Grace Street Catering

My now-​husband and I hired Grace Street for our wedding at the de Young and were so happy with everything, from the initial planning and consultation to the final pick-​up of leftover supplies a week after our celebration.
Grace Street was one of a few caterers on our venue’s must-​use vendor list. Our initial disappointment at having to choose from a limited list turned to delight as we began working with Chelsea. We didn’t have a wedding planner, and Chelsea was extremely patient and helpful with all of our questions. She went above and beyond to help us prepare for and get through the event, even going so far as to research the Ukrainian wedding traditions that we had incorporated to make sure everything was done the way we wanted it. She also stepped in to cue the ceremony music! We are so grateful for all of her help.
Grace Street allowed us to be creative with our menu and accommodated all of our off-​the-​beaten-​path requests. We got a lot of compliments from our guests about the food, especially the «Nashville hot chicken» that Grace Street helped us formulate — Chelsea even set up a second tasting to get it just right. We had their coconut cupcakes instead of a wedding cake, and they were delicious.
The service during the celebration was spot on. We would enthusiastically recommend Grace Street to anyone planning an event.

We got married at the Oakland Museum in March and people still comment about how great the food was. Jen and her crew at Grace Street did a great job, reworking the menu until it fit our budget and desires, and took feedback from the tasting to tweak certain things. The bartender kept me hydrated and full of whiskey as well. All really nice people. Highly recommended!

I have worked with the Grace Street Catering team for several years for a wide range of catering needs. I’ve worked closely w/​Chelsea (on weddings), Jen (on non-​profit events), Erin (owner) on various occasions, and Matthew (as event captain). I can confidently say that this team is solid, professional, incredibly reliable, creative, and flexible. All the things you want in a caterer. They are also all great people. not just because they have to be in this industry. I can say that GSC without a doubt can cater any type of event and is very likely to exceed your expectations. From a ticketed high-​end Gala to rustic outdoor wedding in Pt. Reyes, these folks know how to throw a party. Also, their chef (s) are very accommodating with special requests i.e. Gluten free, dairy free, vegan, etc.
Stellar! Bravo GSC team … I will see you soon.

FYI — we did not end up going with Grace Street. This review about their service during our search for a caterer.
Grace Street Catering specifically Chelsea (that’s the only person we actually worked with) was a pleasure to work with. Chelsea was responsive and flexible with scheduling our initial meeting. She made time to meet with us during a busy weekend preparing for a big event. She asked a lot of questions to help us build our menu and also provided great suggestions. The turn around time for the proposal and subsequent edits were quick. The proposal she sent us captured what we wanted for our wedding to the t. After several edits unfortunately we couldn’t move forward with Grace Street due to our budget. I would definitely recommend Grace Street Catering for the level of professionalism and customer service.

Just basking in the glow of our daughter’s perfect wedding, and Grace Street Catering played a HUGE roll in it’s success. The food was delicious and perfectly tailored to the tastes of the bride and groom. The cake was moist and so tasty. Anastasia worked efficiently with all of our vendors, paid attention to every detail, and was there to ensure that the wedding day went without a hitch. We had so many people tell us that the food and service were exceptional. Just as an example of the incredible degree of service, the bride and groom received gourmet snack boxes in case they were hungry at the end of the evening!

We booked Grace Street for a small non-​profit dinner last week and they were fantastic! Anastasia handled our event and she was amazingly responsive and accommodating. She really helped us pull together a nice dinner despite quite a few bumps in the planning process. The food and flowers were wonderful and we got quite a few compliments from guests. If you want to feel confident that your event will go off without a hitch, you should hire Grace Street– and ensure you get great food, service, and client experience.

Two years in a row, we had our company party catered by Grace Street. Last year was an impressive spread with a lot of deliciousness abound.
This year was not quite to the same level, disappointingly. The appetizers were okay, with the standout being the pulled meat tostada. Unfortunately, I saw the savory cream puffs circulating around more often than the desired tostada. Thanks, one was enough… I politely declined for the umpteenth time.
Dinner consisted of your choice of soup, potato, carrot, or something else I haven’t tried and forgotten about… celery? The consistency was nice and creamy, served in little square cups. The buffet consisted of sea bass, beef, chicken, polenta, salad, rolls, etc. It was disturbing to pull out 3 fish bones out of my sea bass in mid-​chew. I’m glad I was able to pick them out and not requiring the Heimlich maneuver. However, all etiquette out of the window as I have to reach and pull them out. Gross. Especially, mid conversation.
The dessert table was much more impressive last year with a lot of beautiful decadent sweetness. This year’s didn’t look quite as appetizing, since I was able to resist with no problem.

Rhonda did the flowers for our wedding and we were so pleased with what she did. On our first meeting with her, I knew she was going to be great because she’s a super good listener and really gages what her clients want. She understood our vibe and what we were going for and totally delivered on every point.
My mother, who is sometimes more difficult to please, came to our trial table setting appointment and had a bunch of comments about the setup. Rhonda was able to offer suggestions and compromises that made all of us happy. She has such a can-​do attitude and also offered up a lot of practical advice. And we felt like she really knew what she was talking about regarding the flowers — what was seasonal, what was high-​impact but budget-​friendly, which varieties hold up best structurally, etc The pricing for our flowers also came out to be really reasonable and more affordable than other places in the city.
For any future events I’m definitely going to use Rhonda and Grace Street and highly recommend them! She brings the perks of experience (has been in the business for 20-​some years) but has a personality that still offers plenty of creativity and whimsy.

Superlative food, outstanding venue, excellent people!
We just celebrated our wedding in April 2011 and are still riding the waves of raves that we’re hearing from our guests. GSC was the perfect place for us and our 75 guests. Their space is an old brick trolley barn that they’ve converted into an industrial kitchen, warehouse, and showroom (that’s where our wedding and reception were both held). Not only is the venue classy, unusual, and memorable, but the people there are extraordinarily talented. The food, the food, the food! We really wanted our guests to get a taste of Bay Area foodie culture and they did indeed. One guest told us that his lunch was not only the best wedding food he’d ever had, it was the best FOOD he’d ever had! Anastasia was our contact person throughout the planning stages and the day of, and we can’t imagine a more competent visionary. She helped us see what we wanted and she made happen what we hoped for, AND she was respectful of our budget. As one of our fathers said of her: «Anastasia is ACES in my book!» We are big fans of all the people at GSC; they were consistently kind and on top of things (and this is true of Erin and also the wait staff on the day of). We are beyond thrilled with our wedding and feel like GSC really transformed our day into one of those weddings to remember.

Our 95-​person wedding was held in the observation tower of the de Young Museum last weekend, and we had a *wonderful* experience with Grace Street — Anastasia, in particular! Once we decided to have our wedding at the museum, we received a list of approved caterers. We requested proposals from many of them (based largely on Unilocal reviews), but our first meeting with Anastasia sealed the deal. She has been in the business long enough to seriously know what she is doing, but was still enthusiastic and excited about our vision of our wedding. From our first meeting, she had great suggestions about how work within our budget and significant museum restrictions, while making sure our guests had a great time!
Now, there’s no way around it — weddings are EXPENSIVE. But Grace Street had one of the most reasonable proposals we received, and they were well worth the cost of their services. We always felt like our wedding was a priority to them, despite our limited budget. It was always fun and reassuring to work with Anastasia. She had great ideas for our wedding, but was never pushy. We felt like she wanted to create the wedding that we saw in our heads, even when it wasn’t totally clear to us! She is crazy organized and efficient, but still flexible and patient with a very detail-​oriented bride! And she has a great team at Grace Street. We got tons of compliments on the delicious food, and the beautiful floral arrangements & bouquets created by Rhonda Stoffel.
Finally, we were impressed by the thoughtful touches that Grace Street provided — prosecco & a small plate of snacks in the room that we went to directly after the ceremony, and a beautifully packed dinner for us to take back to the hotel after the wedding ended. I don’t know how other people do it without someone like Anastasia in their corner. We can’t thank Grace Street enough for bringing our wedding to life!

SIMPLY THE BEST!
As a personal assistant and part-​time event planner, I am ALWAYS looking for spectacular, top-​notch catering companies to add to my VERY selective list of contacts. And I have to say, Grace Street is a GEM in a sea of incompetent, tasteless catering companies! If you are looking for a GREAT team to make your event a smash — CALL Grace Street!
This was not the first time my company used them for event, but it was my first time working as a site manager with them. From the initial client meeting (all the way in Monte Sereno) to the night of the event, Anastasia and her team were IMPECCABLE! Anastasia put together two separate menus for the clients to choose from. Including everything from drinks, apps at buffet and pass and dessert to pass too! They took in customer feedback on both menus and delivered a on-​point menu that was a TRUE crowd pleaser! Anastasia even made custom aprons for the servers to wear!!! You just can’t beat that level of detailed service!
The staff was AMAZING, courteous and on-​spot! I would like to thank Matthew, Loretta, Kevin & Lyle for cooking such amazing tastey food! Your upbeat workmanship definitely come across in your food! Thank you for taking care of me all while taking care of others! Thank you to all the serving staff! You guys ALL WENT ABOVE AND BEYOND! I can’t believe you cared enough to remove wax and wine from the client’s carpet!!!
I TRULY hope I get MANY MORE opportunities to work with Grace Street Catering AGAIN AND AGAIN!
Final note, whether you are looking for a catering company personally or professionally — YOU NEED TO CALL Grace Street! They will not let you down! They have been in business for almost 30 yrs for a reason!

In choosing a caterer we basically looked to Unilocal and gathered suggestions from friends, then narrowed it down to 5 companies and asked for proposals. We were really pleased with the proposed menu Grace put together and the prices but really it was meeting with Jessica that sealed the deal for us. We came away from the tasting having loved the food and feeling really impressed with their overall approach to events. We were so impressed that we actually asked them to cater our engagement party as well.
The particulars: 200 people, Golden Gate Club, San Francisco, evening, passed Hors d’œuvre and family style dinner.
Okay, first the food. Grace emphasizes using local and seasonal food and you can taste it. We had a California/​Latin theme to our wedding so Grace made a shrimp gazpacho, red pepper aranchi, beef carpacio (appetizers) beef tenderloin, sea bass, peach and arugula salad (oh my god, the most delicious peaches!), and a saffron rice salad for the main course. Grace also provided our cake, which, was the best cake I have ever had (okay, in fairness I am not counting flourless chocolate cakes because that is totally different – but still amazing). It was peaches and crème fraîche in an almond cake with butter cream frosting.
In addition to all this, Grace was able to do a Vodka caviar bar for us (did you know there is such a thing as wasabi caviar? it’s delicious) and a «midnight» snack of cubano sliders and churros. Nobody left hungry, and everyone loved the food.
Second the service. For both our engagement party and the wedding we had so many people come up and tell us how wonderful the service was. Everyone was incredibly nice and attentive. And Grace provides a lot more (as in more people) waiters, bartenders, etc. than other companies we looked at.
Flowers. We were initially planning on having a separate company provide florals but after seeing the completely unique and beautiful flowers Rhonda put together for our engagement party we decided to just have Grace Florals do all the flowers for the wedding and reception. I am not one of those people who knows the names of all the flowers they love and don’t love, so I was so happy when the bouquets arrived on our wedding day to see that Rhonda perfectly captured the mood of the event and what I had wanted. In the end, we paid less for flowers from Grace, and we were super happy with the result.
Other nice things. Grace allows you to provide your own alcohol, which ends up saving you a considerable amount. Jessica is present the day of so you don’t have to worry about chasing down food, flowers, anything else like that.
It was so nice to have one company provide the food, florals, linens and chairs (the golden gate club provides tables). Everything went incredibly smoothly and I really can’t imagine have gone any other way.

After reading the great Unilocal reviews, I called Grace Street Catering for a proposal for a 30 person buffet lunch. The person I talked to said they were really busy but they would have the proposal sent to me 3 days later (that Friday). I had more than a month til my event so that was fine with me.
But by Tuesday of the following week, no word, so I called. She apologized and sent the proposal. Sent it to an incorrect email address so I didn’t get it til the next day, which was no big deal. It looked great, I asked for changes.
She asked if she could send the revised proposal the next day, I said cool. By the next evening, no revised proposal so I sent email back asking about it. It’s been almost two weeks and I’ve heard nothing since via email or phone. Boo. It was theirs to lose, as based on their website and Unilocal reviews I’d already decided to go with them. The whole thing was puzzling but eh, there’s other caterers out there.

Grace Street has it all! The food, the staff, and their creative eye are simply the best. I have used them for several events both small and large and always find their food and staffing consistently wonderful. We ended up getting our wedding cake from them instead of going to a separate bakery because it was so superior.

You know, I was moderately happy with this catering choice after the tastings we had with them before our wedding. I thought, well, catered food is good but exactly what I’d want. But even though the wedding was at our house, there was no way I wanted to cook for 60 people.
Howver, wow! WOW! what amazing food. What great organization. What wonderful service. People have been writing to me the past two days saying that this was the best catered food they’d had ever (and these aren’t youngish people!). Amazingly organized, well staffed, professional, and, yes, tasty as all get out.
We loved the beef tenderloin so much. My son almost wept when I told him he could have part of the leftovers (he was grateful not sad). the cheese spread (the fig compote! The honezy glazed brie! Oye!)
Anyway, I would hire them all over again.

Wow — I cannot say enough great things about Grace Street Catering. We worked with Jessica for our wedding at the Golden Gate Club and she was wonderful to work with. We met with a few vendors, but Grace Street Catering was warm and gave us a better feel for their customer service. We instantly felt at ease and knew they were the ones we wanted to work with.
We were initially bummed that Jessica was not going to be available on the day of our wedding (she had family-​related plans) because we were so comfortable with her. But, Erin (the owner) took over a few weeks before and was there the day of our wedding. And Erin is awesome… he is so calm that it was hard to be nervous with him in charge. He even made sure I got to see our reception before the guests entered so I could see how everything turned out before things got too busy and crazy.
They packed us 2 meals on our way out… which was great and seems like something most caterers do… BUT they are awesome because they packed us a box of our selection of wines, champagnes and liquor because we were having an after-​party back at our hotel!
Our wedding was executed beautifully and everyone had a great time. I am a worry-​wart and a control freak… a scary combination, but they earned our trust with the way they handled everything leading up to the wedding so I felt totally at ease and was able to let go and just have fun — which is really what you want at your wedding!

I was married in San Francisco on September 4, 2010 and we used Grace Street not only for our catering, but for the florals as well. I cannot say enough good things about the Grace Street team. Anastasia and Rhonda were absolutely delightful and helpful in every way! They worked within our budget to produce the most delcious food and beautiful flowers! They both had some freedom in coming up with the menu and floral designs and I could not have been happier with how everything turned out. Everything suited our taste and was more wonderful then I could have hoped for. We both felt completely comfortable with Grace Street and the staff and would recommend them for any event!

I’m not sure how it’s possible that a catering company this awesome only has 9 reviews so far, but let this review be the deciding factor for you if you’re considering working with Grace Street.
There are two things that made our experience with Grace Street absolutely superior to any other catering experience we’ve ever had: 1) Jessica, 2) The Food.
Jessica was our single point of contact at Grace Street. From the first proposal request to the end of the wedding night and through our pickup of our remaining items from the wedding, Jessica took care of us. I mean that in the deepest sense of the word — she absolutely cared about making our wedding an excellent event and did everything humanly possible to ensure that it was. Jessica worked with us to spec a menu that fit both our tastes and our budget (not easy!) and made sure our logistics were in line with the kind of wedding we wanted to have. Since my wife and I are both Project Managers, we had the wedding planning down — but we were a bit concerned about who would ‘run the show’ the night of the wedding. We didn’t want to enlist any of our friends or family, and it didn’t make sense to hire a wedding coordinator just for the day of. We asked Jessica if she could help with some of the day-​of logistics and she did a truly excellent job. Don’t expect your catering company to take the place of good wedding planning, but Jessica did a great job keeping the execution flowing along. I remember at one point, after the ceremony, Jessica came over to see when we’d be ready to make the grand entrance into the reception. My wife and I were still in the fuzzy afterglow of the ceremony itself and were totally useless in answering even simple questions. We basically asked Jessica to give us the rundown of the whole rest of the night, right there on the spot — which she did, perfectly and without judging us for our absent-​minded state! There just isn’t high enough praise available for the help Jessica gave us.
But that’s just the shell of the story. At the gooey, sauce-​laden, cream-​filled and chocolate slathered core of the story was the food itself. We picked out a selection of appetizers and entrees from Grace St’s available offerings and tweaked a few to fit our tastes and the tastes of our guests. Usually at weddings, the rubber chicken, dry steaks and questionable seafood are, at best, NOT topics of discussion. At our wedding, the elegant risotto, tender and succulent beef, broad selection of salads and the «kid specific» mac and cheese were the toasts of the tables. I say «kid specific» because (and I am not making this up) I saw adults stealing the mac and cheese from their kids and then sending their kids to get more because the adults just couldn’t get enough of it. From the prosciutto-​draped fig appetizers to the wedding cake itself, there wasn’t a single food item served that I wasn’t tempted to smuggle home in my tuxedo vest. Luckily for us, Jessica ensured that we were sent home with a box of food for later — it made such a good midnight (well, 3am) snack that, despite our extreme exhaustion, we stayed up to finish every last bite. Our entire menu was:
— Fennel crusted beef filet with roasted pepper compote
— Rosemary seared salmon with brown butter vinaigrette
— Sage roasted potatoes
— Parmesan risotto (if the menu had a king, this dish got the crown)
— Sauteed asparagus, peas and basel
— Spring mix pear salad with marscarpone and toasted walnut, with prosecco vinaigrette
— Roast figs draped in prosciutto (passed appetizer)
— Goat cheese flatbread (passed appetizer)
— Chicken fingers and mac and cheese for the kids (and, as it turned out, the adults!)
Grace Street was recommended to us by the venue (Chabot Space & Science Center) manager. This turned out to be his best recommendation and, ultimately, one of the reasons we had such an amazing wedding. Thank you Jessica and the rest of the Grace St team!

I had a fantastic experience with Grace Street! I just had my wedding on 1÷17÷10 at the Exploratorium with about 165 Guests and I worked directly with Anastasia. I used them for catering services and brought in my own pastry chef for the wedding cake and my own florist for the centerpieces. I did use their pastry chef for dessert plates of assorted cookies… yummy!
I initially picked them because they seemed to value a high level of customer service which was absolutely true. Something I think is pretty rare is several of my guest commented to me how attentive the staff was during my cocktail hour and reception. Not your normal compliment!
My bill didn’t have any «surprise charges» that was due to poor communication. We did have 4 guests and 2 children unexpectedly show up at the reception and Anastasia quickly added them in, made them new place cards, and didn’t rearrange the seating I had set up. I did nothing but tell her and I’m sure my surprise guests had no idea they had created an inconvenience. Their food was the only additional charge that occurred afterward and I would have expected it to. The fact that she had planned ahead to have the extra chairs, napkins, place settings, etc was great.
The food was both visually attractive and very tasty… we worked over several meetings to customize a menu to our liking based on some sample menus they had come up with.
I would completely recommend Grace Street and Anastasia in particular for your upcoming wedding. For the budget I had to work with they were able to throw a VERY high end looking wedding!

I highly recommend Grace Street Catering. We worked with Anastasia and Rhonda who were both super wonderful and fabulous. We had ideas of what we wanted and they really listened and then contributed their own thoughts which made everything that much better. Anastasia did wonders with not only the food and drink, but lighting and overall feel and she really organized everything. She met with us several times and was always friendly and kind and was invaluable to us as she really took charge of the whole event and made it all come together. Way over and above what I expected from «the caterer.» Rhonda did the flowers and they were gorgeous. I loved my bouquet and everything else she created for us. Everything was not only beautiful, but original. She really has a special eye.
I also want to mention that Grace street catering completely respected our budget and went through a few revisions on the proposal to get us there.
The wedding went off without a hitch largely because of them. They created a beautiful, memorable, quality event. We have received so many compliments from our friends and family around the food, the flowers and the bartenders who were a big hit!