Wylder Space — Local services in Scotts Valley

Have been to the Wylder restaurant in Felton several times (5+), including their catering at Hallcrest winery.

They have a nice happy hour. I have yet to try brunch. Food & service are hit & miss. Lots of wonderful menu items & ideas, unfortunately the execution is lacking and inconsistent. I would rate the restaurant average as far as food, service & execution. Wylder is not even close to 5-star and I've been meaning to add my 2-cents to the reviews. There are far better restaurants in Santa Cruz, including Copal, Vim, West End Tap, etc. all on the Westside. I sure miss Cremer House in Felton & am looking forward to Alvarado Street taking over that location.

I was surprised to run into the catering end at a recent wedding for my best friend's only daughter. Here I would rate the food a 2. I want you wedding couples & planners to know Wylder is not a 5-star operation.

I asked the wedding planner (the groom's cousin from the east coast) how she came across our hole in the wall caterer in Felton. She said she found them on the internet & arranged a tasting based on all the 5-star reviews. I haven't yet spoken to the mother of the bride (I plan to) but I assume the tasting went well because, if the per person price is $100-150/person, the catering cost would've been between $20-30K! And they never would've chosen what we were served.

The food: The cheese board was fabulous. Wonderful cheeses, including dairy free for the lactose intolerant. The honeycomb was a great touch, unfortunately the wrapper was left on & nobody knew it was honeycomb (better labels would've been nice as the guests were guessing what the cheeses were - I think only the lactose free were labeled.) Also, there were NO plates, so guests were crowding around the table trying to enjoy the cheeses. After several requests for plates, someone brought saucers (sorry, that's just wrong!). When the crackers ran out, again, the guests had to chase down the caterer staff, one of whom brought the Costco almond cracker box out to the table and proceeded to shove his hand into box to replenish!

Then dinner, served buffet style: Kale caeser Avo w/beet hummus Roasted sweet potato wedges w/tahini drizzle Roast chicken Molé short ribs

We were the last to go thru the buffet, and they had run out salad. When the salad was finally replenished, the kale was raw and the caesar dressing tasted like mayo. I didn't see or taste the earlier salad, so I hope it was wilted with a nice bright garlic, lemony. anchovie hint dressing that stood up to the kale. The salad l had was inedible. I've had the avo w/beet hummus at the restaurant & liked it. The buffet presentation was a little sloppy, and there was about half the hummus in the seed hole compared to the restaurant presentation. The sweet potato wedges were mostly raw, not even al dente. I got one wedge that was almost cooked. The tahini sauce was bland & too thick. Again, inedible! The meat, chicken was dry & ribs okay, maybe 3-4oz pieces. While going thru the buffet, I was taken aback when we were told we get to choose only one protein, one tiny piece of meat (I got to taste my fiancé's). I should've chosen the ribs.

Maybe the raw potatoes & kale were due to bad portion planning and they had run out before the last 20 guests? Who knows? The last plate should be just as good as the first plate. No excuse.

That said, Wylder has potential. I truly hope they will improve their food consistency & service. The menu ideas are there, just lacking in execution. I keep going back, hoping for that 5-star experience and Wylder's success as a local hole in...

This review is about our experiences OVERALL using Wylder Space as our "buffet-style" dinner catering for our small, intimate wedding.

Molly and her team are super nice, very responsive, and very pleasurable to work with. Her restaurant was recommended as one of our preferred vendors and we were impressed during our dinner tasting, which included appetizers, salmon, and avocado beet hummus. The quality of the tasting was excellent and her pricing fit our budget, so we chose Wylder Space as our caterer.

During the night of our wedding, Molly and her team delivered the food and set everything up as promised punctually. However, this is where our expectations were let down.

All of the food presented in bulk were far from what we experienced during our tasting. The appetizers were delicious (shrimp and scallops), but the main courses (salmon, braised short rib, avocado beet hummus) were especially underwhelming and rough/chewy. The salad was also disappointing and many of the greens were NOT fresh, which was pointed out by many of our guests. We were completely shocked when we saw that our guests would heat up leftovers from lunch to eat, rather than eat the dinner provided. By the end of the night, we had a ridiculous amount of food remaining from dinner.

We truly enjoyed working with Molly, but overall there are certain things that can be improved on.

1. Food quality: We believe dinner catering by Wylder Space is best done by individual plates served by staff. Buffet style food in bulk definitely affected the quality of the meal. The inconsistency of what we had at the tasting and the actual dinner really dampened our experience with Wylder Space.

2. Masking: We are in the middle of a pandemic and everyone in our small, intimate wedding had to provide negative COVID test for the safety of everybody. Molly & her team came and delivered the food without wearing masks, which could have jeopardized all of our guests.

Molly is a wonderful person and she is a joy to work with, but if you are planning to choose Wylder Space as your caterer, I recommend having their team ON SITE to prepare and serve your guests individually so that the quality of food...

My fiancé and I have chosen Wylder Space to cater our wedding, and we could not be more thrilled with our experience thus far. From the first conversation with Molly, I had a strong feeling that we'd found our team; from the first bite of our tasting, I knew we had!

Molly is a true pro. Her food, aesthetic, and eye for detail cannot be matched. But what truly sets her apart is the way she runs her operation. We were fairly clueless going into the process (e.g. we hadn't thrown a dinner party for 200 people before?), and Molly has continued to guide us along with warmth, confidence, and humor. After going back and forth over email, we enjoyed a fabulous tasting at Wylder Space's incredible kitchen in the Santa Cruz mountains. We were hooked on the spot!

Together we've developed a menu and vision for the big day, and I can't wait to share it with our guests. If you care about good, local food—and the good, local people who prepare it, Wylder Space is for you.

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WEDDING UPDATE! We had the most incredible experience with Wylder Space and cannot recommend them enough. Molly and the entire Wylder team are absolute pros across the board and it shows at every step of the way — from the thoughtful tasting experience and custom menu planning to the continuous communication and impeccable execution.

We used our own venue, so Wylder was especially helpful in mapping out our space, figuring out rental quantities, and lending their expertise on details big and small. They were an invaluable source of guidance throughout our entire planning process and we could not have done it without them. However, what ultimately stole the show was the FOOD. We had no less than 20 guests come up to tell us that their dinner was the best wedding food they had ever had. People were in awe. The presentation and meal itself were the stuff of Michelin-starred restaurants — with all ingredients sourced from local and sustainable producers.

Wylder so far surpasses the typical "wedding caterer" that they honestly need their own category....