Catering by The Family

My best friend and I tasted Catering by the Family's food at a Bridal Expo in 2007. Their food was awesome and their prices seemed very reasonable. She hired them for her wedding in 2008, and they did an excellent job! I looked all over town and couldn't find a company with a better price for what we wanted, and decided to hire them for my wedding in February this year. They have been really helpful and offered to do a private tasting for us so that I could convince my fiance that this was the way to go. I really think that they will do a great job for my wedding!

The food and service was great. My guest complemented us on how much they enjoyed dinner and our cake was so pretty and tasty! The reason I give them an A- is because I was a little put off by something that happened the day of the wedding. CBTF charges an 8% service charge – which I paid when I paid our final bill a few days before the wedding. We were told when we signed the contract that they pay their staff a high enough wage to where they do not work on tips and the 8% is just a little something extra for the staff. They told us that if we wanted to tip above and beyond that it was completely up to us but not expected. Well of course I wanted to tip a little more so I put cash in an envelope and gave it to my wedding coordinator, which gave it to the head person. Well at the end of the night (literally as we are leaving) they come to my wedding planner and tell her that we owe the 8% gratuity fee. She explained to them that I had already paid that when I paid the balance. There was a lot of confusion and they were trying to get a hold of Steve the owner….by this time my wedding planner is just annoyed that they waited to the last minute to figure this out and told us just to go and she would take care of it. I was pretty irritated because I had paid and I didn’t want anyone thinking I was a cheap-o bride. It really sucked that we had to leave on that note! I also felt that they should have confirmed any open balances BEFORE we are about to leave. So my word of advice is to make sure you have a copy of everything you’d paid the day of!

We were given a list of approved caterers by the hall, and so we set up appointments based from that list. The Catering by the Family was the second set of caterers we visited, but we liked them so much that we went with them right away. I liked Catering by the Family because they have such a broad menu, and also because I liked so many of the appetizers! In their consultation they also gave us samples, which may be why we picked them. I also loved the idea of having an ice cream sundae bar, which we did select and which was a hit at the party. We went with their buffet option, just because we felt it would give the vegetarian guests more of an option when it came to eating. The food was great, the staff was great during the reception, and everyone was really happy with the service.

We created our own menu and they did all of the work. They were great and very honest. The food tasted like it was from a world class chef and they made our guest's mouth drop. We all had a good time eating the food we ordered from the menu and they did a fantastic job. Really nice and easy to work with and also they provided some prices that others in Tampa could not compete with. When anyone asks us who catered our wedding we gladly tell them we had Catering By The Family.

I loved working with this company! They were very professional and very helpful. There were a couple of miscommunications about the reception, but their staff stuck with it and made sure everything went off without a hitch! Overall, an excellent experience.

Catering by the Family did a superb job of providing the exact meal we wanted, the way we wanted it. They worked with us through multiple tastings to make sure everything was just right. They even did special unique touches just for us. All of our guests said this was by far the best food they've ever had at a wedding!

These caterers are great to work with. Very reasonable prices and wonderful food. If you want a one stop shop this is the place to go with linens and rentals of all sorts!