Upper Crust Catering

I feel so grateful we found the Upper Crust. We loved everything about them. We were looking for a vegetarian meal within a modest budget for 90 people and they absolutely delivered. We got to submit our own family recipes making for a very special and extremely delicious meal. In addition to the food though, the people at the Upper Crust were wonderful. Chris in particular facilitated our contract and menu. He was so kind and easy to work with through the entire process. I was tempted just to invite him to the wedding as a guest! My husband used to work in catering so he knows what to look for and he loved them too. We'd absolutely recommend the Upper Crust for a vegetarian or non-vegetarian event. more

BEWARE of this catering company! The only thing we hired them for was to provide food and good service to our guests, and they 100% FAILED at both of those things. My husband and I hired Jim and The Upper Crust Catering for our wedding in October 2009 and it is the BIGGEST mistake and regret we have from our wedding day. When we initially met with Jim (the owner) to go over packages to see if this company was a good fit for us, he was great. He seemed understanding that we were on a budget and promised he could provide a great product for the amount we had to spend on catering. We spent more than an hour there talking about our wedding plans and such and walked away feeling truly blessed to have found a vendor that ""cared"" about their clients and provided an estimate inside our budget. Well....unfortunately this was all a false exterior. Not only were they extremely difficult to get a hold of (several emails AND calls were required to get one response), but a week before the wedding when we provided our final head-count they tacked on an extra $1,000 to the bill because we had 25 more guests RSVP (considering we were spending only $2,500 on appetizers for 200 people, paying $1,000 more for only 25 people was CRAZY!). He explained that they wanted to make sure they didn't run out of food (which is totally understandable) and that we needed several more tables (and therefore linens and such) even if it was only 25 people. He explained that because it was so much extra on top of our deposit and estimate he'd do us the honor of personally being at our wedding to oversee everything and make sure it went smoothly. Knowing that it is worth the money not to run out of food and make sure our guests were cared for, we happily paid the extra amount even though it went way above our budget. The day of the wedding 1) They ran out of food; I didn't even get anything to eat at my OWN wedding! After they tacked on $1,000 to purposely NOT run out of food! 2) The ""bartender"" they provided did not check ID's and we therefore had underage drinking at the event -- something the venue AND we would have been personally liable for. 3) Jim did NOT, ever, show up to the event. We paid for him to be there and he never showed. 4) At the end of the night when they were packing up, they started carting the alcohol we purchased INDEPENDENTLY from the catering company into their truck to take back with them. My mom had to stop them from taking it, explaining the bride and groom purchased that themselves....they left it all on the sidewalk for my mom to pick up. Obviously being seriously upset with the service we received and paid for, we sent SEVERAL emails and called dozens of times within a month of the wedding to speak with Jim and explain to him what happened -- simply just to hear that he was sorry for their poor service or to just acknowledge what happened was wrong. Not only did it take several emails and phone calls to receive a response (my husband finally caught him when he answered the phone during one attempt), but Jim denied any of this happening and that since he wasn't there he couldn't confirm that our complaints were valid. SERIOUSLY!? No apology, no attempt to make things right, not even an acknowledgement or consideration of these complaints. Long story short: this guy and this company have a friendly, gregarious, and caring charade they put on, but it is a total lie. Their service is atrocious and company a sham. They scammed us out of money on the most important day of our lives and failed to even respond or acknowledge our complaints, which are 100% legitimate. If Jim had owned up to these shortcomings and even apologized once for any of them we would gladly forgive and move on, but I do not want any other bride or groom to suffer hiring this horrible catering company. Again, the only thing we hired them for was to provide food and good service to our guests, and they 100% FAILED at both of those things. more

They did an absolutely wonderful job for a 50th Birthday party recently. I worked with Blair and he was great. He helped coordinate everything and helped create the menu. The food was incredible and so good. We had some left over and they brought to go containers so people could take home leftovers. Daniel was our server and he did an excellent job. He thought of everything, was very professional and had a great sense of humor. The way the food was displayed was perfect. It was a casual event and a surprise for the birthday person as far as the catering went. I never had a chance to sample any of the food ahead of time so I put all of my faith in Blair and the Upper Crust. People are still talking about the food and the event and everyone raved about the food and the servers. Everything was cleaned up and put away, the trash taken with them. The next morning you would never have known there was a party at the home the night before. Thank you Upper Crust for pulling off a wonderful event. I will recommend you to everyone I know. Pros: Wonderful food and people, very professional and thoughtful more

I've worked with The Upper Crust several times and once again they blew me away with their service, food & staff. My husband is half Hawaiian, so we worked with Blair on creating a Hawaiian inspired menu. People are STILL talking about how fantastic the food was - there was not one speckle of food leftover from the wedding. It was very important to us that our food/beverage set up was as elegant as possible and with a VERY small budget;The Upper Crust delivered!! When I walked into the reception room I couldn't believe how the bars and buffet were set up - completely blew me away! I will continue to use them and promote this company! Pros: Amazing staff, accomodating to budget, wide selection, great presentation. Cons: NOTHING! more

I researched caterers for a birthday party of 40+ persons. I chose the Upper Crust based on that research and a former caterer's recommendation. The food was fabulous and the wait staff were professional and offered to take pictures, and served people professionally and with a smile. At the end of the party, they boxed up the leftovers and cleaned up the entire venue. Blair was the rep I dealt with. He came out to the house initially for layout and setup recommendations. He suggested a backup plan in case of rain. We had the party outside but had a tent in case of rain. He always had other vendors ready and available for items the Upper Crust didn't provide, e.g., tent rental, inexpensive beer and wine providers, etc. The beauty of this caterer was they were able to recognize what the customer wanted and tailored the menu, setup and theme without any issues. My request was for a Northwest menu - salmon, salad, some Italian dishes, pasta, gnocchi, etc. The desserts were fantastic - people are still raving about it. The tasting beforehand matched up with what was served - excellent entree choices with appropriate side dishes. I was very grateful for the suggestions and nothing was forced. It all happened smoothly, even with a few frantic phone calls with changing numbers of guests expected, the unpredicatability of the weather, and changing from 1 to 2 waitstaff. Blair really was key to this event. He has a wonderful sense of humor and is easy to work with either in person, email or by phone. We will use them again and some of my friends who attended the party have asked for the Upper Crust's information. All the party goers raved about the food and the presentation. I was quite pleased and recommend them highly. J Spec Pros: Thumbs up and up! Cons: It's tough when you're planning a party outside in June - lots of variables that no one can control more

What we ordered and paid for was very different than what we got come wedding day. The ""fresh"" green beans that were served were old and out of a can - they had a grey tint to them and tasted disgusting. We paid for 100+ people to have servings of pasta w/ dinner and NO one received pasta. The sirloin was not warm and was over cooked. The caterers were given a list of names/tables and dinner choice (both in advance of the wedding and ON the wedding date) but they still went around asking our guests what they wanted to eat. The kids menu looked horrible (chicken fingers). We complained and we were told we'd get a refund of $200 - it's been over 4 weeks and we still haven't received our refund. They also put a hidden ""service charge"" in their estimate....no one would ever tell us what that was for. Overall, very bad experience. Don't use Upper Crust if you are looking for good, fresh, quality service and food. Pros: they provide linens but at a cost Cons: bad food, bad customer service, and bad buisness practices more

I hired this caterer for my wedding. Some of the food was good, but a lot of it was not so good. The chicken was rubbery and the pasta dish was slimy and soggy. Holding food hot can be problematic, but they are caterers for crying out loud. The biggest caution I have is the word ""may"". I ordered a cheese tray that stated what kind of cheese it ""may"" include: brie, cherve, and gouda. What I got was cubes of cheddar and swiss, which seemed very much like Kraft cheeses. This is the kind of shady things people always warn you about when you hire a caterer. They did it to me, so they could do it to you. Pros: Inexpensive, Nice Presentation, Friendly Coordinator Cons: Tricky Contract, Rubbery Food more