Outrageous Gourmet — Local services in Hawaii

Update* I'm updating my review & adding a star, since original post. KL reached out to Chelsea after we posted our reviews. The first thing we made clear was that our online reviews are not for sale. It will not be deleted or modified & any negotiation & agreement on a refund was completely independent to the reviews. KL, C & I were in agreement. The bizarre conversation lasted about 1h, 20min. A I tried to keep it on the track of facts, figures, dates of payment & inconsistency in communication follow up & the timeline of pandemic-related restrictions in HI. KL was all over the place, from repeating a 'food credit for a future date' & ramblings about how hard the pandemic has been for her. Not for her family, business or clients. HER. I tried to connect the timeline of HI COVID19 restrictions with the dates that KL received payments for this future event. I explained that it was confusing that she was the paid consultant re: destination wedding location, yet she never once mentioned these updates to C. The conversation never stayed on track to facts & figures. It was frustrating. KL went back and forth with landing on an actual refund amount. She settled on $3K. OG made $2500 for the creation of the proposal & a few conversations. KL repeatedly said that she didn't recall many of the facts of our 'file' even at the time of this last phone call. She said that they lost money turning "so many" jobs away in place of our event (even though it was officially canceled in Sept)...which is pretty strange since few groups were gathering in mid-Dec in the US/HI, due to a PANDEMIC. Pretty good gig if you can get it. ⚠️ Original Review, 1 Star: Outrageous Scam. Katherine Louie Stole $5500 From Us. Ghosted Us. My daughter & fiance were planning their wedding in HI for Dec, 20. They chose to work with KL/OG because their priority was for fabulous food experience and KL's reputation qualified her for the job. The fact that she not only provided the food but also could be the event planner was a Win-Win. That & KL's positive reviews about her "great communication", they were happy to work with KL/OG. Their trust in her showed as they gave her a $5500 deposit, far in advance of the wedding date. It was going to be held at an ABNB with less than 30 people. Katherine sent them a detailed proposal. As 2020 progressed with a Pandemic, the wedding details were evolving. Each time C and KL communicated, C felt like KL wasn't listening. Chelsea specifically referred to KL/OG detailed proposal & mentioned that much of it wasn't necessary or needed as the wedding event was getting smaller & smaller due to HI Pandemic gathering rules. There also was ZERO written follow up with each of the changes that they "discussed" after each wedding-update call. After witnessing one of these circular non-follow up phone conversations between C & KL, I asked her to let me help her navigate the wedding details. I told her that KL is probably also overwhelmed with her cancelled events & business issues with the Pandemic. I gave her the benefit of the doubt & decided to clearly edit her proposal. This way, she could clearly see the changes & everyone could move forward. By 9/20, the wedding had turned into a small family gathering. I understood that KL/OG business was suffering as well, from the Pandemic. I generously edited the proposal & negotiated that she keep enough of the $5500 to compensate her for her time, $100 per hour, and the small meal & necessities for 10 people. (images) The result? Katherine Louie hasn't RESPONDED via email or phone AT ALL. She provided ZERO service for the $5500. Chelsea has continued to email & ask for the money back, & filled her in on her health issues, March, 2021. She didn't tell KL this for sympathy. She told her as an explanation & to appeal to her as as a trustworthy businesswoman. She reminded her why she really was relying on KL/OG reputation to plan her wedding & be responsive to her requests AND NOT SCAM HER. We're filing a complaint with the BBB and FDIC. This vendor, OG, took the money, no...

After getting engaged on the Big Island of Hawaii in late February 2020, we made the decision that we wanted to get married in Hawaii. Before departing, we had our venue and date (September 2021) picked out but knew we couldn’t plan the wedding from New Jersey without help. After doing some research and recommendations from family, we decided to reach out to Chef Katherine at Outrageous Gourmet. Shortly after requesting a wedding consultation, Chef Katherine reached out to us via telephone. Our initial conversation lasted over two hours and by the time we hung up, we knew she was the one. Then COVID-19 hit, but we pushed ahead!!! We continued to plan our wedding with Chef Katherine. She stayed positive, but always had a contingency plan in the event we had to make any changes. During the early stages, we had our entire wedding day planned out, including vendor options, the menu, and everything worked within our budget. Chef Katherine has a very creative mind and was never short of suggestions or great ideas. Once we laid out the initial groundwork, all we had to do was fine tune the plan and hope that COVID restrictions would not interfere with our wedding day. Unfortunately, the heightened restrictions brought on by the spike in cases almost put an end to our special day. However, with Chef Katherine’s help and guidance, we were able to apply for and receive an exemption which allowed us to proceed with our wedding. We arrived back in Hawaii a little less than a week before our wedding. The day after our arrival, we finally got to meet Chef Katherine in person, and we hit the ground running. It felt like we knew her for ages because of all our correspondence over the last year and a half. We used the week to take care of any last-minute arrangements that could not be handled from New Jersey. Chef Katherine made sure to have time for us either in person or by phone, in case we had any questions leading up to our special day. On the day of the wedding, Chef Katherine not only brought her A game, but brought the A-team. From her staff to her vendor selection, it couldn’t have been a more perfect combination. We opted for a heavy pass of her gourmet pupus, or as we know them appetizers, instead of a formal sit-down dinner. The pupus that we selected to be served were absolutely delicious. We also opted for a non-traditional cake and went with Chef Katherine’s gourmet lilikoi (passionfruit) cheesecake instead, which was to die for. She gave us the option of providing our own alcohol, which we did. This option gave us the opportunity to purchase all our alcohol, minus liquor, from our favorite local Big Island brewery, Ola. The bartender served all the alcohol, including our signature drink, which was a Mai Tai Mojito combination (mai-jito), that everyone loved. Chef Katherine was able to work her magic and make our dream wedding come true! We couldn’t be happier with her and her team, Outrageous Gourmet. If you’re looking to have a perfect wedding or just a catered meal on the Big Island, we HIGHLY recommend Chef Katherine and Outrageous Gourmet. Mahalo to Chef Katherine and the entire Outrageous Gourmet team for making our dream wedding...

I can not say enough positive things about outrageous gourmet and Kathryn as a wedding planner. First, I should start by saying I’m from Texas and had 80 guests! My guest list had 28 Dentists and 7 MDs, most of all who are self proclaimed Foodies! So it was a very tough crowd food wise. To make it more challenging for Kathryn, I wanted everyone to be invited to the rehearsal and the wedding. So she has the task of providing exquisite food and entertainment for 80 picky guests 2 nights in a row. She literally pulled it off with grace. Our rehearsal was a luau with a sample of local Hawaiian food. Kathryn had real leis made for each guest, incredible local flower arrangements that truly were a wow factor and the absolute best luau food I have ever had. She even connected us with and set up and entire group of fire dancers ( 20 plus firedancers) for the most incredible entertainment! The night was incredible and was such a wow that I was worried our wedding night might not be able to compete. Well the next night was the actual wedding. I’m obviously biased, but my wedding was the neatest wedding I have ever been to! The food was incredible. Cocktail time was lamb lollipops that my husband still talks about, and ahi tuna bowls that actually smoked when you opened them!! Such a neat touch of gastronomy! Our actual meal was a filet with lobster and everything was perfectly executed and tasted incredible. I also wanted a geode cake, which Kathryn made happen! Everything we asked for, she has a solution or person to take care of it. I wanted a harp player, she even had one those ready to go! I should also say that I was originally set on a venue, and after talking to me, she knew it wasn’t what I was thinking it was. I was looking at pictures online and basing my decision from the pictures! Because she knew it looked a little different, she asked me to come and check it out — which I wasn’t sure I wanted to do, but I was so glad I did because she was 1000% correct I didn’t care for the venue that I thought I wanted. I wanted to cry when I saw it! She told me not to worry, she had booked a showing for me at another place she thinks I may actually like! We went to the new venue and I immediately fell in love! The best part was the new place she suggested was 1/4 the price of the original place I thought I wanted. So I ended up with a much more desirable venue at a much reduced cost. Basically if you are not from Hawaii, and want the classiest wedding you can possibly have, Kathryn/outrageous gourmet is the only way to go. She is an excellent chef, and so well connected to anything else you could need wedding wise. I had a lot going on during the time leading up to my wedding and she made everything so so easy. I know most people think wedding planning is stressful but nothing was made stressful for me. She called me when she needed me to make a decision and took care of the rest ( at my request)! I feel so lucky to have gotten the opportunity to work with her and truly had the most incredible wedding! You wont be disappointed if you use...