Design Cuisine

. Thank you Sarah and team. We appreciate all your hard work.

ith us to adjust the menu details, including the signature cocktails. Every detail was discussed, including the choices of china, silverware and stemware. Our wedding was held in a 1,200 square foot tent at our home, and Renzo came to the inspect the site in advance and was personally present on the day of the reception to ensure that all went smoothly. The weather on the day of the wedding was beautiful, but extremely hot (in the 90s). The tent company did not turn on the air conditioning as early as we would have liked, and when the Design Cuisine personnel arrived, it was oppressive in the tent (in excess of 100 degrees, with the unlit candles melting on the tables). Despite the conditions, everyone from Design Cuisine set about their work, stocking the bar and setting the tables, with great attitudes and without complaint. (Fortunately, about an hour later, the conditions and temperature were pleasant.) The food and service were all for which we could hope. Design Cuisine was worth ever penny.

he event they gave amazing service and the food was excellent! I was worried about "off site kitchen" leading to food being less than hot, however this was not the case. Everything was perfect!

They are true professionals and their service is some of the BEST I’ve ever seen. We worked with Claire, who was helpful, understanding, and extremely responsive – even on the morning of my wedding. The Design Cuisine showroom in Shirlington is massive – so many choices for every type of wedding/style you can imagine. Claire helped us narrow down the look we were going for and helped us create a vision for our entire reception. The tasting had our jaws dropped the entire time. They had our exact linens, chairs, silverware etc. so you could get a good idea of how the reception would feel. For our tasting, they had cooked our ENTIRE wedding menu and even had folks dressed in tuxes serving us in the tasting room. Fast-forward to the day of, I couldn’t stop eating. Usually you find brides don’t have time or their nerves were too high. Nuh-uh – not with Design Cuisine’s food. Everything from the pear salad to the short rib was flawless and tasted exactly like it had (if not better!) than our tasting. We still have guests (over a month later) raving about our food.

. Little things that we were really excited about fell by the wayside. For example, we spent a long time naming our signature drinks, and then the signage put out on our wedding day ended up being the caterer's generic drink titles, like "Flower Power." The main thing that bothered me was I never felt like I was a priority. Design Cuisine took over as the exclusive caterer for our venue midway through our wedding planning process, and I can imagine it must have been overwhelming and stressful for them to inherit so many weddings at once. That said, I often felt like I had to send multiple emails and be persistent with phone calls, as well as repeat my preferences and decisions multiple times, as if they had just gotten lost along the way. The thing that frustrated me most was that our original caterer had told us they could arrange for a secondary tent to be installed on the lawn for the ceremony in the event of rain (and, in fact, it did rain on our wedding day). I asked Design Cuisine for a quote for this tent as soon as we found out, in February, they were our new caterers. After asking over and over again, I only got a quote one week before our June wedding, and the price was really high. By that point it was too late to shop around for tent vendors on our own. That was super disappointing. Overall, the food and drink were outstanding, but it was upsetting to feel like we were just another customer on a long list. No one from Design Cuisine even contacted us after our wedding to ask how everything went or to congratulate us.

execute a fantastic event. Annie & Paige were great in helping us plan out every detail of cocktail hour, dinner, desserts, and the bar and I'm so thankful for how accommodating and patient they were with us as we dealt with our last-minute catering switch. They also helped us with our linen selection through their sister company DC Rentals. The timing, presentation, and service during cocktail hour and the reception was excellent. Most of all, the food was DELICIOUS and our guests raved about everything. They even made sure to send some of the hors d'oeuvres and champagne to our bridal suite so we wouldn't miss out on anything! I would definitely recommend working with Design if it fits your budget - the quality and creativity when it comes to their food and presentation is truly unrivaled.

ed the catering experience by actually sending the Chef a specific menu we had created for our reception - from the tasting to the actual wedding dinner, their kitchen team delivered on every dish exactly as we had envisioned, and our wedding guests are still raving about the food! Kristy and Kevin were absolutely amazing to work with every step of the way - from helping select our place settings and linens, to designing the floor plan and other details and decor, they were creative, fun, and so accommodating - nothing about the planning process was ever stressful. The team of staff on site during our wedding was also fantastic - we really appreciated the hospitality felt by our friends, family, and even the other vendors, which can only come from experienced, trained and professional servers and bartenders. We cannot thank Design Cuisine enough for helping make our special day everything we could have hoped for and would highly recommend them to any future couple looking for the ultimate catering experience!

elicious, from hors d'oeuvres to the first course to the main course to dessert. The specialty cocktails they dreamed up for my husband and I were also amazing. Finally, the service was impeccable. Design Cuisine also has lots of linens, chargers, plates, flatware, glassware, and chairs to choose from. I highly recommend them to anyone looking for a top-notch caterer for your wedding. Trust me: your guests will thank you later.

taff provided top notch professional and responsive service at the wedding. Many guests commented on how good the food was. Very pleased and highly recommended.

her vendors showed up late on our wedding day, Erica drew out dinner and dessert so none of our guests were the wiser. She even assisted the set-up of the late vendor to make sure things went faster. Water and wine glasses were always refilled, the food was delicious and came out quickly, and the servers started with us (the bride and groom) on passed appetizers to make sure we got something to eat. If I ever do a similar event in the area, I wouldn't hesitate to book them again!

was helpful during every step of the planning process, from menu selection, to table decorations, to service requests…they truly helped to execute our vision and transform our dreams into reality. And our wedding cake? People are still talking about it! It not only looked beautiful, but it tasted delicious. Great food, exceptional service, and a pleasure to work with. Thank you, Design Cuisine, for making our wedding day truly special and memorable!

y wedding and they certainly did not disappoint. Our guests were raving not only about how delicious the food was, but complimented the presentation as well! The Design Cuisine staff were also wonderful day of as they catered to myself and my now husband - ensuring we never had an empty drink in our hand and had all the apps we wanted. I really can't compliment Design Cuisine enough - highly, highly recommend.

l and absolutely set the bar of service. They were a pleasure to work with and we highly recommend them! Dede our point person was also above and beyond and extremely professional! She was a joy to work with and made our day extra special.

edding. The staff didn't know where to place chairs for the ceremony nor the reception. There were not enough chairs nor table setting at some tables despite of providing charts and a drawing to them. The clear instruction on main course choices was not relayed to the staff who seemed at a loss. My goal was to choose a caterer so that I could be stress-free and enjoy the event as a mother of the bride. Their standard was much lower than what I expected. I would say this caterer is irresponsible and is not worth what you pay.

perfectly, and they even made my pie recipe for the pie buffet (we didn't do cake). We even had a waiter dedicated to the two of us. Definitely purchase your own alcohol. It will save you a lot of money.

rience planning events. As the bride/groom, it is very difficult to spend months planning to arrive at wedding day and have to put your faith in all of your vendors to make everything happen. Design Cuisine was the only vendor that did not deliver. I caution other couples considering this caterer. Our event seemed a lower priority for them, perhaps because it was one time business transaction? The only saving grace is that the food was good. If interested, additional details: While impressed by the tasting, what initially tipped the scale in favor of Design Cuisine was flexibility. We were assured they would help us work through event details w/o each decision adding a new line item on the bill. We were informed of their ownership of DC Rental and led to believe that, as a result, costs would not be incurred for upgrading rentals - we would be able to select anything from their warehouse for use. Post contract that all turned out to be only partially true. The accommodating attitude disappeared. We learned that free upgrades only apply to china/silverware and chair rentals. Things like upgrading tables and bar furniture cost extra. As does serving coffee/tea with wedding cake at tables. Details were consistently overlooked despite efforts to keep our communications organized (at one point, it was suggested I consider a career in events): Our final decision on china/linens/chairs was not well recorded. Ultimately, selected chairs were unavailable, but comparable alternatives provided. Changes that we requested they make to our cakes after the tasting were never implemented on wedding day. It took half a dozen (maybe more) revisions of final contract before they had everything correct. On wedding day, they were not ready to greet guests at event start time with cocktails and slow to get appetizers circulated. Butter was not provided on tables to accompany bread. Dinner was prolonged when wedding cake did not get served promptly following main course. (They were waiting for us to cut the cake which was not something we ever planned to do.) They set aside the top tier cake for us to take home despite instructions to serve it. And then had trouble locating it at the end of the evening. And, our coffee/tea station (which we paid extra for) was opened w/o cups/saucers and regular coffee.... Overall, not what you expect from such a highly acclaimed caterer in the DC area. There are better options for weddings. If we were to make the decision again, I would go with Federal City.

ts all loved the food. The service was very prompt, but not rushed, and the servers took extra good care of the bridal party. We finished the evening with late night snacks including mini burgers, quesadillas, and even homemade pop tarts. Design Cuisine is one of the more expensive caterers in the area, but the food and service are worth it!

oked. Erica also made my husband's day...I told her that he wanted to have late night snacks and his favorite are NYC dirty water dogs. She said "We can do that!" She went a step further and had a hot dog cart with the fixings, french fries and pretzels and had one of the waiters dress up as a vendor!!! Erica was also very easy to work with and flexible...I would recommend her and Design Cuisine anytime!

presented, and exotic cuisine. We had a 'buffet' of sorts, where we had three different themed stations or styles of food from around the globe that people could go to throughout the reception. Throughout the 3 themes, we ended up with a mix of Asian, Indian, Italian, Mediterranean, and Latin food. They were able to offer us such great variety and authentic flavors, and presented them all beautifully. I also loved how design had their own stock of dinnerware and silverware, so we were able to avoid plastic (I have an absolute allergy to plastic but wasn't able to afford anything else with some of the other caterers) for a very reasonable price. Lastly, design accepts your recipes, which is so great! We had pies instead of a cake, because I come from a family of pie lovers (there is always a pie on the counter at my parent's house), and they took our family recipes and replicated them for our wedding day. In terms of other foods, the chefs are also super receptive to suggestions and changes- for example at the tasting, I liked a certain marinated beef, but I didn't like the sauce they served it with, but I liked another satay sauce, so they paired those two. All in all, a wonderful experience to work with them- not cheap- but really worth it if you are particular about food and/or are a big food person, which we both are! A++

d in a clock-work manner - yet never rushed. My husband and I had a personal waiter helping us all night, which was wonderful. Our one complaint was that the waiters did not ask guests during dinner whether they wanted red or white wine and instead poured everyone both...including teetolers and pregnant ladies. This also wasted a lot of wine needlessly. Everything otherwise seemed to go off wonderfully. Design Cuisine is expensive, but the food and service were fantastic.