Cheat A Little Catering

We spent $200 per guest on catering, and the honoree's name was misspelled on the menus. (The name was spelled correctly on the contract and invoice). In general, slow communication and lack of attention to details. Would not recommend.

Used this catering business now a couple of times. Very professional food is amazing. Brian is very nice helpful easy to work with. I received many complements on the potatoes salad and brazen beef ribs.

Brian and his team are terrific. Had an event scheduled for Dec 10, '21 with another caterer in a venue that had strict insurance requirements that my first caterer couldn't fulfill at the last minute. Contacted Brian and he worked with me and the venue to produce all of their COIs (Certificate of Insurance). We had a great dinner and his team was easy to work with and the food was FABULOUS! He saved our event and everyone was so appreciative of it. Please use them - you won't be sorry!

My wife and I wanted to throw a pleasant low key holiday party, and I found Brian and his team on Yelp. They were great! His team was super professional and took charge/initiative in a pleasant manner. We were able to relax and not stress at all. Food and arrangements were brilliant. Theme/feel of party was what I wanted. And all the rentals/setup on target.

We did wedding catering and rental through cheat a little. Highly recommend! Everything worked out very smoothly. It did not take any of my attention on the day. Everything just magically appeared in place. (With all the things happening on the wedding day, it means so much.) Many guests commented on how great the food is! We have a fairly tight budget and Brian was able to work it out with us.

I do want to mention that a percentage service fee is applied to all the services you get through cheat a little. Something to keep in mind while budgeting. In the end the smooth transition is definitely worth it. I wouldn't do it another way.

Catered our kids birthday party (mostly for adults) and the food was a big hit! Food was delicious and we'll prepared.

Recently hired this team to cater a private company event at my home and it was an exceptional experience. The food was fantastic - everyone raved about all the dishes. The staff was professional, organized and affable. No detail overlooked. We were all extremely impressed. I would not hesitant to hire them again. Great job!

Great local business that helps support local communities. They provided a fantastic lunch for Fox Theatere during the community business "deboarding" project this weekend. Good crew that respects and adheres to the Covid health and safety standards. Would definitely use them for any party we have coming up!

I used them this weekend for a small funeral event. They offer many services. The food was amazing. the shrimp platter was great. They were on time for delivery & pick up. very nice people. they all used covid precautions.

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank Brian and his team. We hired them to assist us with a community event and during a time where social distancing and just being plain ole safe is so extremely important, Brian was able to help us navigate it all, while preparing an incredible lunch for the community. Outstanding service Brian, thank you!

Ordered a full tray of charsui royale and 1/2 tray of macaroni salad for a potluck. The food was ready on time and hot. The guests loved the food. A few recognized the food by sight and said, "Wow Cheat A Little Catering that's great!" Thank you Paul for your consistent high quality and good service.

THANK YOU! Last night's event was a huge success thanks to you and your team. I enjoyed working with your chef and server (I'd type in their names if I could recall - it's been a long week!) from the moment they arrived throughout the evening. They were truly professional and efficient and the setup of the buffet was beautiful. And the food - it was spectacular!

The clients who were able to stay for dinner were truly impressed and this morning were still talking about how much they enjoyed dinner last night. On a personal note, those whipped potatoes were so worth the wait! Overall, I'm so glad we had the chance to work with you. You made the process very easy and I never felt nervous or anxious about the event. I can't thank you guys enough and will look forward to working with you in the future should we plan something similar.

We hired Cheat a Little to cater a board reception at our home based on the good reviews here and on Nextdoor. We were disappointed in several aspects of the experience and embarrassed by the poor quality of the tepid, dry food. Most importantly, neither the kitchen chef nor the on-site chef paid any attention to the directives regarding food allergies.

Though I had discussed the issue in detail with both James and Brian, and it was in all caps at the top of our event order, the very first dish they brought out was covered in an ingredient we had requested not even be brought onto our property. In our case, the affected individuals do not have life-threatening reactions and were able simply to avoid what turned out to be multiple compromised dishes, but I am posting this review because for some people this sort of carelessness could result in an ER trip or worse.

There were quite a few other problems. They ordered the wrong chairs from the rental company (fortunately, the rental company was able to make the switch in time, though the replacements they scrambled to deliver were very banged up). The chef did not keep the passed appetizers flowing, leaving our guests standing around with no food for 5-10 minute stretches multiple times.

I had to excuse myself from three separate conversations to run downstairs and tell them to send food up, as the upstairs bartender had no way to communicate with the chef and servers while they were all hanging out downstairs. The passed appetizers that should have been hot were lukewarm, or unevenly heated with hot and cold spots in the same bite.

Those that involved bread (ham & cheese triangles, chicken & waffle bites, flatbread) were dry and had too much bread relative to the flavorful ingredients. The "triangles" were actually presented as ordinary sandwiches cut in half (as one might find in a middle school cafeteria), rather than with the excess crust trimmed off or any effort to make them appear polished.

For the chicken and waffle bites, the "miniature" waffle piece was so large (~3" long) that it was awkward to handle with the skewer provided. The wraps were good, but I never saw them until after the event as they were never offered to any conversation I was in. They did show up on time, the servers were friendly, and they managed setup and take down without damaging our home.

I have a side business as an Event Coordinator and Cheat A Little Catering will always be a top pick of mine! They are so quick on response time, offer a wide selection and are always happy to customize a menu to fit my clients needs. James is my go to guy and not only has a wonderful presence but is highly knowledgeable. Their delivery team has a great attitude and is very engaging with both myself and my clients. Thank you Cheat A Little for all that you do! You absolutely have my recommendation!

Cheat a Little catered my August 2018 wedding at the CuriOdyssey Museum. I reached out to them because they are on the approved caterer list and I knew they'd know the venue and its logistics. Our wedding's organization definitely benefited from the company's positive relationship with the museum. I worked with Brian, who was professional and organized from the start. Cheat a Little coordinated table/linen/flatware/glassware rentals, non alcoholic drinks, cocktail hour food, dinner buffet and a dessert/coffee bar.

Our menu was 3 passed appetizers and some stationary mezze platters of hummus and pita. For entrees, beef, fish and limited portion vegetarian buffet items with salads and roasted vegetables on the side. CAL also coordinated florals and MC services from other vendors. My fiance and I bought our own beer/wine for Cheat a Little to serve, ordered a cake from an outside vendor, hired a band ourselves and hired an outside wedding coordinator.

It was great that CAL could scale their services to as much or as little as we needed - florals and MC were services we added later. After signing on with CAL, I went to a free tasting to sample the menu. It was easy to make a few small changes - the team can do anything, menu-wise. As the date of our event approached, I worked with Brian, our wedding coordinator and the venue to plan a table layout.

We initially scoped 175 guests, thought we had 200 one month out and had 210 day of. Cheat a Little accommodated with no problems. Our guests raved about the food, the professionalism and organization of the staff and the overall smoothness of the event. We even got to keep leftover food, which was great to feed family who stayed in town after the wedding. Highly recommended!

Excellent customer service and responsiveness. Brian prepared an amazing and thoughtful menu for our son's party. We're looking forward to working with him for parties in the future.

Hello We used Cheat a Little for my dads celebration of life. These things are hard to plan in terms of getting a proper head count. We ended up having over 200 guests while predicting 125. Brian and has staff took everything in stride and worked so hard for the event. They provided excellent service. In addition, they were very complimentary of the event itself and were just a pleasure to work with.

Regarding Brian, the owner, I have to say I have never been so impressed with someone. We had mistakenly thought that the venue we went with provided a speaker and sound system (long story). We walked in the venue at 2pm for a 3pm start time to discover no podium, sound system or microphone. Brian somehow got on the phone, ordered one, picked it up, installed it and got it working by 3:30.

One of the most impressive pieces of customer service I have ever witnessed. Needless to say the event was marvelous, a fitting tribute to my dad. Thank you to Cheat a Little! Kevin Brodie

We had a tasting with Cheat a Little Catering a couple months ago when we were trying to decide which caterer to use for our October wedding. Although we didn't end up choosing Cheat a Little Catering, I still want to give the tasting experience some props! Brian was very professional. He and his chef came prepared with everything they needed for the tasting, including the cutlery, glassware, and plates.

Our table was set up very nicely to show what sort of table setting could be used. When the food was served, the chef described each dish to us so we knew exactly how the dish was prepared. Overall, the food was great and we didn't really have many complaints. The tasting was for four people, but they made more than enough for each of us to get a taste.

They even packed up the leftovers for us to keep. It was our first tasting experience and definitely left a very good impression. They even sneaked in some extra desserts for us to taste too! Although we didn't end up choosing Cheat a Little Catering in the end for other reasons, I would still highly recommend their services. One thing I really liked was that they had a "master menu" for you to choose from when you are trying to choose the menu for your event.

After you give them some of your preferred choices and your budget, they are able to create a menu that would work for you. I don't know anything about the food industry and know nothing about what a reasonable budget is, so having that guideline to work with was definitely helpful for me. I believe they have their own showroom for you to visit, so most, if not all, their rentals are all in-house, which is another plus if you don't want to deal with too many vendors when planning an event.

We used them for my son and daughter-in-law's baby shower. They were very easy to work with and very accommodating of our last minute changes. Day of the event, they came in like a whirlwind and set up and were ready to go when the guests arrived. The servers were very attentive to the guests, as well as making sure the buffet was well stocked.

We received great reviews on the service as well as the food. When the party was over, the kitchen was clean and the extra food was packaged and in the refrigerator. And their price was very reasonable. Couldn't have asked for more, and would definitely use them again.

I used them over the weekend to cater my Baby Shower. They arrived ahead of schedule to set up and provided very nice display serving trays. They also printed out label cards, so my guests knew what each dish was. The planning process was easy and done primarily via email. Lots of entree selections and items that are low fat; as we wanted to keep our catering somewhat healthy and light in meal content.

The waldorf and spinach salads were light and so good! My guests commented the whole time on how great the food was. Pricing was reasonable, compared to other local venues and last minute additions were easy to make with no hassle.

I have to say I was really disappointed with the food and the service. My husband's company hired Cheat A Little Catering to cater their annual awards ceremony held at the Fox Theater in Redwood City. Here are the high/lowlights of my experience: *My husbands steak portion was teeny tiny, maybe 2 oz. at best, while mine was about 4, so I gave him my plate and essentially went hungry, as the rest of the food on the plate: veggies and potatoes were also in a teeny tine portions.

We sat in 2 hours of traffic getting to the event and we were starving. I think I ate more bread rolls that night than steak, veggies, and potatoes. *The peppercorn sauce on the steak was so overly peppered the steak was inedible in my opinion. *Our table was completely skipped for wine service, we had to request wine service multiple times and we never actually received our wine. *During the dinner service the CTO was presenting awards and giving a speech, the catering staff were standing right behind me bickering at each other and not at all in hushed tones.

I could not hear what the CTO was saying over the bickering back and forth. Super unprofessional! *The served us lukewarm coffee and we never received any cream and sugar. I would recommend skipping this business and contacting Catered Too, they have exceptional food and exceptional service, you won't be sorry!

I am adding one star on my review because I have called the owner Brian, who apologized for the unsatisfied service and offered to pay the $160 cost of the additional refreshment I paid from my own pocket if I remove my review on Yelp. I agreed to it first but I felt bad doing so. That's why I decided to not get the payment but update some information here. 1.

In the response, I was blamed for being 30 min late. However, I was never instructed a time to meet at the first place. I appreciate they arrived 1 hour before the event started, but I assumed setting up some simple refreshment will not take that long. 2. Again, as I mentioned in the original review, there was no table cloth, no fruit, no tea, no hot water, no sugars and cream in the afternoon refreshment session, which is totally against the contract.

There were two cookie plates, and one Starbucks "coffee in a box" that contains 12 cups of coffee; while I was having a 35 people event. 3. I have never agreed "upon ahead of time that the afternoon service would be all disposable". There was no budget restraint, therefore it is untrue that Cheatalittle is making "effort to keep cost down and save our staff and delivery fees to help this client meet budget restraints".

In the contract, it clearly listed there will be two additional delivery and pick-ups (charged). But there was only one. 4. Finally, I was blamed for not calling in when I saw the poor refreshment in the afternoon. It was because I was shocked and embarrassed in front of thirty guests, two professors, and my supervisor. I simply cannot risk asking them to come back and fix it.

I have called twice at lunch time, but they were still half hour late. I had to rely on myself to get it in the right way immediately at that moment. I feel very sad that my experience is not as good as the other people on Yelp. And my supervisor may never let me arrange an important conference in the future any more. I even start doubting about the accuracy of Yelp reviews. Anyway, my first catering experience ended with a lot of stress and unhappy feelings. I hope others have better luck than me.