Instead of Flowers

OMG! Deeee-​lish. We received dinner for 6 from a friend. SO much better than flowers! (And I LOVE flowers!) The lasagna was amazing as was the zucchini, caesar’s salad and dinner rolls. Oh and wooaaa… best cheesecake eva! They called the morning of delivery to see if it was a good day for us, told us they’d be to our house between 3 – 5 — and they were — and a super nice man delivered with a smile! HIGHLY recommend (and soo grateful to my friends for the introduction to Instead of Flowers AND the dinner ;)

We received a deluxe meal as a gift during a difficult time. We ordered the flank steak and our choice of sides and dessert. A high-​quality meal was delivered as promised on the day we selected. Heating instructions were easy. We were impressed! What a great company!

Instead of Flowers is the best gift that anyone can give to a new mother. The food is always fresh and the delivery service makes it even better. If you are looking for a gift to give to someone that is ill or someone that can’t easily leave their home, then this is it! I’ve used them for years for friends and family and I’m always happy to receive a gift card for their food. I highly recommend Instead of Flowers!

We received a gift certificate to Instead of Flowers 2 ½ years ago when we had our first daughter & have been using them ever since! We order it as a gift to others and even for ourselves b/​c the food is that good!!! We’ve never had a meal we didn’t love! So much better than sending flowers, a meal is always appreciated and makes it so convenient for your loved ones. The only thing I wish is that they’d deliver further out without a hefty delivery fee, I have several friends/​family in the Woodstock area that I don’t order for b/​c I think the delivery fee was around $ 50!

We received the meal from family friends. We had the Caribbean style grilled flank steak, broccoli, asparagus, mandarin orange salad, and cappuccino brownies. All the food was nicely packaged with directions on how to heat up. The flank steak was delicious and well seasoned! Both veggies had butter and seasoning that melted when you microwaved in the packages. The salad had pecans, mandarin slices, chopped romaine lettuce and diced red peppers dressed with wonderful vinaigrette. The cappuccino brownies were soft and packed with flavor and white chocolate chips! We thoroughly enjoyed our meal! Would definitely send as a gift to others!

The meal that was delivered to our home last night was wonderful. the meal was delivered in a nice insulated bag with ice packs as scheduled and the driver even followed up with a phone call. Instructions on heating the meal were very simple and within 30 minutes I had a delicious meal of Florentine Chicken, Roasted potatoes, Green beans with herbed butter, rolls and apple crumb bars! I will definitely use INSTEAD OF FLOWERS in the future.

Just finished a sumptuous meal from Instead of Flowers. Thank you Don & Diane, what a wonderful gift! We had the tossed salad with balsamic dressing (best salad dressing we have ever had!) Salmon in lobster sauce, herbed green beans and rice pilaf. Everything was just perfection! Butterscotch bars for dessert were heavenly! We would highly recommend this as something to consider for any gift giving occasion. Everything was clearly labeled, and easy to reheat. Plus there is the added benefit of the insulated carrying case that you can reuse! It is also wonderful that you can coustomize any meal

They do a great job. Lots to choose from, easy ordering, and the food is delicious — very flavorful but not overly salted or the like. Seems prepared in a healthy manner too.

This is an awesome service. My work team got me this as a gift when I had a newborn baby. It is the best gift ever. We just finished the Caribbean style flank steak meal amd it was delicious. The meat is tender and juicy, the vegfies fresh and crisp, and the flavors and spices are just right. The portions are generous… we could’ve shared with a third person or had leftovers, but we polished it all off. I would definitely love to get this as a gift again and will be giving this as a gift in the future. Thanks so much!

Due to the kindness of good friends and good co-​workers, we’ve enjoyed three meals this month. In the midst of a move, these have been such gifts! The food is amazing. Everything is great quality and super fresh, and we’re a family with high food standards! Hands down, this is far more helpful than flowers! The office staff is easy to work with, and the fact that they deliver is just awesome! Thanks, IoF!

Okay first of all I’m the only one that is gluten free in my family and having two kids and a newborn can I just say that this was the best gift ever from my husband’s employer. We were able to select our items and delivery date. The food was delicious! Even my kids loved it. This would even be a great at home «date night» if you couldn’t go out. Absolutely wonderful service from start to finish.

Fabulous service and excellent food. I have given and received this service many times! The food is delicious and delivered at the convenience for the customer. it’s one of the best gifts to give to new parents, someone who is sick, the loss of a loved one, or any other occasion for that matter…

Just had my second experience with IOF. Just as before, the food was excellent and the portions were generous except for 2 items. I ordered the roasted turkey with dressing. Both were delicious. The portion of turkey was great! There just wasn’t much dressing at all. One of my sides was Mandarin Salad with dressing. The amount of salad I received was very generous. Unfortunately, they did not give me enough salad dressing for it.
I would definitely recommend IOF but wish they would ensure consistency with portion sizes. But please don’t decrease portions. Increase to make sure accompaniments match in size.

We had a meal delivered tonight from Instead of Flowers. I had absolutely no expectations whatsoever (and if anything, maybe even was prepared to not like the food) but it turned out to be an absolutely delicious meal and my whole family and I were thoroughly impressed! Not only did it arrive right on time and the person who delivered it was incredibly friendly, but it was all packaged so nicely and all of the instructions were super easy to follow. The whole thing only took a few minutes to have out on the table and we just could not believe how good it all was! Thank you so much. Happy to re-​order as gifts (or for ourselves) anytime!

Beef on weck — nice large sandwich with medium roast beef and Brie. Topped with a spicy horseradish sauce. Salty and savory.

My Wife recently had a baby and her company ordered us dinner from here, to be delivered to our home. How thoughtful! We only live a block away, and we’ve eaten lunch on several occasions at Take Away Café, but never tried IOF. I must say, everything about the experience last night was awesome! We ordered the Jumbo Shrimp Scampi Deluxe Meal. The Jumbo Shrimp comes sautéed with fresh garlic and tomatoes, has a lemon caper cream sauce, is served over angel hair pasta and tossed in an herb olive oil. It came with Mandarin Salad with House Vinaigrette, Julienne Vegetables, French Bread Rolls and Cheesecake squares. All of it was DELICIOUS! I would definitely recommend this meal. In fact, I’m already planning to send my Father and Mother a dinner this weekend!

I was given a gift certificate for Christmas and we just got our first order today. The roast turkey dinner was amazing!!! Everything arrived fresh and on time and the whole family enjoyed the meal! Will certainly order again

Never heard of the place until they came by to visit us after we moved our office nearby. Not only are they incredibly nice, and helpful, but the food is fantastic.
Between our office team, we’ve had pretty much all of the regular sandwiches on the menu and they are all fantastic. The portions are huge and reasonably priced. If you’re not a big eater, you can probably split the sandwich with someone and be more than full.
They have some of the finest carmelized onions I’ve ever had. They match it up well with some tasty meats and cheeses to create my two favorites: the BBQ and the Brisket sandwich. The Cuban is excellent as are the salads.
They make everything to order, so call ahead or plan to hang out for a bit while they make it. No seating really so it’s purely a takeaway café.

A friend sent this to us as a gift after our second child was born. The meal arrived at our door on time, in a nice cooler bag, with ribbon wrapped around each dish. Close to dinnertime, we followed directions to heat up each item, and it was all delicious! Even our toddler happily ate all the vegetables, in addition to everything else. It was all super fresh and perfectly seasoned, and the gluten-​free baked goods were a real treat. Many thanks!
PS: If you want to provide enough food to have leftovers, I would suggest getting more than a meal for two! :)

Two forks way up, Instead of Flowers team! Fellow Unilocalers, I took pictures when I plated the reheated meals to prove how impressive this food is! My husband and I received a gift certificate to Instead of Flowers, and ever the enthusiastic meal planner, I enjoyed selecting the meals from the a la carte menu. We ordered salmon in lobster sauce, meatloaf with mushroom glacé, Texas (spicy sauteed) corn, fresh green beans, and roasted potatoes. Everything was delivered to our doorstep with a call from the driver once the food was dropped off. Our meals were packaged in oven safe containers for easy and fast (read: 15 – 20 minutes) reheating. Portions are generous and the food is beautiful – top quality ingredients here. We felt like VIPS with our fabulous weeknight dinner! My only constructive criticism would be that the mobile site (as I was ordering via iPad) could be a better user experience, but the food and service were impeccable. We will definitely recommend Instead of Flowers to others!