Entertaining Company

Choosing Entertaining Company was the best choice we made for our entire wedding, we cannot recommend them enough! The food was absolutely spectacular! we got so many compliments that it was the best wedding food people had ever had. And with all that, Jane and the staff were somehow even better. They were thoughtful and attentive and made the whole day so special. Wedding planning can be stressful, but your food won’t be with Entertaining Company- they made the whole process so fun and easy. The tasting was one of the most memorable experiences we had all year. Best caterers you could ever choose!

The food at our wedding absolutely blew everyone away! Yes - they are pricey, but worth it. The attention to detail that Jane & her team put into our wedding was impeccable. We have guests still coming to us months later to talk about our wedding food! The staff was on point and ensured for such a smooth event. HIGHLY recommend using Entertaining Company!!!

There are no words to express how appreciative and grateful we are for using Entertaining Company as our wedding caterer! Jane, who was our go to person throughout the planning, was truly exceptional. I really loved her energy and personality while speaking to her, she was very attentive and communicated very effectively throughout this entire process and then I took that first bite and was sold. The food was so flavorful and the presentation was beautiful, and creative I knew I wanted her and Entertaining Company to cater my wedding. To this day my guests can’t stop talking about how amazing the food was: flavorful and warm and the service was impeccable. They also created our escort candy boxes, and provided our late night bites and coordinated with our wedding venue and florist and created custom dessert trees which were a big highlight of the night! They also created our wedding cake which was very tasty and beautiful too! We wanted unique, different, fun, and overall excellent quality for everything and that is exactly what we got! I would seriously have my wedding all over again, just for the food – it was that good.

The Entertaining company and Kenneth Woodman are perfect. We loved our food. They couldn't do enough for us. The hors d'oeuvres and desserts were heavenly. Staff was absolutely wonderful. Friendly, helpful and sweet. Thank you for making our wedding extra special.

Where to start???? We loved Julie from the moment that we met her and her staff. Yet, we NEVER envisioned how amazing the food would be presented and the quality of the food that was served at my daughter, Rachel’s recent wedding.!Absolutely ,EVERYONE was totally blown away by the choices( Julie helped us pick) and the taste of the food. We can not stop talking about Julie, the staff and and how they really made the night as special as it was! To say that the the food was exceptional is not enough , the creator of the food and the staff that served it were simply, outstanding!!!!! Would not hesitate to use them again .XOXOXO

I had the pleasure of working with Jane and the EC Team for my wedding. Jane was such a joy to work with - she was a great listener, creative, organized, brought such great energy, and absolutely delivered on the food and drink for our big day. We went with a fun spin on a classic wedding dinner with a family-style build-your-own burrito bowls and tacos. We had tasty and fun appetizers, desserts, and late night food. Jane brought our vision to life, and even enhanced our vision with great ideas. I was so excited by her creativity and willingness to think outside the box. We would absolutely work with Jane and EC again. Highly recommend!

Conrad made my wedding event so stress-free and easy! Very friendly, personable, has a great sense of humor and really knows how to plan and put an event together! Hands down one of the best event planners I have ever worked with!! Whenever you are playing a wedding or any kind of event , Conrad would be your go-to person at the Entertaining Company 🥂!

We worked with Kenneth Woodman and Team at Entertaining Company and could not have been happier. Kenneth was a joy to work with, and always thinking of the details to make the event professional, elegant, and FUN! We have never received more compliments on the food at our Gala,giving a modern touch to a traditional greek menu (we were at the National Hellenic Museum after all!) and the table settings were gorgeous. The team day of was incredible, keeping guests happy (even as we had some technical difficulties) with drinks and food so that everyone left happy and full. I've worked with many caterers in Chicago, and Entertaining Company is the only one that thinks carefully with you, as a collaborator, about your entire event, which is huge for a small company like ours. Hire them!

Julie, Conrad and team were great from beginning to end. We had a small food luncheon and they passed with flying colors.

My horror story with this company starts with the first few emails with their coordinator. This company does not care about you. I wish I have not moved forward with them when they refused to set up a taste test for my wedding. My wedding venue listed them as their preferred caterer, so I was kind of forced into having to use entertaining company. I had to cancel my June 13th, 2020 wedding due to the pandemic. Outlined in my contract, they were supposed to return my money besides the non refundable deposit. This company refuses to return my money. They went radio silent via email and blocked me on social media. I am now having to go to small claims court to get money that is rightfully mine. Future brides: spend your money with a company that genuinely cares about you and your big day!! This company hasn't cared since day one for me, and I can't say I am actually that surprised that they were the only vendor to treat me this way now that I have had to cancel my wedding. It's already been extremely heartbreaking this year. Entertaining company rubbed salt in the wound. If you do decide to work with this company: make for sure to never pay them a dime besides your deposit until your full amount is due right before your date. I kick myself for being nice and paying them in full before I had to. It doesn't matter what your contract says, because they have given zero regard to mine.

Blown away by their food. Best wedding food I've ever had. This was a great vendor to work with for our wedding. We got married during pandemic, and Entertaining Company was flexible and met all our needs. Jane was amazing and attentive. She was very easy to work with and very kind!

Entertaining Company wowed us during the initial tasting, and I am happy to report that they absolutely delivered on our actual wedding day. Julie and her team were so kind and easy to work with - it's clear how much pride they have in each and every event. The food was amazing - our guests are still raving about it - and the presentation was beautiful as well. They also made delicious cocktails - we had spicy margaritas as our signature drink and they were really incredible, clearly made from scratch and not too sweet. Last but not least, the bartenders, waiters, and other staff were so friendly and gracious. I cannot recommend them enough!

Their white hot chocolate is to die for, that comes with a chocolate covered marshmallow on a stick, pasted with a gold flake. Their pomegranate apple cider is also nice and soothing, and comes decorated with a cinnamon stick. Their pastries are wonderful, especially the strawberries that are stuffed with marscapone cheese. Their little croissants stuffed with pear is delightfully airy and soft. Also, the salty waffle potato chips topped with salmon is scrumptious - I literally shoved 2 plates down my throat. +white hot chocolate +pomegranate apple cider +yummy pastries +croissants with pear filling +salty waffle potato chips

As a fundraiser, I have had the opportunity to work with several caterers in Chicago. In my opinion, Entertaining Company has them all beat. I love that they are always coming up with unique twists on items that really help make the food memorable. Beet red cous cous? Purple forked mashed potatoes? YES! and both beyond delish. They are also very open to mixing things up, like pairing sides differently and combining elements of different appetizers to get you what you want. I am honestly shocked at the few bad reviews here about staffing because I have worked with them for years and everyone from the bussers to the planners have been nothing short of super professional and helpful.

My wife is a nurse & I'm a Physical Therapist. We wanted to provide nurses some healthy meals during the Covd19 times as a thank you for all their hard work. Jane at Entertaining Company was very responsive & we were able to feed over 700 staff at 19 facilities, the number is still going so the plan is to keep feeding. Thank you Jane for helping to coordinate this effort ! :) This has been fun, I kinda want to sneak a meal haha

My husband and I are so happy with our decision to book Entertaining Company for the food at our wedding. The level of service, quality, personalization, and flexibility/creativity was just so much higher with EC than with any of the other options we considered. Our excellent experience was due in no small part to our wonderful coordinator, Michelle Sterling, who always conveyed the sense that we were not just one event among many: we were an important client worthy of custom and individual attention, even though we were working with a limited budget. Here, too, Michelle helped to stretch every dollar to create the most luxurious and delicious experience possible for us and our guests. The tasting was incredibly charming and well planned. Michelle met us in a room that she had decorated according to some of the colors and themes we had anticipated. We felt like we were chatting with an old friend, as their highly professional staff brought out plate after plate. This, too, put Entertaining Company above the rest: we went home with boxes and boxes of leftovers! I come from a family that equates food with love, so this sent me a message big time! The portions were generous, the presentation was lovely, and Michelle was open to exploring tweaks and making suggestions based on her experience. When I mentioned during our initial conversation that I have some Polish heritage and was interested in potentially reflecting that in the menu, Michele went all out, sourcing pierogi for a late night snack, complete with little decorative Polish flag toothpicks, LOL, and researched Polish appetizers extensively. They offered to create brand new menu items for me, including a killer deviled egg topped with buttered bread crumbs, and a miniature cabbage roll that my guests are still talking about. The fact that Michelle and the team were willing to volunteer such personal touches really made me feel like our wedding was important to them and not just one more event among many. Throughout the planning process, Michelle was an invaluable resource. She responded to emails quickly, reminded us of important dates and milestones, stepped in as necessary to help advise, even with other components of the event, was tremendously helpful at the final walk-through, and was a pro at keeping the entire project on track and on time. I'm a certified Project Manager, and Michelle's organizational and service skills were everything I could've hoped for and more. Flash forward to the wedding day: everything tasted wonderful, was hot and fresh, served on time, with no mistakes or issues that I know of. Maria was our VIP Waiter, and Tammy was our incredibly skilled and calm Function Director. Both were extremely present and available if we needed anything, but they were also perfectly happy to run the show themselves! When my husband and I stole a couple of moments between the ceremony and the cocktail hour to catch our breath, Maria snuck into our room and brought us champagne, punch, and two of every appetizer so that we could enjoy them before the craziness really set in. And something else that I will never forget is that as I danced and ran around the rest of the night, I noticed that there was always an EC team member standing near me with glasses of ice water on a tray! Every so often, they would approach me and hand me water or offer to hold things for me. This was not even a service I had thought to expect (!), but it was much needed and really sent the message that every staff member at an EC event will make the most of their time and energy to take care of you and your guests. It is now many months after our February 2020 wedding, and we are still being told all the time that the food at our wedding was incredible, and in fact that it was the best wedding food our guests had ever had. We one hundred percent agree and would book them again in a heartbeat! Thank you to Michelle, Maria, Tammy, our tasting day servers, our chefs, and every other member of the Entertaining Company team who came together to make our day so lovely and memorable!

The best food, service and execution we could have dreamed of...is exactly what we hoped for and it is exactly what we got from Kenny at this find of a catering company. Stop searching and testing anywhere else.... Our son and daughter in law's wedding was superb because of Kenny and Entertaining Company.

Like Mike R., I was very disappointed with my experience with Entertaining Company. Unfortunately, I didn't get a $1000 refund, we got a big fat bunch of useless apologies. We went with E.C. because like Mike, they were really flexible, the food was good and it was a little outside of the box. I'm pretty creative but I've never planned a party this big, let alone a wedding so I was looking for some guidance to make it amazing. We dealt with Rachel the whole time and she was really good about responding through emails. About halfway through the planning process I realized that a lot of the appointments we made were not being written down or something because we would have scheduled our tasting and then a couple weeks later I would get an email asking when we wanted to do the tasting? How about on the date we agreed on last month? That was when I started becoming a little worried because we were at essentially a warehouse for our wedding so there were a lot of moving parts and I couldn't physically be there to coordinate and my trust in E.C. was waning. On the day of, there was some miscommunication with the linens and tables, who was supposed to do what and at what time, etc. We had very generous family members coming to help decorate and when they got there, there were no linens on the tables to start the process. Cut to the reception, everything was set up on time and it looked great. We chose two stations, a pasta station and a savory bakery. I guess we must have given our guests too much credit but they didn't realize the savory bakery was actual entrees, not additional appetizers. To their credit however, the meatloaf cupcakes, looked nothing like cupcakes. There was barely a drop of the mashed potato "frosting" so they looked like weird meatballs. Needless the say the pasta station was overly popular. And the one thing we stressed was that we were on a timeline and we did NOT want lines. 2 hours later, we still had lines and then they ran out of pasta. Also, none of the vendors got the meals I paid for them to get. Apparently they were supposed to go hunt them down. I wrote a letter after the fact once I had calmed down a little and got a very apologetic Rachel on the phone. She explained away some of the problems but for the most part, they ran out of food and there were long lines. The explanation for that was "we haven't figured out a good way to do that." But that was never mentioned ahead of time. We spent a good deal of money on the caterer and the response I got from the owner 6 weeks after I sent my letter... we'll give you "special pricing" on a future event you have with us. Sorry, I think I'll pass.

The Entertaining Company catered our son's Bar Mitzvah and were absolutely spectacular. We're used to having food that's just average at a big catered event. The food was Delicious! We got so many compliments from everyone! But more importantly, the team is so professional and the support was just incredible throughout the planning processing and on the day of. Julie is superb. Super patient, flexible and supportive. I haven't thrown a party this big since my wedding. I couldn't imagine a better caterer. I highly recommend them!

My husband and I had a FABULOUS experience with Entertaining Company for our May 2011 wedding at Cafe Brauer. I was a little worried before hand, from reading some negative reviews on Yelp - but we had a wonderful experience. We worked with Molly, and she literally took care of everything. I had some miscommunication with our baker, and she took care of the situation for me. Initially, we had narrowed down our options to 3 caterers and Entertaining Company blew the other two caterers out of the water with their great service and amazing food. Also - one of the DJs I had a consultation with told me that no one will remember the food, but everyone will remember the music. That is not true - with Entertaining Co, everyone is STILL talking about how great the food was at our wedding 6 months ago.

Everything perfect!!! The food was delicious. Helpful! Organized! Professional! Guests are emailing me commenting on the delicious food! Thanks so much Regan!

Yesterday I went to a tasting for my future sister in laws 600 person wedding. Everyone was amazing and the food was mind blowing. Julie was beyond kind and helpful. I would 100% suggest them to anyone looking for a catering company, whether the event is small or large.

I wish I could give these guys more than 5 stars. We had the Entertaining Company catered our wedding a couple weeks ago and the experience we had was nothing short of amazing. We had so many guests compliment us on the food and the service saying that it was the best wedding they've ever been to, and we know the EC was a big reason for that. One of our guests, a highly regarded chef in Chicago, came up to me during dinner and demanded to know who our caterer was. He said the way the food was prepared, served, and tasted was near perfection. Working with Regan was a pleasure, and she provided a lot of useful input in our preparation for our big day. The whole experience was great: the tasting, food selection, pricing, planning, etc. was pleasant. These people are pros. Highly, highly recommended.

From the first day we met Kenny we knew that he would be a special part of our wedding day. He took the time to get to know me and my husband and listened to every detail that we had in mind for our wedding, far beyond the food. He was patient with us as we made decisions about the menu, and gave us suggestions on important aspects of our wedding reception, including flow and timing. The food was incredible and the presentation was beautiful as well. But even more impressive was their ability to manage a complicated event space, two floors without an elevator, and numerous complicated room flips. We were so happy with the food and the service that we had them cater our first party as a married couple this holiday season. I would highly recommend Entertaining Company for their delicious food and years of experience dealing with challenging new venues. A special thanks to Kenny!

We had a boat wedding in Chicago and picked Entertaining Company because of their good reviews. However, we were really skeptical because the caterers available at the boat were limited and wedding food is usually average at best. Entertaining Company proved us wrong: the food was amazing and our wedding guests approached us to explicitly comment on this. Denise also helped us put a menu together, since we had no idea what we wanted. The service on the wedding day was also fantastic. Highly recommended!

I have no idea where to start...my husband and I had such an amazing experience working with Julie & her team in planning our wedding and then on our wedding day. From a planning perspective, when we begun planning the food was the item we were the most perplexed about since I'm indian and my husband is not indian. We were struggling coming up with a way to have a wedding that combined our favorite aspects of both cultures while also making sure our guests felt welcome and comfortable. Thanks to Julie we were able to make that a reality. She helped us create the absolutely perfect menu, took all of our feedback from the tastings and never hesitated to provide her opinions based on her expertise. Working with her from day 1 we were completely at ease because of her wonderfully welcoming personality. And then there was the wedding day...which was absolute perfection. I want to highlight a couple of details from the wedding day that our guests told us about that still stand out to me and help attest to the amazing service entertaining company provides. Several of our guests told us about how no matter where they were during the cocktail hour - the servers would come and find them to make sure they got food. During dinner, one of my uncles ordered chicken but then when he saw the fish meal he realized he wanted fish. It would have been completely normal for a server to say no but instead they brought him out fish too! During dessert, my brother told a server that my grandma is allergic to eggs and they brought our a separate tray just for her with all the non-egg desserts. Those are just a couple of mentions of their amazing service but there are many many more examples. And then, of course, their food tasted absolutely amazing - it was just as good as our tastings, if not better! If you're trying to decide which caterer to work with, don't look any further than Entertaining Company ... especially if you're doing a fusion wedding. By the end of the night all of our guests were so satisfied and that is in large part because of the food :). Thank you Julie & Team! I hope we get a chance to work with you again.

After several positive experiences, EC failed to deliver at my daughter's wedding- running out of entrees and forgetting to serve late-night snacks. To make matters worse, they did not take responsibility for their mistakes. Very disappointing!

My fiance and I set up a tasting with Kenny at the Entertaining Company, and I will admit--it was love at first sight. We had contacted several catering companies around Chicago, and none were as responsive, and charming as this experience. We had a glorious experience with our tasting. Kenny was insightful, and a strong advocate for us! Not only did he sit with us, but he listened, and ensured that our tasting menu was EXACTLY what we wanted. Our pallets were tantalized, and our company was tantalizing! Truly, an extraordinary experience. We booked on the spot, and cannot wait to share their scrumptious, satiating, attractive food. From passed hors d'oeuvres, to sweet bites--everything was artfully crafted with tastes to match. I am so excited to get married, and I even get to look forward to the food. I'll keep you posted. :)

Working with Kenny at the Entertaining Company was a total dream! Our event had last minute additions, our timeline running late, and a challenging space to prep in, but Kenny and his team handled it perfectly with amazing flexibility and without a single complaint! Kenny and his team are true professionals and the menu was amazing. We had several different food stations featuring food from around the world and each bite was tastier than the last! His servers and bar staff were quick and efficient and worked the room seamlessly. I highly recommend Kenny and Entertaining Company for your next party or event! A++

My fiance and I need to book a caterer for our upcoming wedding at CIC. We reached out to Julie at Entertaining company to get an idea on pricing and go no response. I followed up again and the reply i received was "what is the actual date of your wedding" Julie clearly was unwilling to work with us until she knew our venue was booked. This seemed odd, as the 3 other catering companies were so nice and sent a detailed email with a bunch of information. I responded anyways the date we were planning to book and again got no response from Julie. Needless to say we booked with Boka who is absolutely amazing and the best.

Truly- look no further for your wedding caterer. When we began this process, this piece of the puzzle was one of the most stressful (in my mind) to take on. Food at a wedding is so important, and it seems with so many options it's easy to miss the mark. Entertaining Company does NOT miss the mark. From the moment we stepped into our tasting, I knew attention to detail was not going to be an issue. We felt welcomed, special and like our opinions were really being heard. They work with you to create a menu that works for you and suits your style. Julie was wonderful to work with. Responsive, kind, and kept things light and fun while being focused. Most importantly, the food day of was fabulous. We were not disappointed! We ended up offering charcuterie boards at each table which was a hit. Also impressive, when the napkins were not folded exactly how we had envisioned (it was specific to the menu size, etc.) there was no hesitation on their end to quickly refold all napkins during the ceremony. They really go above and beyond no questions asked, and remind you throughout that this is a big day and things should be how you want them to be. In the moment and being a little stressed as a bride, I truly appreciated that. Lastly, I should mention that the staff the night of was WONDERFUL. Leslie, in particular, was by my husband my by side from the moment we walked into the space. Making sure we always had a bite to eat and/or a drink in hand if we wanted it. She made us feel so comfortable and attended to, it was really unexpected and above and beyond. Thank you so much to the Entertaining Company team for delivering food and service that was truly beyond what we could have imagined. It was such a pleasure to work with you!

We used the Entertaining Company for our 9/5/15 wedding on board Chicago's Classic Lady. The food was amazing and guests raved about it. Our officiant who has done thousands of weddings said it was the best meat he has ever had at a wedding. They were extremely professional to work with and answered questions quickly via email throughout the planning process. We were very nervous going into it though because we were told we could not do a tasting because our budget was not high enough... so we were booking based solely off of reviews. Having not tasted anything ahead of time, we were counting on yelp, the boat company, and also our wedding coordinator assured us they were great. and it was!! delicious all around and very professional!

First off, let me premise this with the fact that I am a wedding planner here in Chicago. I have worked with every fantastic (and not so fantastic) caterer in the city.... When my husband and I got engaged earlier in the year (he is also in the wedding business) there was never a question as to who would be catering our wedding. The day after we got engaged we made the call to Wendy Pashman, the owner of EC. We did not have a venue, a date, nada.... EC's food is the best in the city. What I love about the creative team over there is exactly that- THEY ARE CREATIVE. They love all aspects of food- the taste, the texture, the aromas, the look and presentation, the mixing of flavors. They are never afraid of trying something new or thinking outside of the box, in fact, they embrace it! At our event, we had the most delicious hors d'ouevres, succulent salads, and flavor bursting entrees. Guests were moaning over the cheese platters, lamb, sea bass, and pear salad. MOANING. I cannot tell you how many guests were asking me who the caterer was. The staff was stellar. Going above and beyond taking good care of us. Words cannot express how happy we were about EC. Best call we ever made. Love to all of you at Entertaining Company (Wendy, Julie, Michael, Tammy, Rachel S, Sean, and the amazing tram of chefs).... MWAH!

My husband and I used Entertaining Company for our wedding reception on Chicago's First Lady. Denise was fabulous to work with! I am a vegetarian and I also had vegan guests and Denise worked with me to ensure that the menu would suit our needs. The day of the event, the staff was SUPERB! They were polite, professional, and the food was fantastic! They also knew the ingredients of the food which our guests appreciated. We got compliments from everyone about the food and the leftovers were quickly gobbled up the next day.

Our company was in Chicago this past week for a conference and we hosted a private event with Chicago's First Lady boat tours and selected Entertaining Company as our caterer. I was very impressed with the onsite staff who were very helpful, friendly, courteous and professional. Not to mention, the food was delicious! I highly recommend Entertaining Company for your next event!

We used The Entertaining Company to cater our October 2009 wedding. Rachel Schwanz was absolutely AMAZING to work with, going above and beyond our expectations. We were on an extremely tight budget but the end result looked like we didn't pinch a penny. I am still receiving compliments about the food! We decided to have stations: carving station with choice of beef and fish; veggie station with a choice of carrots, asparagus and a salad that was to die for; and a mashed potato bar with choice of garlic or sweet potatoes and all the toppings. The Entertaining Company also made our cake, red velvet with cream cheese frosting. It was decorated so elegantly and saved us a lot of headache and extra cash than going with a bakery. The service staff was phenomenal! Every time my husband or I went up for a drink they addressed us by name and were very professional, it was an extra touch that wasn't expected but made everything much more special. To show how above and beyond Rachel went... As we were lining up to be introduced she told us that our DJ just notified her that he didn't have the correct music. He had "technical issues" so our introduction and all of our first dance music was not available. She immediately took charge of situation, taking the damage control out of our hands, and rearranged the agenda so the DJ could run home and get the music. By the time dinner was over we were ready for our first dance. Even with that minor glitch Rachel and her team were so wonderful that they made the night get right back on track and finish perfectly. I probably would have had a minor breakdown without her... I cannot recommend and thank The Entertaining Company enough, especially Rachel, for making our wedding day more than we ever dreamed it could be. Thank you!

We had a great experience having Entertaining Company cater our wedding! Food was really important to us, so we really put time into choosing both the catering company as well as our menu -- and the day-of results were wonderful. Of note: * Molly, our catering manager, was a joy and is as good as it gets! I can't stress enough how good she was as listening to what we liked and disliked and guiding us in creating a menu that not only tasted great but reflected who we are. On top of it, she was responsive from the get go, which I found to be unique to catering companies! * The staff of Entertaining Company is always awesome. My company actually uses them for events, so I can say that they are consistently great people to have around your event. They seem to really enjoy their job, and it shows. My husband and I actually stayed around talking to some of the staff after our wedding because they were so nice to talk to! * The food was awesome. Plus, they had no problems making accommodations for gluten-free or vegetarian takes on traditionally meat items we wanted to serve. Plus, we wanted our friend who's a chef to create a signature appetizer for us, and Molly & Co. never blinked an eye; we sent the recipe and photos, and it was prepared for us at our tasting so we could try it. Also, be sure to try some of the Korean dishes that are on the menu; one of the chefs spent time in Korea, and his Korean dishes were so good we had one during each course. * Entertaining Company ain't cheap. However (!), they weren't that much expensive compared to some other big names, and for the little extra you paid, we found the quality and sophistication far beyond competitors. Entertaining Company has their act together, and if food is a priority for you, they're a great choice.

Wendy Pashman, owner of Entertaining Company came to my attention beacuse I was looking for someone who could create a new concept of modern Indian wedding. Her Indian parties are sparkling with flavor, colors and fresh new ideas based on traditional Indian foods. Her enthusiasm and dedication paired with meticulous attention to details made my party absolutely carefree and memorable. Kirsten W.

This is a great company! They catered our wedding, and - a year later - people still talk about the great food! Those hors d'oeuvres! Those entrees (beef, chicken and vegetarian were equally good - hard to tell which was the best). And outstanding service by all. Special mention of Kenny, who advised and guided as all along and "ran the show" in a wonderful way!

I didn't go into my trial expecting a lot out of EC, but man, was the food great. We paid a pretty penny (about $38K total for 210 guests - but we had a long cocktail hour, midnight bites, a water / snacks bar during our ceremony...), but people raved about the food. To me, it was worth it. They were great to work with and I would definitely recommend them to my friends.

A couple of years ago I used Wendy and her company for my wedding. Being that we were not having a large, traditional wedding (this was my husband's second marriage), my intention was to have a small, luxurious event. I had access to Wendy in addition to working with Kenny, and the entire process was seamless. The Entertaining Company delivered not only with their exquisite food, but with commendable customer service. Recently, I worked with them again to host an intimate milestone birthday for a close friend and the experience was equally phenomenal.

You guys did a fabulous job last night. Thank you so much for all the hard work leading up to the event and for your careful attention to detail and responsiveness to our requests. It's that level of care that makes an event sing. I am going to be your best reference from this point forward!

Where do I start? Mmm perhaps the tasting for my couple, it was beyond our expectations,so much so that the bride and groom agreed that their search was over, right then and there. Every thing that we tasted that day was a yes, we had to pair it down. Kenny kept the tasting fun and inventive. He helped with whimsical touches and suggestions that enhanced and elevated every bite. Every detail was discussed and fine tuned to their liking. On the day of the wedding, EC and Kenny Woodman did an exceptional job working in a new venue (for all of us). They flawlessly executed flipping the room not once, but twice. My couple was extremely happy with the incredible food, the presentation and the service. I heard high praise from so many guests, including out of town guests who happen to be caterers! I have only exceptional words for EC and their very hardworking crew, I can't wait to work with them again. Which lucky for me is very soon.

They just catered my gasp....40th birthday party. Everyone kept raving about the food. The servers were amazing. They were quick to pour a drink and even quicker to clean up any mess our guests made. I could not have been happier with the overall experience with them. Super friendly and everything you could ask for.

Corporate Event-082512 - 52 people Everyone raved about the food; we went with the "Traditional Dinner Menu". We had fresh cut senasonal floral on the round tables and the buffet table. Michael Holtrup and his team did a wonderful job. The salon looked great with the burgundy tablecloths on the ten tables. Working with Denise was wonderful in the very beginning and throughout the coordination of the event. We would use Entertaining Company again.

I truly enjoyed attending the Entertaining Company party this past Wednesday. The food they offered was terrific, all in season and so well cooked and presented. Including cauliflower and gouda gratin, corn pancake and roasted lamb, pumpkin souffle, harvest mushroom quiche(?) and sushi. The drinks and music were a great balance to the food and Epoch is a great loft space to host an event. The Entertaining Company staff on site were terrific, servers very friendly and I met some great folks. Will look forward to opportunities to hire them for my next party, personal or professional.

Highly recommended, took a chance on using them without anything but a review of the Yelp rankings - was fantastic food. In the past we have used Real Kitchen but they were unavailable for the holiday when we needed the catering, instead we went with Entertaining Company. Very happy it worked out this way. The ordering process was easy, Molly was fantastic and quick with replies, the food was absolutely perfect, everyone wanted to know who the caterer was. Fortunately we had a lot left over - amazingly, just as good the next day.

We were lucky enough to work with Julie at Entertaining Company on our event at Salvage One for around 350 people. We basically were having 2 parties at the same time, having a separate cocktail hour and dinner for the kids while having adult apps and stations for them. Julie worked with us (always with a big smile and giggle) to incorporate our theme and the funky venue into the choice of foods and the way we presented them. When we saw the cold weather, she was quick to agree to serve soup shooters upon arrival to warm up our guests without adding an up-charge for an additional app choice. By the way, the tomato soup with asiago crouton and the squash soup were incredible! Beginning with the phenomenal gourmet cheeses and crudite displays during pictures to the delicious and beautifully presented hors d'oeuvres to the abundance of delectable entrees, also set on gorgeous tables incorporating the theme into everything they did, Entertaining Company is my new favorite caterer. The staff was incredible. They bussed the tables and served guests who didn't want to deal with the stations. A number of people commented to me on how outstanding the service was. Also, someone lost a large diamond earring during the party. The servers were looking everywhere until they found it and returned it to the owner! They were accommodating, creative and, most importantly, the food was outstanding. It was almost 2 months ago, and guests are still commenting on the food! I am shocked to read any bad reviews. I have received such strong recommendations from others who entertain beautifully who count on EC as their "go to" for the best catering in Chicago, and now I will only be using them for all of my events to come! Definitely 5 stars. Julie and her team are the best! I can't wait for the next party!

Hire entertaining company for the very best in catering. I had a very important cocktail party last weekend and entertaining company is flawless from the planning all the way through to the end of the evening! The food is extraordinary... a deviled egg is no ordinary deviled egg ceviche shooters will not soon be forgotten... The staff is impeccable warm and friendly but the reason you hire entertaining company is because you can leave it all to them and at the end of the night they leave you in good shape and wrap up any leftovers with a bow. They will leave you thinking about what you can hire them for next

Super impressive. Mini burgers are the best in the city. If they had a restaurant I would go there.

Good food is a necessity in my day to day life. A bad breakfast can send my entire day spiraling out of control. When planning my July '10 wedding my number one priority was having the best food possible and staying within my budget. I had my heart set on stations and after seeing estimates/menus we set-up tastings with 3 caterers. The first tasting was a disaster, the second tasting with Calihan was amazing and we left thinking it was a done deal, the third tasting with Entertaining Co left us speechless. Rachel was phenomenal throughout the tasting, negotiating, and pre-wedding process. My parents and I stressed to her many times just how important food was to us and how disappointed we would be if it didn't meet our expectations. Many of my friends told me the food never tastes like it did at the tasting and that wedding food just "always kinda sucks." Rachel assured us we would not be disappointed. We had three stations: American, Tuscan, Mexican and each dish was unique and beautifully presented. Everything was phenomenal. I was having too much fun to sit down and eat, but my friends and family insisted on feeding me as I walked around the tables. When I eventually sat to refuel I was floored how good everything was. It was better than at the tasting. My husband sat alone at our sweetheart table and went through 3 plates of food. When we reunited he would not stop whispering sweet nothings about the spare ribs and tenderloin. Several of my girlfriends were pregnant and days after the wedding they were still craving the mushroom ravioli and papaya and avocado salad. The guests who were vegetarian still comment about all the options they had to choose from. Our wedding would not have been as spectacular and memorable without Entertaining Company and Rachel steering the ship. I highly recommend EC to anyone, for any event.

My wife and I hosted an outdoor dinner party for 28 people at our home this past weekend, and we were fortunate to have Entertaining Company cater and handle the event for us. Molly Fennell and her entire support staff were truly exceptional. The menu selection, as to variety of items selected for both the appetizers and entrees, was super and our guests were thrilled with the choices. Collectively, we decided upon the correct quantities so that there was a more than adequate supply and little wasted food. Luis and the on-site staff were friendly, helpful and very professional. Everybody arrived early, and delighted all of us at the party. The final clean up was immaculate, and we could not tell that your staff had been in our kitchen at all. The coordination of the delivery of the tables, chairs, ancillary equipment and linens went without a hitch, and the pickup of the materials on Monday was as smooth as it could be. Many thanks to you and your team for your help with our party. We look forward to working with you next year.

We knew we wanted to work with Entertaining Company from the second we met Molly. Corbin and I were married at Greenhouse Loft this past July 13th, and as true foodies, our served-meal had to be phenomenal! This was a priority for us and more importantly, for our guests! The tasting was a lot of fun-we were also blown away at just how tasty the food was. Ultimately, we decided on a really unique idea-Mexican food buffet! We also chose to go with an array of seven different passed appetizers, coffee bar and three different passed desserts (no wedding cake). Molly was always organized and upbeat through our entire time of working with her. It's so easy to work with someone who has a great attitude and wants to make your day perfect, and it was! THANK YOU Entertaining Company for being awesome and having so many great food options to choose from-we'll be talking about it for the rest of our lives :)

Absolutely some of the best food I've ever had from an off premise caterer hands down!!! If you think that's great just wait until you experience the service they don't miss one detail ever. Norma and Kenny are a dream team.

We went with Entertaining Company to cater our October 4th wedding aftter they blew us away with the tasting. We couldn't have been happier with the results! Julie was incredibly sweet and helpful throughout the process. I had some very specific requests for the menu and the Chef was more than happy to accommodate. We had a few guests with dietary restrictions and everyone was taken care of. They even brought a single portion of vegan soup for our one vegan guest (I did not ask them to do this). On top of all of this, the food was beautiful and delicious! Our guests are still raving about it. Their staff was great too! These guys are top notch.

We were thrilled with the Entertaining Company! The food was outstanding. Our guests were raving about it all night and even the next day we were still hearing from them how terrific the food was. The onsite service team was fantastic. Working in advance with Kenny and Jillian was a delight. They were creative, professional, friendly and they helped us create an amazing food experience, at our event, within our budget. We can't wait to use them again! You won't be disappointed.

I can't even begin to explain my utter disappointment with this company. Please heed my words, and do not consider them for your wedding. We chose them because we were absolutely blown away by the quality and care they showed during the initial tasting. The food was by far better than anywhere else, and they were willing to work with our budget . . . initially. I could go on and on about how bad things turned out, but I will summarize. The food at the wedding was terrible, nothing like the tasting. I was assured numerous times during the tasting that it would be the exact same, of which I was skeptical but was nonetheless assured that it would be. How bad was the food? Well, our table (the head table) did not have dressing on our salads. The chicken was dry, rubbery, and stale. The meat was bland. The Risotto tasted like paste. Do you remember the paste stick that you used in elementary school? Yeah, that kind of paste. Additionally, the kids' tables also had awful service. Entertaining Company was willing to work out a menu for kids, which we appreciated. They said the kids would get their meals first, as kids tend to get antsy. The kids received their meals dead last. Everyone else had already finished eating. They were served chicken tenders and french fries. Not one kid ate their fries because they were cold and hard as rocks. They hardly ate any of the chicken because it was dried out and tough. How do you mess up chicken fingers and french fries so badly that kids won't even eat them? Well, they managed to do it. I should have canceled them, when our salesperson showed up 45 minutes late to the pre-wedding walkthrough, which was one week before our wedding, but who could have helped us at that point? She showed up without a single apology or phone call, and she still has not apologized to this day. She showed up to the meeting and started talking about her "other" wedding that she was trying to plan. Give me a break. We felt like just another number the whole time. I felt like we were getting nickle and dimed. We were told things weren't negotiable, and then magically they became negotiable when I pushed. Yes, I may have been a tough customer to deal with because we wanted things a certain way, but when you are paying this much for something, everything had better be perfect. Finally, we voiced our complaints to the company after the wedding. We were given back $1000 to cover our unhappiness. Seriously? What a slap in the face. That didn't even cover the gratuity we gave. That is barely even a percentage of what we paid. Additionally, they just put it straight to our credit card and not a check, so we had no opportunity to contest it. Do not make the same mistake we did on the most important day of your life. What a miserable experience. This happened months ago, and it still makes my blood boil to this day.