Great catering company, great food. Food was fresh and hot. They helped us out in a bind. We had a week to find a caterer due to changes in our event and they were able to help us, even though they already had an event booked. They were able to spare an extra person to drop off food at our event and setup the buffet tables. They ran a little behind dinner service, but that was due to hail, lightening and rain storms. Highly recommend!! The owner left her dishes with us after our event and they came by our home the next day, after we gave her our address and picked them up. they also forgot one of our hot items, which was just a tray of chicken, but she brought it by our house the next day to my wife and I could enjoy it before we flew out to our honeymoon. We have a ton leftover that we froze. read more

Paul and his team were amazing to work with for my wedding this June! Everyone said the food was amazing and it absolutely was. They even left my husband and I a little wedding gift! 100% recommend them to caterer your event! read more

Outstanding food, great service, fantastic bartender! Paul catered our event for 60 guests. He is a pleasure to work with, professional, efficient and organized. He supplied tables and chairs, linens, table settings and glassware along with a gorgeous display for appetizers, and beautifully presented food for dinner. Our guests raved about the food. I highly recommend Italian Guy Catering. read more

A flawless smooth transaction. I Needed tables, chairs and table cloths for a family get-together. Tables delivered and removed within the time frames stated. chairs light weight and easy to deal with (on a wheeled rack). No hassle with the table cloths...what if some one gets mustard on them? No worries. I would definatly use The Italian Guy again. I will state that two of his competitors don't answer their phone. I eliminated them immediately. read more

Absolutely perfection! Hired for our wedding and the food was amazing! Would highly recommend & hire again for any catering needs!

I used to work for this company. Got told that they are not a five star restaurant from Paul after confronting him of another staff member who tried to have me make croutons out of molded bread and cut out the mold. Got told to wipe the mold off of the rims of ranch bottles and use them after I cleaned the mold off for catering events. I attended a culinary program through CTE (ROP program) last year, and while in class I had chopped the ends of an onion off and threw it in the garbage. Paul grabbed it out of the garbage and threw it in the mirepoix pot on the stove. Hard to work with father and son. While one tells you to do one thing, the other changes things all the time. Very unprofessional and unsanitary. read more

Paul was awesome to work with! Our original caterer plans for our wedding fell through and he stepped in without hesitation and exceeded all of our expectations! He was professional but he was also a friend to us throughout the entire experience. We can't say enough positive things about Paul and his business!! Not to mention the food taste amazing, that was a highlight of our wedding! read more

Very subpar food. Look elsewhere for your catering needs. Owner never responds to messasges.

Tried to communicate with the owner for a potential event and received a very curt text telling me we'd discuss the event the next day. Did not give a very good first impression for flexibility and desire for business. We didn't even get to discuss food! No reply the next day and the website leaves a lot to be desired. So, we opted for a different business to cater. Thanks, but no thanks. read more

Paul and his staff did a fabulous job at our wedding. The food was very tasty and well presented and all the employees were very friendly and helpful. Paul is super nice and easy to work with. He did a free tasting before the wedding that was a complete meal for me, my husband, and his parents. We also hired them to do our bar service and I was very happy that he had several people available to run the bar so that none of our guests had to wait for drinks. My husband and I both are so grateful that we chose Italian Guy Catering and recommend it highly. read more

Italian Guy catered a wedding I was at up in Chico this past Fall. The food and service across the board was outstanding. During the cocktail hour following the ceremony, they had an amazing array of hors d'oeuvres which were so good that they had trouble getting everyone to sit down for dinner because people kept getting more and more. Dinner was barbecue chicken and tri-tip which had an awesome sauce and were cooked perfectly. Also, the bar staff was great and attentive and the drinks were stout. Great food and all-around experience. read more

Paul and his crew catered our wedding and they did a fantastic job! They were very professional, from the moment I booked them paul was easy to communicate with. The food was absolutely fantastic all my guests loved it, especially the mashed potatoes. I highly recommend paul and is crew for any catering needs. read more

We used these guys for our annual apartment complex dinner and the tenants absolutely raved about the food. It was just the traditional stuff; turkey, gravy, dressing, cranberries, green bean casserole, etc... But, it was in no way blasé! They made ordinary Christmas food about as delish as it gets!! They were a perfect balance of professional and personal. They showed up on time, both to deliver and pick up and gave thorough and helpful instructions. A major contribution to our dinner, thank you!! Great job read more

I'll start with saying that I am FROM Chico and am reasonable enough not to bash people from my hometown, even if they are completely out of line and a sorry excuse for a business. My fiance and I were "forced" into using Italian Guy Catering for our wedding as the "exclusive caterer" for our wedding at The Palms (before they realized that he may be a HORRIBLE fit for their venue). After contacting Italian Guy for their menu, which was a Microsoft Word document with "Special Rub Tri-tip" and "Lemon Pepper Chicken", Cesar Salad, etc. (Basically, something he typed out in ten minutes), we were assured that he could "do anything we wanted" with our menu, so we thought we'd give him the benefit of the doubt. We set up an appointment to meet with Paul Lima, the owner of Italian Guy, for a tasting of his typical wedding menu. What a mistake. Here it goes. The tri-tip he cooked was just about as good as what I cook on a Sunday evening for my friends. You know, over done. Now for the bad information that should deter you from EVER considering him as your wedding/event caterer. He had confirmed twice that the tasting would be at 12:00 noon via email. This was crucial as we were coming from out of town. We showed up at 12:00, on time. He apparently had had his son's graduation the day before and had obviously not cared about his next day responsibilities. He gave us the excuse that he had thought it was at 1:00, so he apologized for not having anything finished yet...in fact, he had just started the cooking process. Dude, I'm not in college. I don't care if you're hung over. As a summary, the chicken was underdone, the tri-tip was average (although he spoke about it as though he had invented it), the mashed potatoes (really? Cheddar, "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" mashed potatoes at an August wedding?) were greasy and quite bad--despite his insistence that guests would come back for more over and over. The salads were Costco dressinged with canned veggies, the wine was Two Buck Chuck, and I got a Bud Light to try and chase it down with. Quite a tasting, don't you say? So, the deposit was $250 to "secure our date" even though Paul was the exclusive caterer at the venue. BTW, why would we need a deposit if you were guaraneed our business, Paul? We asked for a contract three times and didn't get one. No answer to our messages or calls. We should have gotten the clue from all the other vendors we were contacting (floral, venue, cake, etc.) that said they had either not dealth with him or that he was just starting and were surprised that he could be the exclusive caterer. We called the venue and told them our problem with the lack of communication with The Italian Guy. They explained that The Italian Guy was giving several other clients the same HORRIBLE service and that we no longer had to use Paul Lima as the exclusive caterer. At that point, I sent Paul an email telling him that we had decided not to use him as our caterer and that we would like to get $150 back from our deposit (giving him $100 out of the $250 deposit for his ridiculous lunch tasting as a kind gesture). No reply. I also called and left a message. No answer, as though he had disappeared from the face of the planet. It was though he was pissed that we didn't want to use his "service." I am not happy about that. Chico people do not do this to each other. But, they do have the option to leave a nice little Internet message about caterers' lack of business ethics and cooking ability. BTW, still down $250. RUN BEFORE YOU EVEN HALF WAY CONSIDER OF USING THIS HORRIBLE BUSINESS. read more

Paul Lema and The Italian Guy catering crew are as good as it gets! They recently catered a wedding for us (Oct. 2010) and they were professional in every respect. Paul's food is delicious and he came through on every promise he made. Anyone with a catering event would be lucky to have Paul and The Italian Guy catering staff cater their party! read more

Italian Guy Catering was our caterer for our rehearsal dinner and wedding in September and they rocked it! Paul is very easy to work with and his staff was readily available to lend a helping hand. Paul offers a tasting that will fill you up and leave you wanting more! The food is very delicious and not your typical gross wedding food. We had so many leftovers from the rehearsal dinner and wedding that we are still working on some food from the freezer. Paul and his staff are very professional and are a one stop shop. We were able to rent chairs, linens, tables, all the dinnerware, and even the small venue for the rehearsal dinner through Paul. It was very helpful to eliminate one more vendor by having everything available in one place. We are so grateful for the service Paul and his staff provided and would highly recommend him! read more

We couldn't have been happier having Italian Guy Catering for our wedding. The food was absolutely delicious and the staff was incredibly prompt, friendly, efficient, and helpful. The whole event went so smooth thanks to them! They really went above and beyond to make our day special. Thank you Italian Guy! read more

My husband and I attended a wedding in early August that was catered by Paul and his staff. Every bite was wonderful! The tri tip was well seasoned and the chicken was perfectly cooked! Usually the chicken can be a bit dry at these events but not at this one, it was great. The early appetizers were plentiful and there was a large variety of choices. Then when I got my dinner plate it was full! The staff was very attentive as well. I would not hesitate to use the Italian Guy Catering for any event I was hosting. read more

I have attended several events catered by Italian Guy Catering, so when it came time to plan my mom's 75th birthday luncheon, Paul was the first person I called. He helped me come up with a perfect menu that stayed within our budget. The food was fresh, creative and delicious...in fact everyone wanted recipes. I highly recommend Italian Guy Catering and won't hesitate to use them again! read more

Loved Paul Lema and the entire Italian Guy staff when they catered my wedding! Everything from the tasting to the actual event was great. All my guests raved about the food. We continue to use Italian Guy for our personal dinner party's or just a night we don't feel like cooking. Absolutely the best in Chico! read more

I hired Italian Guy Catering for my daughter's graduation gathering. Paul was responsive and great in recommending and refining our menu. I opted to pick up our food and everything was prepared and packaged up for easy travel. The food portions were very generous and the food was delicious!! I definitely recommend Paul and Italian Guy Catering! read more