Phil's Catering

About This Vendor

Mouthwatering Cuisine of the Central Coast

Phil’s Catering is a professional wedding and event catering service based in Atascadero, CA. Gary Vierra, the founder of the company, started this flourishing business in 1986 and named it after his father Philbert “Phil” Vierra. He works alongside his skilled culinary and events team to deliver exceptional experiences for couples, turning their dreams into reality. Gary fell in love with the culinary world as a child, watching his parents cook with love and passion in their family home. He has been running the company for more than 32 years, developing a close bond with his long-standing team members. Gary believes that every soon-to-be-newlywed should receive personalized attention, curating tailored menus that represent their tastes. Phil’s Catering has prepared delicious food for both intimate and large wedding celebrations, making warmhearted service and high-quality ingredients its top priority. In 1986, the team was focused on the creation of succulent BBQ-style dishes for clients and their guests. Today, this popular choice of food is now accompanied by a wide spectrum of appetizers, entrees, and side dishes. Gary and his team are happy to prepare delectable dishes in a range of cuisine styles such as Italian, Hawaiian, and Southern. Phil’s Catering will make flawless service a priority, allowing clients to avail of delivery, setup, and cleanup and their selected wedding venue. The team will also strive to satisfy the specific dietary requirements of couples and their guests, preparing dairy-free, gluten-free, and nut-free options. Clients also have the opportunity to choose between family-style meals, seated-style meals, and chef stations for their occasion.

Details

Business Attributes

Woman-owned Business

Cuisine

American, BBQ, Cajun, Hawaiian, Italian, Seafood, Southern, Southwestern

Dietary Options

Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Nut Free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Food & Catering

Buffet, Catering Clean Up, Catering Delivery & Setup, Chef Stations, Family Style, Menu Tastings, Passed Appetizers, Seated Meal, Servers

Awards and Affiliations

Phil's Catering Reviews

Reviewed On 10/22/2019 by Stephanie S

We had Phil's Catering cater our wedding dinner at the beginning of this month. BBQ Buffet- Tri-tip, chicken, potato salad, baked beans, mixed greens salad and rolls. Gary was great to work with, the food was wonderful, and the cost was reaso...

nable. We chose them because my best friend used Phil's to cater her own wedding a couple years ago. Since she had such a great experience with them, and we knew the food was good, it was an easy decision. We also had them make two vegan dishes for our DJ and wedding planner, and we got two thumbs up.

Reviewed On 8/09/2022 by Nicole H

Phil's Catering did such a great job at our wedding! We hired them for buffet service. The servers were all very attentive and kind, and the food was delicious! So many of our guests complimented how good the food was and even talked about it w...

eeks later!

Response from the Vendor on 08/09/2022

Thank you Nicole for letting us be a part of your special day! We greatly enjoyed working with you and your wedding was beautiful.

Reviewed On 4/18/2022 by Lace & B

Phil's Catering did an amazing job at the wedding we coordinated this weekend. They arrived on time, were beyond professional, served FANTASTIC food, and had a great staff to work with. This was the first time our company (Lace & Bow Events: We...

dding Coordinators) had worked with this caterer and man were we impressed. This particular wedding was a plated dinner as well which is hard to do, and do well. Their communication throughout the whole planning process was great also! As another vendor, we would love to work with them again!!!

Response from the Vendor on 04/18/2022

Thank you so much, Mandie Lincoln at Lace & Bow Events, it was such a pleasure to work with you as well, it's such a good feeling having coordinators with such good communication, hard work, and attention to detail to make sure our brides and g...

rooms have the best experience on there long anticipated day! What a beautiful wedding Ashley & Hugo provided for us to be a part of! Thank you and Cheers to a beautiful married couple! -Chef Mike

Reviewed On 3/22/2022 by Heather B

Save yourself stress & hassle and do not book with this company. Everything went smooth until supposedly Gary the OWNER, made a math error on our contract. I’m sorry but if I recall, math error or not, a contact is a contract regardless. It was...

a good $500 difference, and we ended up paying it because I just didn’t even want to deal with the hassle right before our wedding. He didn’t take any responsibility and would not budge or meet me even in the middle. Not to mention, the staff are seriously so unprofessional. I had a formal wedding & the way the staff acted was so embarrassing. Listen to the bad reviews on here.

Reviewed On 11/16/2021 by Kameron B

We hired Phil's Catering for our September 2021 wedding. We had a fine experience to start: menu creation, email communication, even an in person tasting. Then wedding day came and it was a COMPLETE disaster and embarrassment. 1. The staff was ...

late so no preceremony drinks were set up like intended. 2. The staff showed complete disrespect to our wedding planner and denied her when she asked for assistance 3. Disorganized serving of our family style dinner where some guests did not receive a complete entree. 4. They served moldy bread that we had to pull from everyone's table. When we addressed this with them, they knew it was because the bread was stored in bags that were sitting in a hot room, yet they still served them at our wedding. 5. Our steak was served completely raw and sitting in blood 6. We ordered Chicken Marsala but they forgot the Marsala sauce at the kitchen so they served dry and bland chicken, which is not what we paid for. 7. The staff was drinking alcohol from our bar, eating our desserts, and giving back massages to each other by our firepits in the reception area. The night went so horribly that our planner pulled her future brides from using this catering company and will no longer work with them. Our venue also will not be allowing them to be a vendor on their property. And the catering coordinator ended up quitting after the staff performed so horribly. We requested and received a partial refund for such poor service, but it does not take away from the horrible memories they provided on our wedding day. If you want good food and good service, look elsewhere.

Reviewed On 9/29/2021 by Koren C

The food was off the charts!! It was so delicious and was such a big hit!! The servers he provided were so amazing! I'd hire him again for the amazing Food and wonderful Wait Staff!

Reviewed On 4/29/2021 by Coleen G

This is my only vendor for my June 2021 wedding who refuses to move my deposit to our new date, which we have to move because of COVID. We are trying to reschedule our wedding for April 2022 to be hopefully in the clear of COVID and Gary refu...

ses to work with us. When I asked why he wasn’t being flexible, he made me feel like the pandemic is something I can control and should have known about. We were holding onto hope that June 2021 would be fine in California with the mass vaccine distribution, but I found out 2 months before that my venue doesn’t think we can have the amount of people we were hoping for. Even though it’s still up in the air, we made the painstaking decision to move it to next year and not risk it. I immediately contacted Gary, and all of my other vendors, to let them know and try to find a new date that would line up with everyone. Every single one of my other vendors showed empathy and compassion and moved our contract and corresponding deposits to our new date without question. Gary said I should have told him sooner as other brides with later dates already had moved theirs. I just don’t think this is how COVID couples should be treated when their date has to be pushed back.

Response from the Vendor on 04/29/2021

Hi Coleen Gravem, I move your date once already Coleen for Covid, that was last year. Then I sent all my brides in February of 2021 an email stating IF YOU feel that you may need to move your date AGAIN I will be more than willing to work you ...

now, not later. March 16th was the date that another bride knew for FOR SURE her wedding in July was not going to happen at the same venue as yours, that was over a month ago Coleen and her wedding is in July, your wedding was to be in early June!!!! And yet you had me staff your event and keep your date on my calendar when other brides were wanting to book that same date!!!! REAL FAIR Coleen, real fair! With all the work and an effort I have put into working with ALL brides you are the only bride who lost their deposit thru all of this COVID mess. Good Luck with your wedding Coleen!

Reviewed On 9/18/2018 by brandy M

We got SO MANY compliments from guests about Phils! We chose them after having a great experience as guests at another wedding and we are so glad we did! The food was delicious, even our pickiest eaters complimented everything! Shelly was so sw...

eet and attentive; they brought appetizers and water up a huge hill to our wedding party who were doing pictures and plates with special requests were delivered to me and my groom which allowed us to enjoy everything before the excitement of guests began. Shelly really did make our day so much brighter! This is one of few catering companies our venue allows and we can see why. They were so professional and kind, and left everything spotless! Chris was a joy to work with in the planning process and was helpful when we added vegetarian plates last minute, which we know must be a pain. Overall, we cannot say enough good things about Phil's food and staff! THANK YOU!!!

Reviewed On 10/13/2017 by Zach K

5 out of 5 on the food and staff day of for Phil’s! Service side/Support before the event 4 out of 5 (more below - nothing terrible!) The fresh grilled food on site was honestly some of the best wedding/event food we have ever had. It was just...

as good as our tasting. Everyone was so pleasant and helpful during the wedding from Setup to Clean Up. If any of the guests had a complaint, we are unaware and only heard good things! Leading up to the event though, 4 stars. We had some small misunderstandings along the way (were are probably partially to blame) but they came through in the end. We only mention this because if you need someone to help guide you with advice or to really hold you hand the whole way for planning the food/rentals/bar side of things, that is the only shortcoming of Phil’s. Just be careful to be precise and very descriptive in exactly what you want to be safe, and review every detail closely. Like we said, everything went great day of, but don’t rely on them to fill in any gray areas or point out any possible mistakes. We would recommend Phil’s for catering, and would use them again in the future if we have another event on the Central Coast.

Reviewed On 10/19/2016 by Amanda F

We can't even begin to explain how delicious the food was! Our guests are still raving about how yummy everything was and everyone kept going back for seconds and thirds because it was that delicious! Sheila and Cheis were both awesome to work ...

with and were so helpful. We also used Phil's for our tables and linen rentals, which made that part of the wedding planning and clean up process even easier! We will definitely be using Phil's again in the future and will be recommending them to everyone!

Reviewed On 8/24/2016 by Jessica O

The food at our wedding was amazing! All of our guests raved about it. On top of that, the service staff were incredibly sweet and totally on top of it! Such an amazing value for the price! They were also super responsive the year leading up to...

our wedding, making all of our requested changes and answering my million questions. Highly recommend to use for your wedding!

Reviewed On 8/15/2015 by Megan M

Phils catering has everything you need! We did our rentals and catering through them. We did a tasting with Phil personally and everything had so much flavor. We were very impressed. The appetizers we had were bbq sausages, cowboy brie styl...

e crostini, and bleu cheese stuffed mushrooms. For dinner we had grilled chicken with a lemon basil cream sauce, roasted red potatoes with a rosmary butter sauce, grilled seasoned vegetables, fresh cut fruit platter, asian pear salad with pear vinaigrette dressing, and focaccia bread with herb garlic butter. Everything tasted great! My favorite was the chicken. They give you one huge breast for yourself and it had so much flavor and was very moist. I was very impressed with the quality you get for a great value. The service was great! The servers continued to bring waters and appetizers for the bridal party and bride and groom while we were taking photos. Then, when we were sitting down for dinner, they continued to assist the bride and groom and made sure we were comfortable and satisfied. I was very impressed and everyone could not stop talking about how much they all loved the food! I highly recommend them as your caterer and rentals!

Reviewed On 9/05/2014 by Stephanie B

I used Phil's Catering for my wedding this past August and loved them! The food was delicious and they brought my husband and I appetizers out to us while we were taking pictures so we didn't miss out. They also made us plates and poured our ch...

ampagne! They were extremely helpful and very affordable! Our head count was 115 people and it cost us around $2,000.00. If you look around it's a good deal!

Reviewed On 9/12/2013 by Cady O

Fantastic food! They had many different options for food and worked with us to figure out what we wanted. The servers were also great!

Reviewed On 8/02/2013 by Tara B

Food was really good. Things went smoothly.

Reviewed On 5/07/2013 by J. L

Gary was great to work with, and the food was delicious! We chose BBQ as it was a more rustic wedding (at Flying Caballos Ranch in SLO), and everyone loved it! The service staff were all great, too. They even gave us a special "I Do" plate ...

with appetizers, which they set aside for us while we were taking pics (sadly, we have no idea what happened to the plate after the reception :-( We would HIGHLY recommend Phil's!!

Reviewed On 12/26/2012 by Andrea M

Loved the food!!! The chef, the banquet manager, the banquet servers all did an amazing job!

Reviewed On 11/06/2012 by Diana A

All of our guess were raving about the food! It was delicious and great for the cost. The staff was amazing and did a fantastic job and was tending to all of our needs and the guest needs. Thanks for an amazing job!!!

Reviewed On 8/09/2012 by Lauren C

Phil's catering was great to work with because their food was wonderful and they set up all our additional reception rentals for us. The cost per head included the dance floor, table linens and stage for the ceremony. They were affordable and h...

ad many types of food choices to work with. I sometimes felt as though my questions were an inconvenience for them but they did always help me with what I needed.

Reviewed On 4/30/2012 by Meghan C

We are so thankful that we hired Phil's Catering for our wedding day! Their staff really went above and beyond to make sure that our day was perfect. Gary, Cathy, Dan, and Becca were amazing from start to finish. They made sure we had a plat...

e of appetizers first thing when we arrived at cocktail hour, and brought us full plates of food as soon as dinner began. I think we are among the few brides and grooms who actually got to eat all of the food at their own wedding! And the food sure was delicious! We personally couldn't get over the mashed potatoes, and the guests are still raving about the food. Set up and clean up went off without a hitch, and the entire staff checked in with us periodically to make sure we were happy, but not in an intrusive way. I especially have to give a big thanks to Becca, who provided us with her dog kennel from her car when it became clear our beagle couldn't handle the party. And we loved Cathy's homemade bride and groom appetizer plate. It's those kinds of attention to detail that made our day perfect. Gary was responsive and easy to work with throughout, and the entire staff handled a great deal of things professionally and exceptionally. We will gladly recommend Phil's to anyone in the future!

Reviewed On 4/20/2012 by Mindy P

My Husband and I are total foodies! We chose Phil's Catering for our wedding because of their abundance of options, and their delicious food! At our wedding we enjoyed tray passed appetizers (stuffed mushrooms, crab cakes, and chicken pinwhee...

ls), a stationary table with fruit, veggies, and cheese, and for dinner; New York steak with a mushroom wine sauce, roasted new potatoes, and sauteed carrots, grilled halibut (in a picatta caper sauce) with a parmesan risotto, and sauteed carrots, or vegetarian stuffed shells. We could not keep up with all of the food compliments from our guests. The staff was so kind, and so nice to work with. Every single one of them came up to my Husband and I and complimented us, thanked us for having them be a part of our wedding, or wished us the best. Phil's Catering was an absolute pleasure to work with, and we would highly recommend them!

Reviewed On 1/11/2012 by Justine H

Gary was wonderful to work with! He helped me plan my menu and was very patient with me when I was asking a million questions. My banquet manager was also wonderful! She really took care of us and made our night easy. Only negative thing to say...

is that the Barley Pilaf I ordered was a bit bland and disappointing but over I received many many compliments on the food. Nobody left hungry!

Reviewed On 10/20/2011 by Jazmine R

When my husband and I were looking to hire a caterer for our wedding, we were looking for something delicious and affordable and Phil’s Catering gave us everything we wanted. We went food tasting at Phil’s Catering and we fell in love. We went ...

with a buffet style dinner – we thought this would go great with our golf course wedding. It was fantastic and the buffet was beautiful and classy! We ordered the prime rib and the grilled chicken and YUM!!! It was delicious. The event manager and all of the servers were friendly and very courteous. If we had to do it again – we would choose Phil’s Catering every time. Additionally, we were able to get all of our linens through Phil’s Catering, so this helped take the burden off of us. We recommend Phil’s 100%!!!

Reviewed On 7/21/2011 by Kelsey W

Great food and selection. Very reasonable pricing. The staff were delightful.

Reviewed On 7/06/2011 by Cherie F

Gary made really good food for the wedding and did a great job with the display (we went with a suckling pig which was a big hit with the wedding guests). He was a bit difficult to deal with leading up to the event, as he is not the best at com...

munication. Overall great execution of the food but a bit frustrating to deal with prior, especially when you are stressed when dealing with all the wedding issues. He had a great banquet manager the day of.

Reviewed On 5/21/2011 by Laura C

By far, one of the best, easiest, most perfect vendors of our wedding experience. Owner Gary is incredibly responsive and accommodating - willing to work with you to make your menu meet your budget and vision. From our initial tasting in his ki...

tchen, we knew from the first bite we'd found the perfect match! The food on the wedding day was amazing (the watermelon crab soup got raves from so many guests)... and Gary's wife Cathy was the most professional, sweet banquet manager. She kept everything moving along on track and thought of special little details to take care of our wedding party, like bringing over houre d'oevres during our photo session following the ceremony. Can accommodate extra duties like bartending, chair/table setup, trash removal, etc. Excellent food and service, and the nicest caterers around!

Reviewed On 11/19/2010 by Brandi G

Gary, Cathy and their daughter are reall great people. I probably emailed Gary at least 30 times throughout my planning and he was always polite and informative. Cathy is super sweet and very reassuring. I met their daughter at my wedding, s...

uper sweet as well. The staff, very confident and really nice. My guests were so impressed! The food was outstanding. All of my guests said the food was awesome especially the chicken. I received great feedback from all my Guests. I had an awesome experience thanks to them!

Reviewed On 9/24/2010 by amelia f

Working with Phil's Catering was a very positive experience. Gary was easy to communicate throughout the planning and executing of the wedding. The staff was very friendly and professional. Everyone enjoyed their food.

Reviewed On 8/25/2010 by Erin J

I Was vrey happy with Phils catering. The food was good, and the service was great. The only thing that wasn't perfect was some of the food I picked wasn't prepared the way I thought it was going to be. So if you use them make sure you ask ques...

tions about the dishes! Otherwise it was great and a fair price.

Reviewed On 5/10/2010 by Kristen B

Contact Info for Phil's Catering

8030 Santa Rosa Road, Atascadero, CA | CA

(805) 489-3869

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Meet the Team

Gary Vierra

Owner

Chef Gary Vierra My path to the catering business My interest in cooking started at very young age aka by attaining all our family cooking classes. My first cooking instructor was my Mom; her cooking classes were held 3 times a day every day as we watched her make our breakfast lunch & dinner. My second cooking class was taught by the world’s greatest Grill Master “Chef Dad”; dad’s classes were held mainly on the weekends and start the minute dad fired up the BBQ My love of cooking continued into high school as I became the first male student to take my High School’s Cooking class; the 1970