination in the type of role she's in. I work in event coordination (not weddings, though) as well and I can appreciate all the organization and policies one has to adhere to for things to go well for your clients as well as to keep your employer happy with your performance. I just want to say that when it came to the day of, Rhonda and her team pulled off a beautiful event and everything turned out better than my vision. I want to recognize Rhonda as well as the service staff at Catering St. Louis for a job well done and I was very pleased with how my wedding day turned out. I do want to explain why I did not rate Catering St. Louis a full five stars and that has more to do with some little things that came up during the planning process. I want to mention that the Jewel Box is not run by Catering STL, but rather the St. Louis Parks Dept so any event that is held there must go through the policies put in place by the Parks Dept. Unfortunately for Catering STL (or any caterer hired for an event in the Jewel Box), they have to stick to the policies of the Parks Dept and enforce these polices, no matter how silly the paying client might think they are. Specifically what occured with us was that we purchased our block of time to hold our ceremony at the Jewel Box and we were intending to have our guests file out and head over to the Visitor Center after for a cocktail hour while the wedding party did pictures throughout Forest Park. The issue we ran into was...we had the Jewel Box from 4PM - 5:30PM and were told that was that - we had to be out by our allotted end time in case of other events coming in after ours. And we also wanted pictures of the wedding party in the Jewel Box after the ceremony... We were traditional and didn't do a first look and the Jewel Box is beautiful and it was cold outside so we didn't want anything crazy but did want a couple photos as the bride and groom and with our wedding party... that was it. Okay... no big deal until we were told that guests could not arrive at the Visitor Center until 6PM, otherwise things might not be done getting set up. So, our question was "what are we supposed to do with 150 guests for 30 minutes?" No real solution was given so I just said okay, we'd hold our wedding and start it at 5PM and have it end at 5:30PM, knowing we'd have to be out of there... I did this with the hope that it would take our guests awhile to get to their cars and get over to the Visitor Center, but I couldn't guarantee people wouldn't show up before 6PM... So, it ended up working out... the service staff at the Visitor Center was ready for everyone, but it added a lot of unnecessary anxiety during the planning process not knowing for sure how things would play out. We also got our pictures in the Jewel Box but this was because we found out later that there wasn't another event coming in afterward. While I realize there is always a method to the madness when it comes to why guidelines are the way they are, I think Catering STL and the Parks Dept need to think more of their paying clients. We were not trying to orchastrate anything crazy, but as the bride and groom we wanted to accomodate our guests in a way that made the most sense and we didn't want to stress about it. And just get a couple pictures in a pretty place. Had we known this would have all come up from the get-go, we would have said something sooner or worked something out, but the deposit was already paid when this came up. This is not a reflection on Rhonda's job or the service staff at Catering STL - they did an amazing job to make everything as wonderful as possible for us... Anything negative we have to say is due to the strict timeframes which make for a stressful scenario for the bride, groom and guests. I hope for future clients they can work something out that makes sense. So Rhonda & service staff - 5 out of 5 stars Catering STL and Parks Dept - 3.5 out of 5 stars read more

The turnover rate for their staff is very high which makes it difficult to work with them. I went through 3 employees while trying to just book a space at the Botanical Gardens (didn't use them for food but I had to use them to book the Garden). EVERYTHING is an extra charge! You need a table - extra charge, chair - extra charge, CD player - extra charge. Anything they could possibly charge you for, they will. They were supposed to provide 2 chairs for my musicians but they didn't. They also booked a wedding directly after us and the people for that wedding were trying to set-up during our ceremony. They need to space things out better because our ceremony was only about 15mins and after we were rushed out to make way for the next person. I sent them an email after to inform them I was unhappy with some things and (of course) never heard back. read more

The Missouri Botanical Gardens runs their reservations through Catering StL, and we have experienced nothing but frustration dealing with them to reserve the Japanese garden for our wedding ceremony. Apparently all of the MOBOT reservations run through one woman, Anna, and each time we have needed to communicate with her, we have waited at least a week for a return call. We then have left a frustrated message either for her or with a supervisor, and then we get a call back the next day. It's unclear whether she is incompetent or if Catering StL is drastically understaffed, but for the simple procedure of renting a space just for a ceremony, we have gone through hell. We are so glad that we did not go through them for our reception. It's too bad they have a lock on some of the nicest venues in St Louis. We do not believe they deserve it. read more

Terrible!!!! We will never use them again. As a industry person this company did not take care of its customers and I will not recommend them to anyone. Take my advice and go else where! read more

They made a great wedding at the Whittemore House even better. From the planning and tasting to the event itself, the executed flawlessly. Everyone in the wedding party (around 85 people) raved about the food... which for us, was very important. When you invite people to celebrate your wedding you want them to feel like you're treating them to a first-class dinner. That's what St. Louis Catering did for us. High recommended! read more

Alaynne at Catering St Louis was our event coordinator at the Forest Park Visitor center. Our daughter's wedding reception went beautifully and looked so beautiful. It was the perfect night. We can't say enough good about her and her staff. Our florist, Michelle, told us how great they all were to work with. She was very complimentary on the venue, Forest Park Visitor Center, and Alaynne and her staff as well. It exceeded our expectations. What a perfectly great night. read more

We fell in love with a Catering St. Louis venue but, unfortunately, decided to forfeit our deposit. The sales team was unprofessional, unaccommodating, and rude to the point of insulting. With all of the wedding details to plan, we also grew tired of repeatedly having to correct Catering St. Louis' mistakes on documents, info, etc. Switching to a different venue made the planning experience exponentially better. read more

I work with five or six caterers a year doing corporate events around the country. I was so happy to finally be able to have one in my hometown, and we chose Shaw's Garden as our venue. Catering St. Louis was easy to work with, efficient, and good quality for the price. But what really set them apart was the food and service the night of the event. We received excellent, thoughtful service all night. And the food was delicious - some of the best I've had at a catered event. I'd use them again in a heartbeat. read more

I rarely write reviews unless I absolutely love something or feel the need to warn others but this circumstance proved necessary. Unfortunately, from the moment I talked to a person at Catering St. Louis until I decided to give up my dream-wedding venue (The Inns at St. Albans) because of Catering St. Louis, things went from bad to abysmal. I worked with Catering St. Louis and found that many of the ways they do their business are less than customer service driven and tend to prove beneficial not to the couple and family on their special day but simply to make money. Not being from St. Louis originally, I had never tried their food or been to any event they hosted. Therefore, I kindly asked (as most people would do before writing a $3,000 check), to try their food. The food was mediocre at best AND she wanted to charge me $150.00 for the tasting because I asked to do it before 5 months out. Well, according to many people, 5 months before your wedding is not when you want to find out the food is bad or the catering company can just push a price that they choose out of thin air on you. But, to my surprise, they were rude, totally unaccommodating, and annoyed that I had asked. In fact, emails went back and forth before I told them I was coming either way lol. Then, after that, they REFUSED to give me any price per person. Well, most companies have the info front and center for their clients and they would not tell me what I was paying for until again, 5 months out. Not to mention, the woman that runs "sales" didn't sell a thing, didn't want to, and pretty much told me they felt inconvenienced by my request. At this point, I asked to speak to a manager and/or boss. All I wanted was reassurance that all would be okay and that things would be handled better from here. However, when Mr. Erker (the owner) called he was rude, and pretty much told me he (in 35 years) which I doubt, has never had an issue. The way he made me feel, I decided it was best to go elsewhere. If anyone wants to use this company going forward be aware that they could care less about your excitement or desire to have an amazing wedding and simply want to work with you only because they have exclusivity on certain area venues. Because of this, they feel no need to impress you, make your day special, or work with you at all. Just thought others should know my AWFUL experience with their entire organization. read more

My husband and I used Catering St Louis for our rehearsal dinner at the Botanical Garden and wedding reception at the Forest Park Visitor Center. We were SO lucky to have Alaynne Allen as our planner. We can't thank her enough for all her hard work in creating the wedding of our dreams. It was't easy planning a wedding from out of town, but she made us feel comfortable and confident that everything was going to be perfect. She saw our vision and made it better than we had even thought possible. We will never forget walking up to the venue and feeling so overwhelmed by how beautiful it looked! The food was delicious, the service was excellent, and the night flowed so smoothly. Catering STL is very professional and will make sure your event is seamless. We loved working with Alaynne, and she and Catering STL have our highest recommendation! read more

Is there a way to give them a negative? Dont bother with Catering St Louis. Find a different venue that uses someone else. Anybody, but them. The right hand doesn't know what the left is doing. We Loved Our Venue. LOVED IT! The owner of oir venue is wonderful. Thwy kept telling, "Do not call the owner from now on." (Wrong thing to say to me) The contracted caterer Catering St Louis cant handle a simple 170 people. I've been to weddings of 250 to 300 people with Russo's catering and Butler's pantry . And their food was wonderful . Almost everything with catering St Louis is upcharged. The food you taste at the tasting is not what is put in front of you at your event. Chicken. How can they screw that up? They made it hours before the event. We got dried up, rock hard chicken. The staff, didnt know who the head tables were. The head tables were not served first. The bridle table all had dried out chicken that some dunked in their water. The bartender actually asked me, the bride's mother, to have a seat when they were starting the toasts. Even though the bar was forced to stay open. I promptly told him since I was the one writing the check fill my wine glass. If you complain after, you get the run around. Just make sure you have a good lawyer like I do. And a few attorneys at the wedding helps too. When I contacted the owner Carleen after the wedding, she ran me around for a week, then texted me to have my daughter contact the planner. The reception was my party, not the brides. It was my check, not the brides. Plus, the bride and groom are on their honeymoon. FIND A DIFFERENT LOCATION TILL THE VENUE GETS OUT OF THE CONTRACT. read more