À La Carte Catering + Event Design

In August 2014 I planned for a baby shower and ordered drinks, heavy hors d’oeuvres, and two staff (one chef, one waiter). The reason I hired a caterer was so I could enjoy a worry-​free day while hosting my only child’s first baby shower.
The sales people were wonderful to deal with, and the menu was great. The prices were in line with what I expected.
The person responsible for showing up early and setting up was a no-​show. When the chef showed up, he had to both set up and prepare food. He was awesome and was able to get another person to show up, but by then the point of paying for a second person (i.e., to have everything ready and relive my stress) was missed.
The food was very good, and the chef (who no longer works here) was amazing. He even helped grill burgers I had purchased for the people who didn’t like the hors d’oeuvres.
Finally, when cleaning up, the waiter moved the drink station and in the process scratched my Corian countertop. Calls and emails to the company went unanswered for awhile. When I finally received an answer, they said they would send someone out. He (a vendor) was a no-​show. They tried again. The second time they told me that from the picture I had sent they didn’t think my countertop wasn’t Corian. Since I had a spare piece of my countertop, I was able to send them a picture of the bottom proving it was Corian. So finally after a few no-​shows and the latest guy telling me he would have to buff the surface (and there would always be a chance it would go wrong), I gave up. Now I just cover the counter area.

Highly recommend A La Cart Catering. We’ve hired them to host a variety of events here at our home and each time we’ve be delighted with the quality, presentation and value. Two must haves on your list should be the corn salsa and crab cake sandwiches. A house favorite around here. Have no worries and enjoy your event, book A La Cart Catering.

A la carte catered our wedding in November 2013 in Arlington, VA. The food was excellent, the staff were great, and the decorations and planning were exactly what we wanted. We also appreciated A La Carte’s willingness to be flexible with us on some of our unique requests. Based on our experience with Karen, Angela, and the A la carte team, we highly recommend them.

My husband and I recently got married in Northern Virginia and, for our reception dinner, we wanted to recreate a wonderful charcuterie meal we had in Italy on our first vacation together as a couple. We were thrilled when we found A La Carte catering online. The photos of their charcuterie boards were exactly what we were looking for and so we set up a tasting at their restaurant.
The meats and cheeses they served were absolutely delicious and the presentation was gorgeous (they use these beautiful rustic wooden boards for serving)! Their event coordinator sat down with us to discuss what we wanted and our options; their Chef came out during the tasting and to give us information about the foods being served. We decided to go with the charcuterie as well as some of their ham and sweet potato biscuits and their Mediterranean pasta (all fantastic and highly recommended).
On our wedding day, delivery was prompt and the charcuterie was delivered already arranged on the boards. Everything was just as delicious as the day we tasted it and our guests were impressed with the quality of the food.
We did run into a small snafu. Due to some miscommunication on both sides, we didn’t have enough food to serve for all of our guests during the reception. When I brought this issue to the attention of A La Carte’s owner, Karen, she graciously worked through the problem with me and we were able to come up with a solution that worked for both parties. For anyone reading this review who is considering having an event catered, I would simply advise that you get as much information as possible to make sure that what YOU expect matches what the catering company is planning to provide. If I had done that myself, I expect that my experience with A La Carte would have been 100% positive.
I think they are a lovely company with WONDERFUL food. I highly recommend A La Carte!

If you are looking for an amazing caterer for an event, look no further!!! We used A La Carte for our son’s rehearsal dinner at Cana vineyard last weekend and they were outstanding! Angela, the special events coordinater, was always easy to contact, and so helpful in planning our menu. She also helped to coordinate colors and ideas for the settings… Most important of all the food was absolutely delicious! From the appetizers, to the desserts, the presentation was amazing. Throughout the entire evening our 56 guests continued to compliment us on the food… They especially loved those grilled vegetables, but everything was outstanding! Thank-​you Angela and thank-​you A La Carte!!! You made our evening so very special…

Stopped by with a frend today and had a delicious turkey ciabatta sandwich… Took half home for hubby! It was delicious. Grabbed dinner for a sick friend a while back and got rave reviews. Will definitely stop again.

If you haven’t stopped in here, you really need to. We grabbed some lunch before a road trip and we can’t wait to go back. The chicken salad was probably the best I’ve ever had. Breads were fresh and everything is prepared to order. They also tossed in some homemade chips which were multi colored (maybe some plantains?). It looked like they were preparing a catering order and everything looked amazing!
The cashier was really friendly and helpful. She let us sample their homemade teas before taking some to go. They have daily specials so their menu is always changing. Their sweet potato ham biscuits looks awesome but I didn’t try it.

I stopped in here the other morning on the way to work to see what it’s about. The breakfast menu only had a few items on it so I ended up with the Sunrise Burrito. It would have been nice to have some more options, especially since they are preparing food while you wait.
The chef cooked it while I waited and they even have a mirror on the ceiling so you can watch what he’s doing while he’s preparing the food.
The burrito was good, it had a lot of flavor and it was just hot and fresh. I wouldn’t recommend trying to eat it while driving though.
I’m going to have to go back for lunch/​dinner, the later menus were a bit more expansive and looked to have some good choices though there looked to be a lack of vegetarian items which will be problematic for the missus.

Hands down some of the best food I’ve ever eaten. They catered our wedding and were absolutely amazing! They went above and beyond. They were incredibly responsive and sensitive to my every desire. Additionally, their dine-​in options are phenomenal. From soups to breakfast biscuits to salads to amazing entrees – WOW! You will not be disappointed!

My wife and I recently got married and used the services of A La Carte. There is a saying…“begin well but end better.” A La Carte definitely began well but ended terribly. Communication was choppy during the preparations keeping us nervous the whole time. Getting a hold of them and having them return calls or emails called for much patience. If you’re planning on using their services, I would caution you to think twice. We started out with smiles and laughter and ended with irate and rude responses from them. This experience truly revealed how the rest of the company really was and functioned.
If customer service and respect are things that you value in working with someone or a company, then A La Carte may not be the place for you. If it’s not… then you would be the best consumer anyone would want. My wife and I came away from this experience greatly offended and mistreated. This is our review and a word of caution for the reader before working with A La Carte. Other than this… wedding was a blast :)
(this is a re-​posted version. for the full review you can check out the filtered review)

À La Carte is located in a small building between the Sheetz and the Railroad Tracks off of U.S. 15 in Haymarket. Alibi Catering used to be housed in this building.
In addition to their catering services, they offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There is a paper menu you can pick up:
So far I’ve only been in for breakfast four different times. I’ve had the following:
— Bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit: The biscuit was excellent! Flaky, tasty, the bacon was thick and crisp, and the cheese was something other than Cheddar. Very good breakfast biscuit!
— Breakfast Burrito: Eggs, chorizo sausage, potatoes, onions, peppers & jack cheese served with fire-​roasted tomato salsa. This Burrito is quite hefty. Filling and hit the spot!
— Sausage Gravy & Biscuits: This has to be some of the best Sausage gravy I can remember eating. First, there is no doubt that you are eating Sausage gravy. Many other such gravies advertise themselves as «Sausage Gravy» but then you wonder where the Sausage is. You won’t wonder with A La Carte’s! You can see the sausage — and more importantly, it is a very pronounced, savory, sausagey (is that a word?) flavor! One thing I would do differently next time though — get EXTRA sausage gravy with my biscuits!
— Sweet Potato Biscuit with shaved Virginia country ham and orange honey butter. They warmed one up for me. The flavor, consistency, and texture of the biscuit was wonderful. Just yummy! However, I will ding them on one thing. When I received the biscuit, it was not uniformly heated throughout. The outer edges were warm, but the ham and biscuit at the center of the biscuit were cold.
I plan to go back to try the Bacon Tart as well as some of the lunch and dinner offerings!
There is no formal dining area. There is a small room in the front of the building with a few tables. You can sit in here and wolf down your meal.
They don’t accept American Express. Cash or Visa/​MasterCard only.
Until Unilocal corrects this business listing — the address for A La Carte is:
A La Carte
6608 James Madison Highway
Haymarket, VA 20 169