[4/29/2012] - moving this review to S&B's catering business (vs the cafe):…read more
I cannot begin to say enough good things about Sips and Bites. Not only is their sandwich shop adorable and full of delicious things. But they also catered my wedding.
First and foremost, the food was delicious. Everything was fresh and served at good temperature. Dozens of our guests raved, and everything I got a chance to taste was exactly what we wanted. We did a wine/beer cocktail hour with passed and stationed hors d'oeurves, and a buffet dinner.
Hors d'oeurves included two kinds of crostini (goat cheese/fig/pistachios/honey, and fava bean/prosciutto/pecorino), an artichoke dip, mini lobster rolls, and okra corn fritters with garlic buttermilk dip (which we barely got, as everyone ate them all). So delicious.
For the buffet we did a salad, four veggies, and two entrees. Salad was a spinach salad with strawberries, feta, and pecans. Vegetables included cabbage and beet buttermilk slaw, sweet corn pudding, pimento cheese potato gratin, and skillet green beans with shallots. Mains were skirt steak with parsley sauce and pork tenderloin with Madeira and fig gravy. The skirt steak was by far the best, that and the corn pudding. So, so, so delicious.
And beyond that, for the business end of the catering Molly and Josh are a great team and extremely easy to work with. We had been nervous about finding a caterer to handle food, rentals, setup, changeover from chapel seating to tables in the courtyard where we had the ceremony/reception, etc. etc. But Molly and Josh covered everything and put us at ease. Molly handles the business end, selecting the menu, negotiating prices, contracting rentals, and Josh works with the staff for day-of setup and service. We had a set price per head that we wanted to stay within, and Molly helped us find ways to adjust the menu, rentals, bar and staffing to help us stay as close to budget as we could. They don't upsell, and respected what we were looking for in terms of menu, budget, and look and feel.
We had an outdoor wedding at Akwaaba Mansion in Bed-Stuy, and Molly and Josh came for site visits, drew out a map of how the tables and seating would work, and worked with my day-of coordinator (a friend) to revise the plan the day before the wedding, when we had to tent the courtyard at the last minute.
The service staff on the day of were so sweet -- young, funky, relaxed and playful, and helped without being weirdly invisible, overly stiff, or invasive.
I definitely recommend Sips & Bites, with no reservations.