We ordered Thanksgiving dinner from Serendipity catering this year and it DID NOT DISAPPOINT!! The turkey was perfectly prepared and delicious. I'm not much of a stuffing person but I ordered it for the rest of the family. Serendipity's stuffing has made a convert of me! Perfectly spiced, lots of mushrooms and veggies with terrific bread. The gravy was almost like Mom's. I loved their take on cranberry sauce. I ate it cold instead of warming it up. Can't say enough positives about the whole experience from ordering to pick up to warming everything for dinner. Easy instructions and flawless flavors. Thanks to the team! read more

Do not use this catering company! If I could give this establishment zero stars I would. After communicating with them for the past six weeks to cater two small events for my daughter's graduation and having a verbal commitment they ghosted me last week. I called them today and they said that they had sent emails canceling the events due to "staffing shortages". (They did not.) When I expressed my dissatisfaction Sharon hung up on me. I now have to scramble because all of the restaurants are full and the other caterers are booked. After reading other reviews it looks as though this has happened with them before. See screenshots of emails between me and the caterer below. read more

See all

Serendipity is the best caterer in the Fingerlakes and I cannot recommend them enough. I am an event planner and have used them often due to their really amazing food and great service. They always have all of the details covered from the food, to the printed menus, to the table decor, etc. They can accommodate any dietary restrictions or special food requests. They are responsive and working with them is a pleasure. They are expensive, but worth every penny. Highly recommend for any event! read more

Serendipity Catering - Menu and table # - Caterers Near Me - Ithaca, New York

See all

We had a good experience with serendipity for catering, the bar, rentals, and dessert for our wedding. The outcome was gorgeous. They listened to our pleas for food catering to dietary restrictions. They labeled everything! It turned out to be exactly what we wanted. The food was great. We had 2 in person meetings to discuss details and tie up loose ends. read more

See all

I just ordered tame out from Serendipity's Back Lot. The best pierogies I've ever had Covered in so many sautéed onions with a very interesting homemade applesauce. Delicious. The arancini was crispy and the sauce was also great. I tried the back lot BLT. Again probably the best BLT I've ever had. I'd highly recommend ordering takeout or heading up to the back lot to sit around the fire pit while enjoying the fantastic food. In conclusion, eat there ¨ read more

We hired Serendipity to cater our wedding (~50 people) and they did a fabulous job. They worked with us despite a short planning horizon and the event being held at an outdoor venue with no kitchen or facilities. They were so organized and professional in the planning and execution stages, with exceptional attention to detail. They listened to our input and were flexible and supportive. Their team is amazing and can handle any challenge! In addition to running an efficient business, Serendipity's product is AMAZING. Many of our wedding guests were "foodies" from out of town and raved about the main course and dessert. A number of people told us that Serendipity's wedding cake (vanilla white cake with strawberries) was the best they ever had. I can't recommend them more highly. read more

See all

We can't not thank Alex and Stephanie and their team at Serendipity enough for a beautiful reception for our wedding in August 2018 at the Fontainebleau inn in Alpine , NY. Since the very beginning, Alex and Stephanie were very professional and assisted us in planning the menu and the decoration of the reception. They were also fun to work with. We liked them so much that we also had them cater our rehearsal dinner! On our wedding day, we didn't have to worry about anything. The Serendipity team was so professional. They took great care of the details. Our guests were so impressed at how beautiful the place was and how delicious the foods were. It's been over 2 months since our wedding and we still hear from our guests how much they liked the foods at our wedding!!!! read more

See all

Amazing outdoor converted space, great menu, food, ambiance. I felt thankful for Covid19 because it gave South Hill the Backlot. Outdoor movies, too?! Great work, guys! read more

Serendipity Catering - Caterers Near Me - Ithaca, New York

Serendipity recently did the catering for our wedding and the food was FABULOUS!! We received so many compliments from our guests (we were a little busy and only managed to get tastes here and there) that we would whole heartily recommend them to anyone looking for a wedding caterer (Full Five Stars for food - see more below!!) The only reason that I've given them 4 stars overall is for a few logistical reasons that added a bit of stress into the process (the actual event was still amazing!). First, leading up to the wedding (about one month before) they were a little tough to get a hold of (presumably due to all of the other awesome events they were throwing at the time). We needed to do some last minute checks/changes to the menu (found out that we had a vegetarian/lactose intolerant guest) and had trouble getting confirmation from them that they'd be able to make an accommodation. Second, during set up for the wedding, the tables arrived later than expected and we were unable to finish setting things up at the state park before the wedding rehearsal. That being said, Serendipity did take care of both of these issues. They provided the special dish for our guest and ended up setting up all of our tables themselves on the day of the event. In the end the reception was beautiful! The food: The buffet and appetizer spread that they provided were simply wonderful. My favorite part, as silly as it may sound was their potato salad (with sweet potatoes) although the pulled pork, chicken and lasagna all received many compliments. They also make these delicious homemade crackers! My husband is from the Philadelphia area and they made soft pretzels as one of the appetizers even though it wasn't on any of their menus - they really made an effort to make sure all of the food felt like it was us! We finished it all off with fruit pies instead of cake for dessert and again, Stephanie was wonderful at striking a balance between letting us have input specific types (pumpkin pie for my brother) while not overburdening us with micromanaging of the menu. Menu Planning:We had lots of guests who would chose vegetarian but weren't strictly vegetarian making planning the buffet a bit of a challenge, but they made sure there was enough to go around. They were also wonderful at making tweaks to the menu and event planning to stay within our budget constraints. With a large family and a wedding of 150 guests, budget was a challenge but they managed to make everything feel really special and still affordable. Decorations: While we chose to handle most of the decorating ourselves, Serendipity made custom signs for all of the food that fit with the ambiance and theme of our wedding. It was a really nice touch! Drinks: Serendipity worked with Felicia's Atomic Lounge to provide our bar and they were absolutely amazing as well. Shannon did a fantastic job with our rowdy Irish-Catholic crowd! Overall I highly recommend Serendipity Catering. Our family is still raving about the reception!! read more

Serendipity Catering - Appetizer Table - Caterers Near Me - Ithaca, New York

Great catering for the fashion show reception at Cornell! The baked Brie is delicious!

I cannot say enough great things about Serendipity! As a wedding planner myself in the Philadelphia area, I was taking a risk selecting a caterer I had never worked with for my out of town wedding in the Finger Lakes. The best part, before we even selected Serendipity, we had multiple other vendors speak so highly of Stephanie and the team there that we knew they were the right fit. They worked with us to curate our own menu which included a family style dinner of all of our favorite items, they worked around my long list of allergies and overall helped us make sure the menu fit the whole vibe we were going for with our wedding. When we started planning the rehearsal dinner and needed to suppliment the food truck we had with more food, we immediately looked to Serendipity to provide additional food for our guests. Besides the actual food, which was amazing, the Serendipity team also handled all of our rental items through McCarthey's including the tent, tables, chairs, linens etc. Stephanie made sure to go through all of the rentals with me to make sure we had everything we needed and she even was there when the rentals were delivered to make sure things were being set-up correctly. As a planner myself, I am usually the one worrying about all of the rental and food details and Stephanie and her team really allowed me to be worry free and simply enjoy the day because I knew they were taking care of everything for me. Our guests were also raving about the food after the fact too! You won't regret working with Serendipity. read more

Serendipity Catering provided food and rental help for my Wedding in August 2013 and I couldn't have been a happier bride. Their employees were friendly and professional but more importantly willing to help me with any little problem I was having from color issues to bathroom rentals. I really couldn't have asked for more! The day of the Wedding went very smoothly for us and the food was fantastic. We had a beautiful cake and appetizer/dinner with plenty of options for all our guest's tastes. They also set everything up for us on the day of the Wedding which was a huge relief. I highly recommend them to anyone planning an event or Wedding in the area. My only complaint was that I couldn't find Stephanie or Emily after the Wedding to give them a hug to thank them for helping to make my night so special. read more

Working with Serendipity for our wedding was an amazing experience. It was really easy to connect with them and I feel like they listened to us and tried to work within our budget to make what we wanted work. They were really supportive and helped us to figure out how to make our wedding day awesome. The day of was so smooth! There were only a couple minor changes in the seating charts and it was so easy to switch everything quickly and make sure that we were good to go. All my guests commented on how delicious the food was! Would absolutely recommend working with them for any future event! read more

Very disappointing. We attended and paid for a case club party at a finger lakes winery catered by Serendipity Catering. The set up: cheese and charcuterie, then a 4 station pairing menu, then dessert. The cheese and charcuterie ran out quickly, they brought out some more crackers. At 6, the stations opened. We went to one, brought the food to the table and though tasty, was at best lukewarm. Next station, had to stand an wait for food to be refilled, at least 10 minutes. Tasty, lukewarm. Next station, one of the 2 items being served was empty and not refilled and the station next to that was empty and not refilled. The first station we had gone to was actually closed down. It is now 6:20. The stations opened at 6. I asked the catering staff and they said they called and more food was coming. The caterer is a good 45 minutes away. An hour or so later more food came, pizza from a local restaurant and pasta salad and cupcakes from Wegmans. I would never use this caterer, recommend this caterer or go to another event with this caterer. read more

Serendipidity was Great! They may not have been the cheapest option, but considering we were planning our wedding in Ithaca, NY from Charleston, SC at a venue that did not have an on site kitchen or catering service (North Point Pavilion in Taughannock State Park) I am SO glad we went with a full service caterer. I will say there were a few things about communication that made me feel they weren't quite used to working with clients from out of state. Sometimes they asked the same questions multiple times or didn't answer a question leaving me wondering if they saw my question and nervous if details we talked about were being recorded somewhere. It was a little nerve racking planning from so far away, and I probably was a bit annoying asking them the same questions many times due to my own nerves, but when we finally met with them face to face just a week before our wedding I felt confident that they had it all under control. And on the day of they did a great job. The food was DELICIOUS and they made set up and take down nice and smooth. We leaned on them heavily to act kind of as our day of coordinator as well, coordinating between other rental vendors and things, and it all worked out! read more

Serendipity is exactly what they advertise: full service catering. They will adapt to what ever you need and they will do a better job executing your own idea than you could yourself. I've lived in Ithaca for the majority of my adult life and I have seen numerous events that were catered by serendipity and have been frankly amazed every time. Every event is eye candy, themed and colored to the specific event they are accommodating with amazing color schemes and design, and equally amazing food. I think it is very difficult to have a make-shift buffet look anything BUT tacky and somehow serendipity makes their food and set-ups fit every space they enter like that's where food is supposed to be served year round. This catering company must have a warehouse of everything you could imagine just for the sake of decoration. I have not personally contracted with this catering service, but I have worked for Cornell dining (which is supposed to be amazing) and experienced the show these guys put on at least a couple times a year and who ever I have been working for has paled in comparison. Even the staff is above par compared to most restaurants I eat at, every time I've asked a Serendipity staff member a question they seem to know the answer (even the bus boys/girls). Just from the perspective of a local Ithaca consumer, I like to give people my two cents, and this company's continuous presence in the community, and consistent excellence has earned a review, at least in my book. read more

This was the best wedding I had ever been to. Of course it was my daughter, but seriously, the food was top shelf. The table settings were beautiful and the catering crew was fantastic, they seemed like part of the guests and everyone I spoke to loved everything. I could not recommend Sarendipity any higher, 100 out of 10! Thanks again for making my babies special day the best ever read more

We used Serendipity for our daughter's wedding. Besides having fabulous food and really helpful staff, we were really impressed at the care they took to cater to the special needs of our guests with specific dietary concerns. After the wedding all my friends told me how much they loved the food. read more

Stephanie and Andrew at Serendipity made our wedding go off without a hitch. It was more expensive to go with a full service caterer, to be sure, but they completely made it worth our while. It was SO EASY which is not something you hear or feel with weddings a lot. They did everything - rentals, food, cake, decorations, lights. We just showed up and got married. And it looked incredible! I honestly couldn't be happier with our wedding - nothing went horrible awry, all the staff were incredibly helpful and charming, and they helped up pack up the few pieces that we needed to take home at the end of the night. They worked so hard and made our night so easy. Multiple guests said that it was the best wedding they'd ever been to! I highly, highly recommend Serendipity. They were great. read more

Ok, this one's really simple... Stephanie and the Serendipity crew are ROCK STARS. Flat out, simple, done. Stephanie was like a member of our family by the end of our wedding, we'd been working with her for so long. She takes great pride in what she does and she's got a great team backing her up. The food was great and the decorating they provided was spot on. Even though our wedding venue setup (the Ithaca Farmer's Market) was pretty complex and required that Serendipity pretty much bring in an entire kitchen, lighting, etc, they were all over it. They played well in the sandbox with our other vendors and even when times were at their worst during the planning (they were bad, trust me, like full on meltdown-we're-buying-plane-tickets-and-eloping-in-Vegas bad ) Stephanie was still by our side doing everything she could to make our wedding a success. I'd absolutely recommend Serendipity to anyone who is planning a wedding or event in the central NY area. read more

Serendipity Catering is amazing! They catered a surprise birthday event for me yesterday, serving over 100 people. From the first proposal and menu, right up to accessibility after the event, working with them has been seamless. I had complete trust in the process given the frequent communication before the event. And, they accommodated readjustments along the way. THE FOOD WAS DELICIOUS! We enjoyed a high-end lunch of several homemade dips (hummus, caramelized onion), mini buttery croissants filled with chicken curry salad, baguette with fresh mozzarell with tomato and pesto, and pulled pork with fresh rolls, a spicy Carolina bbq sauce, and slaw. Some guests had already experienced Serendipity Catering at other events around town and raved about them. Others made sure to ask who catered because they were so impressed with the meal on their plates. Presentation was very appealing. And, their cakes---outrageous. So good. We had a three tier chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and fudge, as well as a LARGE single round of vanilla cake with cream cheese frosting layered with raspberry puree. All food and dessert portions were very generous. We were pleased to have leftovers to enjoy at home in the coming days. Serendipity Catering is priced more than fairly, reflecting both quantity and quality of product, staffing, and overall experience. We will absolutely hire Serendipity Catering for our future events. read more