We travel within an hour from any of our Bear's location
Service area
About this vendor
AWARD WINNER (2X)
Thanks to recommendations from couples on The Knot
Bear's Smokehouse BBQ is a wedding catering company operating out of South Windsor, CN. Offering a tantalizing selection of classic Kansas-City style menu items, this team of catering professionals is ready to make your special day taste amazing. From mouthwatering pulled pork to delicious peach cobbler, they will give your guests an unforgettable dining experience full of flavor and fun.
Bear's Smokehouse BBQ began all the way back in 2013 when owner Jamie McDonald won The Wing Bowl, a prestigious national chicken-wing eating contest. Devouring 287 wings in 28 minutes, Jamie used the $20,000 dollar cash prize to open the first Bear’s Smokehouse in Windsor. From there, his business began to grow and grow, with several locations opening throughout Connecticut over the following nine years. Jamie and his staff have earned a reputation for their dedication to providing exceptional service and delicious comfort food. They love what they do and their passion shines through in every event that they cater for.
Bear's Smokehouse BBQ is available for celebrations throughout the state of Connecticut. Offering both onsite catering and a fun food truck, their team is fully equipped to feed gatherings of all shapes and sizes. Their extensive menu features a selection of meats, sides, and more, and they will customize your package to fit your specific catering needs and budget.
+12 years in business
Speaks English, Spanish
10 team members
Pricing details
Couples usually spend $7,000
Looking for more pricing details?
Reach out to get a customized quote from this caterer.
Details
Cuisine
American
BBQ
Dietary Options
Dairy Free
Gluten Free
Nut Free
Vegan
Vegetarian
Food & Catering
Buffet
Catering Clean Up
Chef Stations
Family Style
Food Trucks
Menu Tastings
Passed Appetizers
Seated Meal
Servers
Awards and Affiliations
Any questions?
Availability
Reviews
5.0
out of 5.0
25 reviews
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Review Summary
This AI-generated summary is a snapshot of this vendor's ratings and feedback.
Bears BBQ catering received glowing reviews for their exceptional service, delicious food, and flexibility at weddings. Reviewers appreciated the personalized quotes, regular check-ins, and accommodating staff. The buffet setups were clean and polished, and guests loved the food, with many going back for seconds and thirds. The team at Bears BBQ was praised for their professionalism, promptness, and helpfulness in making wedding days truly special. Highly recommended for outstanding catering service at weddings.
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Rita S
Highlighted review.
5.0
12/22/2020
After our initial big wedding was canceled we decided to do a small outdoor bbq Covid wedding. After one conversation with Sydney, I knew right away that I wanted to work with this vendor. Very responsive, knowledgeable & was able to create a menu that worked for our needs & budget. Day of staff were amazing. Friendly, engaged, & even went above & beyond to help. All anyone who was in attendance that day speak of is how delicious the food was & how it was genius to hire Bears for catering. Highly recommend them to anyone!
Maggie M
5.0
5/22/2025
Bears was incredibly communicative throughout the whole process. Multiple phone call meetings and really personalized our quotes. On the day of the truck driver went out of his way to get my husband and I some food. We had a second food truck as well and they did a little collab! So accommodating and we got SO many compliments on the food! Would recommend a million times over!
Any questions?
Alexandra B
5.0
5/21/2025
We had Bears BBQ cater our wedding on April 19th. Finding a caterer for the wedding was such a huge undertaking and to say I was overwhelmed would be an understatement! But when we finally found bears, they were amazing. I was impressed from the moment they sent over their catering info. It was so clear, professional, and laid out nicely. Then they set up periodic check in calls leading up to the wedding which was so nice since I didnt have to sit and think of "what was next" they just did it for me. Then finally the day of, they came in, set up, and were SO FLEXIBLE. We were super ahead of our schedule and when we asked if we could move up dinner they said "we will make whatever you need happen". Then finally at the end of the night, they found me, said they were packed up and leaving, and it was seamless. I didnt get the names of the people that were helping at our wedding but every single one of them was beyond polite, helpful and welcoming. The set up of the buffet was also clean and polished and just overall amazing. Thank you so much Bears BBQ!! You guys were so amazing and we appreciate your part in making our day amazing! OH and everyone loved the food!!!
Megan S
5.0
7/09/2024
Bears bbq in Asheville NC is amazing. We have gone to the downtown location numerous times to eat and decided to have them cater our wedding. Everything always taste amazing whether its at their location or being catered. The staff is so friendly. The atmosphere is wonderful and so fun. We were so happy with their service at our wedding. All around great food, and great service
Bridget S
4.0
10/23/2023
We had a great experience with Bear's Smokehouse BBQ. The food was great and everyone enjoyed it! The caterers were friendly and professional. We highly recommend!
Danielle M
5.0
9/08/2023
Bear's was a hit at our wedding! People raved about it for days. Highly recommend working with them, they were professional, prompt and no-fuss. I'm so happy we found them. Thank you!
Anne L
5.0
7/19/2023
Bears was incredible for us with catering our wedding! They had plenty of experience managing events like this. We didn’t have to do a thing on the day-of - they set everything up, cleared up, and even brought us special plates when we were too busy greeting people to grab food. The BBQ was delicious and got so many compliments from guests. The groom’s brother went back for fifths on the berry cobbler. Cassie was so helpful with planning our stations and having everything handled. Catering our wedding with Bears was a fantastic choice!
Dejanique P
5.0
4/16/2023
We used bears as our catering for our wedding and everyone loved it! Everyone went up for seconds and thirds all night! Highly recommend working with Bears & Dana!
Samantha B
5.0
10/30/2022
We used Bears for our wedding caterer in October. The entire process was smooth. When we went to meet with bears to talk about having them at our wedding they treated with a sample of all their options and the caterer manager was so welcoming and helpful. Payments were easy to do online and they had quick response times. All of our guests loved the food. Would definitely recommend to any one
Jennifer J
5.0
9/25/2022
Provided excellent service at my barn wedding everyone loved the food. Would use them again.
Kristine F
5.0
8/14/2022
After we tasted Bear’s BBQ we knew that we couldn’t have anything else at our wedding. The food was outstanding, the staff serving was prompt, kind, and professional. We LOVED our food, and our guests did too! Working with Sydney was amazing! She is so friendly and patient, has wonderful ideas and suggestions, and helped make our experience amazing! Thank you so much!
Teresa P
5.0
7/06/2022
Yum - just yum. We used the Bear's catering out of Asheville for our wedding, and everything was incredible. The catering team was so great to work with, from helping figure out how much food we needed, to helping make decisions on what to serve. People are still raving about how amazing the food was.
Leah V
5.0
6/19/2022
We used the new heaven ct services for our wedding. It was on of the best catering services that I have experienced. The staff was very friendly and helpful. They did tasks they did not have to do, however they wanted to make our lives just a little easy. The food was excellent, very fresh and cooked perfected. Highly recommend!
Brittany F
5.0
4/06/2022
We used the Bear's Smokehouse BBQ located in Asheville, NC to cater our welcome dinner. Their original location is in CT, but they also have a location in Asheville. They were extremely prompt answering all our questions and made adjustments as needed to our order. They helped us build a custom package for our event that included meat eaters and vegans alike. Everything was delicious, and the vegans LOVED the impossible meatloaf. We opted for delivery and full service because of COVID concerns and the staff was wonderful - prompt, courteous and very communicative. At the end of the night they packed up all our delicious leftovers and we enjoyed our BBQ after the wedding weekend - it was perfect because we didn't have to cook!
Amy B
5.0
10/13/2021
We had Bear's Smokehouse BBQ at our wedding this past weekend and everything was amazing from food to service. All of our guests raved about the food and how much better it was than traditional wedding food. Sydney was so easy to work with and was super responsive during the planning process. We highly recommend them!
Angie B
5.0
10/11/2021
Bear's did an incredible job catering our wedding. The food was absolutely delicious, and they were really accommodating in providing a vegan entree option and doing a cheese and veggie platter as apps for cocktail hour. Sydney was really helpful over email, and the catering staff that came on the wedding day were so friendly and an absolute delight - they even made a point of coming over to us at the reception to make sure we were happy with everything and to congratulate us on our marriage, which was really thoughtful. Would 100% recommend them for any event.
Linda K
5.0
9/20/2021
Everyone at our wedding loved Bears!! it was a hit, they were professional and on time to the wedding. They were handing out food left and right in a timely manner. No one had to wait more than 5 minutes for their food to be served. Bears had left overs which we were able to take at the end of the night. My favorite was their Mac and cheese, it was AMAZING. The staff in order to book the food truck were friendly and responded right away to questions and emails.
Lori T
5.0
9/11/2021
We knew we wanted BBQ for our rustic wedding and our venue had suggested we try Bears. We went for a tasting and we were instantly sold on Bears. The hardest decision was deciding which items to choose. Sydney was amazing with communication, flexibility and support throughout! Our guests raved about the food said it was the best food they had ever had at a wedding and several went up for second , third and even fourth helpings!! We will continue to visit Bears even after our wedding!
Torrie C
5.0
7/26/2021
From the start Bears exceeded our expectations by constantly staying in contact with us to make sure everything was the way we wanted it. They were extremely friendly and helpful with putting our food order together. The day of the wedding, they worked with our wedding venue to set everything up. When it was time for dinner, all of our guess were raving about how good the food was. It didn’t stop there, even after the wedding people were still talking about the food and how it was “the best BBQ they have ever had.” We can’t thank Bears enough for the wonderful job they did. We highly recommend them for all and any events. They truly made our wedding day special.
Emily J
5.0
6/21/2021
We had bears cater our wedding and they did a spectacular job. The food was amazing and the staff was outstanding! They were so friendly, clean and fun! We had a great experience and the amount of food we received for our amount of people was incredible. 10/10 recommend
Samantha M
5.0
1/15/2021
Both the food and service were fantastic! Everything was delicious and they were easy to work with during the planning process. They helped tailor their services to what we needed based on our specific selections and the venue. They were efficient and friendly on both our wedding day as well as throughout the planning process. We would definitely recommend for catering and are also looking forward to many more trips to the restaurant for their awesome BBQ!
Mel M
5.0
12/31/2020
We are so happy that we chose Bear's catering for our wedding in New Haven, CT in 2019. The whole process was extremely easy and stress-free. Bear's catering menu was flexible, allowing us to customize the food exactly as we wanted. The food was amazing and we got so many complements on it from our wedding guests. When planning our wedding, we really wanted fresh oysters during cocktail hour but this was not on Bear's catering menu at the time - they went above and beyond to source and provide oysters for us at a very reasonable price. In addition, we loved that we were able to order food by the pound rather than by person. We highly recommend the burnt ends, brisket, and mac & cheese!
Megan S
5.0
12/29/2020
Bear BBQ provided my family and friends with the Best BBQ meal they have ever had. The BBQ servers that were at my wedding were incredibly kind to my guests and went out of their to make us all feel important. Would highly recommend to any bride to be looking for a delicious meal for their family
Chelsea K
5.0
12/22/2020
Great food, great service!!!!
Jack F
5.0
12/19/2020
We used Bear’s to cater our front yard wedding in June 2020. Food was amazing, as always. They were on time and extremely helpful. Highly recommended
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