Donovan's Dish Catering — Local services in Cary

I would love for the catering manager to give me a call to discuss my less than satisfactory experience with trying to book their catering services for my October wedding. As another reviewer has previously mentioned about a particular coordinator lacking attention to detail, I seem to have had the same experience with possibly the same exact person.

To give you an idea and as a warning to brides considering their services, please read this in its entirety. I sent out an inquiry to Donovans Dish in December. I walked away from them the second week of March because I was DONE. I was wanting to book my date with them and was going to spend a lot of money that doesn't include anything but the food, but every step of the process was beyond frustrating and raising red flags!

I specifically informed my coordinator of allergens, had to remind her more than once to receive reassurance these allergens could be accommodated and the importance of them. I even went as far as purposely avoiding foods in my proposal menu that had these allergens to prevent cross contamination during preparation and being served at my wedding to the wrong guests by accident. I didn't want the risks. She told me she understood and it was notated for the kitchen to be made aware of. During my tasting (that I paid for and is supposed to be a mock representation of my day), my sister-in-laws were served chicken and waffles that were NEVER on my proposal to begin with, the salad had nuts in it, and my SIL bit down on a piece of plastic that was in the charcuterie cone and was dismissed when voicing her concern regarding it. I messaged my coordinator about the chicken and waffles and received no explanation as to why that was served when I never asked for it, and it wasn't communicated to be as an add in prior to the day of the tasting (regardless of whether or not it had egg in it). I was told when I asked why allergens were served at my tasting, I was told by my coordinator that she "wasn't aware of special accommodations and that my SILs didn't voice any concerns". My SILs who arent allergic thankfully, didn't see the nuts in the salad until after they got home because it was boxed and they assumed the chicken and waffles were supposed to be served. I'm still baffled why you would say you weren't aware the tasting required special accommodations when I voiced my expectations about said allergens SEVERAL TIMES.

Scheduling my tasting was ridiculous. I asked to do it over the phone with her in the beginning but instead I was directed to do so through the link that was provided, and then my date that I wanted in February (that showed available and allowed me to select and book for the date and time) was supposedly already taken. Very frustrating. I had to book over the phone with her anyway because of the time zone difference and because of the unreliability of said scheduling website. I had to schedule my tasting in early March because of the availability for my SILs to go in my place.

During travel I got an email that my tasting was canceled and it caused a panic for me considering I've been working with this coordinator since February to book my date and make it official. I received no correspondence why it was canceled or if it needed to be rescheduled due to an unforseen issue. I had to frantically email and text my coordinator before boarding my plane to find out what was going on. The explanation I received was that a duplicate event was deleted but my tasting was still scheduled. Great, but can you understand how stress inducing this is?

I have the documention of all correspondences to back up my valid concerns. I'm extremely disappointed to have had this experience, only to walk away and scramble to find an alternate catering option for my day and...

I booked Donovan's Dish about 18 months before my September 2024 wedding. We later also hired them to cater our Welcome Party at a downtown Raleigh Bar the night before the wedding. In those 18 months, 5 stars have now gone to 2. I was passed around to multiple sales managers in this time. None of which were super great in their communication. I understand prices change in 18 months, but I was given 4 different prices per/person for our Prime Rib Carving Station. They tried to add extra staff a week before our wedding to the Welcome Party. When I sent multiple emails asking for them to explain the increasing price to me, they would pick and chose which questions they wanted to answer. During these exchanges, they threatened us with a late fee if we didn't pay when we still didn't have answers to our questions about the final price. Our final bill was over $3,000 more than our original proposal. I finally had to get my planner involved. Our Welcome Party and Cocktail Hour before the wedding should have had multiple staff walking around with apps, but they didn't. The frequency in which the food came out was shameful. My guests were waiting by the kitchen to get food, because there was literally none being passed around. It was embarrassing. This was at both events. I told the 2 college aged kids serving at the Welcome Party to come get me before they left so I could tip them. The event manager that I paid $100/hour for came to collect the tip money. I didn't see her the entire night and I told her the tips were for the servers, which she responded that they tip pool. How tacky? Typically, at a wedding, the catering staff will bring the bride and groom a plate. Not my wedding, they dismissed me at my sweetheart table in my massive dress to go make my own plate. My amazing planner corrected this quickly but the audacity was funny. Donovan's Dish only cares about their new venue and they will leave their catering couples in the dust. DO NOT book them. They got an extra star because the prime rib and mashed potatoes were good. I don't know how the Welcome Party apps tasted because I only got one of them and they wedding ones were blah. They caused me SO MUCH STRESS the week leading up to our wedding. I have also heard several other couples are having these same problems. Do yourself a favor and find...

During this pandemic my daughter had to cancel her wedding venue due the NC government regulations. They refused to give us a full refund even though it clearly stated in the contract that we qualified and also had no venue for them to cater.

They basically stole $1400 from us and offered a credit for a future event. A wedding is one time event.

Their customer service sucks, they shouldn’t be trusted to make dog food much less cater an event!!

Do not support this business!!!

Edited post: Mr Dovanan thanks for responding to my post but let me clarify why you stole $1400 from us!

Maybe you should read your contract that your representative signed and go to page 3, Rights of Termination clause.

During our scheduled timeframe the wedding reception was illegal then and is still to date August 14th 2020 illegal under the current state law governing Covd-19. We had no Venue because they knew the law. Also stated was Acts of God or any other emergency beyond party’s control. I guess you that this pandemic doesn’t apply!! This clause required you to give us a full refund for which you declined to offer. That’s stealing to this country boy.

Yes you did provide food for our rehearsal dinner which was in Johnston County, out of your service area which required us to pick up food and inconvenience us once again.

We only used you because you held a gun to our by offering a credit in the next 12 months.

I guess when this COVID is over I could use it for my dog’s birthday or better yet just use 14 one hundred dollar bills to wipe my butt.

Your explanation of how much time you spent planning is just more BS. We had only met to decide menu and we were 90 days away from the event when this Act of God, government regulations forced us to change out plans.

I will be back in NC in October so please reach out to my daughter to schedule a sit down to discuss your business reputation.

You can start by refunding the additional funds that you...