Simply Elegant Catering

From our very first meeting and tasting, the people at Duxbury have been absolutely incredible. Mark and Justin went far and above the call of duty for us on many occasions. Their attention to detail during the planning process was amazing…When I gave Justin a recipe of my mother’s lemon sauce, and for Greek salad dressing, he drove out to meet me, so I could taste it and make sure I approved (which was perfection). The food at our tasting far surpassed the quality of any of the other caterers we met with. Not only that, but the price was right. My DH is in the event industry, and he said their prices for rentals compared to those he would have gotten for us at discount. At the wedding, everything went smoothly, and people kept talking about how absolutely delicious our food was. One guest told me that it was the best wedding food he had ever eaten. Their service was always so warm, and attentive. I just can’t say enough great things about Duxbury’s Catering! ***btw...They have a valet company they work with, and we found them to be excellent as well.

I used Duxbury's for my wedding in June 06, and they were fantastic! We had great meetings with them, they were upfront with all of their info, and the tasting was excellent. They were also fabulous on the day of the wedding, as they made sure everything was perfect, their staff was very helpful and courteous, and we didn't have a single problem. We served our dinner (buffet style) and our guests really loved it. Since our wedding was at a private residence, clean up was one of my biggest concerns. The staff worked tremendously hard (and fast) to make sure that everything was done correctly.

Everyone loved the food! And yes, Howwy and I made sure that we were able to sit and enjoy it too! I never realized how EXPENSIVE caterers can be, they had great prices, and we used them for rentals as well.

I'm very glad that we used them, and would definitely use them for any catering needs in the future!

Duxbury's catered my December 10 wedding at Castle Green in Pasadena, CA. They did an outstanding job. Their staff was friendly and helpful - constantly went out of their way to help my guests (and my parents!). The food was delicious, and they gave us a very reasonable estimate for the cost of the reception food. I would highly recommend them to anyone. Outstanding... very professional... a pleasure to work with. And I personally interacted with Mark Duxbury, and I found him to be very professional.

I'm sorry that a former poster had problems with them, but I thought it would be helpful to post my positive experience.

Duxbury's catering is now Simply Elegant Catering.

I just wanted to reply to a post that I recently came across on this website concerning the previous owner. Although I found it hard to believe that Mark Duxbury was arrested for the things the other poster listed, I looked it up and found out that it is true. HOWEVER, Mark Duxbury no longer owns this company. A very nice man now owns the company and is doing a great job with it.

I just wouldn't want their business to suffer from something that they had no control over. They catered my wedding recently and did a fantastic job. I will be reviewing their work under the name of Simply Elegant Catering but I felt that that little matter should be addressed so that the new owner and his company are not associated with the deeds of the previous owner.

I hope everyone understands. Thank you.

Mike and Laura were AMAZING in every sense of the word. Of the four caterers I contacted, Simply Elegant's prices were a few thousand cheaper and included everything up front (whereas another company would provide me a quote within my budget but fail to mention that it did not include any of the rentals). Two days before my wedding I realized I was missing something crucial and Mike called me within hours to let me know he would take care of it. The food was beautiful, fresh, and so so tasty. Our guests were elated and spoke of the food (that was not "wedding food-ish") for weeks after. Mike's staff made me feel like the center of attention the entire evening. Someone was in charge of bringing us appetizers, making sure our drinks were full, and served us first. Mike helped to make our reception feel effortless. Thank you mike and laura for making our day so so special!!

Simply Elegant Catering provided the catering and rental items for my wedding at Castle Green on Dec 30th. From our first meeting, where he took us through everything step by step - with fresh cookies! - to the big day, his team was helpful, thoughtful, courteous and attentive! I looked forward to seeing him an discussing all aspects of the wedding. I'm not the girl who planned my wedding my whole life so picking out every little detail just wasn't what I wanted to do. I had an idea of how I wanted everything to look and Mike had the uncanny ability to point me in exactly the right direction.We also had our rehearsal dinner at his space on Huntington Drive. It's quite, cozy and we all felt very comfortable there. His team had everything prepared promptly, on time and everything tasted amazing! He also was able to switch bartenders last minute for us. We had planned for it to be beer and wine only, but the week of my mother-in-law changed her mind and wanted to also have mixed drinks. She can be a bit indecisive (as I have discovered!) so thanks Mike for dealing with it instead of me!The wedding day was just amazing. I didn't have a day of coordinator because I didn't really feel I needed to have one. With Mike there and my sisters helping out everyone knew where everything had to go and everything was in it's place. It was so nice to have this feeling that everything was being taken care of and from my many meetings and conversations with Mike, I knew I could put my trust in him. His team did not disappoint!!There are not enough wonderful things I can say about Mike and his team! I need to have another party just so I can work with them again!

Mike Faulkner and the Simply Elegant staff are incredible. Mike assisted us throughout the wedding process from start to finish. He was extremely professional, reliable, attentive and responsive! Mike's food is incredible - from the empanadas, to the pulled chicken sliders to the BBQ brisket - people raved about the food. Mike embraced the challenge of catering a KOSHER wedding for 325 people and it was flawless and delicious. Not only were we thrilled with the food but they also made the desserts for our wedding - caramel apple wedges, frozen chocolate covered bananas and donut holes with dipping sauces. Our favorite part at the end of the night was walking by tables with empty dessert platters and sticks. Mike assisted in making our wedding everything we envisioned. Caterers often have a reputation of being difficult to get a hold of and not particularly nice - Mike is quite the opposite! I truly recommend working with Mike and the Simply Elegant Catering staff as they will make your wedding a dream come true!

Simply elegant catering was hired to do my wedding at castle green. Mike was very personable from start to finish. His crew was extremely professional and ran everything smooth and beautifully. The food was delicious , the table were set to perfection, and the whole team made sure we had anything and everything from arrival to departure. Angie was just fabulous and made sure we all were taken care of as well. I highly recommend Simply Elegant to any one planning a wedding or any event. They are flexible and will customize to your liking. i cant thank Simply Elegant enough and my husband and I will be using them for our upcoming events! They are hands down FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!! Sincerely, Victoria and John Foley

If you want to find a vendor who will plan things with you and come up with best possible ways to make your wedding day perfect from the moment you meet them until your wedding is over.. these are the people you want to work with! Mike and Laura could not have been any more nice and they are always reachable and quick with answers to all your questions. It was the best choice I made as a wedding planner for my sister's wedding which was the happiest day of her life. You will be stress free working with Simply Elegant!

It was an absolute delight to work with the folks at Simply Elegant Catering for our daughter's wedding. The food, the personnel, the service, the price, the coordination -- all were simply excellent! What a great time we had in the planning and the execution. They promised to take good care of our girl and her fiance, and they delivered on that promise. ... just can't say enough!

Mike and Laura were great to work with! They were extremely flexible and professional, and always available via text messaging, emails, and/or phone. Our wedding day was beautiful and ran very smoothly, as far as I was able to tell. We received numerous compliments on the food, and the table arrangements were beautiful! I would highly recommend Simply Elegant Catering to anyone looking for a caterer for an upcoming event.

Mike and his crew get 5 stars for our wedding on 4/30/11. Even though this date was his and his wife's anniversary, he was willing to take care of our wedding. The service he provided was amazing and the value for cost was unbelievable. He provided all of the rentals for our backyard wedding which included everything but the kitchen sink, even his own ovens to cook our food on site. His staff was unbelievably friendly during the event and even one of our guests wanted his info to hire him for another event. The food was wonderful and everyone remarked on it. He even brought the cake from the bakery the day of! I was a very specific bride and he pulled our wedding off without a hitch. He really went the extra mile and my husband and I are truly thankful. Look no further Simply Elegant Catering is your caterer!Love, Sarah and Brandon :)

I really enjoyed working with Mike and Laura. They are both very nice people, very responsive to emails, and easy to work with. One thing I was very happy with was the quality of the food--they used really high quality products and it showed.I also really appreciated that the food on the day-of the wedding tasted the same as the food that my fiance and I got on the day of the tasting--we got what we paid for, in other words, and there were no surprises or last minute changes. We were taking pictures during cocktail hours, but I spoke to my guests and they said that they were impressed with the number of passed appetizers--we had three different choices total, but there was more than enough to go around and everyone was happy with the taste and quantity.Another nice thing about Simply Elegant was that it was a one-stop-shop for all of the equipment/furniture/china/etc. rentals we needed, and they also took care of a lot of the set-up of the reception (and the rentals for the ceremony) and the take-down clean up. This meant I didn't have to scramble to find other vendors to handle these things. I cross-checked their rental prices on chairs and other items, and found their prices to be fair or more reasonable than the major rental places in our area as well. This was really great as I didn't have a wedding planner and was having to do all of the organizing myself!Overall, I am very happy with Simply Elegant and would definitely use them again.

Mike and Laura are so sweet and were always there for us. They love what they do, and are always looking out for what is going to work the best for their customer's needs. Fantastic working with them, and i would recommend them to anyone looking to cater a party or wedding!

We chose Simply Elegant for our upcoming wedding in July because their food was delicious and left us wanting more. And more was there to fill our stomachs. Quality with Quantity. My fiance and I are excited to share the cuisine Mike and Arturo prepared for us during the tasting sessions. Mike is amazing and is so patient with our gazillion questions and emails. He also has suggestions for layouts/ linens/ all the other wedding reception aspects that you'd have to go to 5 different people for. Choosing a knowledgeable caterer definitely helps put your mind to ease. Know that you will be taken care of with Simply Elegant. Thanks Mike

Mike and his team at Simply Elegant have been great from day one! From our very first tasting/meeting to the very final details on the day of, Mike worked diligently with us and was very invested in what would make us happy. He didn't miss any detail w/ arranging of the linens/tables, and we got tons of compliments on the food and service on our special day. Thanks Simply Elegant Catering!

I cannot express in words what a fabulous job you did at my daughter’s wedding, many people came to me and stated the service, food and ambiance were spectacular. Thank you so much for making a wedding into a fantasy dream come true.You helped me with ever detail and were so flexible when we needed to make changes. Your crew were polite and kind to all, a joy to have at the wedding. The food was spectacular, everything was perfect.

Mike and his team at Simply Elegant Catering were a pleasure to work with all through the planning process of our wedding. It was a smooth and easy process that lead up to an absolutely perfect event. I will be using Simply Elegant Catering again in the future and I strongly recommend that if your in need of a caterer, call them.

Simply Elegant Catering was simply amazing. We had our wedding at the Pasadena Museum of California Art and after looking at several places for a vendor who met the museum strict requirements and was within our budget, Simply Elegant came to our rescue. Mike with Simply Elegant ensured that the museum was happy and worked with us to ensure the price was within our budget and offered many suggestions. One of the many things I loved about them was there flexibility! When planning a wedding, it is great when vendors can be flexible and accommodating to your needs without charging you for all the extras. Mike provided us with a bartender and allowed us to purchase our own alcohol, this for us was a major help because alcohol can easily put you over your budget. The food, service and staff where amazing.

Simply Elegant Catering was absolutely wonderful! Mike was great! Our wedding was perfect! It's been 3 weeks now, and everyone is still raving about the food, and service. Simply Elegant Catering made our wedding the Best they've ever been too! I've never been to a wedding where people talk about how good the food was!

This catering servuce was wonderful! They made everything perfect!

The most important quality in a vendor is their trustworthiness and passion for their work. Mike and Simply Elegant Catering possess both in abundance. From my first meeting with Mike he was down-to-earth, professional, and filled with great enthusiasm. Mike really wanted to make our wedding amazing, and he gave us great advice and tips. Mike is a true professional and you can trust him to work within your plans and budget.Now, onto the food... It was absolutely fabulous! My favorite dish was the sea bass: Perfectly tender and moist, and packed with juicy flavors. The Moroccan style lamb chops were very unique and exquisite, and make the perfect hors d'ouevres.All in all, my experience with Mike and Simply Elegant Catering was top notch and very positive. I highly recommend them to take care of your catering needs!

Simply Elegant Catering did a fabulous job! My husband and I could not have been more pleased with the outstanding service they provided. The linens/rentals were great and the food was amazing! They truly made my wedding day that much more special.

Mike and his amazing crew of catering artists made our 1940's Oscar-themed wedding a huge success! We continue to hear raves about the fantastic food from our friends and family. In our opinion, Mike is the gold standard for catering professionalism.He also recommended our Day-Of Coordinator Nghia Luu, who turned out to be exactly what we needed to pull the whole complicated event together with style and class. Nghia and Mike are the ones to beat! :)

Awesome, awesome caterers. Flexible, willing to work with budgets, responsive, there when I need them for anything, food is fantastic, presentation is elegant and stylish. Now that I am married and that's over with; I am thinking of other ways to use them! Give Mike a call. Highly recommend.

Working with Mike from Simply Elegant Catering was great! Unlike most of the vendors we came across, Mike really cared about our wedding and wanted to make it the best it could be. No one expects good food at a wedding, but Mike and his catering team did the impossible. People are still talking about his rosemary masehd potatoes and sea bass with the lemon grass sauce. He went out of his way to make sure that all the details are in place and was so fun to work with! I highly recommend Simply Elegant Catering! Everything was seemless and his staff are very professional.

Mike at Simply Elegant was an absolute joy to work with. From the moment I met him I knew I was going to hire him. His warmth and dedication to making our event perfect was genuine. He worked effortlessly with us to ensure that we and our guests would be happy that day going the extra mile throughout the entire process.

Mike and his team at Simply Elegant catered our wedding at Puddingstone Resort in May of 2010. They did an awesome job. Everyone loved the food! We used them for our rentals as well which were very competitively priced and high quality. He allowed us to bring our own alcohol as well which his bartender served, that saved us a ton of money. We also had our rehearsal dinner at his store front and he gave us a fabulous deal. I would highly recommend using his space for your rehearsal dinner if it is available. Mike is an honest, straight forward guy who makes fabulous food. If we ever have another catered party we will definitely use Simply Elegant again.

Mike and Laura at Simply Elegant were amazing at our wedding. First off, they made a fully catered Los Angeles wedding affordable in tough times. I felt like they understood our constraints and still gave it 100%. I'm sure they do much fancier, more expensive events, but I never felt like they were putting me second because of that. They also handled many aspects of our wedding - rentals, food, linens, all set up and clean up at our reception venue, staffing, liasing with my day-of coordinator and site personnel, and they even have a baker they work with who makes delicious cakes! I had no involvement once we really got the ball rolling which was amazing. That said, if you want to do all that managing yourself, Mike is happy to keep you involved, but it was wonderful for me to not have to make 75 phone calls every time someone had a question.The food was amazing. So many of our guests came of afterwords and said how delicious it was. Some people even said they couldn't really have cake because they had eaten so much dinner! The event ran incredibly smoothly, and we got our entire deposit back, and were out on time.

Excellent food....wonderful presentaion....I wish they owned a restaurant so I could go back!!!!!

Simply Elegant gave us everything we wanted and more. The service was outstanding. Our guests had nothing but compliments. As the bride, my groom and I were busy during dinner saying hello to our guests. When we finally made it back to our table, the servers had brought us both dinner plates full of a little bit of everything from the buffet without us even having to mention it!The responsiveness was outstanding as well. Emails, phone calls, menu drafts, and contracts were all properly and professionally delivered. They were also very flexible with the tastings.Above having wonderful options for dinner ware, flatware, table linens, chairs, etc., the food was the best part. The presentations were clean, simple, but creative and the quality of food for such a large quantity of guests was more than what we hoped for. One of the true gifts of Simply Elegant is the peace of mind they provided us. We knew we didn't have to worry about anything with them and, as a former bride, that makes it worth it!

Mike was very accommodating and the food was delicious. Mike is an experienced/veteran chef so we were delighted to know that he just wasn't a businessman. Definitely recommended!

My wife and I had a wonderful, satisfying experience working with Mike and the rest of the team at Simply Elegant catering.We met with Mike and one other caterer prior to making our decision. Mike sat down with us and walked us through every single detail of the big day, including items that had nothing to do with the catering. It demonstrated to us that he had a big-picture understanding of how important the flow of the day was and how important it was to get the details right. His kind demeanor and attention to detail is what set him apart from the other caterer and, ultimately, helped Mike win our business.During our first tasting with Mike, a paperwork error led to a couple of the food items we needed to try being left off our tasting menu. He was profusely apologetic and quickly scheduled a 2nd tasting for us. While it was a bit of an inconvenience to make another trip to Pasadena from West Los Angeles, we were really impressed with how Mike handled a snafu and quickly made it right. Given how many things can go wrong and that sometimes mistakes do happen, it was reassuring to see him take care of verything professionally. That gave us the confidence that come wedding day, if there were any snafus, Mike would be able to handle them in stride.Obviously, any caterer has to make great food. In this area, Mike didn't disappoint. We had tri tip and stuffed chicken as our main courses. Everything tasted great and our guests were very complimentary as well. Mike accommodated our request to provide some local BBQ from my home state of Texas, which put a special hometown twist on our meal. Also, Mike's day-of catering staff was top notch. I was impressed with how they went out of their way to make sure my wife and I were served hors d'ouevres while taking pictures during the cocktail hour. And once we were seated, they continued to treat us and our guests like royalty. I've been to many weddings before where you felt like the serving staff wished they were someplace else - I never got that sense at all from Mike and his very professional crew.Overall, we had a wonderful experience with Simply Elegant and would recommend that any engaged couple check them out.

Mike and his staff are great to work with and flexible with our menu. We got lots of compliments on our wedding day on the food. Highly recommended.

make my wedding wonderful, I am happy

Simply Elegant was terrific!We got married at the Castle Green last April. Mike was so attentive, friendly, and wow, such a great cook!We had the tri-tip with stuffed chicken duet, with wild rice and asparagus. All night we got so many compliments on the food. Even as I write this, I'm craving the chicken, yum! An added bonus, and once of the reasons we chose Simply Elegant was the veggie wellington as the vegetarian dish. We have a number of veggies in our circle, so this was an added treat. We even ordered one for ourselves, we liked it so much! Most other places just offer some kind of lame pasta dish. They also made sure that the wild rice used a vegetarian soup stock for our vegetarians.Mike was great about us trying different options, and we came back closer to the wedding date to taste more. The day of, they offered waters to the ceremony guests, and we had a veggie/cheese station as well as 3 roaming appetizers. The service was great as well. Overal, not a single complaint, and loved using them!

Mike and Laura were wonderful at making my wedding everything I wanted it to be. They will help you create a menu for anything that you are trying to do and are good at responding to e-mails fairly quickly. I highly recommend them!

To be blunt, my folks paid for my wedding, and they didn't tell me how much they spent with Duxbury. So I can't talk about value for cost. But the food that they prepared, and the way they treated me like family on my wedding day, those sorts of things put them over the top. I had a very specific vision for my menu -- dressed-up elegant comfort food -- and they got it instantly. I like to groove on unique menu possibilities, and so does Mark Duxbury.

Simply Elegant did a fantastic job at our wedding. The food was delicious and very affordable. Our friends and family were very happy with the food. They made our wedding day very special! We couldn't been happier.

We had Simply Elegant Catering handle the food, dessert, bartending, linens, chair/table setup and breakdown. Mike provided us some suggestions to lower the cost, and was very patient with us since we had been continuously changing things until the last minute. He would always respond to us immediately when we called or emailed (throughout the 8 months of planning), I don't know how he does it with so many customers! During the wedding his servers made sure to cater to us with one server spending most of cocktail with us with plates of hors d'oeuvres (our favorites were the mushroom profiteroles and 3 kinds of pita pizzas). Mike was able to accommodate our desire to serve dinner family style, which turned out to be very unique but the servers were able to explain it to each table. The Centerstage salad and roasted potatoes were delicious. We almost had a major problem with the alcohol which Mike was able to handle smoothly. With much experience at Castle Green, they handled all the regulations, setup, breakdown, clean up with ease. A few glitches - Dinner was a little slow to come out, and although we were glad to be able to eat, it was somewhat awkward when we were halfway done with our main course (at our sweetheart table) with the guests waiting until then when their dishes started coming out. The petit filet was a little drier than when we tried it at the tasting. The grilled seafood which were supposed to be on rosemary twigs came out on wood skewers instead, which I was okay with but wish we had been informed. I wished we would have clarified that we wanted to allow people to select their cake instead of serving randomly (since we had 5 different flavors), but that was forgetful on our part. Overall, everything was great, turned out beautifully, and we didn't have to worry about a thing.

Mike and Laura worked hard to give us just the wedding we'd dreamed of, and at a budget level we could afford. Even going out of their way to work with a special Chinese chef for the occasion. Great job!

These people know how to help weddings! I found the food delicious and all of my guests loved the variety of finger foods they catered! I'm a very happy customer :)

Duxbury's catered my December 10 wedding at Castle Green in Pasadena, CA. They did an outstanding job. Their staff was friendly and helpful - constantly went out of their way to help my guests (and my parents!). The food was delicious, and they gave us a very reasonable estimate for the cost of the reception food. I would highly recommend them to anyone. Outstanding... very professional... a pleasure to work with.

Simply Elegant provided great food at a great price. Mike was very helpful when it came to assisting us with outside rentals and a cigar roller.

The food was great, and Mike and Laura are very easy to work with. We had some glitches on the big day, though: 1 bar instead of 2, which was a pretty major issue we discussed, and it caused a very long line during the cocktail hour; losing track of what they were supposed to set up (Mike was aware, but head server was clueless); groom's food was supposed to be without cheese, but it didn't come that way. All in all a good experience, but there definitely needs to be some improvement on the lines of communication between Mike and the head server. Everyone was very friendly and responsive, and I would recommend them.

Duxbury went to jail a few months before my wedding. So they had to change the name to Simply Elegant, and the place changed ownership! The staff for the most part was good, the food was good, the bartender excellent. However, the lead server came to me at the end of the night and handed me all the linens in trash bags and told me that because I didn't rent them through them it was my responsibility to take them home! The lady was SO rude, there I was in my wedding dress, most of the guests had already left, so I had to quickly find someone to take them. Not a nice surprise.

Mike and his entire team at Simply Elegant Catering are ready and willing to go above and beyond your expectations. I have worked with and referred them numerous times and it always end up with the same result: the client beaming on how flawlessly everything went! I couldn't have asked for an easier caterer to work with!

Simply Elegant Catering always has great tasting food, fabulous service and presentation. As an event designer and organizer, I couldn't ask for a better catering service. Thanks Mike!

Simply Elegant Catering is just that! 5 star services to enjoy with an easy attitude and approach to serving clients. Every time I get a chance to work with Simply Elegant I know the quality and teamwork we will have and offer our clients. And their FOOD!-enough reason to celebrate! Thank you Simply Elegant Catering, see you soon!DJ Pasha Gonzalez

Mike's staff, including Angel and the rest of his team were fantastic to work with! They did such a wonderful job with the food display as well as their wait services. They did their job quickly and efficiently and were a pleasure to work with. I'd recommend Mike from Simply Elegant Catering over and over again. Thanks for making the Andaya/Stobbe wedding fabulous!