caterers etc

Disgraceful company. They served us poor quality finger food at my sons first birthday party and naming day. Rock hard mini pies and risotto balls fallen into mash. Also didnt deliver nibbles included in the price. The man who seems to be in charge promised half of the refund. Ive been waiting for it and chasing him for that for over 3 months. I cant believe such companies would exist and try to get away by ripping people off and ruining their special days.
Dec 1st, 2018

After a few initial doubts, my parents and I still decided to go with Stephen Hurley and Caterers Etc, but it was a complete disaster: On the day (14th August 2015) it was raining, and Stephen had not organised a wet weather plan for our drinks reception, so our 126 guests were sitting around for an hour with no canaps or drinks, while he and the few waitresses set up a table for a drinks reception in the smallest hallway possible. Drinks reception started over an hour late, guests were packed into a tiny school hallway, with a further queue out into the rain waiting to get to the drinks. The meal then began, an hour and a half late. There were not enough waitresses, so service of the starters was slow, but that is nothing compared to what happened in the main course. Fair enough, we had an unusual meal, a fried breakfast served 'family style', where tureens are served to tables and guests help themselves from the middle of the table. They ran out of soft drinks because they had used the majority of them in the drinks reception. They served the tables in the wrong order, and some of the most important tables with our immediate families on them did not get most of the components of the fried breakfast, because they were serving seconds to some tables before some people had eaten anything at all. One particular table only had mushrooms and tomatoes, served after everyone else was eating, and then got cold veggie sausages because they had run out of everything else. Stephen only had one chef in the kitchen, cooking what is a fairly immediate meal that needs to be cooked and served as quickly as possible. Because the meal had been served so late (we wanted it to be finished by 8pm, but service of only 2/3 courses took over 3 hours, and we were finishing about 10.30pm), we didn't get any of our evening section, with music and dancing. Which didn't matter anyway, because they did not break down any of the tables to give us more space, so our first dance was crushed in between 2 tables, and my mother and mother-in-law ended up cutting up and serving the wedding cake to guests because by then Stephen had sent all the waitresses home to cut costs, so there was no-one to do that. Here's the best part: AFTER THE BRIDE AND GROOM AND GUESTS LEFT, MY PARENTS AND PARENTS-IN-LAW AND BEST MAN AND HIS FAMILY STAYED TO HELP STEPHEN CLEAR UP because there weren't enough staff (only Stephen and the one chef left) and my parents wanted to make sure they got their deposit back from Carew Manor. The waitresses were not wearing a uniform; in fact one was wearing a bodycon black dress that unzipped all the way at the back, and left very little to the imagination - more suited to a brothel than my wedding. If you have made it this far into the post, and I really hope you have, I want to advise you to NEVER go near this caterer. He ruined my wedding reception, embarrassed my parents and I in front of all our family and friends, and we are very very disappointed that someone who claims to be so good could turn out to be such a disaster. Naomi (The Bride)
Jul 8th, 2015

Extremely unhappy. We had a family service buffet for our Wedding Breakfast on 14/08/2015. First of all they were not prepared for adverse weather, so when it rained they had to set up our drinks reception in an impromptu way, meaning that everything was delayed from then on. They also did not bring enough equipment, staff, food or drinks for 120 guests. The lack of staff and equipment meant that only 3/4 tables could be "dealt with" at any one time. They also ran out of certain food stuffs before they had even reached 4 tables, so that they ended up having less choice. Tables were also served in a completely random order that didn't seem to make any sense. Non-acolohic drinks for minors and those driving also ran short after the drinks reception, and so was rationed throughout the rest of the meal. Overall, the full dinner service took over 3 hours when it should have taken ~1.5. Desserts were not finished until a while after 10pm, so there was little time for our evening do. This resulted in our first dance being extremely rushed, not having time for our planned send-off, and hungry/thirsty guests. As a final remark regarding the lack of food, I had to remind the staff 3 times that certain tables had not been served certain items until they admitted that they had no more remaining. I advise that this caterer be avoided at all costs.
May 5th, 2015