About this vendor
Berghoff Restaurant/ Adams Street Brewery located in Chicago, IL, is a choice location for wedding rehearsal dinners. Situated in the heart of the Windy City, this buzzy brewery and family-owned eatery provides the perfect backdrop for a pre-wedding celebration. Serving traditional, gourmet German cuisine with an impressive selection of beers and signature cocktails, there is something for everyone at Berghoffs. Soon-to-be-newlyweds can enjoy a private dining experience alongside their loved ones.
The legacy of the Berghoff enterprise stretches all the way back to 1870, when Herman Berghoff emigrated to the US. He opened a brewery in Indiana before making his way to Chicago and setting up a beer stall in 1898. During the prohibition era, Herman branched into the restaurant business and the rest is history. This renowned destination boasts a loyal following. From staff members who have served for 50 years to families who celebrate myriad milestones here, the bar and bistro is something of an Illinois institution. The Adams Street Brewery began in 2018 and offers live music and a relaxed ambiance. What better place to whip up a celebratory buzz than at this welcoming spot. Enjoy private dining bookended by a Bavarian pretzel in one hand and a stein of stellar beer in the other. The menu boasts authentic Germanic dishes such as potato pancakes, brat and knockwurst, and spaetzle dumplings. The seasoned chefs offer a versatile mix of American classic and international cuisine, too. Fusion dishes include Cajun chicken and Caesar salads, beef medallions, and Southwest Salmon.
There is a private dining room available for rehearsal dinners and pre-wedding parties. The Chef’s Room is an exclusive space that seats up to 20 guests. The seasoned staff welcomes groups of any size and can accommodate both large and intimate events. Jenna Musil liaises with couples to fine-tune entertainment, menus and more. There is ample space at this location, from the Century Bar and Main Dining Room to the West Room, an ideal spot for happy hour. For an evening of fine food, fun, and on-site brews, this historic hub has everything to offer.
Reviews
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4.8
out of 5.060 reviews
I had the Berghoff cater my wedding about a month ago and I could not have been happier! I married a chef so you can probably imagine how nervous I was about the food. We live in C...
alifornia and we set up a tasting with the Berghoff at their restaurant in February when we made a trip there. They were very accommodating, we were only there for a short time so they scheduled a tasting for us on a day when they don't normally do it. The tasting went great, we had picked out several dishes and then Sarah picked out some for us to try also and we had a very hard time deciding what to choose! The staff for the tasting was great, serving from the correct side, making sure we had everything we needed, very professional.
On the day of the actual event I had a rule, my husband was not allowed in the kitchen and none of his chef friends were allowed back there either, but there was really no reason! All the food came out perfectly. I had several guests after the wedding tell me that it was the best wedding food they had every had. The staff was so nice and had a plate of appetizers at the head table for my husband and I to try, which is great because we missed cocktail hour for pictures.
Another thing that i highly recommend are the late night snacks, our guests were so surprised and thrilled that we had mini Chicago style hot dogs and mini Italian beef sandwiches later in the night. It was such a cute touch!
The staff was great, Carlyn checked in with me a couple times during the event to make sure that I was happy and that there was nothing that I needed. She paid so much attention to all the details. I would highly recommend The Berghoff for any event!
Berghoff Catering is Wonderful!! Not only was the food and service they provided the day of my event wonderful, but the entire process leading up to the day-of helped to make my pl...
anning as stress free as possible. They were always willing to make recommendations on timeline, floor plan and everything in between to ensure my day ran smoothly and my guest enjoyed the evening. The day-of was no exception! They ensured we stayed on the timeline the entire evening, flipped the room from ceremony to reception with no hassle at all, and of course the food was delicious! I have received nothing but rave reviews from all my guests regarding the food and service at my wedding. Thank you Berghoff Catering for making my day so memorable-- everything was absolutely perfect!!
My husband and I held our reception at the Berghoff Oct 10, 2015. It is one of our favorite places to eat in Chicago and only fitting that it should also be a part of our wedding ...
celebration. Deborah Rabeor was our coordinator and so wonderful to work with. She was so great with keeping me on track with the all planning. We live in WY so with planning a wedding so far from the venue I needed all the help I could get! We had a small wedding, so the century room was just the right size. The food was amazing, rooms were beautiful with all the stained glass and dark wood, and the staff was truly the best! I HIGHLY recommend the Berghoff to anyone looking for an amazing & unforgettable venue.
Awesome work, Berghoff! My husband and I used Berghoff catering for our wedding on Sept. 4th, 2015. Mary Galvin was our coordinator, and she is the best! Everything went so smoothl...
y that I was able to just enjoy my husband and guests without having to worry at all about the caterers!
The food is also delicious! We had tastings at 4 different caterers, and Berghoff's food was by far the best food we tasted. I highly recommend the Berghoff for any catering needs!!!
The Berghoff was an excellent place to have our reception. My husband's family had been going to the restaurant for years and suggested it for the reception. There is no comparison...
to the beauty of the restaurant with the wood paneling, historic murals, and stained glass windows. The room was a good size for our 90 person reception. We weren't too spread out, or too crowded. The food was delicious and unique for an event like this. Debby did a good job keeping to our timeline for the night and she made sure the neon lit sign in the front of the building stayed on so we could get some wedding photos in front of it towards the end of the night. I don't normally write reviews, but I wanted to make sure The Berghoff was given the credit it was due for such a perfect evening. As a bride, I know how helpful it is to find good reviews, and I hope this helps a future bride!
I got married this past July and had Berghoff Catering as my caterer. I couldn't have been more thrilled with my decision. I worked closely with Mary Galvin throughout the process....
She made everything very easy for me. From changes to the menu, to details on the linen and decor, she made sure she was on top of it all!
The day of the wedding, set up went smoothly and we continued to stay on the timeline throughout the evening. My guests raved about the food the entire weekend and still to this day they mention how phenomenal it all was. I am so happy to have worked with Berghoff and will recommend them over and over. I cannot say enough how pleased my family and I am with the turnout.
Thank you to Mary Galvin, Berghoff Catering and the entire team! You made my day one to remember!
Nicole
Berghoff was a fantastic caterer! We keep receiving compliments from our guests about the excellent and delicious food, and the great services from all the catering staff. Our wedd...
ing was on July 17 at Promontory Park, and Berghoff’s services included catering and venue set up. The furniture set up was sharp and tasteful, food was presented beautifully, and drinks were fantastic. They went above and beyond in all respects. Working with Mary Galvin was great and pleasant; she was always very resourceful and attentive. She made excellent suggestions on the dinner menu from the very beginning of our planning process, as well as very good recommendations on the setup of the venue. Communication and coordination with her was effortless, and she always offered advice and resources that would make our event planning smoother. We couldn’t be happier with the results- Berghoff is a super high quality vendor!
Went with Berghoff for our brunch wedding at CHM. Pre-commitment, we were a tad worried after the person we originally worked with went to a different role, and we got switched to ...
Mary. However our worries were unfounded, Mary was great and easy to work with. Casual emails were answered within 2 days and urgent ones, the same day, and that's all I really care about (for planning stuff anyway). Day of, everything went as planned and we got lots of unsolicited compliments on the food. I guess the banana french toast was really good. Pricewise, the Berg was about in the middle, which is fine since the final product matched our initial vision. The best thing about them I can say is, we would pick them again without hesitation. Also if we did it again, I would stop schmoozing with our guests and eat more food instead. Hooray!
The service provided by Berghoff Catering was absolutely stellar! Our guests couldn't stop raving about how excellent the food was at our wedding and we couldn't agree more. They w...
ere tremendously accomodating of various dietary restrictions which was so wonderful. The staff was knowledgeable and friendly. Mary Galvin, Berghoff Catering's Special Events Manager, was completely spectacular. Her attention to detail was such a monumental stress reliever. We had zero doubts that the best day of our lives would go off without a hitch after working with Mary. I truly cannot praise the entire Berghoff crew enough. Thank you, Berghoff!
Going with Berghoff when planning my wedding was the best decision I could have ever made! They truly surpassed my expectations! From the table settings, to the cake, dinner, and t...
he hors d'oeuvres; everything turned out more be far better than I even expected. Their event planners are great to work with and very accomodating. I would hire them for any event!
Sarah Hermanowski at Berghoff is an absolute gem. I'm so thankful for her dedication to our day, and for her attention to detail. The room was gorgeous and the food was absolutely ...
delicious. Berghoff is a no brainer for your wedding. Thank you, again! Berghoff, we love you!
We used Berghoff for our wedding in April 2015 and were HUGE fans. The service, food, quality and enthusiasm was all above and beyond the other catering companies we did tastings w...
ith. We worked with Sarah Hermanowski and she was wonderful. From start to finish we felt cared for and like we were truly valued customers. They worked with us to make sure everything we wanted for our wedding day was executed perfectly.
HIGHLY recommend Berghoff for your wedding day!!
We worked with Nicole Knuerr at the Berghoff to cater our wedding at Salvage One in early March. Prior to making our decision, we tasted with two other catering companies. We were ...
looking for a little less traditional tone for the evening and wanted to offer a variety of options to our guests. The Berghoff did a wonderful job putting together a tasting for us with food stations that offered a wide variety of delicious dinner and dessert options. They made the decision easy for us! We initially began working with another event manager who left the company shortly before our wedding. Nicole and the Catering Group at the Berghoff did a great job of handling the transition smoothly and giving us assurance that everything would go perfectly on our big day - and they definitely delivered! They had great attention to detail and we’ve received so many compliments from our guests about how great the food was and how nice all of the staff was. A BIG thank you to the Berghoff team for all that you did to make our night perfect!!
So helpful! The food tasting is amazing, you can try everything! She also helps out on the day of your wedding, setting up things, and with your walk through before the event. She ...
is so helpful and really goes above and beyond. Not being from Chicago, I was so blessed to have found Nicole to help me with the wedding.
We had Berghoff cater our wedding of 250 people in December and they were nothing short of amazing. Emily, our main event planning with Berghoff, was incredible. From the very st...
art, we knew we could not use anyone but them. Emily was friendly, reassuring and was so accommodating in so many ways. The tasting was just amazing- we tried so many things and to ensure we knew what we would get, they served us the full portion. We actually had two other tastings scheduled, and cancelled them after meeting with Berghoff because there was honestly no contest. Aside from that, the staff at our actual wedding was incredible. I received compliment after compliment about how nice everyone was and how seamless everything was. I would use Berghoff again and again and would recommend them to anyone who asked. Thank you so so much Emily and Berghoff for all your help with everything. You played such a big role in the perfect evening!
When my husband and I decided to use the Chicago Park District's Promontory Point as our venue, we were given a small select list of vendors to choose from. This can often be the k...
iss of death for a bride, as I was told, but in our case we were lucky enough to find Emily Yao and the Berghoff team on that list. Emily, as day-of coordinator, and my main contact person throughout the entire process, was friendly, professional, upbeat, and made me laugh when I was feeling tense about the planning, cost, etc. Our tasting was well organized, and perfectly timed and planned. We were treated like royalty thanks to Jimmie, our lead server, and the food was delicious. We did speak with other vendors and taste other food, and we still went with Berghoff for the unique options and mostly because I knew I was in good hands with Emily. As someone who works in sales, I appreciate the value of going the extra mile, and I always got that with the Berghoff team. My endless pricing questions were patiently answered, and I ended up joyfully sipping red wine and eating scallops, lobster quesadillas, mini reuben sandwiches and about 6 other yummy items all night. My guests absolutely loved the food- and that was really important to us. It was fun, yummy food, and there was plenty of it. Berghoff even made mini root beer floats to satisfy my request to have my dad's favorite desert at our wedding. I also want to mention that Emily went out of her way to take tasks off my plate that I (as a card carrying control freak) was trying to handle myself, like decor. Her suggestions and take-charge demeanor were exactly what I needed- I was told more than once that I was a very chill bride. Thanks to Emily and Berghoff's capable team, we had a perfect wedding day. :)
We didn't. :) While our venue (Chicago History Museum) partners with four separate catering companies, we knew it wasn't worth visiting the remaining three after sitting down with ...
Emily Yao at Berghoff.
After just a 30-minute phone call, Emily did a wonderful job of preparing a menu which suited our personalities and preferences. As we got to know her over the last several months, I've learned that Emily is a professional who notices and prepares for every detail, but who will laugh and have fun with you throughout the planning process.
While emailing every few weeks (days) through the five months of planning, we got together a month prior to the wedding to ensure everything was in order. As I voiced my concern about who would set up the sweets table, or the centerpieces (all of which we provided), her response was always "Don't worry; we'll do that.", and as I came to realize that there was nothing I nor my bridal party had to do to set up for the reception, I knew we had selected the right team.
In addition to Emily, the rest of Berghoff staff was simply incredible. Kind and attentive, they took care of our every need, leaving us with - again - nothing to do but sit back and enjoy our evening as newlyweds, celebrating with our friends and family.
Lastly, Berghoff's food is beautifully presented, and tastes as good as it looks (even when prepared for a crowd of 160.) A good friend of ours, whose husband does not typically talk about food, has not stopped talking about the dinner he enjoyed from Berghoff. We've not stopped hearing positive feedback about the mini burgers or mac&cheese cups served as hors devours, and are pleased to know our guests enjoyed them as much as we did.
I highly recommend Berghoff as a wedding caterer, both for their professional staff who is attentive to your every need, and for the great quality of the food and service they provide.
We worked with Berghoff for our July 2014 wedding at Promontory Point and it was a fabulous experience from start to finish.
Nicole Knuerr provided us with outstanding support a...
nd was incredibly attentive every step of the way. She was exceptionally accommodating as we were planning the wedding from DC!
Her team provided full service catering and was responsible for setup, takedown, and service. They made the space beautiful and we received so many compliments on the food. We're still hearing about it from friends and family two months later!
We cannot thank Nicole and the rest of the staff at Berghoff enough for making our wedding day beautiful. It was all that we hoped for and more.
We just got married August 30th at Columbus Park Refectory and everything was beautiful and went perfectly! I worked with Mary from Berghoff and she was great, super helpful all a...
long the way at answering my questions and always getting right back to me. She really helped make everything go smoothly on the day of, if anything went wrong I certainly didn't find out about it :) She made up for the lack of customer service provided by the CPR venue coordinator.
Working with Berghoff was a fantastic experience. We originally thought we wanted an Asian theme, but changed our mind during the process. Berghoff was kind enough to schedule add...
itional tastings and worked to ensure we were 100% satisfied! I would highly recommend Berghoff if you want classic Chicago-style food (i.e. short ribs, salmon, etc..) Berghoff was flexible with allowing us to change # of guests at last minute & even allowed us to customize the liquors. Emily Yao was completely amazing to work with, and made my wedding night smooth and perfect. Thank you Berghoff!
Berghoff recently catered my wedding at the Chicago History Museum and they provided the most outstanding service imaginable from start to finish. Sarah was an incredible communica...
tor and she was totally on the same page with my detail oriented personality. She listened to my vision of the food for the wedding and then produced almost exactly what I said at the tasting. The only changes made were improvements and intelligent suggestions. I was a little overwhelmed by all the linen choices so Sarah picked for me and the wedding reception room looked like a fairytale. It was exactly what I wanted. On the wedding day, she was professional and polite. Berghoff delivered everything promised and more. The food at the reception was actually better than the tasting. The dessert station was out of this world delicious and the wedding cake was awesome. The guests gushed about the food all night. Thank you Berghoff!
From the moment we sat down to the Berghoff catering tasting, we
were absolutely blown away. During the tasting they treated us like
royalty and catered to every one of our culi...
nary desires with champagne
and full size portions of each meal option that we were considering.
Berghoff literally spared no expense in the tasting and their food was
amazing restaurant quality food which is unprecedented for wedding food.
We later had many people tell us that it was the best wedding food they had
ever experienced. The appetizer selection was vast as was the entree
variety (in fact, we had a separate tasting solely for the mashed potatoes
portion of the dinner and they had 8 types of mashed potatoes to try --
insane!!!) Despite the thoroughness of their tasting, we were completely
unprepared for the mindblowing experience of the cake tasting. We must
have tried 15 different types of butter cream and personally spoke to the
pasty chef about design/look so we were very comfortable with their ability
to create exactly what we had in mind.
We only held a tasting at one other unnamed (but apparently still highly
regarded) caterer and they completely underwhelmed us in every aspect:
food quality, presentation, and service. After seeing the comparison, we
decided it was futile to search any further and we decided to use Berghoff.
Working with Berghoff was a very pleasant and smooth process. Berghoff was accommodating with any changes/additions/revisions we had to the proposal. They tailored every aspect to meet our needs. Sarah helped us
achieve all of the reception criteria that we had in mind (3 entree choices,
open bar quality, etc) while still meeting our budget. She was tireless in both
responding to questions about anything leading up to the wedding (contract, decor,
logistics, etc.) as well as on wedding day.
On the day of our wedding the service from the Berghoff staff was exceptional. All of our guests praised the food quality and service. Sarah from Berghoff went above and beyond to make sure every detail was prefect. We can not thank her and the Berghoff staff enough for making our wedding day all that we had hoped it would be.
Working with Berghoff Catering group made our wedding 100% stress free! Planning can be stressful but with Emily and Carrie I was relaxed and able to enjoy every second of my weddi...
ng day! They kept in contact from the first tasting all the way until the wedding day. We interviewed with other caterers but from the beginning it was Berghoff that truly impressed us.I never felt pressured and they were incredibly accommodating when we had changes to the proposals. Having Emily and Carrie made me so confident that I didn't even get a wedding planner.
I have celiac disease and Berghoff was so knowledgeable about gluten free. We wanted everything gluten free and they did it from the bread, the cake, even the vendor meals. And the best part I got SO many compliments on the food after the wedding (most people didn't realize they were eating a GF meal!)
I'd recommend Berghoff to any bride looking for a stress-free wedding day.Worth every penny!
We had a great experience w Nicole and Berghoff. From the start they were very patient w us; as many couples go to a few different vendors to get a feel for things.
We enjoyed th...
e tastings and they allowed us to bring a friend. As we made suggestions on the food, they brought us back to taste the 'updates'. We asked them to make some food based on my culture and it was delicious.
Everyone at the wedding said the food was great. The only thing I may have reconsidered is having 3 different options as the main meal. We offered beef, fish, and a veggie option. Even though we gave the counts prior to the big day, they still verified what each table was ordering and that seemed to take some time. However, the guests loved having an option as the main course.
We also went to Blue Plate, which was great, but about $3000 more than Berghoff. I didn't feel that they offered $3000 worth of better food or service so we went w Berghoff and we're quite happy we did!
Nicole and the entire staff did a great job. We highly recommend them!
My wife and I could not have been happier with Berghoff. They could not have been more accommodating and professional from the beginning of our search 10 months before the wedding....
We went in for numerous tastings and everyone involved, including Carlyn Berghoff and Emily Yao, made us feel extremely valued. Berghoff worked hard for our business and they truly deserved it. In addition to doing an unbelievable job with the food, they were also pseudo wedding-planners. They were on their game from day one, contacting vendors, coordinating meetings, drawing up the outline for the wedding -- they were truly amazing. I am still getting calls, text messages, and emails from guests about how good the food was. Not only was it the best wedding food I have ever had, it may have been one of the best meals I have had period.
If you are getting married soon, contact Berghoff. I promise, you will be incredibly impressed. If you are getting married at Chicago History Museum, there is no question -- go with the Berghoff.
I cannot say enough about this catering company. Im thinking about wearing a sandwich-sign advertising for them on Michigan Ave. GO BERGHOFF!
We could not have been more pleased with the Berghoff for our wedding! From start to finish their customer care, cuisine, presentation and execution were exquisite. They were so fr...
iendly and helpful at the beginning when we were trying to figure out costs. We were on a tighter budget but didn't want our meal to feel "small budget". Carrie and Nicole helped guide our choices and weren't pushy to go for more expensive things. They seemed to be totally set on making our vision for the night happen while adding their professional flare. After putting together a potential menu we set up a tasting.... BEST MEAL OF MY LIFE!!! We were able to try pretty much everything... including full entree sizes so we could see the complete presentation of each thing. The food was amazing and beautifully layed out. Even better, they sent all the leftovers home with us!!! We had about 6 or 7 full meals for that week. Their day-of service was impeccable. They are friendly and kind and so attentive to the reality of the day. They made sure my husband and I got drinks and appetizers during cocktail hour. At first I didn't think we'd need them to set stuff aside for us, but if they hadn't we wouldn't have had anything! They totally know what they're doing. The food at the wedding was even better than when we tasted it all. I am still getting compliments on how good the food was at our wedding! I don't normally trust reviews that are too glowing about a place, but I really can't say a single negative thing about our experience. Thanks Berghoff!!!
Emily and Carrie from Berghoff Catering helped to plan my daughter's wedding reception meal, beverages and presentation down to finest detail. Their excellent suggestions and expe...
rience were priceless. Their presence throughout the evening was reassuring and helpful.
The wedding reception was wonderful, the food fabulous and everyone present said it was the best evening they ever had.
Well done Berghoff!!
We hired Berghoff to cater my wedding at the Chicago History Museum June 28, 2014. Initially, we were looking at four caterers, all of whose food looked phenomenal based on the cat...
ering menus. Emily, our contact at Berghoff, seemed the most willing to work with us on pricing. She helped us to cut down on some fees that were driving us over our budget and was so polite and helpful about that. She hosted us for lunch and gave us her proposal, which was great. She was able to offer advice and insight on the timeline of the event, the look we were going for, and the food choices. We chose Berghoff and were SO happy that we did! The food was beautifully presented and delicious. Many of our guests commented on how good it tasted. I expected that a top caterer would have excellent food, but what exceeded my expectations was the level of service that we received. Emily was organized, punctual and took care of so many wedding details. She coordinated with our other vendors to ensure that the night went smoothly, and it did. Absolutely nothing went wrong. The servers were professionally dressed and did a perfect job serving food timely and politely to our 110 guests. I could not be happier with my wedding and a huge part of that is thanks to Emily and her staff at Berghoff.
From the first time we walked into Berghoff catering for our tasting, they stood out from the rest. Our table was fully set as it would be at our wedding - with our linens and our...
colors. They had sample napkins and highboys fully prepared as if for the wedding as well. It was already breathtaking, and we hadn't even eaten a bite yet. The food continued to surpass expectations - everything was delicious, even the options we didn't choose! We were served as guests with wine and champagne, again giving us that full wedding experience. The food and setting was fantastic, but the service and staff is really where Berghoff sets themselves apart. We worked with Mary Galvin as our event coordinator and she was helpful, informative, patient, and organized. I could fully trust her and the rest of the Berghoff staff to really run and host our wedding, to treat each guest as their own. And this is what made the catering decision easy.
I cannot say enough about the Berghoff - we absolutely loved working with them! I will start by saying that one of the first things our guests complimented was the food. It was no...
t your typical wedding fare and truly felt like you were dining in a high-end restaurant. Filet not overcooked! And chicken on the bone was incredibly tender. All for a reasonable price (of all our quotes, Berghoff was the least and shockingly, provided much more than the rest!). I did not have a wedding planner and we truly lucked out with Nicole at the Berghoff. She guided us through all our decisions promptly and seamlessly and went WAY above and beyond on the day of (helping with decor and transporting items not related to the food to the venue). She was my go-to girl and coordinated everything with the DJ, photographer and ceremony guitarist. I am SO happy we chose the Berghoff and strongly recommend it to anyone who would like good food at a good price with excellent service.
Food was very good -
Although ran out of a few items very early into the reception - should have been more qty - They assured us there would be --
Service was great --
althoug...
h beginning of upstairs reception should have more than one bartender -
Line was very long -
Second bartender did not join upstairs bar until after he closed downstairs bar -
Should have been planned better -
In the big picture - the above two comments were very minor - The wedding was a huge success - Not sure if we could have pulled this off without the help of Emily - She was there for everything we needed and more !
Berghoff Catering is probably the best decision I made in my entire wedding process, outside of saying I DO! Mary Galvin went out of her way to make a menu exactly to our tastes a...
nd styles. She was such a delight to work with, answering emails quickly, making herself available when I needed her, and ensuring every detail was covered. The food was of utmost quality with tons of flavor and excellent presentation. I'm extremely picky when it comes to food, so even with my high expectations they delivered! They also did tons to make our day very special and customized to us, including having blue cheese stuffed olives in dirty martinis to driving to the store the evening of the wedding to get my husband a special IPA beer that he requested on the spot! Their bartenders were friendly and professional, and made excellent drinks for our guests. Mary and her staff were extremely organized and didn't miss a single detail we discussed- you could tell everyone was well trained and genuinely cared. If you want a caterer that is passionate about making your day perfect, provides a quality product at a competitive price, extremely organized, and seriously cares that you are 100% happy, then I suggest Berghoff!
My wedding just happened (5/10/14) and Carrie and Emily from Berghoff were instrumental in helping to make it the perfect day for my husband and I. Our wedding took place in Chicag...
o, but we live in Alaska and both Carrie and Emily were super-responsive through e-mail (they even face-timed with me for the final venue walk-through!) One thing that I really appreciated early-on in the wedding planning process was how personable they were. They met with me everytime I was in Chicago and we're really wonderful about giving me their opinions on linen colors and food when I couldn't make a decision. I always felt like they had my best interests in mind, which really helped to make the whole process more enjoyable.
Our food was delicious and our guests are still talking about it. We had six passed appetizers (shrimp & corn fritters, bacon-wrapped dates, steak & asparagus skewers, macaroni & cheese bites, artichoke & mascarpone empanadas, and butterflied coconut shrimp). They even came up with a special cocktail for my bridal party which they named the Purple Moose. It was these little touches that they incorporated throughout the day that made our wedding so special and fun.
Dinner was amazing! They set-up a great buffet with miso-glazed salmon and carved cocoa-chili rubbed beef. Even though it was a self-serve buffet, the wait staff were super-attentive to our guests and were just fun to be around (a few of them were even dancing once the music started).
Dessert was also wonderful. I'm not usually a fan of wedding cake but ours was amazing! Our cake looked beautiful and the flavors were perfect! We got a ton of compliments on it - our guests loved the ice cream bar as well.
On top of a great wait staff and delicious food, Carrie and Emily really took the stress out of my day. The entire wedding ran smoothly from the ceremony until the end of the night and it was all because of them. They really aren't just caterers - they took care of all of the venue details for me from vendor parking passes, to putting the votives that I forgot to give to the florist on the tables, to telling me how to cut my cake when I got stage fright (thanks Emily!).
I won't be getting married again, but I would never hesitate to recommend Berghoff (and especially Carrie and Emily) to my friends.
Thank You!
Berghoff catered our wedding this past January at the Chicago History Museum. To say the night was perfect does not even begin to describe our experience with Berghoff. We worked w...
ith Sarah who ensured that every last detail was thought out. Because we didn't have an actual wedding planner, Berghoff and Sarah took on that role. They created everything from the timeline of the day/night, the feel and look of the room, and obviously the amazing food to the cake and wedding favors.
The food was by far our favorite part of the reception and is truly the one comment EVERY single guest tells us. Because it was a winter wedding we wanted to go with a non-traditional, comfort dish. Short ribs, mashed potatoes, and asparagus was the perfect answer to this. I kid you not when I say that one guests told us "it was literally the best food he's ever had". What a compliment! The other requirement we had was that many of our guests including myself had special dietary restrictions - gluten-free, dairy-free, etc. Berghoff was able to meet these needs easily and make those guests feel safe, while still providing a delicious and high quality meal. Bonus - there were even gluten-free desserts on our sweets table, made by Berghoff's Pastry Chef. The other comment we continue to hear is how professional the catering staff was. While we were a bit distracted to notice this, it's nice that it left an impression on our guests.
Berghoff Catering allowed us to be worry free throughout the entire planning process and evening. That peace of mind combined with an amazing night of food, truly means the world to us. Thank you for all your hard work!
Berghoff really won us over at the taste testing. We mentioned that we weren't interested in a traditional wedding cake and wanted cupcakes instead, and they actually brought down ...
the baker from the kitchens to discuss our ideas with us! They then even sent us home with several mini cupcakes that he'd whipped up while we were eating the test food.
We had emails responded to in a timely manner, and Berghoff made sure to ask us for all the information that they needed to help our day go off without a hitch. The day of was great! Our guests raved about the cocktail hour appetizers. Berghoff even made sure to set aside some appetizers in the bridal suite for my husband and I since they knew we wouldn't get a chance to eat while taking photos and talking to everyone.
Everything was timed well, servers were on the ball with plating and removing plates. Again the food was well complimented by the guests (and us!). I wish I could do it all again.
The Berghoff did our wedding this past New Year's Eve, and they were awesome! Both the food and the service were great! We got rave reviews on the food. Sarah was a great help f...
rom start to finish, and is a first-class person. She was on every detail, and everything was just how we wanted it to be. They did a great job of working with us from start to finish. It was a 6 month process working with The Berghoff, and they were professional, pleasant, and accommodating the whole way through. Sensitive to all of our needs, and all of the ins and outs of a wedding. Even added a few special touches like champagne and snacks for the bride that made their service even that much better! We would definitely use them again, and we would definitely recommend them to anyone!
My husband and I contracted with Berghoff to cater our wedding of about 150 people in November 2013. From our first phone call to get a quote, Carrie and Sarah were attentive, pat...
ient, and helpful. They made us feel like we were their most important clients, even though we had a modest budget, and they handled our questions and many revisions with patience and friendliness :) On our big day, Carrie and Sarah made sure everything ran perfectly. Our day-of wedding planner commented that they were the most-involved and hardest working caterers she had worked with. The food and drinks were amazing, and the linens, tables and chairs were all beautiful as well. Carrie and Sarah were irreplaceable, and we're so happy we chose Berghoff! :)
Neither of us are native to the Chicago area so our families were coming from the east and west coasts to celebrate our marriage. We wanted to pick a special place with some Chicag...
o history for our reception since Chicago was the city where we met and the city we were choosing as our home.
The Berghoff fit that bill perfectly. The Berghoff has multiple rooms for hosting occasions and we opted to host a cocktail hour in the original bar before moving our guests upstairs to the beautifully transformed Century Room for dinner, more drinks and dancing.
Debby Rabeor at the Berghoff was great. Her organization and experience paved the way for a great evening. Debby worked with us, and our vendors, making sure every detail was addressed. In fact, she and the staff at The Berghoff went above and beyond - they even created a custom wedding cake to look like an artwork by my husband!
The food was delicious, the space was beautiful, everyone had a wonderful time and overall, I would call our wedding day perfect!
Berghoff catered our wedding at the Chicago History Museum and we could not be happier with the results. Everyone raved about the food - the salmon was cooked perfectly and the sho...
rt rib was absolutely delicious. We wanted to do a soup/salad combo for our first course and the planners/chef were completely accommodating - allowing us to taste test several soup options, playing with the plating options, etc. We did not like the chair options available at the Chicago History Museum, so the Berghoff catering director got us several options from other rental vendors. Everything turned out perfectly! On the day of the event, Carrie, Jeanie and their staff could not have been more helpful. They were on top of every single detail, and no request was too outrageous for them.
I looked at 4 different caterers, and Berghoff was the best value by far. The pastry chef will even re-make the top tier of your cake for your first anniversary! I would HIGHLY recommend Berghoff.
I worked with Carrie Bucaro and Sarah Hermanowski for our wedding catering, and could not be happier with how everything turned out!
They were such pleasures to work with from ...
day 1. We were on a strict budget and they went through several rounds to get the proposal to the number we needed, offering helpful suggestions for ways to make it work. The tastings were well organized and Carrie and Sarah thought through every detail of the big day to make sure it was perfect -- and it was. I can't even count the number of compliments we received on the quality of the food (from the apps to the cake), as well as the service. We also had some rain delays to contend with, and Carrie and Sarah were incredibly flexible with the schedule, making sure things ran smoothly and that we didn't have to worry about a thing.
I would highly recommend Berghoff Catering to anyone! It was worth every penny, and then some!!
I would 100% recommend Berghoff for any of your Chicago catering needs, and I would LOVE to use them again in the future. We hired them for our September 2013 wedding at Promontory...
Point and had the honor of working with Carrie and Emily. We originally felt extremely overwhelmed by all our stipulations (and many catering companies seemed turned off by all our requests and unwilling to make it happen): we were planning a Chicago wedding while in DC with three months’ notice (with only one trip to Chicago before the wedding), on a smaller budget with an extremely small number of guests (38 guests total, including bride and groom). Berghoff Catering was completely unfazed by every tricky element we threw at them, and put together an incredible menu and set up our reception as beautifully as I could have hoped. To make it more complicated, the majority of the wedding was supposed to be outside, but it had poured all morning (but slowed in the afternoon), making it difficult to make a weather call and set up appropriately. Immediately after we decided that it was safe to set up outside, the rain started again and at the VERY last minute, everything had to be shifted again. The staff was professional and kind, and everything got done in time for the guests to be seated inside without any problems. Further, the food was delicious (seriously - everyone was pleased), the waitstaff was excellent and efficient and gracious, and I can’t think of anything that would’ve made it better. It was an absolute pleasure working with Carrie and Emily, and we are so grateful that they were willing to do almost ALL the planning with us over the phone and email. They helped us navigate every tricky detail (including a rather strange idea we had of serving the guests rootbeer floats, which my husband and I wanted to put together and hand out ourselves after dinner) and were as thorough as could be. WE ARE SO GRATEFUL for how perfect our wedding was for us, and how much they did to make it happen.
We recently had our wedding at the Chicago History Museum and had Berghoff cater it. The food was fantastic, especially during the cocktail hour (the coordinators even left h'order...
ves in our private dressing room since they knew we would wouldn't get a chance to eat at the cocktail hr), and all our guests raved about it. During the reception, the Berghoff staff was very quick in getting out the food and attending to everyone's needs. We got proposals from 3 caterers and tried out 2 caterers - Berghoff was definitely the best value and honestly, we loved the food the most as well. The portions were large, and the presentation was beautiful. They also were the only caterers to allows us to offer beef, chicken, fish, AND vegetarian. My only grievance with Berghoff is that they switched their Event Coordinators, as the person we worked with left the company. The transition wasn't as smooth as we liked. The new coordinators told us our original event coordinator left out a lot of "details" in the proposal, and they would have to charge for these "extras." It was really frustrating because I had to go back and look at all the old emails from a year ago, and point out our contract stated certain things were included even though the initial proposal didn't. I found that rather aggravating, especially since this was two weeks before our wedding and we had a lot going on. Again, if it's in the contract that both parties signed on, it's in the contract. It doesn't matter if the proposal was updated or not. At times I felt they were trying to squeeze as much as they could out of us which was so frustrating. I also wish we had gone through the contract and proposal line-by-line when we met with the new coordinators because I realize that the original coordinator knew exactly what we wanted, but when someone new is looking at it, they can misinterpret it. For instance, we had three flavors for our cake, and each tier was supposed to contain all three flavors layered on top of one another. Instead, we had a cake that had each tier containing one flavor. The cake was gorgeous of course, and the staff left us three slices - one of each flavor - but I was disappointed b/c that's not what we originally wanted. Despite these things, overall, I still loved Berghoff catering and would recommend them to anyone. Their food is excellent, and they do a fantastic job with presentation. The new coordinators were still very professional and pleasant to work with.
I had the pleasure of working with Mary for my Wedding this June. She made planning our meal easy, fun and creative. Their reputation is tried and true and if I had to do it all ov...
er again, I would choose Berghoff. No regrats!
My husband and I used Berghoff as our caterer for our wedding on June 22nd. We had a wonderful experience working with the Berghoff team including Mary Galvin who coordinated our e...
ntire event.
From the appetizers to the late night snacks, we could not get enough compliments on the cuisine served at our reception! All the dishes came out exactly as we wanted. Our favorites were the late nite chicago style hot dogs and the watermelon salad!
The service was excellent with very attentive wait staff. For example, as the bride and groom, we were constantly mingling and talking with guests and had no time to eat the appetizers. However, a dedicated server provided our own plate of apps and basically followed us around until we were full!
I cannot say enough about Mary and her team and highly recommend Berghoff for your next event or wedding. Mary was so easy to work with and always had a suggestion or alternative if we were unsure about an option. Also, the cucumber lemonade is a must for your guests as it is the perfect refreshment on a summer day!!! Thank you again Berghoff for being a part of our wedding day!
We used Mary Galvin and Berghoff Catering for our wedding this past spring. Throughout the entire process, Mary was extremely responsive and helpful, especially with our budget. ...
The food on the day of was delicious and Mary worked well with all of our other vendors to make sure every detail was covered. I would recommend Berghoff Catering in a heartbeat to anyone looking for a wonderful experience!
1. Food
Every part of the meal was very high quality and well prepared. For the entree, we had beef, chicken, and vegetarian options. One thing we really liked about Berghoff wa...
s that at the tasting, the chefs cooked the meals on the same equipment they would use on site. On the big day, the food tasted exactly as it had at the tasting, even though they were cooking off site and for over 100 people. Many guests complemented the quality of the meal.
Berghoff was also very flexible in terms of customizing the menu. We were able to make changes to the appetizers and salads (eg. change the plums in the salad to peaches).
We went with an outside vendor for our cake, but we tasted cake at Berghoff and theirs was a close second.
One other thing -- make sure to try Berghoff's cucumber lemonade. It's very tasty and refreshing for a summer wedding, and we mixed it with vodka for a specialty cocktail.
2. Service
We worked mainly with Carrie, and she was excellent. We didn't have to worry about any logistics before the wedding because Carrie and her staff were experienced with the venue and took care of everything. They handled things like the floor plan and the timeline of the evening.
On the night of the reception, the only questions Berghoff asked us were "how is the food?" and "can we get you anything?" The service from the staff was good as well. Even though every table had two or three different entrees, they served each table at the same time so that no one had to wait while the person next to them had a meal. (We put stickers on the guests' name cards to indicate which meal they had, and Berghoff had a list of how many of each meal every table had.)
We would definitely recommend Berghoff for your big day.
Carrie Bucaro and team executed the culinary dream my husband and I dreamed up for our June wedding. We initially started the catering courting dance working with Jeanie Biles bac...
k in August/September 2012 and she won us over with ease. I point this out only because about one month before our big day Jeanie sadly left Berghoff and put us in the equally capable hands of Carrie. Berghoff is really hiring some amazing people to have two catering managers on staff that could help us bring this large event to life virtually seamlessly. I think that's a true testament to their organization. Carrie worked with us at length to get up to speed quickly and work with us through the last details prior to the event. She documented everything (including my nasty food allergy) you could think of and the meal was everything we expected and more.
We had a fabulous time on our wedding day and Berghoff's team were a key player on our dream team. Everything went to plan, everyone LOVED the food, the cake and the bar!! Everything! It's been almost a month post wedding weekend and our friends and family are still talking about the duck tacos, lobster quesadillas, chicken with lemongrass beure blanc, squash napoleon (which I got and was awesome), the beautiful and cool square tables with the awesome runners (thank you for encouraging us to go big), etc. Guests who don't eat/ like salad are STILL talking about the poached plum salad with honeycomb and the entrees and extra sauce at the table were a home run! Berghoff's pastry chef took our random photos of cool cakes and created a cake that fit us and our venue perfectly. It was beautiful AND yummy; which never happens! Wedding cake is usually dry and boring but ours was something that I look forward to having again.
Carrie and team were organized, responsive, attentive, kind and courteous. They rolled with the punches throughout the process and really helped us put together a menu and flow of events that our guests enjoyed. Berghoff is a Chicago institution of food. While we don't plan to get married again, I am going to be looking for excuses to throw a party just so we can work with Carrie and Sarah again.
The Berghoff was amazing. They were so flexible with all of the special requests we had and with the contract we ended up with. We kept changing our mind on linens and other aesthe...
tics and our guest count kept changing. They accommodated everything! We got so many complements on the appetizers - the mini lamb chops are a must! My husband is a huge beer snob and they got his favorite microbrew beer stocked for our wedding. Carrie responds to emails within minutes at all hours of the night. I can't say enough good things about the Berghoff and it feels good to support a longstanding Chicago establishment. Oldest restaurant in the City!
From the first conversation with Berghoff, I knew I was in good hands. The team went out of their way to be accommodating and helpful throughout the process. When we did the food ...
tastings, I knew their service had been the best so far, but I was prepared to pick the best food we tasted. I was pleasantly surprised because overall Berghoff provided the tastiest entrees and delicious h'ors d'oeuvres. We also were able to get our wedding cake through them and this eliminated the need for yet another vendor. The truth is that their cake also topped those from other Chicago bakers we had tried. Overall, Berghoff made an effort to work with our budget and were on top of every last detail. We had many complements on the food from our guests and I'm sure we made the right choice!
Berghoff is one of the most recognizable restaurants in the city and if I am honest, I had no idea they even had a catering department! I was worried at first that they focused on...
their restaurant business with catering as a secondary (and lesser) focus).
I could not have been more wrong and I am happy to admit it. We worked with Jeannie and throughout the whole process she was brilliant ... attentive, flexible, professional and always willing to work with us on our requests. The tasting that we had was great. We had lots of choices and Jeannie really helped us through the process to mix and match the elements that we liked to make it very personal. Our venue had a preferred vendor list too that we had to choose from and Berghoff were very reasonably priced compared to others and given that everything costs a zillion dollars when you are getting married, this was an added bonus.
Jeannie really helped us to relax on the day of the wedding by catering to our needs while knowing that all of our guests were well fed and always had their glass full. The appetizers were delicious and always within arms reach. The main course was phenomenal and I would have been happy to have it at any restaurnant in the city, let alone a wedding where the food can be a little blah sometimes. We had one guest tell us she licked the aioli off of her plate! Later on in the evening we had milkshakes and cheeseburgers for snacks and the guests loved this idea too.
The service from Berghoff was exemplary. There was enough staff so that timing was not an issue as to when people were being fed. There was always someone at the bar if anyone got thirsty and Jeannie was there to handle anything that cropped up. To my mind nothing did ... but if it did then Jeannie solved it without us hearing about it which was a weight off my mind.
I cannot recommend Berghoff enough (and especially Jeannie). Looking forward to revisiting Berghoff again soon.
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