A Taste of Elegance Catering & Events

Becky runs the front of the house (client service) and Annie runs the back of the house (food service). Together they share operations. Our guests are still raving about Annie’s food; I would just caution your wedding planner to stay on top of communication with the front office and be sure that you get all verbal promises in writing.

Over charged us based upon number of plates used, not number of guests, then ran out of food.

Simply and utterly amazing. Food was out of this world outstanding, staff was top notch professional and friendly. They strive to create a personalized menu and deliver over this moon results. I cant wait to work with ATOE for many more years to come. Thank you!
Diane Allen
Big Sur Weddings

I have worked with and been to many events that A Taste of Elegance has catered and can say that Annie is one of the best in the business; providing absolutely delicious food and the best service any host/​hostess could hope for. She creates the most fantastic, mouth-​watering appetizers, entrees, and desserts, which keep you on the edge of your seat in anticipation for what will come next. On top of flavor, her food presentation is beautiful and nothing short of impeccable. It is very evident that she puts her heart into every event with 150% creativity and attention to detail, so you can know for certain that if you work with A Taste of Elegance, you will be getting top-​notch food, service, and presentation.

Thank you to Becky and Annie for a wonderful 50^th Anniversary Party on Carmel Beach. Working with you was so refreshing and easy — not to mention you took on our project last minute. You seemed to take everything in stride from the menu to the location. Thank you for helping us pull off the party of the year for my parent’s. I can not express enough how much they enjoyed your beautiful menu while watching the sunset with their grandchildren playing on the beach. It was PERFECTION!
Now when can we do this again?

Perfect in every way!
Communication — prompt, listened, clear, followed up.
Price — worked within our budget and exceeding our expectations!
Service staff — we had two service staff to prepare settings, food, and service: perfect performance! Lead staff was so focused he didn’t even look up when he arrived, simply went to what needed to be done followed through to the end.
Food — again, exceeded our expectations! We had a lunch menu for 15 + 2 children. Everyone appreciated the food and service!
Fantastic catering company that I recommend to you without hesitation.

We had such a wonderful experience with A Taste of Elegance Catering. Annie was responsive to my emails and phone calls. She provided a great menu and was flexible with ideas and suggestions. The menu was just perfect and the delivery was even better than I could have imagined. The plates were beautiful and the food was delicious. Timing of the service was right on. The staff was not just terrific at serving, they were also very helpful in coordinating seamless transitions from our champagne toast and passed hors d’oeuvres, to our plated brunch and cake cutting/​serving and then wrapping up the event promptly when it was time to go. The food was cooked perfectly even though there was only a refrigerator and an oven on site. Everything was prepped ahead of time and the finishing touches applied just before service. The price was also very reasonable. I would certainly use them again and recommend to anyone having a catered event in the Monterey area.

Annie is a wonderful person and a wonderful chef. I’m really sad to bump her down to four stars, and it’s certainly NOT because of her food. Let me start off by saying, in the end, our wedding was everything we wanted it to be, and that was in no small part because of Annie and her staff. From start to finish, the food was creative, delicious, tasty, and very well plated. The servers interacted great with our guests. The head staff member, who wasn’t serving food, but keeping things streamlined at our event, even plunged one of the toilets that had backed up! Super helpful.
Now why I am very sad to put them down to 4 stars is due to communication issues we had running up to the event. Planning a successful wedding or any large event involved a lot of details and we found there were miscommunications between Annie, her staff, and us. It was a frustrating experience, but in the end, that frustration was overshadowed by the great event we had. I would certainly recommend using this wonderful catering company, but if you are planning a larger event, just be careful with planning the details of the event.

Annie and her staff were hands-​down amazing when they catered our wedding in Monterey.
First and foremost, it can be difficult to find a caterer who is willing to work with you to create a UNIQUE menu that is absolutely made for YOU — most of the caterers we encountered when scouting for our wedding simply gave us a list and told us we could make choices from their ‘established’ menus. This may work well for some folks, but as two people who really love their food, we were determined to showcase our tastes on our big day!
Annie went above and beyond in assisting us in creating a special meal that had us written all over it. From the fried macaroni and cheese croquettes (I can’t help it, I LOVE my mac and cheese!!) to the sliced chipotle chicken served atop a delish summer corn cake and drizzled with avocado crema, from the seared ahi to the WARM mini chocolate chip cookies, Annie’s food was DIVINE — there wasn’t a single guest that didn’t compliment the food that evening.
She even managed to make a homemade version of my husband’s favorite dish from back home — Cincinnati style chili. Our Midwestern friends (and plenty of non-​Midwesterners) DEMOLISHED it!
The catering staff was also stellar — David took extremely good care of us during the actual reception — we never had to get a plate of food or a drink for ourselves!!! Amazing.
Annie is the sweetest woman on the planet and her food is off the charts. Everything tasted great, each dish was served fresh and at the appropriate temperature, and I have never heard so many people rave about wedding food. Between Annie and our coordinator Amy (see my review of Amy Byrd Weddings), our wedding was absolute perfection from start to finish. THANK YOU ANNIE!

Dependable. Creative. Attention to detail. These are three ways I’d describe a Taste of Elegance. At Ocean Mist Farms, we have hired Taste of Elegance for large gatherings (75+) to smaller meetings for 5 – 10 people. We’ve been using Annie (the owner) now for over 3 years– and have her cater at least 15 –20 events annually for us. She simply makes us look good with her presentation of food and has earned our repeat business. Her attention to detail matches our high expectations. And she is always able to incorporate artichokes (our niche commodity) into dishes in a unique-​unexpected way.

These guys are great! Good attitude and delicious food. I was really impressed by the quality of everything that was served; it was the right temperature, plentiful and perfectly prepared. From the truffled potato-​leek soup shooters to the short ribs and amazing salads we had for dinner — my belly is a happy camper!

OMG! I love A Taste of Elegance Catering! Their food is consistently excellent and presented with such artistic elegance. They have wonderful attention to detail and wow all of their clients. Some of my favorites are their jumbo shrimp lollipops, tuna tartar, and I might have tracked the server down for a second (or third) helping of the mini cinnamon roll lollipops. I can heartily recommend A Taste of Elegance catering! You won’t be disappointed!