We hired Heather ( the owner) and her catering services for my daughter's wedding this past weekend (Oct 3, 2026) My daughter and soon to be son in law came across their name as a recommendation through a local food establishment that they enjoy. We live out of state and we're traveling up for this event. I had a nice conversation with Heather prior to the wedding on a few details and she seemed kind and helpful on the phone.
Backstory: I am a Chef by trade, Culinary Institute of America trained and owned a fine dining white tablecloth 5 star restaurant in NJ for 20 years, along with our own off premise catering company. I am still in the business to date. I know food, and I know bad food. Fast forward to the event... cocktail hour consisted of a slider bar of pulled pork and pulled chicken with soft buns, coleslaw and extra bbq sauce. It was presented in disposable aluminum pans inside a stainless chafing dish, which looked like it was purchased from Costco or Sam's Club, heated, the top popped off and served. (They advertise they are a scratch kitchen) bacon wrapped jalapeños were stacked so high in the round chafing dish it looked smashed and oily from the weight of them.
Dinner buffet: dinner rolls paired with garden salad. Penne pasta, which was cold , along side reheated frozen meatballs, also cold. Chicken Francaise ( we think) was so tough that my guests at our table looked like they were trying to saw through it. Fettuccine was stuck together and coated with a cream sauce that tasted like it was from a can or jar, and was also cold. I have never been so embarrassed as my table took a bite or 2 and pushed our plates forward and did not eat. This was not a dinner that was "cooked from scratch" . The food tasted like it was leftovers that were reheated and served to us.
I will give credit to the staff that evening, they were very professional, kind and accommodating.
After having a phone conversation with Heather about my concerns and providing some sort of resolution or partial credit/ refund, she emailed me her response and has decided what she provided was what was contracted. Contracted sub- par food? Sun- par is being kind..Shame on you! People are smarter than you think. We paid a lot of $$ for terrible food. FYI...When I mentioned frozen meatballs, your hesitation confirmed what I already knew. You know in your heart, what you provided was not good.
Be aware folks, her food in her cafe might be "scratch" made but I can tell you in my experience, her catered food is ABSOLUTELY NOT.
Response to Savory Cafe and Catering:
Thank you for your response, however all the extra work your staff had to do is unfortunate, and I had absolutely no idea that some of the guest's kids were causing a little trouble. My review was simply to point out that the dinner served was sub-par. All the other extra wording in the body of your response has nothing to do with what my review was about. It was simply about the kind of food that was served and the temperature of your dishes. I did appreciate and am grateful for the use of the tiers used to display the cupcakes, and I was told you wanted to handle the display of those yourselves.
Put yourself in our shoes... would you feel it appropriate to be served dinner that is cold and chicken too hard to cut? Frozen meatballs? I pray you have a better experience when it's time for your children to get married.
While yes, it was the bride and groom that ultimately contracted your services, but we handled the finances directly to you for what we were expecting to be a memorable delicious dinner. Unfortunately, we were all shocked and very disappointed.
Maybe friends of the bride and groom visited your cafe the next morning, however none of our family ate at your establishment the next morning.
Again, shame on you for taking advantage of a beautiful situation. This entire ordeal could have been prevented if you simply provided a nice hot and delicious meal for the price you charged.
FYI..We asked that a tip jar be available on the bar only and to be shared with the service staff, we never asked that a tip jar be placed on guest's tables. read more