Matters of Taste Caterers

Matters of Taste catered our wedding three years ago. The food was good, exactly what we’d hoped for. So why one star?
The waiters took bets on how old I was, asked my guests to confirm their guesses, and then confronted me at the end of the night to get my age directly from me to settle the bets.
I will never forget how sad it made me. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t be so sensitive, yeah? But also, maybe the caterers I hire should act like professionals.
If there’s anything non-​standard about your appearance? Well, I would definitely recommend skipping Matters of Taste.

Same experience as Melissa B, can’t even actually rate their food because although many times they said they would send me a proposal, they never did. I also had the same problem with email addresses bouncing back. Not a good start, glad they were not even in the running to cater my wedding.

I cannot adequately express how incredibly pleased we were with the Silver & Gold Anniversary party that Matters of Taste catered for us. It was a joint celebration of our 25^th and my parents’ 50^th wedding anniversaries.
Cheryl Connors attended to every detail and made the occasion so special. The party was a few weeks ago, and our guests are still raving about the food-​. The unique hors d’oeuvres (duck ravioli, pistachio-​crusted lamb lollipops, smoked salmon on potato pancake with lemon-​dill sauce) were the prelude to a lovely served buffet (London Broil with a wild mushroom ragout, Potato-​herb crusted halibut, roasted fall root vegetables, and so much more).
Cheryl patiently worked with us as we tried to decide between a few different venues for the party. We selected a place that normally does not accept outside caterers, but Cheryl worked closely with them and provided all of the necessary documentation so that everything went very smoothly.
We all had so much fun choosing the menu. Cheryl and her chef put together an impressive array of choices for us.
On the day of the party, at the last minute, we decided to put my mother’s wedding dress on display. Cheryl and her wonderful staff rearranged the placement of the cake and gift tables so that the dress would be the focal point.
The staff gave everyone such individualized attention. One server, Patti, even rushed tissues over to my mom when the emotions of the day spilled over.
Their attention to detail and the care they took with everything made the event so very perfect.
Thank you, Matters of Taste, we recommend you to everyone we know!

Christina is THE one to deal with at Matters of Taste. She is superb. We had a party at Glen Echo to celebrate our son’s marriage and she was with us all the way. Her advice, assistance and direction were invaluable. She was much more than a ‘caterer.’ She knew the venue well; works with them all the time and could advise on assorted details; she helped us spend wisely; she consulted on a variety of issues beyond the food. She was relaxed and flexible and always available to discuss any little detail. She understood exactly what we wanted. And even more important, she came through with flying colors on the day of the event — there from start to finish working hard the whole time and keeping everything flowing beautifully and making it look easy, which set the whole tone for the party. The food was excellent, as was the service. We have only praise, absolutely no complaints. We highly recommend Christina at Matters of Taste. It was an absolute pleasure dealing with her.

BRIDES BEWARE! This caterer is not who you want on your special day. We spent $ 7,000 and my guests were served cold, bland food. At the tasting, the food was good. While they may be able to cook for 4 people (tasting) they cannot do so for a larger party. Our wedding was only 85 guests. They ran out of hordouvres during the cocktail hour; misplaced a special bottle of liquor that we bought just for the occasion; and did not follow through with many of the things that we discussed prior to the wedding. Worst of all, when i contacted CHRISTINA to discuss the situation after the wedding, she did not respond. I reached out to her 4 times! You do not want to leave your special day in the hands of Matters of Taste.

I was very disappointed with this caterer’s service. I functioned as an usher at a wedding on 9÷5÷11. Part of my role was to direct the guests and make sure that they were comfortable. 15 minutes after directing the guests to the cocktail hour, I was asked to bring a wheelchaired guest something to drink. Unfortunately, I could not. The staff seemed to have run out of juice and I was told I would have to wait until the servers came around again. There was also a significant delay between the initial serving of cocktails and subsequent servings. Personally, I was hungry and looking forward to «cocktailing» on cocktails that came 15 – 20 minutes later. I asked two servers about the delay and was told that I would just have to wait.
In terms of appetizers, though cold, I liked the mac and cheese and crab/​fish balls. There did not seem to be enough food for all of the guests and the portion sizes were extremely small.
Later during the event, the Bride asked how a group of friends how we liked the shrimp and grits. She was shocked when we replied that there were no grits. I did not even try the grits because it looked weird — more like rice. I did have some sort of potatoes which were good. Also had Stratta (bacon instead of veggie option), which I did not like because it tasted like egg beaters instead of real eggs. The French toast did not look appetizing so I skipped it.
Before embarking on my 5hour drive home, I stopped at a local restaurant. This event will definitely not be remembered for the food.

Christina at Matters of Taste has always been a pleasure to work with and she produces some of the best catering in the area. She is the preferred vendor at my organization and is always willing to accommodate our needs. From big events with hundreds of people to small brunches, Matters of Taste always puts up a good spread, comes prepared and is very professional. Food is constantly replenished and all of the workers know how to do their job. We will continue to use Christina and her catering for our events.

Cheryl is thee bomb!
I contacted her to cater a prom for 450+ students. She was great! It was my first time planning anything with more than 20 people and I was really nervous about the whole thing. I called her and left a message and she got back to me the very day and asked me a series of questions about the venue and the kinds of food I wanted. WIthin a week, she sent me a menu and an estimate for the cost.
I brought 2 students to the taste test and she was nothing but sweet to us. The food was delicious and we had a hard time picking our menu. She also accompanied me to the walk-​thru at the venue and helped me get my vision for the prom organized.
Everyone was impressed by the staff, the food, and the professionalism of the set up. All things I took credit for, but didn’t do… (Sorry, Cheryl… hehehe). Everyone was professional and I would use them for anything else I plan.

Matters of Taste has been the most unprofessional vendor I have encountered during our wedding planning process. From rude phone manners to unanswered e-​mails (and even «bounced back» undeliverable e-​mails), to unreturned phone calls and messages, I would stay away from this caterer as far as possible. About their food? I’ll never get to try it because I wasn’t willing to deal with such an unprofessional caterer.
First, Matters of Taste took the longest time of any caterer to provide an estimate (nearly two weeks). Christina said that since it was October, she was busy developing estimates for upcoming Holiday parties. She finally provided an estimate, and then I e-​mailed her to ask her to provide some additional things, including the cost of table and chair rentals, and alcohol package costs.
No response. I e-​mailed again a week later, and the e-​mail bounced back.
I called her to let her know the e-​mail bounced back and Christina said that had been happening recently, but said that she would provide the updated estimate. Two weeks later, nothing.
So, I called again. It was the Monday before Thanksgiving and she said she’d provide the updated estimate, and said how important it was to start to book vendors, because «engagement season» would get underway and vendors would get booked. Taking her advice, I put a two-​week, no deposit hold on our venue of choice (Glen Echo Park), assuming that I would have an updated estimate from Matters of Taste within two weeks.
Silly me, why would I think she’d get back to me now?
So, the day before our two week venue hold was expiring (now Mid-​December), I called Matters of Taste for one last chance at getting my business. I called, asked for Christina, and whoever answered said that she wasn’t there and asked what I needed. I said I need my updated estimate ASAP. In a rude voice, she said, «It’s the holiday season and it’s SNOWING outside.»
What snowing had anything to do with anything is beyond me. And seriously, they had been giving me this whole «holiday season» excuse for 8 weeks. I told her that I had been waiting to hear back from Christina my last correspondence with her on November 22. She said that she’d have Christina call me back ASAP.
No return phone calls. And still, two weeks after that, still nothing. I’m just glad that I had the opportunity to see this issue before I actually booked them. Ladies, do you really want to worry about your caterer not returning calls and e-​mails during such a stressful time? So, pick someone else. Unfortunately our venue of choice had an extremely limited number of preferred caterers. I have also informed the venue of Matters of Taste unresponsiveness. Good luck.

Christina at Matters of Taste delivered some of the best reviews from the staff at our 2010 gathering. She had plenty of helpful suggestions for dealing with the odd space (an old mansion, not equipped for seating the 200 people expected) and eclectic tastes of everyone and their families.
After four years of less than adequate holiday parties, we have found a caterer that can keep up with our hungry engineers and their families.

Matters of Taste was simply terrific. My wife and I recently got married at Glen Echo Park in Maryland. Matters of Taste catered the event but also acted like a day-​of wedding planner. They knew what they were doing, they kept the day moving along, and most all, cooked a delicious dinner for our guests. We had some strange requests (ex. hot dog cart as part of the appetizers) and they filled each and every one of them. Furthermore, halfway through dinner, Christina from MOT came over to us and said we were running low on some types of beer. She offered to make a beer run. That sealed the deal for us — she (and her staff) anticipated our every need. The whole event went off without a hitch (by the way, she did make that beer run) and we owe it to MoT. My wife and I strongly recommend their services!

I just had my wedding this weekend and Matters of Taste catered it. It was a disaster. In the weeks proceeding the wedding, the caterer didn’t receive multiple emails I sent (and I like to work mostly over email so that it is in writing). Their email didn’t receive attachments and I had to sent items multiple times. It took them days to get back to me, and they waiting until the last minute — week of the wedding — to get details (when I was at my busiest).
On the day of the wedding, they didn’t set up the cocktail hour where it should be so everyone went to their seats an hour early. There were barely any passed hors d’oeuvres. They set up only 16 tables, and we needed 17. They put a broken chair out and my Grandfather fell, then my Dad didn’t have a seat. They screwed up every centerpiece, and didn’t light the candles. It was a mess and stressful.
The food was good, however that didn’t make up for the stress that it all gave me. I work in catering and would never treat a client like this. Please do not use Matters of Taste.