Applauze Catering gets a standing ovation! Chef Dave was very easy to work with and he and his team…read moremade our wedding day dinner one of many great memories from that evening. They were incredibly accommodating and catered (see what I did there?) to our needs.
The address listed for the business is an assisted/independent living community where David Marino is the Executive Chef. Don't feel you've been mislead or that this is a shady deal if you try to go there and find this instead of a stand alone banquet hall. The best way to reach them is by calling or emailing if you need something delivered to you. Their delivery, setup, and service fees aren't bad, either.
We had our reception at the Park Ridge VFW and Applauze came on time and prepared with chafing dishes, Sterno fuel, plates, napkins, and flatware. It wasn't elegant, but it was all included in the total cost and a few steps up from the cheap plastic utensils that I was thinking they'd have. They set up the buffet line, manned it for 3 hours, and took it apart when they were done.
We estimated we'd have 120 guests (and we nearly did), so we ordered Spinach Salad (2), House Salad (2), Garlic Bread (2 Full), Chicken Vesuvio (2 Full), Italian Beef with Hot Peppers (2 Full), Italian Beef with Sweet Peppers (2 Full), Vegetable Lasagna (3 Full), Lyonnaise Potatoes (3 Full), Vegetable Medley (3 Full), Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms (2 Full) and a Crudités Tray (1 Large). The Full servings say they can feed 20-30 and Half servings are intended for 10-15, but be advised that the portions are huge! We had a lot of food left over and could have easily gotten away with half the salad, half the Italian Beef, and at least 1 less Full order of the Vegetable Lasagna. I figured better safe than sorry and it gave us the opportunity to send guests home with flavorful party favors. We gave some to the VFW employees and took some ourselves. Some of the food went to waste and I am really bummed about that. But what can you do?
Start to finish, Applauze took care of us. We were emailed in a timely manner when we had questions or updates and they let us add or subtract from our order up to 5 days before the big event. We mentioned some guests had dietary restrictions and Chef Dave said we should let him know so he could adjust the recipes if needed. I thought the whole exchange, particularly the customer service aspect, was likely the breeziest part of all the wedding planning.
The only issue we ran into, and we take equal parts responsibility for this since I don't think we went into specifics about the dietary restrictions (most just couldn't eat pork), was that we had 2 guests with seafood allergies (the menu does list some items with tuna, salmon and/or shrimp, which we avoided) and hadn't been informed that the Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms had crab or imitation crab (fish) and we honestly didn't question it since it was listed under Pasta & Vegetables. The older menu that I believe is still currently on their website doesn't even list this item and the newer menu doesn't say what it's stuffed with. I guess we assumed it would be cheese and something other than seafood since it didn't specify. Oops! My maid of honor mentioned something about crab while eating it and I made my husband hunt down someone who could answer what was in them. We were told it was crab and we quickly alerted those with allergies. Luckily, our friends have learned to let be anything that's questionable, so they had skipped this altogether. Crisis averted, and hopefully they'll disclose this ingredient in future menus or when taking orders.
As I said, I think the older menu is what's currently on the website and it has a coupon for 10% off for new customers. I think the newer menu offers 15% off and it has a few more items on it, like the mushrooms. You'll need to contact Chef Dave by email to receive the correct version and can ask him if any of these discount are applicable at this time. We used the 15% off coupon and it saved us a good chunk of money.
Each meal provided by Applauze was well under $15 per person (including delivery, setup, service, tax, and tip). We could have easily gotten away with $10 per plate if we'd known how much excess there'd be. And the best part of it all was that we didn't have to sacrifice quality for quantity! Everything was a hit! People raved about the Italian Beef and the Vegetable Medley was tender. We were told by multiple people that the food was fantastic and we've received compliments months later saying how it was some of the best wedding food they've ever had.
I would not hesitate to recommend them for your feast!
