I spoke to a woman on the phone as she is the catering service leveraged by the venue I am pursuing (Meadowlark Botanical Gardens). She was extremely unprofessional and disrespectful. Truly impossible to communicate with. I calmly explained the nature of the event and what would be needed. She became unreasonable and even hung up on me as I tried to clear up any miscommunication. I would strongly advise against working with them, and the pay attention to the other negative reviews before proceeding. read more

I would strongly advise anyone to avoid Blue Heron Catering. The quality of the food was extremely poor, and far worse, their staff committed multiple health code violations--including retrieving used plates from the trash and putting them back out for service and handling salad with their gloved hands. They also discarded several irreplaceable items: the bouquet, the groom's vow book, and even the top tier of the wedding cake. Their attempt to "make it right" was embarrassing at best; after charging nearly $10,000, they offered nothing more than an "anniversary dinner." When guests posted numerous honest negative Google reviews about their behavior, the company removed all but one. This is dishonest, unethical, and completely unprofessional. Blue Heron Catering has proven to be a careless and misleading company, and I would highly discourage anyone from entrusting them with their event. read more

We used GBH many years ago for our wedding and received so many compliments on the food. Everything from the appetizers to drinks to entrees was so good. Great wedding food really makes the wedding, and even now people still mention how much they enjoyed the food. It was that memorable! read more

We used Great Blue Heron Catering for our wedding on 2/8/2025, and the food was excellent! They served 66 steaks, and everyone commented on how they were actually cooked to a perfect medium, just as ordered. During the tasting, we had only tried well-done steak, so we were pleasantly surprised. We never expected a large catering order to produce that many steaks at the correct temperature. read more

Ask all your questions prior to booking an event that solely uses these guys - there is little to no flexibility whatsoever, on everything. I should've spent more time exploring places that allowed for multiple catering options. I feel like I'm completely locked in and don't have choices for my own wedding. read more

Married: Friday, 2/16/18 5pm The chef is definitely not the friendliest and by "not the friendliest" I mean he's a jerk. He's short in communication and will cut you off while speaking. He was like that during our tasting but I nipped that in the bud and my husband spoke to him when we went to the venue and he was being rude. So unless you know how to handle people like this, it will bother you. Chefs can be a bit asshole-ish, in that male dominated space, but when you're paying thousands for a special day, you need to speak up so you can have a good time. We did the buffet option + passed apps + displays + signature drinks for one hour + beer & wine all night. Our food is the best wedding food I've ever eaten and we got great reviews from our guests. All staff will be provided for catering needs and the staff made the bride & groom's plate. You'll be assigned a contact person the night of and she's super helpful. During the tasting: come hungry and prepared to take a bunch of bottles of wine home. You'll be stuffed by the time you leave + I think we even took leftovers home. read more

Great Blue Heron Catering - We had a lot of leftovers from our wedding. There was even more than this, but this is all they gave us. - Caterers Near Me - Vienna, Virginia

The overall experience of GBH was great. They were very responsive and kind and they answered all our questions. The food we had no issues with, the bar however we had a huge problem with. We were told that it was an unlimited bar, unlimited shots. And then told no, it's not there is about 3 shots per person. And then told no, there are no shots at all. We couldn't get a straight answer. We attended the wedding of others using the same caters and they were also told unlimited shots, but we got cut off at the bar at 4, and these shots weren't even all for us, we were getting rounds for others and we were still sober as it was our first round. At our wedding my husband, THE GROOM, got cut off when he was only about 3 drinks in. He was not belligerent in any way. We know our limits and as the bride and groom, personally we were operating off the rule that we did not want to get "wasted". But a couple of drinks with friends got him cut off almost instantly. My younger brother who had only ordered beer the entire night wanted to end the night with a drink with us. The bartender cut him off when he was legitimately sober. Telling him he's "been warned" he had never even ordered from her. It was extremely upsetting that this one bartender couldn't even tell the difference between the 40 people left who she was arbitrarily just cutting off for no reason. She gave us such attitude and I happen to feel this has to be a micro-aggression that she didn't even bother to tell us apart (we're Asian). The other bartender, Jackie, was fabulous. So kind, checked in on us and our guests if we were okay and actually paid attention to who she was serving. Everyone loved her. Her partner that night unfortunately was having a huge power trip, and if their interactions were telling, Jackie was more of a subordinate to the other one. We loved Jackie, the other bartender didn't even bother to tell us her name so I can't list her. But if you're ever unfortunate enough to have her bartender for your wedding, be prepared for a mean attitude even if you're the bride and groom. read more

Used GBH for our wedding at the River View and all our wedding guests loved the food! We received many compliments on the food. They were very accommodating of what my husband and I wanted for our meals and for appetizers since we were on the move! If you have your wedding at the Nova Parks, rest assured you'll be in good hands. Also, the Chef is amazing! Met him at the tasting and he personally delivered our meals on the day of! Also, Liz was great to work with! read more

My sister is having them cater her wedding. They are such a headache to work with. Her only is an administrative assistant, and she never answers the phone. They are impersonal about the whole event and inflexible about payments. I hate to see my sister so stressed on what should be here perfect day. This is the last thing she needed. If you are planning a wedding, look elsewhere. read more

We absolutely loved Great Blue Heron. Liz was fantastic - so responsive, extremely friendly, and helped us get everything together for the reception. The food was EXCELLENT. The tasting was free, which is how it should be. Everything we had was amazing, and that carried through to the wedding day. We got tons of compliments from every single guest we spoke to about how delicious the food was, and how great the bartenders were. My only complaint is that the coffee and tea that we requested to be served, never was. Not sure what happened there, but it's not a deal breaker. We also had the experience most people have at weddings, where full glasses and plates of food were taken by staff before they were done with them. This is also not a deal breaker, but something to note for GBH for the future :) Overall, we could not have been happier with GBH as our vendor. It's so much easier having in-house catering (we had our wedding at Rust), who also helps to handle linens and other extraneous details. I definitely recommend using GBH for your wedding, or really any other nice event you need a caterer for! read more

We are holding a wedding at Meadowlark Gardens in August 2014. Although the wedding has not yet occurred, it has already become clear to us that Great Blue Heron Catering is a nightmare to work with. Liz Gearheart, the primary contact for scheduling tastings, treats customers as an annoyance; she does not make any sort of attempt to make them feel valued, or even attempt to be polite. When a bridesmaid called Atrium Events requesting to schedule a tasting, she was told to email Liz, and that the process for scheduling was very simple. However, Liz replied stating she preferred to work with the bride. The bride called repeatedly at different times over the month of August 2013; she left messages but Liz never responded. When she finally got Liz on the phone Liz claimed she had not received any of the messages and overall seemed very unconcerned about signing us as potential customers. She also stated that ANYONE could have called to schedule the tasting, not necessarily the bride--conflicting with her earlier comments regarding communication with the bridal party. She informed the bride that tastings were now booked through September, and that our only option was to call again in September and hope to sign for a tasting in October. When we called again in September we again left repeated messages. This time she called us back, but sounded extremely annoyed that we had left multiple messages. Overall she was very rude on the phone and is not interested in being genuinely helpful to the wedding party. Because of the restrictions that Meadowlark Gardens places upon using external caterers, it seems that Great Blue Heron Catering assumes that their customers are guaranteed because of the difficulty of using another caterer. Therefore they do not need to bother to be accommodating or helpful because they know their customers will use them anyway, rather than jump through all of Meadowlark's hoops for external caterers. I would strongly recommend against going to Meadowlark as it is more likely than not that you will end up having to deal with the rude, unprofessional staff at Great Blue Heron. read more

This catering was nightmare. You ruined my wedding night at meadowlark gardens. Although your food tastes well your customer service is terrible . Chef Brian I think he name was - was completely rude to my guests and family. He needs to fix his attitude problem. He slammed a bottle in front of my sisters face at the bar! Cussed up a storm in front of my family. You should be professional when you are getting paid thousands! Completely unorganized. My plated tables for grandparents weren't plated until after the buffet line started. They didn't get their food till over 30 mins after the buffet started. I will never never use them again. Thank you again for ruining my wedding and experience. read more

We booked with Great Blue Heron for our daughter's wedding coming up in August at Meadowlark Gardens Atrium. Kellie has been amazing to work with. She's given us great suggestions and a ton of support. She's been very responsive to our many questions and concerns. The menu is going to be outstanding with a great variety of options. We decided to go with a buffet and several apps. So far 5 stars!! Can't wait for the wedding. read more

I am shocked by the existing reviews for GBH. I used them for my wedding and absolutely loved them. The chef was amazing our food was great and we received a ton of compliments on it. When some friends got married the following year they asked me for a copy of our menu as they wanted to serve the same things we had. We didn't have issues with scheduling however our experience with them was in 2011. We had the first tasting and weren't in love with what we had we provided feedback on what we would like we wanted a bunch of vegetarian options. The chef took our opinions into account and provided a second tasting where he prepared a variety of the things we asked for. It was amazing! GBH was a joy to work with they were very flexible on setting up our package and getting us our menu. With the exception of one person who had an allergic reaction to a cheese (I had not informed GBH about his allergies) everyone loved the food and we received a ton of compliments on it! read more

We booked our wedding venue with River View at Occoquan, which is one of the Nova parks. They partner with Blue Heron so they automatically became our caterer for the wedding and... it was a great experience having them cooking for my wedding! Everything from the cocktail food to the actual dinner was AMAZINGGGGG!! We did buffet and the food was very much not dry and absolutely splendid in taste! All of our guests raved about the salmon and the beef tenderloin. And on point service!! read more

Great Blue Heron was great to work with and the food was SO GOOD. Liz was very receptive and helpful to any changes to the menu and linen order. We particular enjoyed our tasting and everybody enjoyed their dinner at our wedding. Our favorites were actually the appetizers - some of our guests loved the appetizers so much they couldn't believe they were also getting dinner! The bacon-wrapped dates are to die for. Service at the wedding was also prompt and courteous. Thanks, Great Blue Heron Catering! read more

We explored every possible local option other than GBH and found that not only were they the best value for the menu but they were also the most delicious. It has been over a month from our event and the compliments still continue to roll in about how amazing the food was. If you choose to go with this caterer and have specific or unique dishes that you'd like to have served please trust that these chefs are artisans. Allow them to have creative freedom to prepare the dishes in their own way. Our experience with GBH is that they will surprise you by going above and beyond expectations and you will want their food at every occassion. read more

We used GBH for our wedding at Meadowlark. Overall, I would say that we got a good value, they were pretty good (not great) to work with, they were always responsive, and turned out to be extremely flexible with what we wanted. However, I do have several issues with the quality of service that they provided. I will admit that what we wanted was not directly off of their menu - it was fairly customized - and it was pretty specific, but they agreed that they could do everything that we asked at a reasonable price. When it came to our actual wedding day, they seemed to have forgotten most of the details that we talked about, forgot to do a few things, served food that could be classified as unedible, and possibly wholesale switched out some of the specific menu items we had on our menu. In my opinion, what sets an ok caterer apart from an amazing caterer is attention to detail. Given our experience, I would say that GBH is an ok caterer. read more

No no no no. Terrible costumer service. Let's be clear, the service during my actual wedding this past June was amazing, Abiel and April went above and beyond. They were friendly and professional and just all around in a great mood to be around. They alone get 5 stars. The costumer service leading up to the day of the wedding was horrific. I got married at the atrium at meadowlarks gardens. They force you to choose GBH for beverages (thank goodness that not for food as well). When I first got to the atrium they gave me a pamphlet with the food and alcohol menu and cost. The food seemed reasonably priced and the 2 tax amounts added were pretty large but the pictures looked great, nothing you wouldn't expect from a wedding caterer. I called them up to have a tasting and to my surprise the person that picked up the phone was actually super nice. Unfortunately I was in the process to moving to Hawaii (my husband is stationed here) and had to cancel. As all of my planning was done over the phone/ through email (mostly due to the time difference of Virginia and Hawaii), I picked the foods that appealed most to me as well as my alcohol options and budgeted everything in place. It was advised to make reservations 2 or 3 months before the wedding. My husband returned from deployment actually right about that time and we called up to make the reservations and to my surprise the prices had gone up A LOT. I don't understand why a company would tell you make a reservation at a certain time knowing when your wedding is and change their prices then. I understand that prices do change, what I don't understand is why they wouldn't tell you to make the reservation before they do instead of after. I understand the need to want to make more money which is why after looking at our budget we were no longer able to afford their food only their alcohol since the venue forces us to get it from them. Here comes the worse part, so after we told them that we only wanted their wine and beer bar, they told us that they would 'commemorate' the price that we first got if we got their food as well! Here's the kicker though, they kept telling us that they would give us the same price as the price that we got but 'with little tweeks'. Let me tell you.. It was NOT the same price. Again, we went to tell them that we were thankful for them giving us the price that we were told to begin with and we were still only going to go for the wine and beer bar and get caterer with other people to which their response was: we will take our the champagne toast as well as the signature drink that we normally offer because you're not getting our food. How does that even make sense? UGH We payed extra for them and that was no issue however they kept emailing us telling us things like: I hope you know you have to get your own linens and set everything up on your own and clean and etc etc... OBVIOUSLY the company that we did hired instead of them provided ALL of that service for honestly half the price, their food was delicious and everyone loved it. Enough of these rants. Bottom line, their costumer service was horrible, I felt like I was making business with a high schooler that didn't get what they wanted so they made the worse out of the situation for us. The ONLY reason that I gave this company ANY stars is because their bartenders ROCK! When you are planning your wedding, remember that you for sure need alcohol and you gotta do what you gotta do but do your research on food somewhere else. Your guest will love it either way, they're there for you not the food, so why hire someone that may possibly give you a headache if you don't get exactly what they want. Not worth it. AT ALL. read more

From the appetizers to the end of the meal the food from GBH was fantastic. Many of our guests said it was the best wedding food they remember having. After the tasting with Dennis we felt certain we had made the right choice. We were not disappointed! Good job GBH. Tip: when choosing passed appetizers you can't go wrong with the Italian meatballs. Our guests were chasing that tray! read more

I cannot possibly fathom how in the world GBH Catering only has 3 out of 5 stars. The customer service that we received leading up to the wedding was amazing. Jason was extremely responsive and we felt like he understood exactly what we wanted for our wedding (at the Atrium at the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens). We had a small wedding of about 40 people and nearly all of them commented on how amazing the food was. Our wedding was three weeks ago and friends/family are STILL texting us about it. It really was that good. The customer service on the day-of was just as great as it was leading up to the wedding. Bianca was our catering captain and her and her crew were great. They were friendly, efficient, and extremely professional. They were also very accommodating prior to the wedding (when my bridesmaids and I were getting ready, Bianca came by several times to make sure we didn't need any more drinks). We highly recommend considering having your wedding at the Atrium and going with Great Blue Heron as your caterer. Everyone was great, the food was the best most of our guests have ever had at a wedding, and they did all they could to make sure our wedding was perfect - which it was. Loved GBH. Would order take-out from them every day if possible :) read more

This business catered our wedding and quickly became a highlight of the day! From the lovely tasting meeting to the event itself, this catering company was exceptional in both quality of service and food. Our guests could not stop raving about how delicious the food was, and my husband and I could not agree more! We are so glad we went with this company and highly encourage others to do the same! read more

We got married at the Atrium this winter and had an amazing experience with GBH, which is the in-house caterer. The tasting was great - they were very easy about the number of people who could join and help make decisions. And the food was awesome! They helped us decide what foods would work well (looks, moisture, taste, presentation, etc) on the buffet. And we loved the appetizers so much that we decided to go heavy on the apps and displays, and only have 2 main buffet options and they were completely easy to work with to make sure we had enough (more than enough) food to make everyone happy. Brian, the main chef, even made us a take home vat of kimchi, which was one of my favorite moments of food at the tasting. On the big day, my new husband and I decided we wanted to sit in the limo on our own before the reception entrance. Brian plated apps for us and brought them out (in the rain) to us. They were great! And while we kept getting up and running around, Brian kept our plated (with a buffet, they plate for the bride and groom) food warm and watched until we were sitting and brought it out. I was dancing all night and Christian, the catering chief, made sure there was a glass of water near me at all times. We also had some non-drinkers and guests told me that the waitstaff was really diligent about coming around with the non-alcoholic bubbles we ordered. The bar was also great - really organized, never a line. We had chosen a pretty broad selection of wines and specialty drinks and the staff had it covered. I heard the next day that one of the bottles of wine I had requested for myself had broken during prep and someone was out hunting for the same bottle right before the reception. I think that's pretty amazing. My day of coordinator said working with the staff was fantastic and they "treated the wedding like one of their relatives was getting married." Direct quote. That's how I felt too. Oh, I did DIY centerpieces - delivered parts, pictures, and instructions, and they put them all together. The room looked amazing. There are so many details that they were great about. I know I was not the most stress-free bride before the wedding, but they really handled my requests and stress like pros. And I felt comfortable enough to relax and enjoy the reception. Thank you, Liz, Christian, Brian, everyone who worked that night (and Wayne and everyone at the Atrium too). read more

We used Blue Heron for the bar package at my daughter's wedding reception. They provided the beer, wine and sodas. The manager, Dennis, met with us ahead of time to discuss the beverage selections and even gave us champagne for the toast at no additional cost. Our guests were very complimentary about the wines that were served and we found the two bartenders to be very friendly and professional. read more

I used Great Blue Heron Catering for my event this past August and it was wonderful! The office and event staff were great to work with all throughout the planning process. Liz was a huge help with answering all questions and even gave us some great how to tips for planning our centerpieces and other details. read more

We used Great Blue Heron Catering and the food was delicious! The tasting was amazing! We had a variety of selections for appetizers and entrees to taste and choose from. I would highly recommend GBH! read more