Lobo Castle

Chef Denise and her team with Lobo Castle Productions did a fantastic job at our 2016 New Year’s Eve party at Marrakesh House! We host parties at our event space pretty regularly, but this was the first time we had done a catered, sit down dinner so this was a big deal for us. They provided a beautiful 4 course dinner for 44 guests, and also provided delicious snacks for our additional 120 party guests who joined in afterwards. Here is what our dinner was:
APPETIZERS
Coconut shrimp pineapple dipping
Radish, olive artichoke tapenade
Cauliflower fritters
SOUP
Potatoes, cauliflower and celeriac soup topped with crispy shallots
SALAD
Arugula and spinach salad with grapes & almonds tossed in a lemon citrus dressing
MAIN COURSE CHOICES
Lasagna — Vegetarian with hand made pasta
Ravioli — Artichoke mushroom leek chard filling in handmade pasta with pink sauce
Breaded, Rolled Chicken Breast stuffed with wild mushrooms, provolone cheese, arugula, shallots and lemon zest with a Chardonnay mushroom sauce

PLATE ADD-​ONS
Garlic mashed potato and brussel sprouts oven roasted with coconut oil, with maple coconut glazed candied pecans
DESSERT
Cannoli — Home made by Chef Denise
We had a Vodka and Whiskey bar, champagne, red and white wine, as well as some other goodies thrown in. We were SO thrilled! Denise was really wonderful in taking time to chat with us about food possibilities, and also in accommodating some guests who were vegan and/​or gluten free. She was great about offering food and drink suggestions, rentals, lighting, seating advice, etc. It was really appreciated since it usually takes a village to pull off one of our elaborate parties! She made a lot of things really easy for us.
Denise is energetic, patient, super fun, and absolutely LOVES what she does and it shows! She had a really great staff with her who enjoyed the party atmosphere as much as our guests did! Our guests, our hosts, and I were all grateful to have her beautiful energy with us to bring in the New Year! Once the party snacks started coming out in the kitchen, people were amazed. Homemade hummus, veggies, baked brie, & hot rosemary garlic shoestring french fries tossed in truffle salt, among other yummy snacks. Many of our party guests were in the LA Burner community, and they were thrilled to have Denise there! They LOVED the food! We got so many compliments on her and her staff. And once they were all done, they joined us for the dance party which was super fun! It was a wonderful, heart centered party, and Denise helped us create just the right vibe for us with her amazing food and talents.
One of our DJs was working our party, someone handed him a bowl of hot rosemary truffled fries and he was beyond thrilled, amazed, and grateful! He was in heaven!
So hire Chef Denise for your next event! She’s AWESOME!!!

Lobo Castle also offers Catering!!! They catered our wedding at Rancho del Cielo in Malibu and the food and whole experience was amazing. Food was a huge portion of our wedding budget and I’m so glad that we worked with Denise at Lobo Castle Catering. All of our guests were happy, the menu options were wonderful, the food was delicious, and the service was gracious. Highly recommended!!!

We got married here on 7÷19÷14.
Our experience was magical. Our guests kept telling us that our wedding was the best they’ve ever attended. We responded «what a coincidence! It was the best we’ve attended, as well!»
Denise, unfortunately is limiting the number of weddings held at the castle in the future, and she prefers intimate affairs, so if you want a wedding at a beautiful Southern California castle, I recommend booking it early!
With that said, Denise will still do catering for on site, and off site events, and her food was delicious.
I love how Denise was accommodating and willing to try new things, and how she was open to critique and suggestion. Our guests included Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, and American guests, and we wanted the menu to cater to these groups. We asked for hor d’oeuvres of Kimbap, Spring Rolls, Stuffed Mushroom, Korean BBQ short ribs, and mozzarella and tomato skewers. The Kimbap were spot on. I don’t know how she made such authentic tasting delicious rolls. The sauce for the Spring Rolls was delicious, and impressed my husband, who is picky about his fish sauce. The Stuffed Mushrooms were magnificent.
For the main meal, we got the Braised Short Ribs. If you hire Denise, I consider this a must. It was easily the most delicious item. She also made a chicken stir fry, roasted veggies, rosemary olive oil bread, Jasmine and short grain rice, and spaghetti. I love how she listens and takes notes on what we want, and makes the food according to our tastes. It is hard to cater towards our very picky families, but Denise listened, modified, and recreated her dishes until they were perfect. She had me tasting her sauces until the night before the wedding, make sure it was what we wanted.
I also added on her delicious cannolis to our menu. She made them less sweet, just as I requested. Our best man ended up scarfing 4 of them, because they were so good.
Honestly, most of the time you get food at a wedding it ends up being meh, but I honestly loved the food Denise and her staff made for us. They even made sure the details were perfect, placing raspberries in our champagne flutes like we requested, and making sure my groomsmen and bridesmaids had snacks and alcohol, and making sure that my late night guests had enough to eat.
There were a few hiccups that come with having large events, but they were understandable. The food took a little longer than expected. Schedule your dinner earlier, rather than later, and order extra hor d’oeuvres for your crowds. My parents also wanted more of a royal treatment. That is more my fault for not requesting it, than Denise’s. Know what you want, and request it. Denise is very accommodating.
Also, it’s great that Denise does not charge extra for things such as cake cutting fees.
I’m not much of a drinker, but my friends raved about how delicious the drinks were, and how good the castle’s wine was.
Denise also knows a lot of contacts, and if you let her know, she will try her best to make your wedding stress free, by calling hotels, and working out the shuttle situation, or renting any extra furniture that is needed without burdening you.
Tips:
–Make sure you are aware of what potential costs may be incurred before you sign the contract. Ask about parking/​shuttles, clean up fee, rental fees, etc…
–Check Denise’s math. She isn’t great at it, so there may be errors.
–Make sure you ask for beverages during cake. I didn’t ask for it, and my guests felt parched without their customary coffee.
–It did suddenly sprinkle on my wedding day, although online it said 0% chance of precipitation a few days earlier. Discuss a back up plan, and make sure you are okay with it before you sign the contract.
–Don’t be afraid to give Denise feedback. She is sweet, and open to suggestion. If it is within her powers, she will do what it takes to make you happy.

We have our wedding booked here (for 9÷12÷14) in just a few short months!
We pretty much knew we wanted a private estate of some kind for our wedding venue because I didn’t want to feel like I was getting married at a «wedding factory» but when we found Lobo Castle we just fell in love with the Canyon’s surroundings and gorgeous trees and beautiful medieval style architecture!
We just got done with our tasting to decide on our dinner menu for the wedding… And let me just say that Denise and her chef’s created the most amazingly delicious food EVER!!! We got to taste 6 different appetizers and a mini cheese plate and 3 different entrée options accompanied by 4 different wines and I’ll just say that everything was perfectly exquisite! The crew at Lobo Castle really made our decisions difficult because everything was soooooo good!!! Can’t wait for our wedding in September!!!

While my husband and I didn’t get married at Denise’s gorgeous residence in Agoura (a little inland from Malibu) we did hire her and her incredible team (Lobo Castle Productions) as our caterer for our July 20, 2013 wedding. Denise is one of those people you immediately take to as she’s sincere and easy going, creative and warm. All that combined with her unbelievable culinary skills and event planning experience makes for a really wonderful experience. We could not have had our dream wedding without her ceaseless and tireless help.
After our initial venue cancelled on us 2 months before our wedding, Denise helped us find an even better location a couple miles away: Cielo Farms – a gorgeous vineyard nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains. She went out of her way constantly to make things easier for us and to help us execute the vision we had for our wedding. One example of this is my last minute idea (literally, the day before the wedding) to wrap fresh rosemary around each napkin setting. The night before our big day with a million things to finalize she snipped 150 pieces of rosemary from her own garden and surprised us the day of. Each napkin was perfectly wrapped in twine and rosemary. Another example: I had an idea for rosemary olive oil cookies but couldn’t afford adding anything else to our wedding and she again surprised us with several freshly baked ones as a gift. Unbelievable. Oh, and of course they were melt-​in-​your-​mouth delicious. As was everything else she cooked for us.
Our families (not easy people to please as my family is Persian), friends and most importantly ourselves, found the food to be the most delicious food any of us had tasted at a wedding. Everything was fresh, homemade and high quality. From the seasonal, local sourced produce used for her appetizers (the cutest tomato onion tarts ever, ceviche, beef kabobs, grilled chicken with cucumber yogurt sauce, cheeses, etc.) to the main course (barbecued salmon with tomatillo and pea salsa, porcini and rosemary encrusted tri-​tip with port wine sauce, two made-​from-​scratch pastas with seasonal veggies, salads, bread, local olive oils for dipping) and the local wines her and partner Wil paired with our food, it was all perfect.
Her partner Wil was in charge of the spirits and bar and everything was perfectly executed and stocked. He made two speciality drinks we requested and everything else one could want. All with grace, professionalism and humor.
The best thing about it all was that Denise was so patient with us and really worked with us to deliver something memorable and at a great price. She really worked with us every way she could and for that we will forever be grateful to her and her wonderful team. Which by the way, were all really pleasant and beautiful! I look forward to the day we can hire Denise and Lobo Castle Productions again for our wedding anniversary!

If a castle is what you are looking for, the Lobo Castle is a must see. I was pretty excited to hear that there was an actual Castle in Southern California that was available for event rentals and immediately contacted Denise to find out more. Turns out Lobo Productions actually have connections to many exclusive venues throughout the Malibu/​Agoura Hills region and Denise was more than happy to give us a tour of some of these locations she felt may suit us better than her home. I appreciated that she was more concerned about having us find a location that was most fitting with our personalities, than just having us book her castle.
The castle itself is gorgeous and definitely has a medieval vibe. All the décor and furniture inside the house just adds to the overall feel of the place. There is a lovely back patio that can accomodate around 100 guests I believe, and if you wanted something larger they can host the event for you in front of their home. There is a bridal suite up in the top tower, which unfortunately I was unable to see since they were filming at the location when we arrived, but we did get to see the groom’s room, and it is every man’s dream. Pool table, poker table, huge tv, lounge space, and bar area. Can you say amazing?!
Catering is provided by Denise, and she makes all the food herself. She has great referrals for any other needs you may have, including rentals, videographers, photographers, valet, etc. The other locations that she showed us were fabulous as well. However, in the end all the locations were a bit out of our price range, or they did not reflect our tastes. I would highly recommend checking out Lobo Productions though!

I found the Lobo Castle while searching venues for my wedding. A call was placed to Denise and I asked specific questions to ensure it was worth the time to visit; so far so good. My fiancé and I toured the castle; boy what a waste of time. For starters, we arrived 30 minutes prior to our scheduled meeting. I called Denise to advise her of same. She indicated that she would not be available until our scheduled appointment. While we waited, my fiancé and I walked around the outside of the castle. Denise strolls out the front door of the castle 15 minutes late!!! We began the formal tour of the premises and that’s when everything continued to spiral downhill and she began making up charges as we walked through the castle. In addition, she provided different information from what was told to me over the phone:
1. Denise initially told me we can bring our own catering; then changed her mind. During our visit of the place, she said we have to use her catering and it would cost us $ 65 per person.
2. She also said we had to use her bartender.
3. Since we are expecting at least 120 people, she wanted to charge us an additional $ 100 for using the front of the castle for ceremony and reception.
4. There is no free parking for guest. You will have to arrange a shuttle service, or use her neighbor’s parking structure for an additional $ 1,000.
5. Ladies and gentlemen, if you want your wedding at the castle, you run the risk of no shelter if it rains. Denise will not allow you put up tents.
Overall, my fiancé and I were VERY disappointed after our tour of the place. Denise is the owner and can set her own parameters for renting out the castle, and can rent it out to whomever she wants. However, her website is misleading when it comes to the cost to rent the castle; and all I ask of Denise is to be consistent with the answers she gives you over the phone and in person.