Betsy and Tripp with Around the Table catered an early Thanksgiving meal for my family and I at our…read morefarm. We had a group of 8, and our dinner was divine. Betsy and Tripp arrived on time, served us delicious food, and left our kitchen cleaner than they found it. We started with focaccia bread with a honey butter ... extreme noms and we all went back for seconds. Then we had a butternut squash soup.... it was delicious. The main course was a venison loaf served with a yummy sauce, broccolini, and rice. Finally we had a choice of chocolate creme de pots or an apple pie. We all tried a taste of both and it was all so so good! Portions are large, and we had leftovers that they boxed up for us. We have already booked them for another event in December!

Kristen came to our house and created a lovely, elegant, delectable birthday dinner for two: beet…read moretartare, chestnut ravioli, and a chocolate mousse. OMG, so good! Add to that chocolate-covered strawberries, personalized menus, and a beautiful bouquet, and you get the picture: it was a night to remember! We couldn't recommend Kristen highly enough. We're really lucky she is here in the Triangle.

Chef Kristen is absolutely amazing. I found her while looking to give my wife a birthday present…read more We both love to eat and cook, but being a working Mom, my wife spends a huge amount of time on food preparation. I hoped I could find someone for a spell that would make delicious, healthy food that would also give my wife some extra free time. A double win. Chef Kristen has knocked that goal out of the park. First she met with us to get a really detailed understanding of our preferences and feelings on specific ingredients. Then she creates a set of menu choices we can review and select from. Next she sends us shopping list we can modify based on what we have in the pantry and she picks up the rest. That's all there is to it. But that's just the process. What about the food? Holy God. You can see from her website that the food is visually stunning. But the taste is just sensational. We are not vegetarian or vegan, but we have enjoyed trying out this diet during our time with Chef Kristen and the flavors and sensations she is able to render from plant-based ingredients (ex: lentil meatballs you will swear have meat in them) show a real mastery of technique. She has also changed my opinion on a number of previously polarizing ingredients. I'm looking at you mushrooms! Lastly, she's just extremely nice and easy to work with. She gets to know your family and enjoys sharing stories and hearing feedback on the food. We're so glad to have found her and our whole family, including our 9 year-old son give her the highest recommendation.

Hired them for my boyfriend's birthday and it was AMAZING! You definitely get a bang for your buck…read more They were punctual, friendly, organized, and most importantly TALENTED. The food was delicious and the best thing is that we have leftovers for tomorrow! Highly recommend. Not to mention how they left the kitchen very very clean!!

We booked the Ambient Personal Chef for a family vacation in Sandbridge, Va at a vacation house. We…read morehad ~13 adult total including 2 children, a newborn baby, and adults from 30-75. My husband and I were delighted with the planning process. We received multiple menu options that managed to balance picky eaters, food allergies, pregnant, and breastfeeding members of our party! In addition to a 7 day breakfast & dinner menu, we also put together a grocery list for snacks & lunch foods. The meals were over the top delicious. This is coming from 2 New Yorkers who are accustomed to fine dining and spend a lot of their time in the best restaurants around. Every meal was professional, cooked to perfection, and appealed to all. The desserts were fabulous and I'm not even much of a sweets eater. For the 4th of July we had a TON of food - we ate it for days and savored every bite. Despite the fact that the chefs were around us during our family vacation, their presence was never intrusive. We enjoyed the pool, playing games, watching TV, and chatting. They respected our time and space. We are planning the same vacation and considered a new location, but are returning to Virginia for Ambient Personal Chef. You will not be disappointed.

If I could give this 10 stars, I would. What a wonderful evening for my husbands birthday. Above…read moreprofessional, friendly with an amazing talent for food. The best part was they cleaned up everything. They spent some time educating us on food preparation, temperatures and seasonings. This is a nice experience for a special occasion that is as intimate or festive as you'd like.

In a nutshell: I tried to hire The Tailored Chef for my…read morecousin's bachelorette dinner. He bailed on me last minute and was extremely unprofessional about it. I'm glad to see there are people who are happy with his services but I have found that with reviews, people who get the short end of the stick don't say anything unless it's really, really bad. So I imagine that there are people out there who have had similar experiences to mine but didn't deem it worthy of their time to leave a review. I think it's a huge inconvenience to write this review but I wish someone else would have done this so I wouldn't have had this experience in the first place. Therefore, I am writing this to pay it forward so future bookers can have this data point before deciding if they want to book and put the reliability and concrete-ness of their plans, the smoothness of their event and ultimately their happiness and satisfaction in the hands of this careless, indifferent and unprofessional flake. Long version: The only part of the entire encounter that was positive was that after I submitted the inquiry through Yelp, he responded pretty quickly. After that, it all went downhill. Not only were the email handoffs not warm (as in a "warm handoff" that doesn't leave the customer feeling thrown around between people), unprofessional, disjointed and caused for poor customer experience, I repeatedly had to ask for a link to pay once they had confirmed the date and sent me an invoice confirmation because they had thought I had paid and I hadn't - I was being ethical and trying to make sure they got paid. Then all of a sudden one day, I got an automated email confirmation that my confirmation had been cancelled. No communication from Chef Lin Old or his assistant, Theresa. I had to reach out to THEM asking about the email and was just assuming the best and that they had cancelled it in order to send me a new confirmation where I could pay. But oh no. Chef Lin responds with the unbelievable email: "I decided to take the last two weeks of July - the first week of August to go on holiday. I'm the only one who teaches the classes ( Culinary Instructor of 11 years @ The Art Institute) so no one could cover it. That is why I canceled." I attached the email because I still can't believe how unprofessional he was. I am counting on his services, we are ONE MONTH out, he committed to my dates and the service, he cancels and doesn't even do the courtesy of letting me know himself. I am the one who has to reach out to get clarification and when he provides it, he doesn't even offer acknowledgement of / accept responsibility for / act with professional courtesy for the lack of etiquette and professionalism he is exhibiting. I then write him an email saying how disappointing this experience is and that I will write a review to let other people know they simply cannot count on him and his lack of professionalism. He responds with "Not sure what the second email is about demanding an apology & wanting to write a bad review. If this is how things are starting then we may not be a good fit for each other?" I have attached screenshots of these emails as well. I didn't demand an apology. I pointed out he didn't provide one; "That's super disappointing to hear and the lack of apology or proactive explanation for the inconvenience is really poor customer experience." And not a good fit? What a petulant understatement. I live in San Francisco and perhaps the level of service and standard of professional etiquette is higher there than in the Virginia Beach area but I found Chef Lin Old's correspondence, limited customer service, and backing out of his commitment of service (last minute, no less!) abysmal. I am sure that if we had gone through with the service, he himself would have been unbearable. The ego, dismissiveness and lack of ownership that insidiously eeked out through our interactions would have ruined my cousin's party's evening. I'm a silver lining person and so I've convinced myself it's a good thing the reservation didn't go through BUT I do not tolerate behavior like this in the customer service industry. I don't care - small company to Amazon. We are all customers these days and interactions should be led with and based on empathy and compassion. The way Chef Lin Old approached this CS interaction was like a large company that didn't care about the small customer and how it ruined their day / trip / experience: indifferent, careless, un-empathetic. No one wants or deserves to be treated this way. I am so thankful that I was able to find another chef on such short notice but being treated with such unprofessionalism and being stranded last minute without a chef when the entire attendance of the bachelorette (including the bride-to-be, my cousin, who I can't let down!) were counting on and looking forward to a private cooking class, I feel obligated to write this review so no one goes through what I did.

If you're looking for a great time and delicious food, you must contact Petit a Petit. This is a…read morebusiness run by an amazing lady name Tosha. I had a one on one class with her where we made a full dinner of bruschetta and cranberry almond strawberry salad, then cooked salmon with sides of roasted asparagus and potatoes, plus a delicious dessert. I wasn't sure how the class was going to go before hand, but Tosha was extremely inviting and charismatic. I couldn't have asked for a better time. Highly recommend!

I engaged Chef Tosha to prepare and serve a French themed dinner party for my wife's birthday. It…read morewas an unqualified super success. She and her Sous Chef Kayla made the evening one to remember. Her menu met all my desires and the service was perfection. My thanks to Chef Tosha for an evening in Paris!!

While on vacation in emerald isle NC we hired chef Matt. He delighted us with his tasty creations…read moreand wine pairings and we enjoyed every moment.

From the owner: Seagrass Chef specializes in home cooked meals for the family. Great for Birthdays, Anniversaries,…read moreFamily gatherings or just a night off from the kitchen!!

So I decided to try something new. I enjoy going out to great restaurants, but how about having a…read moregreat chef come to your house? It was a surprise for my spouse who is an awesome chef. She had someone come to her to make her a great dinner. Chef Deanna makes it easy and will make pretty much make whatever you'd like. She gives you some suggestions of things that have been popular in the past. She is so unobtrusive that once she gets started, you hardly realize she is there. Everything she made was delicious and our favorite was the creme brûlée. It was very quick, she was done in an hour and all the dishes were done and put away. She also does meal delivery (like a yummy take-out). I am going to explore that service further in the future.

We recently used Chef4rent for our son's wedding reception at Fair Haven State Park in NY. The…read moreowner, DeAnna Germano, was excellent to work with! She was professional, knowledgeable and friendly in all our interactions often making great suggestions to make the whole affair just what we wanted. At the event DeAnna was very organized and prepared incredibly good food.....we got nothing but compliments from all our guests! The staff that assisted her were so friendly, helpful and very focused. We were especially appreciative of the attention she gave to special diets (i.e.: gluten free, vegetarian, etc). I highly recommend this company for your catering needs!

We placed a large Thanksgiving order with Chef Mario, Inc. in Raleigh, and they never delivered it…read more Not late -- never. We tried calling multiple times and only reached an answering service that couldn't provide any real help. No one from the actual business ever called us back. No updates. No explanation. No apology. Nothing. For a holiday order that families rely on, this level of disregard is unacceptable. We were left scrambling at the last minute because this company simply did not show up or communicate. Based on our experience, Chef Mario, Inc. feels completely unreliable, and we strongly urge others to think twice before placing an order. A business that takes holiday payments and then disappears is not one you should trust with something this important. Avoid the headache -- look elsewhere.

Excellent home delivery and pick up meals. We have tried Factor and another local meal delivery…read moreservice without satisfaction. Chef Mario's meal are by far tastier. By far. And they are so friendly!