Moore Fine Foods — Local services in Holly Hill

We used Moore Fine Foods for our wedding on 11/12/22. The food was absolutely incredibly and there is no denying that it is far superior to any wedding food I’ve ever had. We chose Kevin as our caterer because the food at our tasting was nothing less than perfection. My family loves good food and high quality and creative food was important to us.

Despite the fabulous food, our experience overall was quite disappointing. Although we knew that Kevin was a bit disorganized from the beginning, we chose to look past this because of his amazing food. As an extremely organized person myself, I took it upon myself to send very detailed written information with exactly what we wanted. Kevin seemed to misplace these emails and when we asked him to send us a final menu to ensure he had all of our selections correct, he refused and commented “why do you need that, it’s all right here.” This would have been fine except for the fact that our favorite appetizer, the ahi tuna, was missing at our wedding and had been replaced by empanadas - something we never had on our menu at any time. In terms of our linens, his had arranged for them to be dropped off to our venue and had talked with the staff at the venue to coordinate this. Without communicating to anyone, the linens were dropped on the previous day and left in the rain at the entrance to our venue. The owner of the venue happened to be there later that day and took them in, but otherwise they would have been outside during a hurricane with no one aware that they were dropped off. In addition, Kevin’s communication style was somewhat frustrating on the week of our wedding. He called multiple times per day the week of the wedding and asked the same set of questions over and over again. I had to correct him on our ceremony start time about 5 times, in addition to several other corrections about menu items and other details because he claimed he couldn’t read his notes. I had to resend him things over and over again because he couldn’t keep track of our communications. A hurricane hit the week of our wedding and he called saying “just so you know, If I lose power, I’m out.” There was no contingency plan or any possible backup. Obviously, I understand this might be the case, but the way he communicated this was the last thing I needed during this stressful time.

Overall, the food was absolutely superb but it’s hard to look past all of the frustrations we experienced throughout the process. When you pay this much for catering, you should be able to expect a flawless experience. If you choose to go with him as your caterer, just be prepared for the frustrations.

UPDATE 1/18/24: To make up for our frustrations, Kevin offered to cater a dinner party at our home, free of charge. Once again, his food was outstanding and simply unmatched. He prepared and delivered the food and offered to send serving assistance. He called multiple times the week leading up the dinner to ensure that the menu was correct and run by any suggested changes with us prior to making them. This was a better experience logistically than our wedding experience, and we appreciate Kevin's attempt to make up for our experience the first time. We sure did...

Kevin saved our wedding!!! I was frantically searching for a last minute caterer less than 20 days before the wedding day, while living 3 hours away and dealing with serious family emergencies. I was sending emails out to different caterers hoping someone would get back to me and be available. Moore Fine Foods was in my top three but honestly wasn’t going to be our first choice in the beginning. I ended up emailing the wrong caterer's menu to Kevin and he called me saying he doesn’t know what these specific packages and food choices were but he’d send me his menus or he could try to work with those food choices. I was immediately embarrassed but we eventually got it worked out with one of his menus. We eventually became phone buds with all the last minute details people usually would work out at tastings, in person meetings, over months of planning but we had less than 3 weeks so there was a lot to happen in that short time. Kevin is such a cool guy, he made us feel extremely comfortable and had no worries about food after booking with him. On top of the booking experience and Kevin being great, everyone was RAVING about the food. We are a family full of foodies and restaurant owners so for everyone to actually be enjoying the food was such a testament to how good it really is. We got our own take out boxes to bring home with us and it was hilarious to see my new husband standing in the fridge eating cold steak and potatoes talking about how delicious it still is the next day out of the fridge. They supplied everything we needed (even though I already had everything purchased for our previous dinner option), I’m not sure if we used all the plates, utensils and such that they brought but I do appreciate it coming with the package and I know we definitely used the water glasses and not our water bottles thankfully for mother earth haha. The price was extraordinary for what we got, plenty of delicious food for everyone!! If you were thinking about using Moore Fine Foods at your next event, do it!! I am so happy Kevin saved the day and...

I had a hard time deciding how many stars to give Moore's. Most of their food is excellent, but the one issue I'm addressing here is a substantial negative.

I cooked for Moore's and their method for grilling steak is a health risk. The meat is good quality but they use cheap portable residential grade grills, and to get a good sear on the meat they spray large amounts of vegetable oil directly onto the burners, causing flames and black soot to engulf the steaks. Not only does this give the meat a diesel-like flavor, it also coats it with carcinogenic chemicals.

When vegetable oils are burned, they can produce a variety of harmful compounds, including carbon-based particles (soot), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and other toxic substances. Soot itself is a mixture of fine particulate matter, primarily composed of carbon, and can contain traces of heavy metals and organic compounds depending on the burning conditions.

Inhaling or ingesting soot can pose serious health risks. If consumed, it could irritate or damage the digestive tract, and the associated chemicals (like PAHs) are known to be carcinogenic and toxic in high enough doses. Additionally, soot particles are not meant for human consumption and could lead to inflammation or other adverse reactions in the body.

Grilled tenderloin steaks are served at almost every event Moore's caters. I'm posting this in the hope that Kevin will have to stop using this technique. Most of his food is very good, and I enjoyed working with his crew.

If they cooked steak properly I would give Moore's 5 stars. On one hand, I don't want to hurt their business, but I felt the need to warn people about eating meat coated...