Conn's Catering

Conn's Catering is the catering service I used because I wanted to stay within a budget. They were very responsive, helpful, and accomodated my requests.

The only issues I had with them were that Geri the manager that handles the scheduling was very pushy and they wanted to increase the amount that I wanted to pay.

I had a couple of doubts that they would mess up during my Reception, but the night turned out well and I was satisfied.

We used Conn's and really enjoyed their food! Brent & Geri were very accommodating, and were super polite and helpful! They were also a great value!

Great food! Geri was great and helpful and the staff was really accommodating!

Geri and staff were excellent. Geri was great at communicating before the wedding and ironing out all the details. The food was delicious and the presentation was lovely. They worked on pricing with me and were overall very easy to work with. Highly recommend.

Conns catered our wedidng reception in May 2010. It is almost difficult for me to know how to start this review. It is not every day that you get to work with a vendor that is at the caliber of Conns.

From the moment that we walked into their quaint office on Devon, Conn's focus never waivered from making my wife and I comfortable and stress free so that we could enjoy our wedding. And we did enjoy it, emensely.

We met with Conns three times before the event. We worked together to share ideas about food, table linens, table/bar layout, serving style. Our reception was food "stations" and passed hors d'oeuvres. They even invited our families to make ethnic dishes which they heated and served at the reception. To perfect other ethnic classics, like their perogies, Conn's works with local chefs. These were some of the best perogies we ever had. They did not last long.

Conn's works closely with Binny's to stock the alcohol. We did not have to bridge the communication gap between these groups, they handled the delivery details without our involvement. This was also the case with Swirlz who catered our cupcakes.

My guests actually commented on how friendly the serving staff was. Most particularly Steve. He clearly goes above and beyond to make the evening go off without a hitch.

As I mentioned, Conn's care deeply about making their customers have a good, stressfree time. Additionally, their food was fantastic and their prices were very reasonable for us. I would love to have another opportunity to work with them again.

DO NOT USE CONN'S CATERING! If you are even considering using their services, read this FIRST!!!! We chose Conn's after much research on other catering companies and chose them based on their confidence and food during our tastings. This was a 150+ guest list with an approximate $15,000 budget for the food.

Their complete lack of training and preparation was mirrored with terrible and rude attitudes. The banquet captain, Steve was especially rude, unprofessional and a very poor representative of this organization. The groom has been in the food service industry for many years, as were many of our bridal party and guests. All of the issues we experienced are detailed below:

1. Linens were not delivered as contracted. They were suppose to be delivered to the venue on Friday, but the Mother of the Bride had to pick them up the day of the wedding.

2. Salads were arranged to be preset and this did not occur. Even after the bridal party announcements had finished one of the head tables still did not have salad. The banquet captain (Steve) threw them down around their table with no apology.

3. The buffet line was not set on time. The guests were released for dinner as scheduled after the bridal party announcements and instead of the staff apologizing for their error a staff member yelled at the groom's sister and said they were not ready. The staff was running around trying to figure out what to do, instead of someone just stepping to the end of the carving station and begin carving.

4. The buffet line food was cold. Why the buffet line was even set before preset salads again shows the lack of management and preparation.

5. The kids food was a select menu “to be served upon request from the kitchen” (hot dogs, french fries, chicken fingers and macaroni). Instead, they put the kid's food on the front of the buffet, so this was the first impression of the food that was going to be served for the guests.

6. We were very disappointed with the quality of the food. The beef brisket had even more fat on it than when we tasted it . The root vegetables were dried out with very little sauce like they were made days before. Our dissatisfaction with the food could is also related to the fact that it was cold.

7. The staff was unprofessional and not attentive to guests. Guests had a very hard time getting requests met, such as more water, butter, etc. Champagne glasses were taken away before the toast even started, so many guests did not have this for the speeches. This is the result of poor staffing. Confirm and verify the number of staff members Conn's promises at the time of your contract to avoid this. We trusted they would do this based on our meetings.

8. The staff did not know how to cut a wedding cake. Their ignorance on how to perform this basic function resulted in many guests not receiving wedding cake. They cut the cake in big sloppy “pie slices”. Every caterer knows a wedding cake is cut in circles inward towards the center and even 1in x 2in squares around each circle. We had more than enough cake to feed 200 guests.

9. Wine service was not set on the tables; wine bottles were not present on the tables with wine glasses for the guests to help themselves. We were then informed that wine glasses were not even brought to the venue. We ended up with 6 cases of wine that were bought for the wedding and not used.

10. When clearing from dinner they stacked plates like we were at Denny’s.

11. The groom's cake (a Norwegian cake) was moved multiple times. Conn's was told where to place it and not to move it due to the fact that it was very fragile. The staff did not serve or cut the cake. The groom had to go in the back and get plates. In addition, the groom's mother had to look for the bridal knife set to cut the cake. The banquet captain (Steve) said rudely they didn't have it, without even looking. She asked if she could look in a particular box and he picked it up, walked over to a table and slammed it down all while muttering under his breath at her.

12. The staff began cleanup before the band was even off the stage with no consideration for guests and their belongings. This had been discussed in the meetings and in the contract with Conn's and they were to start cleanup from 12-1am, after the band stopped playing. The number one rule in catering is the linens are the last thing to be picked up. The staff also disposed of items like the menus and even personal sheet music that they had no right to touch.

What is most shocking is after all of this rude, unorganized, inappropriate behavior Steve (the banquet captain) had the audacity to ASK for the tip at the end of the night. We have never heard of this kind of behavior. A tip in catering is for exemplary service. This was terrible service. The points above are the 101’s of catering. We had a check prepared for the gratuity for well over 20%. This is the type of service we expected. It was NOT deserved!!!

Excellent service and good value, particularly relative to other caterers we interviewed. Top notch service day-of-event. Great flexibility, chef even made a recipe we gave him that wasn't on their menu. Food was fantastic. Great knowledge of the venue and on-top of day-of details.

I was very satisfied with my experience with Conn's Catering. There were very willing to work with my budget, and helped every step of the way with the wedding planning, as well as theceremony and reception. Geri & Steve were so wonderful, and after the experience, I feel like they are a part of the family! I would defintely recommend them to cater any event, especially if you value professionalism along with an added personal touch!

The food was wonderful and a good price for the value. We decided to purchase the liquor separately and that saved a lot of money.