Handheld Catering and Events — Restaurant in Santa Clara

I waited a long time to write this review to ensure I did not do so with anger and give myself time to reflect on the experience. I contacted handheld and it started off great - I even pressured my parents to go with them over a less costly service because I was convinced that they would be great and I wanted everything to go well. . . things quickly fell apart. Brenda Ayala, the woman we worked with, took several weeks to reply to emails and months to get estimates, she also missed scheduled phone calls. Each time she apologized and said she was busy. She was a very nice person but the service was atrocious. At one point, I was on the phone with her and vocalized that I was concerned that we were going over budget and wanted to review some of the decor suggestions/add ons that we had spoken about. Brenda said something like, "i'm sure your parents will get over it." At that point, I asked my mother to take over being the main point of contact as it made me extremely uncomfortable on top of the poor service. The day before my wedding we waited for most of the day for the tables etc. to be dropped off at the venue - they never came and we were late to the rehearsal dinner because of it. When the rentals did come they were not what we ordered. There were countless other issues that I don't think I need to detail here. Suffice it to say, working with Handheld nearly ruined my wedding day. The only bright spot was working with the main floral coordinator (not sure if that is her actual role). She was amazing and helped arrange a truly beautiful bouquet. She also came to the venue on the day of the wedding to supervise because there had been so many issues. Handheld gave us a few thousand dollars off of the final bill but that doesn't nearly make up for the stress and terrible service. I understand that May 2022 was a very busy time for wedding services but Handheld should not take on more clients than they can handle. Truly...

In fact, I rarely write reviews on websites, but Handheld catering makes me feel guilty if I don't. I firmly believe that Handheld is the best choice for your banquet. Let me tell you why: The person I contacted was An Bui, she was very helpful and responsive. We made many adjustments to the menu, many times I was embarrassed to even ask for it, but she was still very patient. I am very grateful to her, without her my party would not have been possible. It is obvious that Handheld has extensive experience in hosting banquets. Believe me, I asked a dozen catering companies, and most of them only provide food, and we need to find other equipment ourselves. Companies like Handheld that take care of the entire process for us are actually very rare. Moreover, it is obvious that An has a very good command of some details. For example, she enthusiastically gave us suggestions, such as where to best place the food, and how to control the time of the banquet to prevent the food from losing its taste. 3.Handheld food is very delicious. Our guests specifically requested your name from us because they also wanted to order for their banquet. Your staff are great. At the end of the banquet, the staff who collected the food containers were also patiently waiting for us. Moreover, the day before the banquet, we suddenly wanted to change the time to 9 a.m., and you were very enthusiastic to help. thank...

I had a great experience with Handheld Catering. I had been very seriously ill for a number of weeks, and I started planning for my daughter's First Communion party - for 50+ people - very late (3 weeks out). I should add in, this is in the thick of late May events - graduations, etc - and several caterers I tried to call/email didn't even bother to get back to me. I found Handheld online and contacted them. They got right back to me, I got on their schedule, and they put on a great event for me (right down to the flowers).

Anna could not have been more helpful. She actually came out twice before the event - first to see the house and then a few days before when it became clear it was going to rain, and we needed to rethink the set up. The food was excellent, the set up was gorgeous, the staff was very professional, and it was fun and...