Break the Plate LLC, Private Chef & Luxury Caterer — Local services in New York

We hired Chef Dupree to cater our wedding on September 24, 2025, and unfortunately, the experience was an absolute disaster from start to finish.

To begin, his team arrived three hours later than scheduled, which completely disrupted the flow of the event. We had made it clear from the beginning that this was a wedding with a fixed timeline and guest transportation schedule. The venue doors had been open since 9 a.m., and there was no reason the team should have shown up so late. This delay caused chaos and confusion, and as the bride and groom, we were unable to enjoy our own celebration.

Because of the late arrival, there was no formal food announcement and guests were left confused about when or how to eat. Eventually, the food ran out, and we had to spend hundreds of dollars out of pocket to feed over 40 guests who never received a meal. This was despite the fact that we had 15 fewer attendees than originally expected, a clear indication of poor planning and portion control.

The food that was served also did not match what was promised. During our tasting, we specifically agreed on Tuscan creamy chicken, but what was served was plain, rotisserie-style chicken, something we never approved or discussed. For clarity, I never once mentioned rotisserie chicken in any conversation; I confirmed “the same menu discussed previously,” which was the Tuscan chicken option.

To make matters worse, the chef called the groom the day of the wedding at noon to ask what the menu was again, an alarming sign that he had waited until the day of the event to grocery shop. That level of disorganization is completely unacceptable for a professional caterer.

We had also arranged for two vegan meals and one pescatarian meal, which were not handled properly. When I checked on their status during the event, I was met with the question, “What is a vegan?” a completely inappropriate and unprofessional response. Multiple family members were present in the kitchen who could have identified the guests with dietary restrictions, yet no one from his team ever asked.

Our original contract and conversations outlined a family-style dinner service, where each table would have shared serving dishes. Less than 24 hours before the wedding, Chef Dupree called trying to make last-minute changes to that arrangement. Any true professional would know that calling the night before a wedding to modify service plans is unacceptable these details should have been confirmed weeks in advance. Because service started so late (first plates went out after 7 p.m. for an event ending at 10 p.m.), there was little time left to clean up properly.

Overall, Chef Dupree failed to deliver on multiple promises, ignored timelines, and showed NO accountability for the chaos and stress his actions caused. What should have been one of the happiest days of our lives turned into a deeply frustrating experience that forced us to spend additional money, manage catering logistics ourselves, and deal with embarrassment in front of our guests.

If this event didn’t align with his usual practices, he should have been upfront months ago instead of taking our money and saying “yes” to requests he couldn’t fulfill.

We’re still awaiting resolution and believe a refund of at least $1,000 would be the bare minimum to make this right. He and his team have denied these refund which I felt was more than generous (less than half of the amount spent) however he is blaming myself and my husband for his mistakes.

I would strongly caution anyone considering hiring Chef Dupree for an important event. The lack of professionalism, communication, and accountability we experienced is something no couple should ever have to deal with especially on their...

1 star because the taste of the food was good. Otherwise this “chef” is extremely unprofessional, rude, disgustingly messy and cuts corners. I was looking for a private chef for my 35th birthday. Found Chef dupree on Instagram and had great initial conversations about a menu for my 18 guests. He said he does hos own decor and asked me what color theme I wanted and agreed to him doing that. We agreed on appetizers, entrée & dessert for each guest of Lamb, lobster and steak. I had to immediately pay a 50% deposit to reserve him, and then I had to pay everything in full before ever having his service the night before the event, and he had already included his $200 tip for himself which I found to be very strange. Then he said that he couldn’t transport himself to the my house so I had to pay for the Uber, which was also a terrible idea for me to agree to. (That’s like a boss saying they’ll pay their staff to get to work ) We had a paid invoice for him to work from 7 to 11 PM. All in advance. The day of the event (1/7/23) he arrives to prep and my guests mentioned that he was making such a mess and while I was upstairs getting ready, they were cleaning up behind him so that the kitchen didn’t look terrible when I walked downstairs. So he’s not cleaning up behind himself. And wrecking my brand new renovated kitchen, with meat, spills and splashes everywhere, no exaggeration on the stove and countertops, and the brand new oven has stains everywhere. As he’s serving my guests , he says he wants to serve me last because he wants to do a presentation for documentation purposes at the end to serve me, the birthday girl. I agreed, even though I was starving. so I am the 17th person to eat, and as soon as I start putting the food in my mouth, he mentions “oh I have another engagement that I have to go to so I have to leave early.” And I just started eating and was a little bit confused so I was like OK? did you at least prepare the dessert and he was responded “ oh, sorry I forgot.” so how would I have my happy birthday dessert if he forgot dessert? Luckily, I purchased a cake on the side to add to his desert presentation, but it was terrible that we had to split a tiny cake between 18 people due to his forgetfulness and negligence. He also mentioned, when he had to leave that he had to leave all of his stuff! We weren’t finished eating. So we had to wash all of our own dishes, plus all of the dishes that he used and clean up all of his decorations and pots and pans and dishes. That’s absolutely ridiculous. He left the things overnight and honestly should have thrown it out on the curb but we held onto it for him. He said he would arrive the next day, and I had to drop off my friend to the airport, but doesn’t show up until two hours later meanwhile, I am blowing up his phone that I have to leave so my friend can get to the airport. When he arrives, my friend decides to talk to him first because it was my birthday weekend and I was already stressed out. He starts to get irate and cursing and wouldn’t let anyone get a word in about getting his stuff and we simply asked for him to give the tip back even though he should have given back much more money because he didn’t work from 7 to 11 instead left at 9:30 PM immediately after serving us. He forgot both appetizers and dessert and acts like he only forgot dessert somehow he said we never discussed appetizers but admitted to forgetting dessert ? So I would never recommend him at all. A waste of time and energy and he should find another career because you can cook as good as you want but if you don’t have the professional aspect, there’s...

I traveled from out of town for a cousin's wedding, and the groom was ecstatic about the menu, hoping for a flawless evening. Unfortunately, the catering service provided was a disaster that caused significant stress and disappointment on a day that should have been purely joyful. The issues began with the lack of timely service. The cocktail hour ended around 5:00 PM, yet our table had still not been served well past 8:00 PM. The service was chaotic and disorganized; staff began serving only one side of the room, and there was a complete failure to track who had received plates and who hadn't. Key Failures: • Failure to Serve the Couple First: In a shocking display of incompetence, the bride and groom were not served their meal first. • Poor Presentation: When I was finally able to view my cousin's (the groom's) plate, it was appalling—a large piece of steak was simply "thrown" onto the plate with no care for presentation. • Inconsistent Food Quality: The meal that was eventually served to our table was not the same quality or dish that we had seen presented earlier in the evening. My dish felt like a piece of chicken haphazardly served with some rice. • Unprofessional Staffing: The situation became so desperate that the bride's two best friends were forced to step in and help serve guests. This intervention was paused repeatedly for speeches, further delaying the meal for those of us still waiting. This level of disorganization is unacceptable for any catered event, let alone a wedding. Many of us who were supposed to be guests were left watching the chaos, and the bride and groom were robbed of the opportunity to simply enjoy their day because of the clear incompetence of the catering team. It is abundantly clear that there was no contingency plan in place for service flow, guest count, or any issue that arose. This was extremely unprofessional and severely detracted from the wedding...