Balboa Catering

Balboa creates such a special dining experience - they are truly masters of their craft. We were looking for more of a fine dining, restaurant experience vs. typical catered event food ...and they truly delivered. Adding Chef Alex, Jocelyn and the team to our Nov.2021 wedding day (at The Deacon) was one of our very best decisions. We hosted a slightly untraditional event - with a sit down dinner of just 14 of our closest family members, followed by a "cocktail-style" reception for 90ish additional friends. Balboa was extremely flexible as we discussed our plans and Alex provided guidance as we sorted out how to coordinate this type of event. We opted to have a tasting experience, a few months prior, to try out the menu. We, and our parents, we absolutely blown away by the flavor, quality and presentation of the food. The experience they presented on wedding day was absolutely flawless! The meal was gorgeous and so perfectly prepared. Alex even took the time to explain each course to the table. (We had a guest with celiac who required a GF option and Balboa took such special care to present this individual with an equally delicious meal. We're so appreciative of the care they showed him.) Guests are still raving about the hors d'oeuvres created for the reception portion! The serving staff and bartenders were top notch and were attentive and professional all night long. Balboa worked seamlessly with our planning team, Clover Event Co, to sort out rentals, timelines, etc. We truly had nothing to worry about and we were able to have a 100% stress free wedding day. We can't recommend Balboa enough. The truly deliver a phenomenal experience.

We had a wonderful experience working with Balboa. From the first call with Jocelyn, her warm and friendly attitude put me at ease. Working with Chef Alex to create the menu was a unique experience that I wasn't expecting would be so fun. Imagine planning your menu with the chef that will be cooking for your wedding?!? Balboa exceeded our expectations. The food was so delicious and so beautiful. I highly recommend working with them if you care about quality food!

Balboa catering was a huge disappointment and they completely misrepresented themselves to us . They did not deliver the product that was contracted or paid for. They made my experience a nightmare. They sucked the joy out of planning my daughter’s wedding. On one occasion, Alex (the owner and chef) made my daughter, the bride cry.  When asked,  "Do you  want to continue working with us”,  Alex emphatically answered, “yes”.  I believed Balboa and Alex when he promised, " We are the best at what we do. We will deliver the most amazing product. You will not be disappointed.” They could not have been more wrong, these were just empty words. Alex and Jocelyn( wife and co -owner) were dismissive, intolerant and condescending of any conversation.  I never felt validated nor received with kindness… only annoyance and a sense of urgency to move on because they  were “busy” and just wanted this done. They began charging a $100.00 consulting fee for any communication over 5 hours.  This was not in the contract and frankly unheard of and completely insulting. This was their last attempt to shame us.  I became anxious and nervous at the thought of communicating with you.  The result,  I stopped trying.  I had many sleepless nights feeling awful and feeling anxious about the way things were going.   I realized viscerally that I was not in a partnership with my caterer; there simply was no collaborative relationship, but the bride and groom didn’t want to make waves or start over.  They believed in the end Balboa would come through.  We could not have been more wrong. The menu and food were all over the place; the event didn’t flow smoothly,  food came out at random times; people were confused; the grill was slow and the stations were never prepared or presented as discussed or  contracted.  Yakitori skewers that were being served for dinner  had only one piece of shrimp, chicken or meat,  grill was too slow and too small.  People had to stand around and wait.   Vegetables skewers and salad arrived almost with dessert.  The salad was over-dressed and there was not nearly enough to meet the demand. French fries appeared cold and late, not part of dinner.  Lamb chops came out at the end of dinner.  The crostini and rice cakes were soggy.  Not everyone got cake.  I  tried many times to ask all of these questions about set up, flow, stations format etc. but I was met with hostility and anger but Balboa.  This is unacceptable.  I will give a shout out the servers and bar tenders, they we friendly and professional.  The food that was served minus my comments was fine.  It’s such a shame that I can’t compliment or recommend Balboa catering A because of this horrible and negative experience. I highly recommend you go elsewhere.

Having Balboa cater our wedding as an all-around phenomenal experience. We knew we didn't want "typical" catered wedding food at our wedding, and Balboa truly provided us with a delicious, top-level, restaurant-quality meal. Jocelyn was great to work with and was so accommodating when we wanted to tweak small things here and there. The food itself was incredible - we ended up having to simplify our original plans quite a bit due to covid, and even the "simpler" menu from Balboa was delicious. Balboa was also extremely accommodating when we needed to downsize and make drastic changes to our plans due to covid. We can't recommend Balboa enough.