Laniers Catering — Local services in Tomball

I do NOT recommend Joy or her catering business under any circumstances. Stay well away from this business. Joy was the caterer to my sisters wedding last month and it was a terrible experience. This is a really long and thorough account of the event, but to summarize, Joy is a liar and unprofessional. The food was severely undercooked and she stole the food leftovers, and she left early without telling anyone after receiving the tip.

Joy promised a lot and sounded great to begin with until the contract was signed. (A contract that is deliberately bare, only 1 page, so that she can add stipulations and charge additional services whenever she feels like) She had originally implied that bussing was included with the service, then like three weeks before the wedding tells my sister that it'll cost extra to buss tables and would require two additional servers to the three servers that were already being paid for. In practically all conversations with Joy, she requested a tip and requested it be paid before the wedding day. My sister expressed her preference to pay the day of the wedding to ensure the servers actually got the tip, and on the day of the wedding, Joy spent most of her conversations with the coordinator and myself requesting a tip. This was a slight annoyance and decidedly unprofessional, but was not the worst of what happened. On the day of the wedding, Joy served several dishes of raw chicken and raw beef. When we brought this up to her after the wedding when we had heard from a few guests, she claimed that guests could just come get a replacement dish. But, how are guests supposed to trust that their next dish won't be raw? This wasn't just one plate, but clearly an issue with the food overall. Some other guests received burned and dry food, so overall, no one was happy with the quality of the food. But, the worst moment of the night, was after I had talked to Joy myself during the wedding. She complained about how late the cake was being cut, despite the fact that she had received a timeline of the entire event over 2 weeks prior, and kept harassing the coordinator about moving up the timeline of the wedding so she could cut the cake earlier and leave. I spoke to her myself and she told me it was in the contract she had with my sister that she was meant to leave by 7pm. This was a bold faced lie as the contract did not include an expected leave time, she had received the timeline 2 weeks prior to the event when this issue could have been resolved, and my sister paid extra to have Joy provide cake cutting services. After my conversation with her, she assured me that they were professionals and that they would stay to cut the cake. With that assurance, I went to gather the tip and gave the tip to the coordinator. The coordinator gave the tip to Joy, and Joy immediately left the venue without informing anyone! Not only did she leave early without telling anyone or cutting the cake (that she was paid extra for!), she also took all the leftover food with her. When I had spoken to her, her staff was packing up the food and I saw quite a large amount left over (many expected guests did not attend because covid), yet after Joy left, there were only 2 plates wrapped up as leftovers. She claims that someone else had stolen the food and she wasn't responsible, but the only people to enter the kitchen after she left was the coordinator, myself, and another bridesmaid. Also, if someone had stolen the food that was being packed up into those large aluminum trays, then why were there 2 perfectly wrapped plates? It's clear that she intentionally wrapped 2 dishes to provide the assumption that that was all that was left and took the rest with her. Considering that some of the dishes were overcooked and dry, I have to assume that she takes the leftovers with her to serve at other events. Perhaps only the raw meals were actually cooked that day. In any case, this was a terrible experience all around, Joy is a liar and, honestly, a theif, and I cannot express enough please stay away from...

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to express our significant concerns and dissatisfaction with the catering services provided by Lanier’s Catering at our wedding on July 26, 2024. We had high expectations given our previous discussions and the reputation of your company, but unfortunately, several issues arose that impacted our special day.

Dessert Visibility & Availability: The dessert was not visible to all guests, and at one point, we were informed it had run out, only to later discover it had not. It appeared to be hidden, which caused confusion and disappointment among our guests.

Quality and Temperature of Food: All the food was served cold. Specifically, the chicken Alfredo had very little sauce and minimal chicken. The beef tips were mostly mushrooms and onions with tiny pieces of meat, making it feel more like a vegetable dish than a meat entrée. The chicken was dry and lacked any sauce or seasoning.

Wedding Cake: The cake cutting, which was included in our package, was not provided. Our wedding planner addressed this issue, and it caused significant frustration, especially for my husband, who was actively seeking someone to resolve it.

Request for Tip Money: We were approached for tip money, which she had assured us would not be required. This request was made directly to the bride and groom, which is highly inappropriate at any event. She first discussed it with our planner, who explicitly instructed her not to proceed, yet she still approached us. Additionally, when my husband provided the tip, her reaction suggested it was insufficient, which was quite disheartening.

Graze Table: We paid almost $400 for a graze table that was nearly empty. The food we expected to take home at the end of the night was not provided and seemed to have disappeared. We were told after getting the tip, she started packing things away into a suburban and or tahoe truck. Not to mention she didn't show up until it was time for the father to walk the bride down the aisle.

After speaking with the planner I was informed she tried to reach the caterer several times and she was not responding at all. She didn't inform me because she didn't want to panic. But I saw when she arrived through the window of my suite with people who seemed to be and look unprofessional as well.

Overall Food Quality and Presentation: We received numerous complaints from our guests and the planner about the quality, taste, and presentation of the food. The only positive feedback we received was about the dirty rice.

Unprofessional Behavior: As the owner, Joy's behavior was unprofessional. This added to our overall disappointment with the services provided. Given these issues, we are seeking a resolution as soon as possible.

We believe it is only fair to address these concerns adequately before we proceed with a public review of our experience, which will reflect the points mentioned above, in which she refused to do so which we knew she would.

We never received $300 worth of our desserts. As the groom and bride we were supposed to get one of everything and we didn't not. I am extremely upset. She packed and left with our leftovers without notifying anyone.She did not cut the cake..She arrived late. The food was cold and very skimpy..We will definitely be taking further action. Avoid her at all cost. She will reel you in with sweet words and make promises to get you to book but trust me, & others, SHE WILL FAIL YOU!!

Below in the photo section is where the owner reached out to me offering to give me a partial refund and now somewhat acknowledging the wrong she did and the mess of a service she did. I assure you, everything above is true and accurate and I beg you to please do not allow her smooth talking to finesse you into using this catering service. Go through the reviews and steer clear. Updated photos of her...

Joy ruined my wedding day

Do not hire this vendor if you want a smooth event! Joy (the owner/executive chef) ruined my wedding day. She is a sweet talker but did not deliver a single thing she promised me.

I spent $12000 for 275 guests plated dinner

She arrived at the wedding 1 hr late. She didn't start serving the main entree until 25 mins after the scheduled time (timeline was given a week before, the night before, and right after she arrived at the venue). An hour into the reception, I noticed a lot of people are still waiting for their food and then Joy came up to me saying that my wedding coordinator didn't tell her to start plating so she didn't start. It is common sense to start plating well before the schedule serving time. My coordinator had to help delivering food. Joy's 7 servers were so untrained. They never worked with her before. And one of the servers told us that Joy's work is a mess. My family (dad and brother) kept checking what's going on in the kitchen. After 1. 5 hours into the reception, I was getting impatient so I (the bride) and the groom walked into the kitchen to check on the situation. I saw that the caterer didn't bring any food warmer. When I went in there, I saw aluminum trays of beef and she was cooking something in a small electric pan. Why is still cooking food 1. 5 hrs into the event? The food are supposed to arrive ready to serve at the venue in food warmers. I saw no food warmers. Her operation is so not professional. She would tell you the event will run smoothly and she will deliver. But she did not deliver a single thing she promised. She is a sweet talker. BEWARE! The food came out cold. A lot of guests complained of cold food. And halfway into the reception she ran out of fish and chicken, when I already emailed her the meal count 2 weeks in advance before she ordered all the stuff. My guests were not getting the food they RSVP'd for. Half of my guests had to wait for 2 hours for food to be delivered. And the food was cold and lacking several items.

Original contract that we signed 9 months before the wedding is for 275 people so she has 9 months to figure out how much food she needs to cook and deliver.

If she could not handle my party size (275) she should have told me since the beginning. But she kept telling me she will execute everything perfectly and beautifully.

Now I'm gonna always remember this disastrous moment at my wedding. I've been planning this wedding for 10 months. And my biggest mistake was to hire her. I really...