The Local Restaurant & Catering

h a good experience!!

ching to buffet to plated dinners and switching to an outdoor plan for our reception. We had our wedding tasting outside at the Local on the patio with our 12 week old pup and then went to MS events with our pup in a carrier and she was never fazed. On our wedding day, there was a constant threat of rain during the day. Ashley communicated fantastically and understood our priorities for our ceremony, cocktail hour and reception. The entire staff from the Local during our reception and cocktail hour were great - attentive and practicing safe social distancing/hand hygiene throughout the event! We got rave reviews about the beef tenderloin, scalloped potatoes and the crab cakes from a bunch of friends and family after our wedding. Working with the Local was easy, straightforward and every person we encountered along the wild ride of planning a wedding during a pandemic was kind and caring. Would highly recommend the Local for planning upcoming weddings and for any meal occasion in Cville. I've had a bunch of friends also use the Local for their weddings and have never heard a negative experience. Thank you so much Ashley and the Local team!

st. We received many compliments on the food, specifically on the salmon. We had an on site meeting with Ashley and our venue where we laid out the floor plan and decorations, but when it came to the day of there was some confusion between The Local and the venue in terms of dessert table set up. In the end it all worked out, but it could have been a little smoother. Our guest count was cut in half and Ashley and the Local were able to work with us to make sure the new guest count was well within our revised budget. We would highly recommend them for weddings, or just a meal. Ashley was great!

19, Michelle and her team were incredibly kind, responsive, and flexible. We changed our plans one month out from hosting our rehearsal dinner at The Local to having a socially distant 50 person dinner after our wedding ceremony on 7/11/2020. They made what was a stressful time planning much easier for us. I felt comfortable asking a million and one questions and they had quick and accommodating answers for all of them. When it came to day of, they also set everything up and were incredibly warm to all of our guests. Our guests are STILL raving about the food and drinks as well as how well the venue navigated safety in light of the virus. Many have said that it was the best food they have ever had at a wedding and we could not agree more. Over a month out I have continued to hear from people who have shared how comfortable they felt in the space. The space itself is also worth major kudos as it on its own is already a beautiful space and allows couples to be creative with how much or how little they want to decorate the space.

rty appetizers during pictures. I would recommend the Local, they made our day so special!

ktail hour even made sure to come up to my husband and I to make sure we got the appetizers we wanted! We also used The Local for wedding coordination and worked with Ashley who was incredibly helpful throughout the planning process. Not having to worry about the vendor coordination and details on my wedding day was truly a gift and we are so thankful for Ashley's support and keeping everything moving smoothly! We are so excited to go back to The Local for dinner to celebrate our wedding anniversary for years to come!

er all of our questions in the beginning. They have a huge food selection so you can really curate your own menu and make it unique to you. The Local staff during our wedding were the nicest and most attentive group- our guests kept complimenting how wonderful they were! Our guests raved about the food and specialty drinks (Moscow Mules & Old Fashioneds). Our planner from The Local was Emily Holter- I cannot say enough good things about her!! During the entire planning process Emily was organized, professional, positive, listened to my ideas, and helped me see the big picture. Anytime we had a meeting or phone call I could not wait to talk things through with her! She made the process efficient and fun at the same time. On our wedding day Emily kept the day so organized and everything was perfect :) Emily has such a strong vision of what needs to happen and makes everything work! The Local- fantastic food, drinks, & team!!

e staff was kind and swift and everything worked so smoothly and seamlessly. Our wedding coordinator, Emily Holter, was the absolute best. She works hard on the day of, answered all questions patiently and thoroughly, knows timelines and how to direct us towards wise decisions, kept in close communication throughout the whole process, and was FUN to work with! I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

timely, and quick to respond to email, text, or call. The food was awesome (best meatloaf ever, really!), the service was outstanding, and the overall smoothness of the ceremony and reception was top notch. We had our ceremony and reception at King Family Vineyard in Charlottesville and they were able to set up the chairs, tables, linens, bar, and decor like champs. While not as affordable as I wanted (roughly $35-40 per person, not including bar and rentals), I got what I paid for and more! An outstanding day made possible by an outstanding company. 5/5 (but really 10 out of 5), would and will recommend to everyone getting married in Charlottesville.

ent choices for each. They were incredibly easy to work with and very organized. A special shout-out is definitely in order for Helen, our day-of-coordinator who was also our point person at The Local. She made sure everything went perfectly at the wedding! My parents and my in-laws could not say enough about how effortless she made everything seem, and about how easy she made everything. I would highly recommend The Local to anyone!

pond to email, failed to answer my questions, and left a lot until the week of the wedding. She said they would take care of rentals but when she sent them to me to review (the week of the wedding after many prior requests) they were incomplete and my wedding planner ended up helping me complete the order directly with the coordinator at MS rentals. Love the food but they were my only vendor that I worked with that didn't respond to communication within a couple of days and that made me feel nervous things wouldn't get done correctly the day of the wedding.

ssional and friendly. The Local also helped us to coordinate rental items and made that process easy.

went above and beyond to make sure all of our guests were cared for.

ing. She made every process a breeze, and I was so happy to have her with us on our wedding day. We had so many compliments on the food and service. We could not be happier. :)

important part of the day for me, so we found The Local early. Catering was also the largest expense for us, but I wanted quality. The Local offered us quality food, locally sourced, freshly prepared and expertly served. They were flexible with me in wanting to serve the salads (not sitting there on the tables, ruins the aesthetic) but then also have the modern buffet for dinner. We had passed canapes during cocktail hour as well as the standing biscuit display! Another special detail was the beverage welcoming station, such a hit with my family to serve some southern hospitality. All the food was amazing and I’m so happy we were able to get to go boxes and enjoy a few days after the wedding! Also, the bartenders were a hit! We designed several specialty cocktails which The Local served just as I prescribed and the staff members at the bar were the funnest people. My only critique is communication. The Local was not always responsive and I would have to initiate almost all our conversations. Which is stressful as a first-time bride because I wasn’t sure how much time was required for each step. I only saw our catering coordinator one time in the process and that was at the final venue walkthrough, every other interaction was passed off to staff! The Local is obviously popular because the food really is so amazing, but communication needs to be worked on.

ms all boiled down to communication, or lack thereof. We constantly had to follow up on our emails to make sure they were seen and responded to (it almost seems like they've taken on more than they can handle). The Wednesday before our Saturday wedding, we were telling someone for the fourth time that no, we were not doing late night snacks so please remove them from the menu. We provided our own alcohol and the Local served it, and we had communicated weeks before that we were providing a case of a specific beer just for my uncle--this was totally fine with them. Fast forward to the day of the wedding, and one of our bridesmaids asked a bartender why he was serving that beer. He indicated no one had ever said anything to them about the limitation. Furthermore, we had two guests with food allergies--one (mother of the groom) is lactose intolerant, and the other has celiac. Because we were having so many communication issues, I brought up the allergies three separate times before our wedding day to make sure their dinners would be served correctly (we did a plated dinner). Sure enough, we saw my now-husband's mother's plate with a cream sauce on it, and my husband bolted to grab the plate and sicked our planner on the situation. She was able to intervene before the celiac plate was served, but it was just another frustration that we tried so hard to avoid. Again, all of this occurred behind the scenes, and it all had to do with communication. As far as the guests were concerned, everything was incredible and that's what mattered most to us. If you don't have a wedding planner who can handle the headaches for you and you get easily stressed, maybe avoid this caterer. But the Local was our first choice from the beginning, and overall, we're happy that we hired them.

their contract stating that they are “not responsible for lost personal items”, we were unable to recover the value of many “lost” items. I put lost in quotes because the staff stole items, cases of unopened wine and liquor that just “disappeared” after we left the venue and threw away items that I had indicated to the day of coordinator that I wanted to keep (our personalized welcome sign for instance). It is inexcusable that they state that they are not responsible for lost personal items when we paid them to pack up our cars at the end of the night.

atering captain and he was calm and very knowledgeable and professional. Everyone on the team for the day was kind and provided great service. Definitely nothing negative to say! They we're great, we couldn't have been happier with our decision to go with the Local.

were very quick to provide information on the menu and give us a quote. As soon as we mailed in our initial deposit to reserve the date, communications went silent. It took several unanswered emails for us to even learn whether they had received the check (it took a few weeks for them to deposit it). It also took several weeks (again, with emails that went unanswered, and multiple reminders) for us to get in touch with someone to schedule a tasting. (Once we were actually able to get it on the books, the tasting went great, by the way -- the food was amazing and we had a really great staff person showing us the ropes.) Several weeks before the wedding, my sister and I did a final walk-through at our venue. The Local sent a staff person to participate in it. During the walk-through, when we were going through final logistical details, we decided to order 2 cases of sparkling wine, to accommodate guests ordering it, as well as champagne toasts during the reception. This was explicitly discussed -- the reason I mention it is because somehow it was not communicated to the bar staff the night of our wedding. The day after the wedding, I learned from guests that the bartenders had refused to serve sparkling wine during the cocktail hour preceding the dinner. They had been instructed to withhold the sparkling in order to save it for the champagne toasts during dinner, despite the fact that we had ordered two cases explicitly to accommodate this. This resulted in guests requesting more white wine, so we ended up spending extra money because we had to order an extra case of white throughout the evening. Not only were my guests refused something that they asked for (that we had plenty of), but the next day the venue asked me to pick up the remaining wine from the prior evening. I arrived to the site to learn that there was an entire unused case of sparkling. We do not live near Virginia, and were flying back home the next day. Unable to pack the unused wine, we ended up giving it away to family and friends who lived nearby. When I emailed The Local about this error, they were pretty unapologetic about their mismanagement of the situation. They indicated that their policy is to withhold sparkling during the cocktail hour if there is a toast (they had not communicated this policy with me or my fiance prior to the event). I indicated that we explicitly ordered two cases so that we would avoid having to withholding any wine. I asked that they covered the cost of the unused case of wine (about $500 including tax), as this was a waste of our money on an already very tight budget. They offered $200. I indicated that this was unsatisfactory, but if it was the only solution they could offer, asked them to let me know of next steps. This was two weeks ago now, and I have still not heard back. Again, the food was great, the event staff was courteous, but the sales and catering staff have been frustrating to work with. My advice for couples considering them is to keep them accountable for the decisions you make and the preferences you have. We did not do that, entrusting them to carry out our wishes without having to be too pushy, but unfortunately we ended up wasting a lot of money as a result.

ocess and was always a step ahead. She ensured that the wedding went smoothly.

to choose from), then plated salad, followed by Buffett entree (highly recommend the salmon and chicken with fingerling potatoes, and green beans). They are very accommodating for kids and family/friends with food allergies or diet restrictions; they brought out fresh fruit during the salads, and macaroni and cheese with chicken tenders during the meal for the kids, and vegan dish for a couple guests. They ended up getting my husband and I drinks that we wanted, and making plates for my husband and I and brought it to our sweetheart table since we had so many guests coming up to us during the reception. Will definitely be stopping by their restaurant anytime we are back in Charlottesville area; couldn’t have asked for a better catering company! The only thing I would suggest in the future, is when it’s time to cut the cake, ask them to cut small slices of cake, as the slices were big and ended up with hardly any leftovers of cake.

d when I've seen people since the wedding, they are STILL talking about the food... specifically the pulled pork and the truffle mac and cheese! People in the food business in DC that attended the wedding said it was hands down the best food they've had at a wedding... everything was hot, the flavors were great and the servings were generous! We can't wait to get back down to Charlottesville to go for dinner and re-eat everything from the wedding at the restaurant. Seriously... my dad keeps talking about when the soonest we could get back down there would be. Besides the delicious food, we feel so lucky to have had Helen Osinga as our day of coordinator! Throughout the planning process, she was organized, thorough with ideas and suggestions, and always accessible. When it started to get closer to the wedding, she kept us on track with everything we didn't even know that we needed to do (insurance, VA officiant restrictions, etc.) The day of the wedding couldn't have gone better. It felt like Helen was always one step ahead of us, and was calm while doing it! Again, everyone we talked to couldn't stop RAVING about her! Both Chris and I had multiple people come up to tell us about something amazing she'd done, suggested or thought of. Additionally, we had a family friend come up from DC to do all of our flowers and she said that she's done hundreds of weddings and Helen was the absolute best day-of coordinator she's worked with. She said she would come work an event with her anyday! We could go on and on, and are both so thankful and appreciative of The Local and Helen for all of your work, organization and yummy food! Thanks for making our wedding the absolute best!

e enjoyed the one stop shop mentality-they brought the servers, bartenders, kitchen staff and coordinated with the rental company. We had a great experience!

roomsmen suite at the end of the night and took $300 and my watch from the back of my jeans I was wearing earlier that day. When we got home the following morning we noticed that my dad's card was missing out of the card basket so it raised a lot of suspicion as to if there were more. We made a list of guests that we did not receive cards from and called the family. It turned out that roughly 20 cards were missing. When calling we found out that we had guest that remembered watching a staff member take our card basket to the back office and bring it back out a few minutes later. We filled a police report and the staff member has dodged the deputy multiple times when asked to come in for questioning. Because no one filled a statement, the catering company does not legally have anything held against them; because of this we are not getting compensated. The Local has stopped calling us back after multiple attempts of reaching out. This company has poor integrity and refused to help re-mediate the situation. I would not wish this upon any future newly wed couple to come.

e ordered lunch for the bridal party so that they would have something to eat while getting ready. The food arrived over an hour late. Even though we provided a detail description of the table setting, our table (parents of the bride) was in the back corner of the venue near the entrance to the bathroom and far from the sweetheart table. By the time we were introduced into the reception, guests were already seated at what should have been the parents-of- the-bride table. While the meal was flavorful, dinner was served cold in pots that had chipping paint. Not what I would expect from a high-end caterer. During the formal reception, two of the back kitchen staff walked through the reception wearing jeans, hoodies, and ball caps. One of the ball caps had the word "Fuck" written in white letters on it. Mind you, this was a formal wedding with children. When confronted as to what they were doing, they said, "Oh we're going to use the bathroom." The staff had access to another bathroom. Later that evening, one of our guests saw the kitchen help take the birdcage of cards into the kitchen and return it several minutes later. Sure enough, at the end of the night we discovered several missing cards. In addition, the groom had over $200 stolen from his wallet which was in the groom's suite. In all it was well over $1000. Now, you may be thinking how do you know it was someone from The Local. What I can say is that we filed a police report and the person who was accused of taking the money has not cooperated with police. We've reached out to The Local several times to try and come to a resolution, and it's only been since we've started writing reviews have they begun to engage. My recommendation is to save your money and go elsewhere.

ed a meeting with the deputy, never showed, then left town. The catering company has done nothing to reimburse us. The tasting was good and attractive, the day of our wedding the presentation of the food was a flop and they got all the sauces wrong along with it being cold. We paid for coffee, cup rentals, NA beverage stations - none of which ever showed up (only bar). They didn't follow our seating chart and placed the parents of the bride's table in the back corner by the bathrooms.

tering at our wedding was better than we could have imagined. Our friends and family raved about the taste and quality of the food. And if that wasn’t enough, Courtney was an incredible wedding coordinator, going above and beyond not just on our wedding day, but throughout our entire wedding planning process. Whenever we felt clueless, Courtney was there to answer our questions and make suggestions, including recommending great vendors. On our wedding day she made sure everyone was exactly where they needed to be, and kept us on time and everything running smoothly. She also set up all of the décor and with her eye for creativity and detail, it looked even better than we had envisioned. She even had the kitchen prepare a plate just for the groom’s dietary restrictions. The Local provided memorable food and working with Courtney gave us the peace of mind that our wedding would go smoothly (and it did).

along the way, but in person and on the day of, we were very happy with the service.

s and only had two servings left! Their bartenders kept up with demand and LOVED the fuzzy navels - one of our signature cocktails. The team was wonderful to work with and the food was delicious. Highly recommend!

d every little detail perfectly. In addition, we had Helen as our "day of coordinator," which was required by our venue, and I'm so glad we did. She was more like an all-over Wedding helper. She made sure every thing was just right the day of our Wedding.

ny for linen, plates, etc. I do not regret coming to them. They made the proposal and tasting process so easy as well!

e desserts safe from our mischievous dog before the guests could try them. We highly recommend them!!

best part about choosing The Local (in my opinion) is their event coordinators & staff. The Local has a team of extremely talented people that care about their clients and making your big day absolutely perfect. Helen & Justice (our event coordinators) went above and beyond to make sure the planning process was smooth and painless and that our wedding reception went off without a hitch. When I started searching for caterers in Charlottesville, I felt a little overwhelmed by all of the choices and then a little frustrated by all of the ones that took soo long to respond to my inquiry. Finally, I found The Local and received a very prompt response from Helen – It was clear she had taken the time to read my inquiry and was already sending me ideas that fit my wants, needs, and budget. I was sold on The Local immediately and it was the best decision! The Local has a great selection of choices when it comes to food and if they don’t serve something you have in mind, they’re very willing to try new things! I don’t think they had ever served a mashed potato bar before but Helen made it happen (it was the bomb!). The tasting is a great opportunity to try their food, get a sense for their cooking style & quality, and leave for home feeling fat and happy! Helen & Justice were so hands on, patient, responsive, and just a fun people to work with. I was so nervous at first about planning the catering for our wedding but they made me feel calm & confident throughout the whole process. They were always available for a phone call or open to meeting in Charlottesville – like for the tasting and even a walk through at the venue days before the wedding. Thank you for everything The Local!

She helped us choose a menu, plan for deliveries and decor and work with a dozen vendors over the course of months of planning. She also took over scheduling and overseeing things on the wedding weekend allowing us to enjoy the moment. We cannot thank her enough. We had booked The Local before choosing the venue. We chose high quality ingredients and a top-shelf drink package with craft cocktails, local beers and wines and The Local delivered it all to perfection at both events. It has now been a over a year since our wedding and people still mention to us how amazing the catering was, not only in general terms, but also by mentioning many of the specific things they ate and drank. We highly recommend The Local and look forward to going to dinner there when we visit Charlottesville.

for our wedding day-of coordinating. Courtney was instrumental in our wedding day. I could never thank her enough for how amazing and helpful she was. She went FAR above and beyond, not only on the day of the wedding, but for a year and a half. Courtney is very responsive, professional, flexible, and she has a very calming, yet in-control demeaner that I truly appreciated. She has done it all and has answers/helpful advice for any questions you may have. Having wedding vendors that you can trust is crucial, and I trusted Courtney with any and all decisions 110%. THANK YOU, Courtney!! The Local is the cutest restaurant to host a rehearsal dinner. Our out of town guests absolutely loved the Virginia charm with the exposed brick, stained glass windows, balcony with hanging flowers, etc. and they could not stop raving about the food. So wonderful! On the day of the wedding, The Local was absolutely amazing at helping to set up my venue. I had planned for a very large dessert bar, and had specific decor requests. After hours of very detailed setup, I saw the reception venue and was FLOORED with what they had done. Everything looked better than I could have ever imagined. The wait staff, bartenders, service, food... everything was absolutely perfect. Our wedding day was perfect, not a single hiccup, and I owe a great deal of my thanks to The Local for this and for all of their help. As if that all wasn't enough, The Local is also incredibly flexibile and offered me many options to make my budget work. I could not be more happy with The Local. Anyone looking for wedding catering MUST use them. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Courtney and The Local!

menu and then once more to decide on rentals. She was really easy going about some of our preferences, like providing our own alcohol and desserts. She also made sure that we as the bride and groom were taken care of. One example of her amazing attention to detail -- I mentioned in passing what my fiance's favorite dish is at The Local and not only was it added to the menu but Courtney made sure his plate included plenty of it! Nice surprises like that really made the night for us and we could not have done it without the Local.

ever I am in town I will definitely be stopping by the restaurant The Local to eat! It is SO good!!!

The same held for the cocktail hour and reception, as they served our food and beverages in a respectful, friendly, and efficient manner. The food itself sold us on "The Local"-- we fell in love with it at the tasting and were beyond happy with what was served at our cocktail hour and reception. Our guests, quite some time after the wedding now, continue to talk about how delicious everything was (and keep bugging me to ask our caterers for recipes!) Pricing of food and service also felt very fair-- some caterers seem to puff up costs but "The Local" was concerned about helping us keep cost down and included many items in the overall cost that some other caterers in the Charlottesville area would charge separately for. Money well spent, for sure! My only feedback in terms of areas for growth for "The Local" centers on the planning and communication process. I am someone who likes to plan ahead and am extremely organized. The point person for "The Local" is very friendly and very good at what she does (witnessed her excellent abilities firsthand day-of!). However, for almost the entire year leading up to the wedding it was often very difficult to get email responses (even for just getting the contract in place). We were promised a "one stop shop" experience in that "The Local" would help us coordinate various details (and especially with the rental company we used for tables, chairs, plates, silverware, etc.). I was often frustrated with how little of that often happened and felt that I needed to send several emails or make several phone calls before something would push through and stick in terms of planning. Had I simply been warned ahead of time that most of those details would be attended to, at earliest, a month in advance of the wedding, I would have worried less and experienced significantly less stress. Overall, we were very pleased with the day-of results and would not change a thing in terms of the catering service or food. *Try their Crispy Shrimp-- it's amazing! I recommend that you just even go to "The Local" for dinner some time (they are a really beautiful, local Charlottesville restaurant with a whole lot of charm and excellent food and beverages!).

quality, service perfect, and the planning process was so laid back and easy. They catered to every thing we wanted. They even have a built in screen and projector set-up for our rehearsal dinner slide show. Lots of fun for everyone, because after dinner we invited everyone else besides families to join us at 9:00 for an open bar and the party lasted until midnight. Very laid back but very attractive. Couldn't be better.

redibly expensive. That's when The Local came in. They were so incredibly nice and eager to do our wedding, the menu that the chef made for us was fantastic, and the service was excellent! Our experience was so good that we also had our rehearsal dinner at the restaurant the night before the wedding. But the food was different both days! Nothing was repeated from the rehearsal dinner to the reception dinner! The price was really great. Ours got a little more expensive because our guest list was pretty large. The only drawback is that this place is getting so popular that their wedding coordinators are spread pretty thin and so it was hard sometimes to get them on the phone or to reply to emails. But they were so sweet and accommodating which more than made up for the non communication at times.