Reviews of Chef By Design Catering (Catering)

Jasmine Hindman

We first had Chef By Design at a friends wedding a few years ago, and we always talked about how great the food was. When we got enagaged, this was our first atop, and did not disappoint! Staci, Marcy, and Emily went above and beyond for us. No matter the question or request, they made everything a dream for our big day! Our tasting was completely customized to our tastes, and thw food was even better than we remembered the day of our wedding! The food was amazing and my guests couldn't stop raving about it all night long! Their attention to detail and customer service was the best we have evr experienced. We ran into some issues the with rentals due to weather, and they were quick to coordinate with us to get it fixed!! I cannot recommend them enough.

Paramount Builders

Chef by Design was an easy decision when we first began planning our company Labor Day Party. Paramount Builders has been in business for 29 years and has 2-3 events every year. We are very familiar with every caterer in the area for small and large groups. Every experience that we have had with CBD has been flawless! For this event we knew we would be having 175+ guests and needed a catering company that could not only provide quality cuisine but also excellent service. Marcy and her team were very accommodating and worked with us to create the perfect seafood menu for our backyard event. Chef by Design has many menu items they are known for, so we were sure to include those in our event (ahi tacos, watermelon pizza, etc). The event coordinator, Joanie, was extremely communicative and even came on site to plan our rentals and layout for the party weeks in advance-she even handled all of the communication with the rental company to reduce stress for us. The day of the party was PERFECT. CBD had a full team of 20+ men/women to handle all aspects of the party. The team was professional and always had smiles on their faces. They were constantly picking up after guests, offering drinks as guests arrived, and ensured everyone had what they needed. I had never experienced service like this before at any other event. The food was a total hit! Our seafood/TexMex displays were very stylish and laid out efficiently for such a large event. The display was never empty as staff were constantly refilling it. Guests were raving that the food was the best they ever had at an event & I agree. Chef John even customized a similar Steinhilber’s shrimp for us which was to die for! The event was flawless and success is absolutely credited to the preparation of Marcy and Joanie as well as the excellent effort & professional service of the CBD staff. We will continue to use CBD in the future as they over exceeded our expectations at our event. Marcy and John run a tight ship which is evident in all the other reviews you will read. Not only is the food and service great but the owners radiate such positive values in their everyday lives. We adore Chef by Design and can’t wait to have another event to have CBD cater at. You will not be disappointed!

Meredith Law

Loved them! Our wedding was awesome, and people are still talking about how delicious the food was. Chef by Design covered an upscale cocktail hour, to a country style dinner, and it was all amazing!

keyia

Stacy did a good job, she was a really big help to us as we prepared for my mom's 50th birthday. I wish I could rate them higher but I had some issues. We were excited to work with them because they were very friendly on the phone. We did feel however that they took a while to respond in the very beginning when we were trying to get our menu together. Once we finally did, we did a food tasting and found the spinach dip to be a bit salty and my mom doesn't eat corn so I asked that the corn be taken out of the rockfish cakes. They assured us that they could make any changes we requested. I had an added bonus to my rockfish cake.....A HAIR. I was immediately turned off but because of the limited amount of time we had before the party and the fact that they were one of the preferred vendors of the venue, I decided to let that go (mistakes happen). The venue we had our event at didnt allow use of their oven, they only supplied a prep kitchen and they stated that all of their preferred vendors knew that however we didnt find this out until one week before the party and guess who had to pay an additional $350 bucks to rent an oven? WE DID! I was upset because I felt that the caterer knew this already but withheld this additional expense until the last minute. I think the venue and the caterer share blame in that detail. In addition to that, we came in the week of the party to make our final payment only to be told that there would be a 4% fee to pay by credit card (just because). Buying catered food expensive enough, why try to nickle and dime someone. Between the rented oven and credit card convenience fee, they got almost $500 extra bucks out of us they we never got to see. The night of the party was hectic for me, I was too busy hosting to really sit down and eat my food. Later that night I got home and began to eat party leftovers and guess what i found in my Rockfish cakes......CORN. We only asked for two changes, no corn in the Rockfish and less salt in the dip. The dip was ok but we paid thousands of dollars and im not quite sure why we didn't get exactly what we asked for.

Rachel Kennedy

THE Best food I've had at a wedding. THE best service I've ever had from a caterer! BEYOND happy with the overall staff and Emily the coordinator did a tremendous job. HIGHLY recommend them for any events you may have.

Sarah Clarke

The entire team at Chef By Design was amazing for our wedding! They were so professional and ous guests were raving about how good the food was! They coordinated some rentals for us too and were so helpful throughout the process. We are very grateful that we decided to hire them!

Steve J

As a couple who comes to you with over 3 decades of combined experience in the restaurant industry; nearly half of which spent in the NYC dining scene, you have blown us away with your creativity, focus and dedication to your craft. After meeting with you to discuss our vision and concluding the introductory tasting it was obvious that there was simply no other choice by comparison. Through your influence, the bar for which every other catering business in VA Beach is measured should forever be set by you. All other businesses, whether it be bar or restaurant should fall in line and learn from your example. It is our belief that you set the standard in VA Beach and our hope is that others will learn of you by any means necessary, including this letter. From a culinary and service standpoint you are truly in a class of your own and you are deserving of being one of the most coveted food and service professionals in the Hampton Roads. There are very few chefs who could pull off such an exceptional menu for over 100 guests and maintain the integrity of each dish as it was intended; in addition to having a staff that provides a separate beer or wine pairing for each of the five courses and are able to time is flawlessly. The NY Times would award you no less than three stars for achieving this on a consistent level given the quality of production on both ends. Our guests have said to us time after time that it was the best dinner that they have had at a wedding or otherwise. Chef John Telfer should be commended for his ability to execute at such a high level. Also deserving of praise is Co-Owner/Director of Catering Marcy Telfer and Catering Manager Joanie Powell for their tireless efforts to seek perfection and for their personal, hands-on approach to achieving it. These three lead an all-star team of service professionals who carry with them a wealth of knowledge and are more than capable of working in the finest of dining settings. We cannot say enough how happy we are that Chef by Design was our caterer for what was the most important day of our lives. We sincerely and wholeheartedly want to thank you all for your exceptional service and hospitality. You exceed our already high expectations and made our wedding reception one of our top dining experiences ever and an evening that we will never forget. We wish you all continued success!