Wedding Catering Recommendations [Food/Vendor]

2018 Sep 6
Oh Baby I am excited to be on the look out for for a wedding caterer! I'd love to hear of any stuff you guys have tried at catered events. Since food is so important to me this is where I really want to awe and enjoy. Some of the caterers I have been perusing include:

Baccanalle
Bytown Catering
Thyme & Again
Epicuria
Tulips & Maple

I am looking to have a cocktail style reception with different food stations for the main food, as well as trays of Hors d’oeuvres for cocktail hour. I really want a nice mix of gourmet and ethnic/international food. I'm also looking for a food truck for our late night snack! My partner is basically obsessed with BBQ so any caterer or food truck recommendation in this area would be greatly appreciated. I know the Smoque Shack has a truck and I do love their stuff just wondering if anyone has worked with them at an event? I know there is an earlier thread about this but just wondering on updated info!

Thanks again for your insights and recommendations!

2018 Sep 6
I don't know much about caterers but with my own wedding planning experience we discovered, after wasting some time, that many venues won't allow you to bring in a caterer (or a food truck, we found that out too) and require you to use their in-house people. You probably already have a venue but on the off chance you jumped ahead to the food, like we did, you'll want to get that figured out first.

The only things we were permitted to bring in from outside of the venue was the wedding cake and any specialty alcohol that they don't normally carry (in our case we wanted slivovitz).

2018 Sep 6
I definitely found that as well - I booked a venue that specifically allows us to bring our own catering since it's something that is absolutely necessary for us :)

2018 Sep 6
I am bookmarking this as well, because I am as well. (I mean, not sure if the venue allows it, because we haven't decided which of the three options we want)

2018 Sep 6
I love this Lebanese catering in Hull. Fresh, yummy and great prices. Our work caters from them often. www.boulangeriebeirut.com

Délices de Damas - owned by Syrian refugees. I heard they catered for the Prime Minister’s private event recently.
mobile.twitter.com

Sounds like a fun wedding!

2018 Sep 7
We just used Thyme & Again this past weekend for our wedding and I can't say enough good about them. The food they provided was way above average for a caterer and they we're happy to serve the alcohol that we bought. They also, without hesitation, allowed us to bring in foods from other vendors and food we made which is something other caterers were strongly against. Basically they said yes to everything we asked, didn't try to upsell anything and we're a total breeze to deal with. Doesn't hurt that they were significantly cheaper than other quotes we got as well. Top notch.

2018 Sep 10
Good to hear in regards to Thyme & Again because there are definitely someoutside items I would like to bring in!

2018 Sep 11
How many people and do you have a venue? Do you have date or month in mind?

Those are the two big things that will determine because as people say, most venues make you select a caterer. We spent a lot of time working on the venue because we did our own food - brisket and whole hog bbq. Brought in our own caterer - it was epic and people still rave about the food.


2018 Nov 1
Anybody try any new catering lately?

2018 Nov 2
My friend hired Grenfell catering a week or two ago to cater a very small party. She served Asian fusion appetizer type food (her choice) really good - cucumber pork belly skewers, some sort of tuna tartare, a salad with rare beef, 2 types of canapés (beef?) served in cucumber cups, some Asian noodles, we were a small group, all very good!

2018 Nov 14
Very cool - I love the Asian vibe. Will checkout for sure!

2018 Nov 15
I've been to a couple of work functions that were catered by Dish, and was impressed with both the service and the food. No idea what they charge, but thought I'd add that one in to the mix. Good luck with the planning and have fun!

2018 Nov 26
My buddy Mike is Meshback BBQ and he specializes in wedding and events for up to 125 people:
www.meshbackbbq.com/

My experience: My wife and I got married 6 years ago in Almonte... we had our ceremony at the Mill of Kintail and then we our reception at the Agricultural hall.... my friend who is awesome chef came down from Toronto and we did whole hog and brisket with a bunch of awesome other stuff as it was labour day so local produce was awesome.... people still rave about our food. It was a lot of work doing everything ourselves but the price and quality was through the roof... oh we had 180 people too btw.


2018 Nov 26
Wait... NU6567.... did Meshback cater your wedding or some other guy from TO?

Aside: i had to google the term 'meshback', and thus i learned something new today.

2018 Nov 27
Lol yes clarification required!

2018 Nov 27
Jason Inniss did my wedding.. he's a good buddy from university:
www.jasoninniss.com/

I also had them do hand cut fries as midnight snack, it was killer. We smoked the briskets at Smoque Shack. The only reason I mention my wedding is that I felt like we were able to have BBQ but make it classy... We did our own bar so we had better wine and beer and the total cost was lower..

But Mike at Meshback is personal friend from here in Ottawa and I've had his food a bunch... he's super talented. He was at Piggy Market for a bit but has always been doing his own thing and recently left Piggy to do his own thing. He told me he did a wedding recently and pretty much pinched the Skylight Inn BBQ which is chopped hog with crackling mixed in...

He even let me borrow his gear and got me two pigs for an engagement party that I threw. The caja china is an awesome way to do a pig... pretty much guarantees the pig will be good. Doesn't maybe look the same as pig on a spit but the results are usually better and juicier.

PS: Meshback does weed catering... article about him in Ottawa Mag this month:
www.instagram.com


2018 Nov 27
funny story about Jason Inniss too... his dad is Bert as in Bert's Bar in Barbados.

2018 Nov 27
Heh.... 'weed catering'.... aka 'cannabis cooking'... this is so going to be a thing for a year or two.

Someone tell KFC Canada they need to upgrade to TWELVE herbs and spices...

2018 Dec 12
Since you said your partner is obsessed with BBQ... We're doing an outdoor wedding next summer and chose Meatings for our caterer, they have a great reputation and lots of experience. They'll be doing a pig on a spit roast for a few hours, we imagine it will serve as a nice water cooler hangout type area. They're also doing other fun things, including tater tots with their spice rub!

2019 Jan 3
Ottawa Mag just published a feature on my buddy at Meshback BBQ

ottawamagazine.com

2019 Jan 3
Hah, that article is less about his catering business and more about cooking with cannabis. That would make for an interesting wedding meal!

2019 Jan 9
Ha! Not sure how cannabis catering would go over with the older relatives (tee hee).