Hurricane Lala did not deter Chef Tim! The rental home had a backup generator and propane stove. He…read morecarried out the planned Appetizer demonstration lessons and served without a hitch to our group of 8. His food was 5-star and the experience was 5-star! Throughout the planning and weather uncertainty he was professional, flexible, communicative and engaging. He found clever ways to acknowledge the anniversary being celebrated. We highly recommend him for his expertise in all facets. Mahalo!

Let's start with dessert. A molten lava cake with vanilla bean ice cream. It had birthday candles…read moreon it. Ok back to the front of the meal. My kids hired Chef Tim to prepare a fantastic dinner for my 70th year on earth. Seared ahi, mochi rice crab cake, mini laulau were progressive appetizers that eased the flow of wine and conversation into just the right pace. A cold soup made from fresh green herbs served as a palate cleanser for the entree: a luscious chunk of opah (moon fish) drizzled with a white sauce along with jasmine rice and zucchini cubes. The fish melted like buttah in your mouth. Just when you thought there was no room for more, Chef Tim presented dessert. It was so good my son went back for seconds. Mahalo Chef Tim and his assistant April for preparing and serving a fabulous meal!

Each year, our family gathers for a week to reconnect and spend time together, as we all live in…read moredifferent places (Palo Alto, Ca, Houston, TX and Asheville, NC). This year we rented a home on Keauhou Bay on the big island of Hawaii, and enjoyed a week in paradise! One of the best things we did to make our time together really special was to have Big Island Chef, Martha, and her team prepare three dinners for us: two buffet style and one drop-off. We had high expectations, but my goodness, we were blown away by how delicious the food was (and by the generous portions!). Martha had sent us menu ideas, but we simply told her what we liked and didn't like (not much) and asked her to prepare an omakase ("I'll leave it up to you") menu for us. The ingredients were all incredibly fresh, most of it local fish, meat and produce, much of it sourced from her own farm. She is an enormously talented chef who clearly loves what she does, and her clients reap the benefits of her passion for food. We thoroughly enjoyed every single bite of our dinners, and there were plenty of leftovers for a complete meal the following evening, too. She is happy to share her recipes with you, with one exception: her legendary (and fabulously decadent!) Honey Caramel Macadamia Nut Tart that she served us with homemade macadamia nut ice cream. All five adults and our two young grandchildren are still raving about the meals Martha prepared for us, and are an integral part of the afterglow we're basking in from our week in Hawaii. I would highly recommend Chef Martha to anyone seeking a private chef for any event, but especially for families who are renting a home and want a break from the kitchen. Our culinary experience with her was truly 5-star on all accounts! Mahalo, Chef Martha!!!

Martha is an incredible chef. I was lucky enough to have her cook a private meal for myself and…read moreguests. Attention to detail, delecious food, easy communication all equalled a wonderful dining experience. Appetizers, all courses plated and her incredible macademia caramel tart for desert made for a perfect evening. I look forward to my next trip to the Big Island and having Martha create another magical evening.

My daughter had great conversations with Max regarding our menu, which was absolutely delicious!…read more Every item they chose was amazing, filled wontons, short ribs, delicious fish, rice and mashed potatoes!! The salad was incredible!!! But the banana cream pie was out of this world!! Delicious the night of, and also for breakfast..:) We had amazing dinners throughout Kona, but this was by far the best! Highly recommend.. Thanks Max and Austin!!!

Amazing meal, amazing experience! Max put together an amazing Hawaiian meal for our family of 8…read moreand gave us the full private chef experience. We looked at many other private chef options and Max stood out for his highest ratings and no add on charges that many other chefs include (ie., trip charges, additional server/service charges, etc.). Not only did Max offer the best value, he and Austin were a real pleasure to be with arriving 3 hours before serving to cook and prepare the food and setting at our location. Max was very flexible with the diet restrictions/requests of a few family members. Each item served was prepared perfectly and incredibly delicious! A real impactful memory and experience for our family and I highly recommend Max!! Thank you Max!

I've been so lucky to have found Angeles ! I was suffering a lot from pain, groggy, exhaustion and…read moremy body was completely slowing down. I knew something needed to change, and I found Angeles! I've been so lucky she has been cooking me nutritious food from scratch for me each week. She's doing some mix of Paleo/Whole30, gluten free, organic vegetables when possible and completely from scratch! She comes and cooks in my kitchen and preps food for all the food for me, I am SO LUCKY I found her! You won't have food this delicious on the entire island! Trust me! She also does events and I'd hire her in a heartbeat for it!

Angeles makes the best food I've ever had. If you crossed a top tier professional trainer with a…read moreMichelin star chef and a nutritionist, you would get an Angeles. I was lucky enough to live with her for two years and during this time, I would check my nutrient levels in my blood fairly frequently and the doctor said I had the best levels he'd seen in a long time. Now that I don't live with her anymore this is no longer the case. She can put you on a diet that makes you feel like you've never indulged in a real meal in your life before

Chef Louie and her team delivered another unforgettable evening! From the curated menu we planned…read moretogether to the beautiful table settings and drinks, every detail felt personal. She easily accommodated a dietary restriction, and her upfront communication - menu, itemized costs, and contract confirmed by email - made everything stress-free. The food was exceptional: fresh produce from her own garden (the garnish on the chicken shooters was amazing!), tropical fruits she introduced us to and wove into the meal, and dishes I'm still thinking about days later. She even snapped photos of us during the event without being asked. Chef Louie embodies the warmth of Aloha, and she just keeps getting better - even after her Iron Chef win!

Katherine organized and provided an amazing dinner experience for our large family at our beautiful…read moreBig Island rental house, in celebration of some notable birthdays. Not only was the food outstanding, but she also arranged for outdoor seating, flowers, leis, a musician, a photographer and an after-dinner fire show. All were great. She is a friendly and likable person, with great culinary and organizational skills. She easily accommodated various dietary restrictions and preferences among our large group, and everything was delicious. Our family will never forget this memorable evening.

Thanks you! thank you!! Living Food Alchemy! You really came through for us! We thought your menus…read moresounded so healthy and tasty... and they were...and more! Delicious! We especially love all the little touches like locally grown ingredients and edible flowers. A celebration on a platter....Just what we need to sooth our city souls. Thank you for make everything seem so special. We'll be back for more next trip! Aloha

Sydney made our wedding catering and I could NOT be more thrilled! She was so helpful during the…read morecreative process and was open and receptive to my ideas! Her communication was excellent during the whole process and her pricing was fair! The food was astounding, unique, nourishing and unlike anything I ever had! Her knowledge of using medicinal foods paired with her natural talent for making delicious food is out of this world! Can't wait to book her again!

I'm reluctant to leave a negative review for a small business, but it's hard not to when I've…read morereceived no response after several days to an inquiry on their "contact us" page on their website or to an iPhone test message that shows as blue and "received." Angela might be a great chef and might have a good reason for not responding, and my rating is based solely on the fact that she didn't respond and I need to move on and try to find someone else. I'm fine with someone being too busy or otherwise not available, but a response saying so is just common courtesy.

I don't usually do reviews but I noticed Angela needed a recent recommendation and I had to say how…read moregreat she is!! We had a larger sized group visiting the Big Island and we knew didn't want to cook every night or deal with the hassle of finding a reservation so we hired Angela for a couple meals on our visit. From start to finish she was so attentive to our dietary needs and likes and even came up with ideas that we wouldn't have thought of ourselves to help please our entire crowd. Angela and her crew and came and made us a couple of beautiful and delicious dinners-we were all wowed with how gorgeous her presentation was! She even made us a couple quiches for our mornings. She was such a delight to work with and made our trip so much more fun. My favs- ahi won ton nachos, her homemade sourdough bread, lilikoi cheesecake, Waimea filets with her purple potatoes- all were so yummy. We can't recommend her enough.

Chef Kersten arrived before noon to prepare an evening meal for 7 of us at a private home we were…read morerenting. The food was incredible, the decor was beautiful and the presentation was top notch. Highly recommend!

Book Kerstin asap! She is an incredible chef. She showed up early in the day and began cooking. She…read moremade the most delicious superfood salad with quinoa and (I hate Ahi tuna but) hers was to die for. It turns out that when it is seared correctly and seasoned perfectly, it is amazing. Then our proteins were a boneless beef rib that literally fell apart, it was so tender. The macadamia crusted fish was amazing and tender. The broccolini and purple mashed potatoes were perfectly cooked. Then for dessert she made a two tiered citrus wedding cake that was a perfect ending to an incredible meal. Her server was wonderful and set the most beautiful table for us. Best of all, at the end everything was cleaned and put away. BOOK HER IMMEDIATELY, you will not be sorry.

We called on Dec 30th for a catered NYE meal. Tina was so accommodating! She gave a great…read morerecommendation for our group size. We had the Kalua pork, garlic butter shrimp (which were HUGE), rice and a salad with a creamy Asian dressing. We also had spicy ahi poke and sweet ahi poke for an appetizer. Mmmmmm. I was feeding my adult kids and they had nothing but praises for the meal. Highly recommend when you are here renting a vacation home and want to bring in a great meal for your group. She was VERY reasonably priced for the amount of food.

From the initial contact, all the way to the days leading up to the wedding, the catering team at…read moreUmeke's was extremely responsive and accommodating. We had struggled to get responses from other catering options that we had been contemplating for our wedding. The team at Umeke's was not only incredibly responsive, they also made sure to check in with me through the entire process. Unfortunately I can't speak for how the food tasted, as our guest managed to eat everything before me and my husband had a chance to, which can only mean that the food was incredibly good and well received. We did have some Poke Bombs left over which my husband enjoyed the night after the wedding as well as the next day. We have discussed going to the restaurant and ordering the items we ordered for the wedding just so we could try them! So expect to see us there soon ordering possibly too much food, so we can finally enjoy what our guests were raving about. The team on-site was was super polite, accommodating, and left the area cleaner than how we got it! I will most certainly be recommending the catering services from Umeke's to anyone who asks.

Very much recommend Island Thyme Gourmet! We ordered meals for home delivery to our vacation rental…read morefor our family because we wanted to eat well but avoid restaurants and get a break from cooking ourselves. The food was delicious and arrived with clear instructions on how to easily assemble or warm up. Exactly what you want to take your mind off of meal prep while on vacation. They have a variety of options on their rotating menu, generous portions and nice sides to order in addition to the main menu items. We liked stocking up on some salads. Fresh ingredients and some healthy/balanced meals. They were also so easy to communicate with and place orders. We will definitely use their service on a future trip to the Big Island.

OMGosh, I highly recommend Island Thyme! My husband and I, and our 2 teenage kids, visited the…read moreBig Island in March. We rented a beautiful house and decided we'd cater a couple of meals in to enjoy our space. First of all, Clare (who delivered our meals and the wife of Chef Dan), could NOT be any sweeter. She was so responsive via email prior to our arrival. She proposed menus for us, and she cheerfully delivered them. Our first meal: filets with sautéed mushrooms and onions and the most delicious red wine Demi glace sauce (I could literally drink the sauce), with Caesar salad, roasted local veggies, and ulu gratin was SPECTACULAR. The Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream with macerated strawberries was out of this world. The second meal Chef Dan prepared for us was Mahi Mahi in parchement (with a super spectacular leek and mushroom topping), saffron basmati rice, and sautéed garlic bok choy. The salad that night might have been my fave. The passionfruit vinaigrette (much like the red wine Demi glace, I could literally drink). Both my husband and I are still talking about the salad dressing! We are leaving this part of the Big Island and heading to the volcano area for the last leg of our trip, and I have the leftover passion fruit vinaigrette packed in the cooler! Also, Clare/Dan prepared a beautiful fruit tray for breakfast, and the Macademia Nut tarte that Clare picked up from another baker/chef ... also delish.