Unreliable and unprofessional- do not use…read more
We purchased a "gourmet 4 course dinner in our home" for $1500 at a silent auction for a charity, with the thought that if she did well with an event for our friends, we would book her for more important, professional events later. I'm SO GLAD I made that choice because this was a bad experience.
We scheduled the date, set the menu ... and then Vivian canceled the day beforehand. We rescheduled and declined her offer for extra food to make it right, offering some grace since issues happen sometimes.
On the 2nd attempt, she sent me a text the afternoon of the event to say she was "stuck in traffic," but her sous chef would get things started and she would be there in time to cook the dinner. She never showed up AT ALL that night. The sous chef said Vivian just had other events that conflicted with mine-- so apparently it was just poor planning.
Her sous chef was very young, nice and hardworking. However, it was a lot for one person, without having the support person to plate & serve the food, clear the courses, etc. I pitched in to be nice and acted as our server, but for $1500, I definitely should not have had to! And more importantly, since she couldn't focus solely on cooking, she made some mistakes, such as inconsistent results in the temperature of the meat across the servings (some were great and others were overcooked) and cold, over-mashed potatoes that turned pasty/gummy. Vivian also forgot about the conversation we previously had about our dessert choice and had the girl make something different than what I chose. I made that dessert choice for a very specific reason and am frustrated by her lack of attention to detail, which is obviously a pattern.
On top of Vivian's poor behavior with the 2nd "no show", when I gave her the feedback about the food at our event and told her that I was disappointed, she decided to ARGUE with me, rather than even apologizing. Apparently, she felt she knew exactly how everything tasted, based on a few pictures that the sous chef texted to her, so I was wrong. It was an inappropriate and unprofessional response, especially given the other mistakes that were made.