Good Brisket, Terrible Businessman. A Cautionary Tale.
Zero stars
I hate leaving bad reviews and usually only write them for 5-star or 0-star experiences. This is one of the latter, and I feel a responsibility to my community to share what happened. While Rod's brisket is genuinely good, the service we received was shockingly unprofessional.
Initial Commitment (12 Months to 9 Months out)
We first hired Rod to cater our wedding after a neighborhood gathering where he seemed friendly and eager to take the job. We confirmed our commitment to him in writing. Referencing his online menu, we created a spreadsheet to tally a price quote for food, and we asked him what the separate quote would be for the service. We chose the food and service option. Despite his initial enthusiasm, it took him until March—months after our initial requests—to confirm without providing any official paperwork.
First Red Flags (5 Months out)
In May, we visited his restaurant to confirm our plan. While there, Rod made a point of greeting and chatting with every other table but completely ignored my family and me, as well as my parents who were funding the event. He seemed perfectly able to socialize but chose to give us a cold glance instead. Despite this, we gave him the benefit of the doubt.
Insult and Delay (2 Months out)
We had sent him a detailed email with our plan and a request for a final cost, he did not answer. After not hearing from him again, we called in July. On the phone, he told us he had driven by our venue and insultingly described it as a "pile of dirt." We tried to finalize the menu, but he insisted he wouldn't speak to us about it until the week before the event, stating that he works only one event per weekend and has no time for future bookings. Anxiously, we agreed to wait.
The Week Before Our Event
Three months later, and true to his word, he showed up unannounced at our property one week before our wedding. He handed us a handwritten note with a list of food and one final price. It was unclear if the price included service or not. He told us we were ordering too much food for the amount of guests we were having, and we appreciated his suggestion. We said we would change the amount of food, and asked him to clarify the price. He immediately accused us of "waiting until the last minute," even exclaiming, "I don't want to get screwed!" This was despite our repeated attempts to finalize plans earlier, which he had explicitly told us to wait on.
The Price Hike
Because he was unable to give us a new quote on the spot, he said he would send us an email the following day with a new number. To our shock, he nearly doubled the service fee, making the cost for half the food equal to the original full order. He then sent this email:
“HOT ROD'S BBQ Thu, Aug 28, 5:43 PM
So, at this time, I am working on the Saturdays events, so please email yes for the food to be picked up at 4:45 on Sunday or no if you don't want it. The delivery , set up clean up is off the table at this time as I need to make sure the other parties get my full attention from now on. That is why I spent the time in December and January working up a menu so it did not come to this drama 3 days before.
Rod”
This email, received just three days before our wedding, accompanied by no paperwork, was his way of reneging on his commitment to provide service. With no other options available on such short notice, we were forced to agree to a food-only pickup to avoid his price gouging.
Thankfully, we were able to find an honest, reliable, and professional local vendor to provide service for our event (I would be happy to provide their contact information to anyone who needs it).
I truly wish this went better--I truly wish I could leave a positive review and support a...
  Â
Read more
Learn more insights from Wanderboat AI.
