About this vendor
Gourmet menu ideas from simple to elegant.
Whether it's the best dish from your favorite restaurant, grandmother's famous recipe, combining traditions & cultures, something fun & creative, or something elegant & classy, Chef Penelope wants to create a delicious menu personalized just for you! We offer a stunning variety of gourmet menu ideas for your event from simple to elegant. We are known for our gorgeous food displays and elegant presentation. With years of experience catering weddings, social gathering, holiday parties and corporate functions, our unique style will turn your event into a truly special occasion.
Details
Cuisine
- African
- American
- BBQ
- Cajun
- Chinese
- Eastern European
Dietary Options
- Dairy Free
- Gluten Free
- Kosher
- Organic
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
Food & Catering
- Buffet
- Catering Clean Up
- Catering Delivery & Setup
- Chef Stations
- Family Style
- Menu Tastings
Awards and Affiliations
Pricing
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Reviews
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4.8
out of 5.047 reviews
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Food was good. The appetizers were the star of the show.
There were some hiccups in communication from the caterer, and they ran out of broccoli, but they did speak with us after the wedding to make amends to the situation.
Response from the Vendor on 09/16/2024
Hello Chef Penelope here. I super appreciate this couple being so transparent with us and giving us the opportunity to make amends. We are always working on being better and better. Beautiful couple, beautiful event:)
Chef Penelope's Catering catered our wedding back in September, and we were thrilled with their service. The food was delicious, the staff was friendly and accommodating, the presentation fit seamlessly in with the decor, and the price was very reasonable. We were especially impressed with their offering the option of providing special meals for individual guest who have different dietary restrictions and preferences. We would highly recommend Chef Penelope to cater any event!
We hired Chef Penelope for a wedding at the Cordelle this weekend 10/28. I just can’t tell you how many unsolicited comments I received from my guests… saying it was hands down the best food they had ever had at a wedding. The buffet was beautiful and staff were efficient and kind. I had several guest ask me for recipes. Lol!! Just so pleased and grateful with all the stress I knew the catering was taken care of.
Any questions?
What can I say - Chef Penelope’s food is unparalleled! Our wedding guests absolutely raved about everything from the southern-inspired appetizers to the entrees down to even the salad dressing. We were able to enjoy leftovers from the wedding for a couple days and everything tasted just as good as it did on the actual wedding day. Planning a wedding during a pandemic with a constantly changing guest count is difficult, but the team at Chef Penelope’s worked with us through all of the iterations of our guest count, making adjustments up until and including the day before our wedding! They were able to package the extra meals as to-go meals for friends and family staying in town and even allocated some of the unused meal funds to extra appetizers for cocktail hour. Every step of the way, the staff was friendly and accommodating. We absolutely would pick them over and over again!
My husband and I hired Chef Penelope's Catering for our wedding on 11/13/21. Their team provided an amazing catering experience from our menu tasting all the way until our wedding day! They were communicative and easy to work with throughout the entire planning process. The food was absolutely amazing and exactly what we had hoped for. They let us customize our menu to reflect us as a couple. We were blown away by how beautiful the interactive food stations were presented. The food, the presentation, and the service were all outstanding. Their staff is friendly, polite, and courteous, and made all our guests feel special the entire evening. Our guests were raving about the food and definitely left our wedding happy and satisfied. We highly recommend hiring Chef Penelope's Catering!
Not only were they super nice to work with, literally everyone complimented their food at our wedding. Our guests have dietary restrictions so we had to have normal, vegan, and gluten free options. All of our lovely people were not only surprised and grateful that those options were actual meals, but raved about how good they tasted. The staff at the wedding were AMAZING! Most important they checked on us multiple times to make sure we, the bridal couple, had the amount of food and drinks we wanted, avoiding the standard "we didn't get to eat anything" issue. But beyond that their personalities were so great, our guests interacted with them like they were friends; bringing them on the dance floor, taking pictures with them, they even signed our guest book with our photographers on their own 'vendor page'. I know some people would consider this unprofessional, but for our crowd it was perfect and it was a lovely surprise for us we adored.
I am so thankful that I found Penelope and her crew! She just blew me away with how perfect the food, the table scapes, and the process was. I am still getting compliments on the meal and honestly, who remembers wedding food?! Well people who try Chef Penelope’s do!! Her servers took such great care of us on the day, we did not have to worry about a thing! Her pricing was the best I found as well! I highly recommend you book her for your event ASAP!
Response from the Vendor on 03/16/2021
Thank you so much for the kind words! We absolutely loved being a part of your special day.
Chef Penelope and her team are absolutely wonderful! As a wedding coordinator I’ve worked with all of the top caterers in Nashville and she is second to none. Such a helpful, professional and caring Chef. With the current pandemic she made my clients feel safe, supported and the food was delicious with a very productive presentation. The value and service they received was top quality. Her tastings are the highlight of my planning process.
Response from the Vendor on 02/22/2021
Thank you! It was a pleasure working with you! Everything was absolutely stunning!!!
Chef Penelope and her entire staff are SO incredible!! Chef Penelope was so caring and eager to hear our preferences during the planning process even offering to customize dishes to our liking. The catering staff day of was so kind and attentive to detail! We could not have asked for a better experience.
Response from the Vendor on 02/09/2021
Thank you SO much! We loved being with you on your big day. Everything was absolutely beautiful!
-Chef P
I enjoyed my experience working with Chef Penelope. Our wedding was a destination wedding in the Nashville area. The process from tasting to the actual wedding was so easy, they were always quick to reply to any of my questions and were not hesitant to reach out to me if they had a question for me. The tasting was super professional and the flavor was great compared to the other tastings we had in the Nashville area. The best part of it all was she was able to accommodate for a full gluten free menu so that I could enjoy everything at my own wedding! Also many other food allergies we had with our wedding guests she was able to account for. Everyone at the wedding had nothing but compliments about the food. I greatly appreciate the attention to detail and all of the accommodations for our needs.
Chef Penelope was absolutely delicious and the perfect fit for my wedding! My fiancé and I walked out of our food tasting and knew right then and there we could cancel our other scheduled tastings cause we had found our caterer. They were professional, friendly, accommodating, very reasonably priced and overall amazing. Their service was great and the food delicious! Their team was so great to work with throughout the whole planning process. They even brought their own décor for the buffet table that went with the theme/style of my wedding. I would absolutely recommend Chef P to other brides!
I had my wedding this past weekend and they did an awesome job! Not only was the staff amazing, but they were all super nice and did a great job! On top of that, the tasting was such a fun time and everything tasted so good we had a hard time picking what we wanted! The food at the wedding tasted just as great and everyone complimented it!
We booked Chef Penelope’s early on in the year and were so excited to use them - the tasting was fabulous. With COVID and gathering restrictions at our venue and in Davidson County, our maximum gathering size was 25 people; however, Chef Penelope’s said they would not go below 75 people in order to cater our reception. Our venue and coordinator said that no other catering company that they were aware of had done that to their brides/grooms. We were disappointed. Good news is we found another caterer who was fabulous to work with and accommodated our number of people!
Response from the Vendor on 08/29/2020
So sad to get this review. As soon as we received this we went back over our emails to see what went wrong. On the very last email that we received before this was posted (July 9th) Anna told us that she was going to have her ceremony with 25 g...
uests (On 8/22/20) and that she would have her bigger reception next year and wanted us to slide her retainer fee to a date to be decided next year. That was the very last email that we received before this was posted, So many of our clients have done the exact same thing and we thought everything was good and we were looking forward to working with her next year.
On her email she sent on July 3rd, she referenced the restrictions and said they were in a holding formation, waiting to see how it would go. We lowered the contracted headcount from 125 to 80. I know we did tell her that it would be more, however we price out our menus based on bigger numbers, so they are much less. I also do know that there are a lot of great caterers in Nashville who do smaller parties and do a great job. However , I have been doing this for so long and do so much, with decor and my overhead is huge, I cannot compete with smaller caterers who own their buildings. So I am VERY upfront with people that we focus on bigger parties. I literally, at every tasting go line by line over my contract, because I want the client to know what is going on and I want them to be comfortable with my requirements. I don't want anything hidden. My contract is only 1 page long and I always explain this to people before they book, I will say that she contracted in at 125 and we did lower it to 80 which she said she had still coming with 75 still undecided. That was on July 3rd, We received the notice that she wanted to roll over the retainer fee to next year on July 9th. After the review was posted, I did reach out to Anna and explained all of this, I pleaded with her to remove this post, because the very last communication we had with her, was that she was using us next year. I did send her an email telling her that I am so sorry that she felt this way and thanked her for her input, I'm sure we can only get better, if we look at this and try to get better, of course hindsight is 20/20, and we are learning how to function in this Pandemic.
I also let her know if she wanted to move forward next year, we would take excellent care of her. She is a wonderful person and I wish her all the best, and sincerely hope to be able to cater for her soon. I just had to write this so all who read this would know my heart on this matter. You don't survive over 20 years in this town by being cold hearted and uncaring. We genuinely thought she was a going with a bigger reception next year.
The staff was very courteous and went above and beyond to bring everything together. They set up our place settings for us and even put out our wedding favors to help us as we decorated. Our guests were raving about how good the food tasted! The price was very reasonable especially considering the quality!
I am a wedding planner and venue manager and I love to recommend Chef Penelope to all my clients! Their display is beautiful and can be personalized to the client's specific event style. Their food is delicious and their staff is so professional and friendly. They are able to work with your budget which is so nice. I highly recommend Chef Penelope!
Chef Penelope and her staff were easy to work with and had bubbly, spirited personalities. The food was absolutely delicious. Chef Penelope has a serious skill cooking food and her recipes are so good. We loved our experience working with Chef Penelope and staff!
We had Chef Penelope cater our wedding in February 2020 and are so happy that we did! Not only did they work with us to create a menu that fit within out budget, the food was amazing! The staff who worked the wedding were absolutely wonderful and even sent an entire crate of food, cake and drinks in our car to the hotel. I absolutely would recommend them for your event!
Chef Penelope's provided an excellent catering experience for our wedding! We were able to go in for a tasting and meet the staff in December before our June wedding. They were very responsive and I talked with the team multiple times over the phone (since I do not live in Nashville) and they were great at answering all of my various question. We had a buffet style meal and they set it up beautifully - the food displays and signage were great! Lastly, they accommodated a last-minute change to our menu a few days before, which we so appreciated. Thank you Chef Penelope!
Wow! I can not say enough great things about Chef Penelope and her team. The food was outstanding and we’ve received so many complements about the food for our wedding. Would 100% recommend her team!
Oh how I love Chef Penelope and her team! The most stress-free experience I have ever had. Since we live in Texas, we did almost all of our planning by phone and email. They were so friendly and accommodating, offered the best pricing, and the most delicious food! We booked before we even tasted and chose a buffet with chicken picatta, bacon wrapped pork loin stuffed with cream cheese, garlic mashed potatoes, vegetable medley, etc. We also had them make special passed hors d'oeuvres to represent our home cities: a toasted ravioli for St. Louis, and a beef street taco for Dallas. As part of our individual desserts, we chose their mini cheesecake bites and oh my goodness, each of the three flavors was amazing! We sent them our color scheme and they made the buffet table presentation match perfectly. They were quick to respond to emails and phone calls, more than willing to work within our budget, served us at our wedding, and even made us an adorable to go crate filled with food and goodies. Overall we were so impressed and only wish we had access to their food everyday!
Chef Penelope and her staff are outstanding. The food was delicious, the displays gorgeous, the staff attentive. Everything was perfect for our daughter's special day at Graystone Quarry. She makes planning a destination wedding an easy endeavor
If I could give more than five stars I would! Chef Penelope is amazing. Her food is absolutely delicious and she is such a pleasure to work with. She will make what you desire to have work and it will taste perfect. We received so many compliments on our food!
Chef Penelope was absolutely amazing! We planned a somewhat non-traditional dinner menu of brunch (chicken and waffle, shrimp and grits, etc.) and she exceeded every expectation we could have imagined. From the tasting to the day of event all of the food was incredible and the guests continue to talk about it to this day. Presentation options were in abundance and she used decor that fit our wedding perfectly. I couldn't more highly recommend Chef Penelope and her team!
On September 30, 2017 We had the pleasure of choosing, Chef Penelope. What a pleasure to work with. The staff was professional, and courteous. The food was deliciously phenomenal, with an amazing lay out and design Our guest are still raving about how great the food was. We had the pleasure to work with Steven, he was thorough at ensuring are menu was perfect. Thanks for the custom shrimp and grits.
#ChefPenelope #WeddingCaterer #SouthernCuisine #CustomCaterer
We loved Chef Penelope! She was so helpful and I highly recommend her! Our guests raved about the catering and were highly complimentary of her staff.
Chef Penelope and team are incredible! Normally wedding food has a connotation of being bland and "wedding food" but not Chef Penelope's! Our guests raved over the food and said it was the some of the best food they had eaten, not just at weddings! We had a dessert bar through her too and the brownies had gold dust on them- so beautiful!!! Everything was delicious and beautiful really! She gets to know your culinary preferences and has fun twists for something even as simple as mac and cheese. Can't say enough about this amazing team!
Wow! What an amazing team to work with. They went above and beyond to make our menu custom to our taste and more like restaurant food than traditional wedding food.
I would give Chef P more than 5 stars if I could! The food was AMAZING! People could not stop raving about it (the mashed potatoes are to die for)! The entire staff was so friendly and accommodating - they stayed in contact throughout the whole planning process, and made the MANY updates I requested. I absolutely recommend Chef Penelope!
We loved working with Chef Penelope, Mackenzie and their team for our wedding! We had passed around appetizers, a buffet, and late night snacks and many of our guests told us how good the food was. For our late night snacks, we wanted to have food from Chicago and Philadelphia as that is where we are from, and they were able to make soft pretzels and Chicago style hot dogs and they were delicious! Would highly recommend using their services. They are reasonable priced, very helpful, and their food was really good!
Chef and her team were wonderful! We've received endless compliments about how wonderful the food was (especially the Mac n cheese). They were very professional and willing to answer any and all of my annoying questions. The day of the wedding passed seamlessly and our to go box was
delicious ! So happy with Chef and her team on our wedding day!!
Chef Penelope and her team were a delight to work with. Face-to-face meetings and follow-up were all excellent - cheerful, professional and prompt throughout. We put together a really lovely menu, and they were ready to go above and beyond as we brainstormed and dreamed on that front. They were also very accommodating to my gluten-free needs. Staff at the wedding itself were really excellent. And last but not least, many of our guests have raved about the food, including more than one "best wedding food ever" comment. Go to one of her tastings if you can - fun night!
Chef Penelope and her crew were SO AMAZING! Our guests are STILL raving about the food from our September wedding! I highly recommend them!!
Chef Penelope's Catering was great to work with. The food was great, all our guests raved about the mac & cheese! They were accommodating with a request for cotton candy which was awesome! My only reason for giving 4 stars instead of 5 is that at our initial meeting it was stated that there would be plenty of disposable cutlery/plates/napkins for guests, but it was never mentioned at that meeting or on our quote, or any other communication, that we would need to provide our own forks/plates/napkins for the cake. From the get-go however, cake cutting was provided at no additional cost, which was greatly appreciated. It wasn't until our final invoice came that it was printed in bold that Chef P's did not provide cake forks/plates/napkins. Not a huge deal or big cost, just more annoying than anything.
Overall, great experience working with them! Very knowledgable about our venue and helpful with any request or question throughout the process!
Chef and her team were great to work with! There were a few non-traditional aspects to our catering as well as a couple of allergies, and CPC was so helpful and accommodating throughout!
They also made sure my husband and I had a big serving of food at our reception and sent us home with lots of leftovers!
Chef Penelope's catering was an absolute dream to work with. The food was DELICIOUS and they were kind, considerate, honest, and dedicated. Chef P worked very hard to say "yes" to every whim and request I could think of. And, they did successfully say "Yes" to everything I asked for including the creation of a veterans discount for us. How wonderful!! The price was fair and affordable, and they were so, so wonderful to work with. They love weddings and brides, and understand the chaos that comes along with weddings. In a world where people often think the worst and don't trust one another, this amazing Caterer and her staff assumed positive intent throughout a few little mix ups and remained completely kind and understanding. It was refreshing to be understood and to feel valued even when I changed my mind and was difficult. If I ever need to hire a caterer for ANYTHING ever again, Chef Penelope's will be an automatic decision! Thank you, Chef P!!
Our first impression was our delicious tasting. Very prompt with emails! They were accommodating of our budget and made sure we had a wonderful meal. The service on our wedding day was great! Two servers met my groom and I with our plates before we even got to the buffet to make sure we ate. Highly recommended vendor!
Chef Penelope was a dream - our families still rave that we had the best wedding food they've had! We went with international food stations and in our first meeting with CP's team, my husband and I told Steven about all of the dishes my husband used to make for me when he was still winning my affection. When I received our preliminary menu, Steven had truly listened to our story and included all of our favorite flavors (down to the mango thai chili risotto that we used to make!). Most of our guests told us later that they had gone back up to the stations for seconds and thirds! CP had setup a private dinner for us and the staff was so attentive and made sure my husband and I never had to ask for a thing. The presentation of our stations was gorgeous and they even made our to-go dinner beautiful! I would absolutely recommend Chef Penelope's team to any Nashville couple - the team was so responsive and upbeat. The whole process was stress-free and delicious!
Chef Penelope worked with us to make a night full of food that would please us and please our guests. She called us personally and worked with us over the phone as well as through emails as we were not able to get down to Nashville before the wedding. Everyone loved the food and she was great to work with!
I loved working with Chef Penelope and am really happy with how everything turned out! Our food was delicious and we only heard lovely reviews from our guests. And, no one left hungry (my worst fear)!
During the planning process, the team was incredibly welcoming of my ideas and forthcoming with the best solution for my wedding menu. What I really appreciated is their ability to accommodate reasonable requests without skimping on quality.
I learned very quickly that doing your homework with catering companies will pay off. I wanted to use Chef Penelope from the beginning but their quote was a bit higher than I wanted. I shopped the quote to 4 other catering companies and Chef Penelope matched my lowest bid! The service was incredible and the quality of food was great; however, they were not the best at reading the crowd and took the food stations away too early as the bridal party arrived later from taking pictures than anticipated and very few were able to eat. We also ran out of buns for the sliders which was disappointing considering we gave Chef Penelope's catering two weeks advance notice of the change in guest count. Overall, though, a very positive experience.
The food was great and Chef Penelope was really nice, however I felt that everything was not disclosed when I choose the venue and the cater. I felt that I was told that a meal would be prepared for us after the wedding. I do not know what our food taste like but I was told that it was great. Needless to say we went to bed hungry and ate breakfast the next morning at Cracker Barrel. I felt we spent a lot of money for others to eat. I also felt that the staff was more concerned with the numbers that attending to the bride and groom. Also I did not see the Chef Penelope there, so that's a question I did not ask. Will the chef be present or will there be representatives?
Great food , tons of options, and are completely willing to think outside the box to meet your needs and not charge you extra (if possible). They were provided through my wedding vender Mint Springs Farm. I was 100% satisfied with them!
Chef Penelope's Catering provided and served food for our wedding and provided bar service for our cocktail hour and reception. Chef Penelope & Anita were a joy to work with! They were able to work with our budget and provide us with everything we wanted. They were always prompt in getting back to us when we had questions or wanted to make changes. The food was absolutely delicious! The staff were friendly and fast! The only negative thing that I can think of, which upset my parents since they paid for the food, was that we were not given the food that was left over from the reception. They did send a to go box with samplings of food from the reception with my husband and me though. Other than that Chef Penelope's Catering was the perfect choice for our wedding and I'm so glad we chose them!! If you're looking for food that you and your guests will enjoy at a reasonable price, Chef Penelope's catering is the way to go!
I have loved every minute that I have spent with Chef Penelope and Anita. They are fantastic people and run a fantastic business. The food is great. The servers they hired at our wedding were also great and very professional. If you go with Chef Penelope, make sure to try the focaccia bread!
We met with Chef Penelope and her assistant one week night, tasted some of their food, and then immediately signed a contract. She was so quick to work with us on our budget and provide exactly what we wanted. The wedding day was flawless - her servers were fantastic and THE FOOD! Our guests are STILL ranting and raving over the food!! You MUST get the salad (that dressing is phenomenal) and we got turkey with gravy and a cranberry chutney that was TO DIE FOR. Seriously- you will not be sorry!! They are awesome!
Chef Penelope and her team are the best. She is one of the preferred caterers for our venue, and when we went to a tasting we were hooked. Not only was her food delicious, but she helped us create an amazing and fun vegetarian menu featuring her RIDICULOUS mac and cheese. While she wasn't able to be at our wedding, her staff was wonderfully attentive to us, and the food got rave reviews. She also invites her catering "alumni" back for a tasting, which I think is so sweet.
Chef Penelope is incredible. So many flavors in all the dishes, I can't decide what was my favorite - oh wait, it was the ice cream bar. We had Chicken with tomatoes and onions in a white wine reduction sauce, peppercorn roast beef with a red wine reduction sauce, (get this) goat cheese mashed potatoes and several other very inventive dishes that burst in your mouth with flavor.
I make cakes - it's what I do, so having a cake at my wedding seemed kind of pasee. Instead I asked Chef if we could do an ice cream bar. She was almost as excited abuot it as I was. Incredible vanilla ice cream to start with, then a whole mess of toppings to go on them. It was my piece de resistance! It may not sound like a big deal to anyone else, but if you have a love affair with ice cream like I do, you'll understand.
She was willing to go out of her way to make exactly what I wanted. And everything was incredible.
Lucky for me, Chef Penelope is the resident chef at Mint Springs Farm, the all-inclusive venue we chose. What a fantastic pairing! For that reason, i'm not entirely sure what the food budget was, but I am certain that we got at least our money's worth (probably more).
She was incredible to work with too.
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2920 Sidco Drive, Nashville, TN
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